DARK SOULS 3 INCOMING

This year’s E3 is still two weeks away, and yet you can still feel the hype from here. People are pumped, for lack of a better term, and as anticipation rises for new announcements, reveals, and trailers, developers around the world are milking that anticipation for all its worth. New games, such as the next Tomb Raider game, Fallout 4 (yes, Fallout 4, we’ll have more tomorrow) and others have streamed out of the woodwork, and now… not four months after the release of Bloodborne… Dark Souls 3.

Yes, Dark Souls 3. Trust me, I’m alternating between states of extreme joy and irrational anger. I knew this was coming but… so soon?

Namco Bandai said that we could expect to learn more about the upcoming Sequel to Dark Souls (and Dark Souls 2) at this year’s E3. While they had nothing to say about the actual game itself (other than, presumably, it’s set in the same world as the first two games) it did offer fans who instinctively flinch when they see a number behind the “Dark Souls” name…

…that it would be directed by series creator and prophet Hidetaka Miyazaki.

So we’re back to form. The original creator of Dark Souls, Demon Souls, and Bloodborne is back at the helm, and the (well-intended, but simply incomparable) duo behind Dark Souls 2 won’t be coming back for a return performance. This is pretty damn exciting news for us Souls fans, but… we are left to wonder, what more can be done in Lordran? What secrets do we have yet to uncover, what knowledge have we not already plundered? We’ve explored the cycle of Darkness and Fire, we’ve possibly even broken it… what can Dark Souls yet teach us?

Plus, now that Sony has officially said that it has a vested interest in “expanding” Bloodborne, it appears there’s going to be a lot of work on Hidetaka Miyazaki’s table. And frankly… I’m starting to feel bad for the guy. It can’t be easy to live up to all the expectations laid at his feet, and he’s bound to screw up eventually. Plus, I have to imagine anyone would get a little weary of making so many dark, gloomy, depressing games after so long… he could probably use a break.

But, Lightning has struck three times already with Mr. Miyazaki. And if anyone could make it strike a fourth, it would be him.