Having 100%'ed this game now I feel this is a good time for a review.

TL;DR:
Overall, this game is honestly the best game I've played this year. It's better than the games I played last year too - and it managed to pull me away from Overwatch for basically 3 weeks straight, and I'm still not finished with it, even after 280+ hours.

Very highly recommended, even for newcomers to the series. In fact, especially for newcomers to the series, as this game is probably your best way in to what is most definitely one of the best damn game series ever created.

Long(er) version:
Dark Souls 3 is the first Souls game I played that I actually enjoyed - I own Dark Souls 1 & 2, and neither of those immediately grabbed me like Dark Souls 3 did. I didn't have to try nearly as hard to start enjoying DS3 as I did the other two games in the series.

Because of this, if you are a newcomer to the Souls series, I would highly recommend you play this game first to get a feel for the controls and playstyle of the game, then after completing it, go back and play the older games, which is what I am doing now.

As for DS3 itself, I haven't played a game this captivating, both inside and outside the game, in years. The last time a game occupied my everyday thoughts this much was many years ago, back on my old PS3 days with Battlefield 3. I played DS3 for a couple of hours to begin with, and made fair progress. But - the moment I beat the 1st real boss you face, after the "tutorial" boss, I was hooked.

Every time I put my controller down I was immediately thinking what I was going to do next when I played again. I put 60 hours into this game in my first 2 weeks of owning it - whilst also working full time. Like I said, I haven't played a game that captured me this much in years.

The combat system is intuitive, fluid and feels fantastic to play at 60fps. The hitboxes are awesome - a simple search on youtube will reveal to you just how good they are.

The rolling thresholds are gone from the old games, so now you can "fast" roll at 70% equpid load, rather than the 16% from Dark Souls 1.

The graphics are fantastic and very well themed - playing on an Nvidia 770 4GB I can run this game at a solid 60 on high. Walking through one of the later areas of the game that is lit with moonlight looks stunning - you'll know which area I mean when you get there!

The story continues from the previous 2 games, and is as deep and fascinating as ever. You can skip the story completely, by not reading item descriptions and skipping the NPC dialogue. But, if you pay attention and spend some time every now and again reading a few things, you'll quickly become immersed in this game (and series') amazingly deep and thorough story. If anything, I recommend you play the older games just to learn the origins of the some of the bosses and items you find in this game. If not, there are many lore videos on youtube, all worth a watch.

The PvP is... Well, its Dark Souls, so very competitive and sometimes kinda toxic. There is an established meta Soul Level you can stop levelling once you reach - it is at this level you will experience the most varied and plentiful PvP. Invasions are broken, with the invader being at a huge disadvantage, but these can still be fun from time to time, if you get lucky and invade a good host. If you're looking for good, fair PvP, look up honour duels for this game and try some summoning rather than invading - I enjoy honor duels substantially more than invasions, but it all comes down to what type of a PvP experience you are looking for. Poise is broken " working as intended ", so be careful when using super slow weapons in PvP as enemies with faster weapons will very easily stagger you and get you in a stun lock - not fun at all.

The weapons are varied enough to keep you busy for a long time, if you want to learn and use each. Some weapons that were very good from previous games have been completely borked, but there are many other awesome alternatives you can use that are equally as fun. The armor is good with many blast-from-the-pasts from previous games, allowing you to cosplay as your favourite bosses or make some hideous monstrosity wearing only a loincloth giant fat armor.

Character creation and customisation is also improved from previous games, allowing you to tweak your character to fairly deep measures.

The music - oh man the music. Give the composer a Grammy, please. The boss fights in this game are awesome as they are (well, most anyway..), but the music really takes them to the next level. The music in the forefront of my mind is the track that accompanies the first Lord of Cinder you fight, but all of the tracks are amazing in their own right and perfectly accompany an already fantastic game.

Overall, this game is honestly the best game I've played this year. It's better than the games I played last year too - and it managed to pull me away from Overwatch for basically 3 weeks straight.

Very highly recommended, even for newcomers to the series. In fact, especially for newcomers to the series, as this game is your best way in to what is probably one of the best damn game series ever created.

Having 100%'ed this game now I feel this is a good time for a review. TL;DR: Overall, this game is honestly the best game I've played this year. It's better than the games I played last year too - and it managed to pull me away from Overwatch for basically 3 weeks straight, and I'm still not finished with it, even after 280+ hours. Very highly recommended, even for newcomers to the series. In fact, [i] especially [/i] for newcomers to the series, as this game is probably your best way in to what is most definitely one of the best damn game series ever created. Long(er) version: Dark Souls 3 is the first Souls game I played that I actually enjoyed - I own Dark Souls 1 & 2, and neither of those immediately grabbed me like Dark Souls 3 did. I didn't have to try nearly as hard to start enjoying DS3 as I did the other two games in the series. Because of this, if you are a newcomer to the Souls series, I would highly recommend you play this game first to get a feel for the controls and playstyle of the game, then after completing it, go back and play the older games, which is what I am doing now. As for DS3 itself, I haven't played a game this captivating, both inside and outside the game, in years. The last time a game occupied my everyday thoughts this much was many years ago, back on my old PS3 days with Battlefield 3. I played DS3 for a couple of hours to begin with, and made fair progress. But - the moment I beat the 1st real boss you face, after the "tutorial" boss, I was hooked. Every time I put my controller down I was immediately thinking what I was going to do next when I played again. I put 60 hours into this game in my first 2 weeks of owning it - whilst also working full time. Like I said, I haven't played a game that captured me this much in years. The combat system is intuitive, fluid and feels fantastic to play at 60fps. The hitboxes are awesome - a simple search on youtube will reveal to you just how good they are. The rolling thresholds are gone from the old games, so now you can "fast" roll at 70% equpid load, rather than the 16% from Dark Souls 1. The graphics are fantastic and very well themed - playing on an Nvidia 770 4GB I can run this game at a solid 60 on high. Walking through one of the later areas of the game that is lit with moonlight looks stunning - you'll know which area I mean when you get there! The story continues from the previous 2 games, and is as deep and fascinating as ever. You can skip the story completely, by not reading item descriptions and skipping the NPC dialogue. But, if you pay attention and spend some time every now and again reading a few things, you'll quickly become immersed in this game (and series') amazingly deep and thorough story. If anything, I recommend you play the older games just to learn the origins of the some of the bosses and items you find in this game. If not, there are many lore videos on youtube, all worth a watch. The PvP is... Well, its Dark Souls, so very competitive and sometimes kinda toxic. There is an established meta Soul Level you can stop levelling once you reach - it is at this level you will experience the most varied and plentiful PvP. Invasions are broken, with the invader being at a huge disadvantage, but these can still be fun from time to time, if you get lucky and invade a good host. If you're looking for good, fair PvP, look up honour duels for this game and try some summoning rather than invading - I enjoy honor duels substantially more than invasions, but it all comes down to what type of a PvP experience you are looking for. Poise is [strike] broken [/strike] "[i] working as intended [/i]", so be careful when using super slow weapons in PvP as enemies with faster weapons will very easily stagger you and get you in a stun lock - not fun at all. The weapons are varied enough to keep you busy for a long time, if you want to learn and use each. Some weapons that were very good from previous games have been completely borked, but there are many other awesome alternatives you can use that are equally as fun. The armor is good with many blast-from-the-pasts from previous games, allowing you to cosplay as your favourite bosses or make some hideous monstrosity wearing only a loincloth giant fat armor. Character creation and customisation is also improved from previous games, allowing you to tweak your character to fairly deep measures. The music - oh man the music. Give the composer a Grammy, please. The boss fights in this game are awesome as they are (well, most anyway..), but the music really takes them to the next level. The music in the forefront of my mind is the track that accompanies the first Lord of Cinder you fight, but all of the tracks are amazing in their own right and perfectly accompany an already fantastic game. Overall, this game is honestly the best game I've played this year. It's better than the games I played last year too - and it managed to pull me away from Overwatch for basically 3 weeks straight. Very highly recommended, even for newcomers to the series. In fact, [i] especially [/i] for newcomers to the series, as this game is your best way in to what is probably one of the best damn game series ever created.