Dark Souls 3 review – the grandiose end to an unmatched trilogy

Game designer Hidetaka Miyazaki no longer has novelty on his side, but the genius behind the Souls series still has plenty of tricks to surprise us with

When Dark Souls emerged, so brooding and so strange, in 2011, it had that most treasured of all video game attributes: novelty. Dark fantasy action games are a staple of a medium that rarely ventures from the agreed confines of genre. But only players of Hidetaka Miyazaki's little-known game, Demon's Souls, were familiar with the director's talent for arranging castles, knights, swords and dragons in such a beguiling manner.

As a child, Miyazaki would borrow western fantasy books from the library, then, unable to read them, would imagine stories to accompany the illustrations. Through his games he has revealed an understanding of the power of enigma. Where most designers gingerly lead the player while explaining every rule and backstory nugget in wearying detail, Miyazaki constantly withholds information, thereby provoking a much keener interest - which is then compounded by the fact that every enemy encounter is a life or death battle.