Dark Souls 3 is everything people glaze about fromsoft cranked up to 11 and it’s absolutely electric. It truly is just “Dark Souls but better” unless you’ve a special partialness to the story of 1 like myself. Even still dark souls 3 is fantastic. Combat is fast and weighty, maintaining the same careful nature required from the first game but injecting some of maths speed and aggression from bloodborne. Much like the first game, the world building remains incredible but I would argue that the story or lore from that world building is weaker than the first entry with some exceptions which I’ll cover later on. Every area in this game is stunning, even the catacombs. Lothric and its surrounding areas are amazingly put together visually but the true magnum opus of fromsoft area design (besides bloodborne) is Irythill of the boreal valley + Anor Londo. A beautiful area that new and old players can appreciate. They really did an excellent job capturing the same feeling dark souls 1 players felt seeing anor londo for the first time but with an opposite motif. It suits the game perfectly even from a thematic perspective since it shows how over the age of fire truly is. On that note, the theme of this game is just as good as the first in which a dying kingdom still holds onto an already very outdated system. The journey of the ashen one killing randoms bearing souls of cinder exhibits how truly futile clinging on to glory can be, and I think that’s a genius way to end a franchise. This is embodied perfectly in the final boss the soul of cinder, who is a perfect send off for fans of the property. There’s nothing more tuff than watching an amalgamation of the lords of cinder pulling the fire link greatsword out of the bonfire and slamming ass while the sun basically bleeds in the background. His boss theme is also literal perfection. On the note of bosses, this roster is pretty stacked with bosses like gundyr, the abyss watchers and the twin princes, dancer of the boreal valley, nameless king and sister friede all being quite fantastic. Bosses this time round are also much more interesting lore wise making their fights extra captivating, like the nameless king being Gwynn’s exiled first born or the abyss watchers being Knight Artorias meat riders. But no greater boss represents dark souls 3 and debatably the entire franchise better than Slave Knight Gael. Believe the hype. Super interesting and relevant lore/set up, perfect arena super intense fight and that looks and sounds basically perfect. There really is no better send off for such a special franchise. Overall dark souls 3 is a trilogy ending done right, there’s virtually nothing I would change about this high rush thrill ride barring a couple stinker bosses and more areas to explore but that aside this game is astounding on every front and it has solidified my status as a dark souls fan forever probably. Please play these games you will not regret it.