When comparing Dark Souls III vs Alienation, the Slant community recommends Dark Souls III for most people. In the question“What are the best RPGs (role playing games) for PS4?” Dark Souls III is ranked 22nd while Alienation is ranked 39th. The most important reason people chose Dark Souls III is:
There's tons of lore everywhere for you to discover, but it isn't necessarily told through a conventional story. Weapons, armor, spells, and items you acquire have descriptions on them that tell you where in the game world they came from, any prominent characters they're associated with, and a bunch of other relevant and interesting information. So when you find examples of the lore scattered around the game, like bosses wearing a style of armor you read about, or an obscure NPC mentioned in a sword's description, you know the history behind the design and their purpose without that boss or character needing to explain anything to you. Even though the actual story in Dark Souls III is very thin, there's a lot to find under the surface if you're willing to look for it.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Extensive lore that's presented in unconventional ways
There's tons of lore everywhere for you to discover, but it isn't necessarily told through a conventional story.
Weapons, armor, spells, and items you acquire have descriptions on them that tell you where in the game world they came from, any prominent characters they're associated with, and a bunch of other relevant and interesting information. So when you find examples of the lore scattered around the game, like bosses wearing a style of armor you read about, or an obscure NPC mentioned in a sword's description, you know the history behind the design and their purpose without that boss or character needing to explain anything to you.
Even though the actual story in Dark Souls III is very thin, there's a lot to find under the surface if you're willing to look for it.
Pro Stunning environments
The world of Dark Souls 3 looks amazing, so you may often feel the need to stop and take in the beautiful sights. This can be the sheer size of structures, mountains, or caves. It can also be the decorations, inscriptions, or details in a room. There's always so much to look at, allowing you to truly immerse yourself in its world.
Pro Can give a great feeling of accomplishment
The Dark Souls series is known for its difficulty and Dark Souls 3 is no exception. It's filled with difficult enemies and tough boss battles, able to cause you grief on more than one occasion. However, every time you progress to the next safe spot or defeat a boss you'll often be filled with a mix of joy and relief. Beating this game will almost certainly feel like an achievement.
Pro Unpredictable boss battles
The boss battles in Dark Souls 3 consist of several phases, changing up how the bosses fight over the course of the battle. They will gain new abilities, become more aggressive, or reveal various nasty surprises. This creates an enjoyable experience that is different from most modern games where bosses are just glorified pincushions.
Pro A great variety of equipment for almost any playstyle
You'll be finding new pieces of equipment quite often, giving you many options to choose from. Each one has its strengths and weaknesses, allowing you to pick the equipment that best suits your playstyle.
For example, heavy armor will make you move slower, but you'll be better protected. Greatswords have a wide reach, but you swing them really slow. Conversely a dagger is very fast but it has a horrible reach.
Pro Solid controls
This game feels and plays really well. Your character responds to button inputs immediately and it almost never feels like you're losing control over it. The control scheme can also be customized, giving you the option of a more personalized experience.
Pro Great combat system
Dark Souls 3 is a very fast-paced game but it's not just about having quick reflexes. A lot of the combat comes down to exploiting your enemies. To do that, you have to learn their patterns and attack the moment they pause or perform a telegraphed attack. This creates a combat system, which rewards awareness and patience, and is satisfying to master, even if you don't have extraordinary reflexes.
Pro Different classes to compliment each other in co-op play
Alienation features three different classes to choose from, all of which compliment each other in co-op play. Tanks can take the brunt of the damage, while saboteurs can dash into swarms of ranged enemies to take them out, and the bio-specialist which serves as an assist role by healing teammates can unleash clouds of poison to choke enemies. Playing with your friends offers the opportunity to create some fun team compositions that compliment each other as you work together to blast your way through swarms of aliens.
Pro Great weapon looting and upgrade system
There's always a new weapon to loot or find via randomized weapon drops. Weapons come with a variety of upgrade sockets that can be fitted with upgrade "cores" to increase the base stats like damage, clip size, and rate of fire. All upgrades are incredibly satisfying as they feel immediately more powerful.
Each player can carry 3 weapons at the same time, as well as a grenade slot for explosives like boomerangs and mines. You're free to mix and match your weapons to create a style that works for you.
If you're not happy with your random drop, you can always salvage/reroll it to have new stats and sockets. Regardless of your weapon choice, you'll always be able to custom tailor it to suit your playstyle through the versatile upgrading system.
Pro Fast paced, arcade action
The action never stops. Enemies of multiple types spawn all over the place in random locations, lasers and flamethrowers light up the screen, and things explode into a shower of color and particle effects. Loot is everywhere, drops randomly, and can be upgraded RPG style. There's hardly a chance to catch your breath because the enemies just don't stop coming as you make your way through procedurally-generated maps and missions.
Pro Lots of variety in enemy type
There are many enemy types, from the slow-moving kind you can simply shoot down as you run and gun, to ones that move fast, explode, wear heavy armor, and teleport around the map. Every enemy has a trick up it's sleeve, so you'll have to adjust your strategies on the fly. As you progress through the game, the enemies become more numerous and stronger resulting in exciting and balanced gameplay. You won't get bored of shooting the same enemies over and over, as they are randomly placed with plenty of variety.
Cons
Con Poor support for mouse+keyboard control
The default DS3 key/button bindings actually prevent full use of certain weapons by requiring the shift key to be pressed and not-pressed simultaneously. Rebinding is possible, but limited by issues like the left mouse button overriding all others and certain bindings not actually working in game (e.g. Shift+MiddleClick).
Con It's hard
You should try avoiding the trap of great review scores since most of them fail to mention the difficulty. It's simply put - hard. A lot of the combat requires quick reflexes, good mechanics, and the mental fortitude to carry on after failing for hours. If you're new to the Souls-like genre or simply want to enjoy a relaxing evening playing a video game, you most likely won't enjoy Dark Souls III.
Con Poorly tuned dynamic visiblity
You may notice some texture pop in while sharply turning the camera. It can be somewhat distracting if you notice it, but most of the time you won't because it happens in the distance.
Con Occasional performance issues
There are portions of the game that will have noticeable framerate drops, which can negatively affect the gameplay. Most of the fault lies with the game engine, so getting better hardware won't help that much.
Con Single player can be hard
This game was meant for co-op, meaning the single player mode can feel overwhelming at time. Playing alone and with no support, you will oftentimes simply be outgunned.
Con PvP can be unfair
Through an 'Invasion' system, other players can invade your game and attempt to kill you while you attempt to defend against them. However, there is no attempt to match up players of equal power, so it usually results in unfair play where higher level players are demolishing lower level players. It feels very unbalanced and offers no extra rewards like loot or experience.
Con Guns are all pretty similar
With the exception of their raw damage output and base stats, most guns of the same type (shotgun, flamethrower, etc) look and perform the same.