Though ardent fans pointed to the shortcomings of Dark Souls II when it released in 2013, claiming that the RPG sequel wasn’t necessarily as difficult as its Souls predecessors, series grandfather and creator Hidetaka Miyazaki has allayed any early fears that Dark Souls III will tread a similar path.
In fact, the esteemed developer revealed in an interview with VG247 that everything in the upcoming threequel “is designed to kill you,” incase there was any overhanging doubt about the game’s excruciating difficulty. Needless to say, this is exactly what Souls devotees want to hear of the cult series, which has now evolved into one of the industry’s biggest franchises in recent years. Speaking about the third installment in particular, here’s what Miyazaki had to say via a translator about the intoxicating risk and reward system.
“The basic gameplay elements, the sense of accomplishment experienced by overcoming difficulty, or the unique online features that allow players to loosely connect with other players, are still in the game. But we’ve now evolved and deepened those basic gameplay elements.”
During the course of E3, From Software confirmed that Dark Souls III will in no way represent the end of the series, nor is it pulling resources from the Bloodborne team – currently at work on the game’s maiden expansion. Mind you, that doesn’t mean that there is some cross-pollination between both creative teams, with Miyazaki going on to confirm that DS III will introduce players to a more agile protagonist in comparison to previous installments.
“The player character moves faster than the previous two installments and can be controlled more intuitively,” says Miyazaki. “There are a lot of tough situations waiting for players but at the same time we’re offering reasonable solutions, [such as] this faster moving character control system.”
Currently slated for a spring 2016 release across PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC, we can expect to learn much more about Dark Souls III and its nerve-shredding difficult in the months to come.