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Locke’s Message (26 appraisals)
The co-op experience in Dark Souls 3 brings together everything FROM has learned since Demon’s Souls. Each iteration in the series has made it easier to join in jolly co-operation, both with random phantoms and directly with friends. My playstyle always utilizes the unique summoning aspect the Dark Souls series has relied on for nearly a decade. I’m eternally fascinated with the design choice of having random strangers invade, help, and asymmetrically communicate with the tools given in the series. Dark Souls 3 is no different and the streamlined summoning has made my time in awesome in Lothric, especially when I have a couple of my closest Sun-bros sharing the wonderment of discovery in this beautiful world.
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Jason’s Message (5 appraisals, 23 fouls)
Beware of nostalgia ahead. Mike’s description of Dark Souls 3 being a kind of “greatest hits collection” is very accurate, almost to a fault. I didn’t get into the Souls series until Dark Souls 2, but I went back and played through a chunk of Dark Souls and all of Bloodborne. While it’s nice to see all of those titles recognized in the latest, at times it felt like nostalgia for the sake of it. At a certain point in the game, From Software seemed to be yelling, “you want Dark Souls?! FINE! HAVE SOME FRIGGIN DARK SOULS!” For me, nostalgia is a narrative device best used to move forward some new idea by invoking an old/familiar feeling in a different way. It’s the difference between looking at a photograph of a particular moment in time, and using that memory to color your current perspective. From Software certainly uses this opportunity to close out questions from the series, which for many longtime fans provides a feeling of closure and that’s not a bad thing. There are other times, though, where it feels like certain things exist just to be a nod; a thing to point to and say, “hey, they brought this back! Cool!” I suppose having everything old cycle back through for one last hurrah is only fitting given the the cyclical nature that’s been something of a hallmark for the series, but I can’t help but feel there was a missed opportunity to really twist things on their head for the finale.
Verdict
Co-Op Score
Overall
The Co-Op Experience: Players may summon up to two other phantoms (players) into their game to assist in clearing an area up to, and including, the area's boss
Co-Optimus game reviews focus on the cooperative experience of a game, our final score graphic represents this experience along with an average score for the game overall. For an explanation of our scores please check our Review Score Explanation Guide.