Dark Souls III Combat is Influenced by Bloodborne

The folks at GamesRadar have posted an excerpt from EDGE’s recent preview of Dark Souls III, published on the latest issue of the magazine. While the series will continue to be distinct from its PlayStation-exclusive Victorian cousin, it does sound like the combat will be significantly quicker and more fluid than its predecessors, thanks to the experience From Software, and director Hidetaka Miyazaki in particular, acquired while developing Bloodborne. A brief example of the new combat pace:

There are traces of Bloodborne in the combat, too. While the new hero is no Hunter, he certainly seems more agile than before. The backstep in particular has been sped up, and a longsword is swung more quickly too, with no apparent damage penalty (though enemy health bars along with the entire HUD have been disabled here, just as they were at last year’s Bloodborne unveiling).

That increased fluidity is mirrored in the weapon set as well; we find a scimitar on a corpse later in the demo that is, in fact, a pair, and when dual-wielding them, the protagonist strikes with a level of grace and speed unmatched in previous Souls games. They can also be deployed in a spin attack, a tornado of flashing steel that, when properly timed to account for its wind-up animation and correctly spaced to allow for the step forward at the start, can clear a four-strong mob of enemies.