To date, I have played somewhere in the vicinity of 30 hours of Dark Souls 3. I have killed bosses, destroyed enemies and, as is so common in these games, I have died. Dying is a staple of the franchise, I mean the tagline for the games have been “Prepare to die”. One of the many problems people had with Dark Souls 2 is that the game was too easy. That problem has not been brought over to Dark 3. The game is as hard as Dark Souls ever was. One or two areas specifically were incredibly difficult and, should I want to do another playthrough, I am scared of trying to go through those areas again.

Dark Souls 3 does an incredible job at balancing difficulty with reward. The Souls series is known for this and I think that Dark Souls 3 does the best job of it by far. Every enemy is tough but fair in different ways. The areas are set up to kill you, but are designed for you to learn from your mistakes. Dark Souls 2 had a litany of mediocre to bad bosses that were exclusively big guys in armor, but Dark Souls 3 does not suffer from this problem in any way. All the bosses are unique and interesting in their own way. Even the guys that are just big guys in armor have unique second forms that will scare the crap out of you on your first playthrough and challenge your ability to stay level headed on your second.

It is hard to judge Dark Souls 3 from a story perspective. Fans of the series will find the familiar vague-ness of the older souls games makes a triumphant return here. To be entirely honest, I couldn’t even really describe what all happened but I think that it was good. But, to be fair, story is not why you play Dark Souls or any games like Dark Souls. The rich and interesting environments and incredibly fun worlds to explore are definitely why I keep coming back to this game.

My one major issue with Dark Souls 3 is the same major issue most fans had with Dark Souls 2. From Software spends a lot of time calling back to Dark Souls and not enough time showing off new, cool ideas. Admittedly some of these moments are really cool and well done, but I’d still rather have had seen some new ideas more than recycled old ones.

Dark Souls 3 is a fantastic and well made experience that I would suggest to anyone with a console, or computer capable of running it. It is a great and shining example of why people love these games.

This writer can be reached via Twitter: @EthanNathe26.

For more from this blog, read Checkpoint: The Failure of Quantum Break.