Dark Souls 3

Swing! Dodge! Run & hide! Instead of restoring humanity, Dark Souls 3 asks you to kindle an ever-dying flame. Ironically, the image of a fading fire encapsulates Dark Souls 3 as a game.

It’s a mishmash of the studio’s previous work, crammed with fan-service and nods, leaving it somewhat diluted. Dark Souls 3 remains a triumph, but there’s no escaping how derivative it is.

Dark Souls 3 takes some of Bloodborne's speed the play-style variety of Dark Souls, and lets you loose across a world that’s a combination of the former’s Gothic streets and the latter’s medieval embankments. You’ll fight undead soldiers atop a castle while avoiding dragon’s breath in one section, and some hours later be rolling under the claws of a giant beast, its crimson blood spattering on moonlit cobbles with each swipe of your sword.

Lothric, is a gorgeous world packed with detail, but clearly wears its influences on its ngraved gauntlets, even revisiting old Souls haunts. It’s essentially a greatest hits collection, taking the best of the studio’s back catalogue and wrapping it in a new, slightly chaotic package.

Instead of imitating the original Dark Souls’ labyrinthine connection of distinct areas leading back to a central hub, Lothric is a spider’s web, each new section its own standalone environmental puzzle. There’s a certain rhythm to this world, with generally two different routes – and two bosses – available at any time.