Here’s how you die a lot in Dark Souls III

The Souls series is known for its high difficulty and merciless deaths. When you die in the Dark Souls and Demon Souls games, you’re dead. And you have to start over at the most recent bonfire you visited, or, in the case of the opening scene of Dark Souls III, you return to the beginning.

This difficulty is what a large number of masochistic gamers enjoy. Demons Souls came out in 2009. The original Dark Souls took the action role-playing game further in 2011 and became a stand-out hit, selling more than 2 million units. Dark Souls II came out in 2014, and From Software is now ready to launch Dark Souls III. This obsession with harsh death penalties is becoming more common in games, as it separates the lightweights from real the hardcore gamers. I sincerely hope it does not spread further.

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Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.