For all the shtick we give Ubisoft for releasing 'the same game' year after year with Assassin's Creed, FromSoftware manage to justskate on by with the Souls games and Bloodborne, because so much effort is put into everything outside the game engine. All their releases in the last six years have played almost identically, with only the most incremental things such a new attack animations and dodge moves being inserted to freshen it up a little. It's more reminiscent of when we had GTA III, Vice City and San Andreas all release within three years of one another, essentially all playing the same, yet feeling completely different. Back to Dark Souls, and this marks the supposed final entry in the series before mastermind Hidetaka Miyazaki puts all his efforts into the next Bloodborne (in theory, anyway). That means more towering bosses, more brutal enemy difficulty, more environments that wrap around and reveal you're back where you started after hours of play - more of the same Soulsian goodness fans have come to love. With Demon's Souls, Dark Souls 1 & 2, Lords of the Fallen, Bloodborne and now this marking the sixth title to use the 'Souls formula', it's going to be very interesting to see which mechanics transfer across, and if Bloodborne's huge success garners Dark Souls III way deserved more attention.
