In the latest issue of EDGE, the team behind the latest installment of the highly acclaimed Dark Souls series, explain how the PlayStation 4 exclusive Bloodborne, helped shape the combat of Dark Souls to provide a new gameplay experience.
You can read the excerpt from EDGE in detail below:
There are traces of Bloodborne in the combat, too. While the new hero is no Hunter, he certainly seems more agile than before. The backstep in particular has been sped up, and a longsword is swung more quickly too, with no apparent damage penalty (though enemy health bars – along with the entire HUD – have been disabled here, just as they were at last year’s Bloodborne unveiling).
That increased fluidity is mirrored in the weapon set as well; we find a scimitar on a corpse later in the demo that is, in fact, a pair, and when dual-wielding them, the protagonist strikes with a level of grace and speed unmatched in previous Souls games. They can also be deployed in a spin attack, a tornado of flashing steel that, when properly timed to account for its wind-up animation and correctly spaced to allow for the step forward at the start, can clear a four-strong mob of enemies.
That move – the logically, if rather unimaginatively, titled Spin – is powered by a new core mechanic, dubbed Ready Stance. It’s a pose you can enter from which new types of attacks are launched. With a longsword equipped, for instance, the resulting attack is a forward-moving swipe that hits with enough force to break through an opponent’s guard; later, we’ll use a greatsword for a charging upward slash that launches an enemy into the air, slams then back to the ground and deals enormous damage in the process.
Not all the changes are about hitting hard: the shortbow can now be used to speedily chip away at an enemy’s health from mid-range while locked on (adherents to a rangier, more precise school of archery can stick to the longbow). Overall, there’s been a clear focus on improving the range of attacks at your disposal, and the damage you can dish out.
Leading interactive entertainment company BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Europe has recently announced DARK SOULS III for an early 2016 release date for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.
Developed by acclaimed Japanese developer From Software and directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki, DARK SOULS III is the latest chapter in the critically acclaimed DARK SOULS series with its trademark sword and sorcery combat and rewarding action RPG gameplay. Players will travel across a wide variety of locations in an interconnected world of unrelenting challenge and deep RPG gameplay as they search for a way to survive the coming apocalypse.
“The DARK SOULS brand became a phenomenon thanks to amazing work from our dear partners From Software and our very own BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment teams”. said Herve Hoerdt, Vice President of Marketing & Digital at BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Europe. “But above all, we are blessed to have such a supportive and loving community, and we are happy to dedicate this final episode to them!”
DARK SOULS III will arrive on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC early 2016.
The latest issue of Edge, with Dark Souls 3 on the cover, is out now.
