I'm asking, is this game good enough that you think it'll be on your game of the year list, perhaps at (or near) the top? I haven't yet played it; still going through two. I'm half, or 75 percent the way through two, but I'm curious just how good this game is to the rest of you, and how enthusiastic you are about the game. I am getting the feeling people are more 'Yeah, it's more Souls. It's good... Not surprised.' Rather than 'Wow, this is one of the best games this year, maybe ever! Whoo!' You know, real excitement, ha ha. I have to get through the rest of two, as well as Bloodborne first before I can get into this. That means I'll probably have to wait to play other games like Uncharted 4. I was also curious, is any fan of the Souls series sad to some extent that this may be the final Souls game? Does three make it seem like it's ending the series?

I think people should say there are five Souls games and, yes, that's plenty for quite a while now. These games are revered by many, they're in the public consciousness, I suspect we'll be seeing plenty of Souls influenced games in the future.

Is this one good? I haven't finished it yet but, yeah, it's pretty good. It's probably the best one overall, but it's missing... well, newness, basically. I'm on a phone and don't want to type much more, but that's it in a nutshell.

EDIT: Well, now I'm typing on a real keyboard!

I watched the archive of that Doom livestream that Gamespot did and that campaign looks awesome, and it looks like it's trying to deliver a style of gameplay that isn't overdone. I think that has a pretty good chance of eclipsing Dark Souls III as "best game I've played this year", but then I haven't really played that many 2016 games. I played Fire Emblem and I really hope five better games get released this year, that had some pretty good gameplay but I don't think I've ever rolled my eyes so much at a story.

Bloodborne was my game of the year, but this one didn't hit me as hard. It'll make my list because it's a fantastic game, but I even preferred Salt & Sanctuary to it. I'm looking forward to the DLC but then I'm looking forward to see where they go next. Not that the gameplay is stale or something, as I'd love a Bloodborne 2.

My current favorite game of 2016 so far is Quantum Break, so take that how you will. And I'm guessing Doom might even top that, based on the campaign stuff they showed yesterday. But depending how the DLC plays out I can see this being a top 5 sort of game. Not necessarily number one.

It's the best Souls game as far as I'm concerned. It's just built on the back of 4 other games so that's why people aren't up in arms about it anymore, it's a known quantity.

That being said I don't play many games, just a lot of ones with a lot of content/replay ability so it will most likely appear in my personal best games of the year.

Eh, it's fine. Superb game of course but worse than Bloodborne/Dark Souls/Dark Souls II; I mean it might still be the best game of the year if a lot of the other stuff sucks and I continue to not play Persona games (up in the air); but it's far from perfect. I'll let you know how I feel after I spend another 400 hours with it like I did with Bloodborne, trusty youtube making me play these games for longer than merely 200 hours.

Dark Souls 3 is great and I liked it a whole lot, but it's certainly another one of these games. I've thoroughly enjoyed all 4 games in the series I've played (skipped DS2), but they definitely don't hit as hard as my first time playing Demon's Souls and Dark Souls 1 did. Dark Souls 3 does a lot things better than any other game in the series, but I'm absolutely glad they're going to do something new next.

If they kept on going with annual or bi-annual installments of Dark Souls and Bloodborne, there would just naturally be a feeling of fatigue. I think it's the perfect time for them to move on, I haven't grown completely tired of the series yet, but I can see that threshold coming and it's better that they do something else before completely wearing out their welcome.

With that being said, with both Zelda and Mass Effect pushed into 2017 and The Division not grabbing me in the way I thought it would, I don't really see anything else that would be GOTY this year. Maybe Uncharted, but while I like the series I've never been a mega fan. The Last of Us is my Naughty Dog game of choice by a wide margin. My "real" game of the year will probably be The Witcher 3 since I played it for the first time this year and probably consider it among my top 10 favorites of all time, but obviously that's not a 2016 release.

EDIT: Completely forgot about Persona 5, probably because I'm not convinced it's ever actually coming out. But if that comes out this year it will likely be my GOTY.

God I hope not.

@ll_exile_ll: I'm anticipating Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.

Do you have a moment to talk about The Witness?

I loved what I played in my first run, but NG+ and beyond feel like a letdown. If they release DLC before the end of the year, that might help out the post-game fatigue I'm dealing with.

I mean, I put almost 100 hours into it (so something is keeping me hooked), and I'm only missing two achievements (so I clearly care about the minutiae)...but Paradox has two (two!) games coming out this year, and if anyone can make a game that can get me to 500 hours or beyond, it's Paradox.

*crosses fingers that Persona 5 makes it to the west this year*

I fully expect DS3 to be in my top 5 for the year, but it'd be sad if the 5th game in this genre by the same company, which doesn't go out of its way to do much different goes on to be the best game of 2016. I mean, DS3 is my favourite souls-like since DS1, but still.

Diminishing returns.

Hmmm. We shall see. I'm guessing it will end up being top 3 for me. Depends on how long I stay hooked to the PVP.

So potential contenders that will compete with this...

The enivitable 40k mod for Stellaris(Hug a Blorg today!) which by the end of the year is likely to be given the label by some as 'the best 40k game ever made". In the same way the GoT mod for Crusader Kings 2 got that.

Torment..something something is suppose to come out this year finally right? That last big "old-school throw back" crpg?

Doom is..well its got name value. If it is good, it will sell a lot of copies.

How about FF15, Persona 5, etc. Might not come out (might not be good) but they are certainly 'maybes'.

And, I mean even just going on the stuff released just this year..I think Stardew Valley gets put higher on the list for 'best games released this year'. The sheer volume of content, cross appeal for the cost make it one of those games that absolutely anyone with even the smallest hint of interest in it can buy, try and enjoy. I don't think I've run into a single person whose response was "I hated it and/or its not worth the 15$ asking price". Unless it got its own undertale version of "this is popular we have to hate it!!" following anyhow I'd just ignored.

I doubt it, but I'd be surprised if it's not in my hypothetical top 5. I'm kinda holding out hope that Persona 5 will come out and be amazing.

If Dark Souls III is my game of the year, something has gone horribly wrong. It's great and could easily sneak its way into my top 5 if nothing better comes out, but it's also the 5th "one of those games" that From Software has put out. When it comes to GOTY stuff, I like stuff that either excels or surprises. There are aspects of Dark Souls III that excel, but it also falters in ways that previous games in the series didn't, and the most surprising thing about it is how much it calls back to other games in the series in a way that Dark Souls II totally avoided.

I'm still mulling over if it would be totally cool for me to just put 1/3 of Fire Emblem Fates on my list (Conquest is the best part of that game by a significant margin; Birthright is okay and Revelation is mediocre) but other than that... I hope Torment: Tides of Numenera lives up to its potential. Apparently the reaction to the early access beta on steam is pretty positive, but I have no interest in touching it until I get my code from kickstarter.

I hope not, but Persona 5 is the only game that I really have my eye on this year. For the time being DS3 is a mechanical mess, and is definitely the most redundant Souls game by virtue of not having new ideas.

It seems like it'll be high on my list. I haven't played a lot of other games this year though. Overwatch and Darkest Dungeon may rise above it. Trying to think what else is coming out later this year...Persona 5 hopefully will come out and top my list, but we'll see. Deus Ex looks pretty cool too. And I guess pokemon is this year too. Hm yeah, it'll be on my list, but Souls games don't usually make my #1.

I already predict that Persona 5 and SMT4: Apocalypse will beat it out for me. Maybe even FFXV will as well because I've loved both demos of it. Dark Souls 3 is the best Dark Souls game mechanically and is a hell of a lot better than 2, but it just didn't hit me like Demon's, Dark 1, and Bloodborne did. If they don't take at least a two year break this time I probably won't buy the next one unless they make Mech Souls or something.

Not really, these games were never GOTY material to me. With Dark souls 3 even less so. It feels very safe, nothing felt as exciting as Anor Londo or Blight Town. Too much similarities and fan service for my taste and even the bosses were not as memorable. Hell I even think Dark souls had cleaner image with a lot more believable art style. This game is 8/10 for me at best. So far nothing this year is GOTY material to me, not even top 5.

It will be on my list for sure, but personally the Souls fatigue has hit me quite hard with this one. Bloodborne's new setting kept me going despite the overly familiar mechanics. Dark Souls 3 is really well made, probably the best made Dark Souls game to date, but at the same time it is extremely familiar. I've enjoyed it as I always enjoy these games, but it's telling that I got up to a certain point and have not touched it in over 2 days. It will make top 10 but who knows at what spot!

So far, for me: yes.

Bloodborne is still my favourite as I like the focused and faster gameplay more and the environments and ambience was really to my taste as well. That said, Dark Souls 3 is again an amazing game. Why do I like these 'FromSoft games' so much?

I think they remind me of playing video games in my childhood. English is not my native language so the story and gameplay mechanics were all very cryptic to me. I had to find things out myself, there were no things pointing in the right direction, you always learned by failure and trying again. Of course being very young and all the games were challenging too, to a point where I sometimes just gave up on it.

I miss those things in most games today. Let the player find things out. I'm constantly looking for secrets and stuff in Dark Souls 3 and I found a whole lot of them but I'm sure I still missed a hell of a lot too. That's what makes the game bigger then the player. And sadly, it's what makes these games very special these days.

Probably 9-10 unless the year is really filled with stinkers. I like the game a lot but a big part of the souls experience for me is experiencing the world and conquering bosses that kick my ass. Perhaps it's different for first timers but this has been a very very easy souls game for me and as much as I thought these games weren't about the challenge it's still kind of a bummer to barely get to experience the bosses. I thought the game's various reimaginings of DS1 areas was cool at first, but I was kind of bummed about it by the end. I'd thought of it as sort of a greatest hits album, but seeing areas like the Duke's archives (a fairly meh area) or crypts (a good area with a very bleh re-imagining) kind of turned me around on the idea. The best areas were pretty much always the new ones (or ones so remixed they no longer resemble the original like Undead Settlement) and I'd much rather play a game full of them.

Only 2016 releases I've played are Dark Souls 3 and The Witness. I'm still in the middle of a DS3 fever so I can't be too "impartial" about it right now, but I'm 99% sure it'll be top 10 material for me, maybe top 5 even.

But I've yet to play Firewatch, Unravel, Hitman, Salt & Sanctuary, and Oxenfree. There's still Uncharted 4, Mirror's Edge, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Persona 5, FFXV, No Man's Sky, and Ni-Oh, etc.

So yeah, we'll see.

have you guys heard of quantum break or nah

that's a good joke

Definitely in my top 3, maybe even first if Persona 5 is bad and there's nothing else exceptional coming this year.

This is honestly the last Soulsborne game that comes out before there are serious diminishing returns, even this game has some, despite how great it is. I think I said it 3 years ago and so far it is true: they are going to crank out one of these a year, and it is going to get stale. Miyazaki has already backed up a little bit on his previous statements and basically said "Alright, it's the end of the trilogy, I should have said, not souls games in general". Which to me basically means Bloodborne 2 in March/April of next year, becauseIf I remember correctly, to fulfill their contract with Sony they need to put out a sequel to Bloodborne and a game from a new IP. I'm sure Fromsoft will pursue other projects as they've said, but these games will keep coming out consistently, and I imagine they will inch their way off of top 10 lists as the years go on. They just aren't as special as they once were.

I really hope it isn't game of the year, that would be a real shame for 2016. I'd like to see this year full of absolute bangers, so much that a great game like this doesn't even get top 10.

You're right.

It is early.

While it's really early and I'm only about halfway through DS III right now, I just don't see this one competing for Game of the Year for me. I'm sure it will compete in some circles that religiously play these games and nominate every one of them for Game of the Year. I like what I've played so far, and I could even see this possibly being like my third favorite game in the series by the time its done, but it also feels at every turn like the point of diminishing returns on the series.The only two games I've played so far that I'd see competing for top 5 spots would be XCom 2 (only the first sequel to XCom, and a game that shook up almost the entire core of the game) and The Witness.

DS III right now would be in discussion with games like Oxenfree and Firewatch which I could see rounding out my top 10.

So far not at all, maybe its because i played each dark souls game for the first real time back to back but the game is rather disappointing so far. After 30 hours of being annoyed by performance issues and then cheap enemy placement, i just kinda wanna do a new game + in ds2 right now lol.

*edit* actual game of the year so far is Xcom2

If Dark Souls 3 is GOTY, then 2016 will go down as worse than 2014.

Are you saying Dark Souls 3 is better than Stardew Valley?

Lol, talk about people only reading the thread title. Hilarious comments.

It's a good game but I'd be kind of disappointed if it ended up being my game of the year. I also kind of doubt it'll be the last Soulsborne game, I fully expect From to announce Not Dark Souls™ towards the end of the year/early next year.

Seeing as we are about 30-40 days away from already being halfway through the year already and the only "new" games I've played this year so far have been Street Fighter V, DOAX 3, Hitman, Hunie Cam Studio and Dark Souls 3 it sort of gets on my top 10 list by default. It is a pretty great game though. I think my favorite of the Souls series.

It's really solid and probably my favourite game of the year thus far. That said I'm confident that something will come along to replace it. Holding out hope for No Man's Sky and the final Witcher 3 expansion.

Unless the rest of the year blows, nah. It's good, but not great. The Witness is my goty right now. It's sad that a bunch of people aren't into it, because it's the closest thing to a perfect game I've ever seen.

For me it's going to probably be Persona 5. Uncharted 4 I also think will probably impresses me more than DS3.

To early to call. Persona 5 doesn't even have a release date yet.

I haven't managed to play enough current releases in a year to form an actual top ten list in a very long time now. DS3 is the first game I've played on release since... I don't even know. The only reason I'm playing on release is that I not so long ago went on a Souls binge and felt like being in on the hype for once. I would not be surprised at all if it's the only 2016 release I actually play this year. I guess it'll be my GOTY by default.

I can see it in my top 5 for sure. Definitely the best game I have played thus far.

It's an excellent game and will probably be my favorite of the trilogy (unless the ending blows here) but it inevitably doesn't have the freshness of earlier games. It's my favorite game of 2016 that I've played and will probably stay in my top 5 if not 3, but probably not a true contender for the title, although I wouldn't be disappointed if it was.

It might be on my list, though ten hours in and I'm not really feeling it.

But globally, amongst critics, there's no way. I think the Dark Souls fatigue is real, and even though this is a really great entry into the series, it isn't a significant enough leap in the way it needs to be to garner that sort of acclaim.

In the year of No Man's Sky? Nah. DS3 will be my top 10, but not GOTY. Too early to say what will be.

This mainly makes me wonder how few high profile games people are hyped about this year.

There's Persona5, FFXV, No Man's Sky, Uncharted, and new Pokemon.

And I guess Horizon: Zero Dawn and Last Guardian are still this year? I'm probably missing a bunch of smaller games but I'm not sure what exciting releases are going to challenge Dark Souls III later in the year.

I would love to be surprised by Rockstar or Valve and have an unknown game come out for the holidays and blow me away.

I hope not.

Not to slight Dark Souls 3, a game I like a whole lot, but I don't wanna think my year of gaming as peaked in April.