Characters and locations from the entire catalog are here, whether it’s directly or in homage (even Demon’s Souls gets a nod). If anything, Dark Souls 3 feels like a greatest hits collection. I could feel my heart pounding, and my palms were sweaty – it’s a genius encounter that feels so utterly special, so completely Souls.

I bested him eventually, five tries later, and the elation was met only by my admiration for the set piece. And so I won… until, that is, the second phase started and he took me down amid a flurry of fire and speed. Amid a pile of reanimating corpses, my enemy would be attacked by his own duplicates, and I could use it to my advantage. My first try was pathetic, but that’s fine: a large part of From’s set pieces is about learning attack patterns and understanding how they’ll play out. A cut-scene played out, and the battle started. Having traipsed through screeching monkey-like enemies that I could kill quickly if I got the jump on them (before they sprout wings and leap at me, giving no respite to regain my senses and mount my attack) and all manner of swamp dwelling evils, I felt as though I was approaching a lord’s quarters. Specifically, it was when I felled the first Lord of Cinder I came across what makes it feel special. But we’ve seen bosses that have second phases, and we’ve seen enemies that transform thanks to the genuine brilliance of Bloodborne.

The first boss transforms from a generic Knight into a monstrosity of swarming, flailing limbs, and its attacks change with its appearance. For a while it feels as though you’re playing a FromSoft game a Souls game, and it’s all fine and good, almost like putting on a pair of comfortable shoes. The latest Souls adventure actually takes a little while to click.

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