Are we going to see a third Dark Souls game at E3? Though nothing’s official yet, there are enough rumours floating around to make it seem like a real possibility.
A few days ago, the video game website VG247 reported that Dark Souls 3 will be unveiled at E3. Today, popular YouTube channel The Know is claiming to have details and screenshots on the game.
This new rumour comes just a week after The Know reported that Microsoft planned to buy the cancelled game Silent Hills — which they said was 80% finished — for “billions” of dollars. Microsoft’s Phil Spencer quickly denied the rumour, which seemed preposterous to most observers — Konami had called Silent Hills “embryonic” in their announcement of its cancellation.
They now claim to have lots of specific information on Dark Souls 3, but despite the screenshots and concept art in the video, it’s giving me pause. Here’s the video:
In those seven minutes, here’s what The Know alleges about the game itself:
- Coming to Xbox One and PlayStation 4 in 2016, with a PC version being “negotiable”
- 1-to-4 players
- A sacrifice ritual allows you to enter other games, but puts a bounty on your head
- It’s now possible to create bonfires
- The world can be altered in ways that change the bosses you fight
- Players can equip “swordfighting arts” that act as special moves
Namco Bandai did not respond to my request for comment.
Those all sound well and fine, and none of them would be surprising in a sequel to Dark Souls 2.
It’s everything else in the video that’s throwing me off. Here’s what else they allege:
- 45 new enemies
- 15 new bosses
- Around 12 new areas in the game
- 60 minutes of cutscenes, mostly in-engine
These are incredibly specific numbers, not the type of information that’s released to the public. In fact, these are the types of bullet-points you most frequently see making the rounds in big fake rumours on pastebin and Reddit. Dark Souls games have never, ever been about the story, so there would be no reason for a marketing team to ever tell people how many cutscenes to expect in the game — it wouldn’t do anything to hype people up for it.
To make things weirder, one of the screenshots with an interface has Japanese text.
Also weird? The interface looks to be lifted directly from Dark Souls, not Dark Souls 2.
Here’s Dark Souls:
Here’s Dark Souls 2:
Then again, if these are real, it could be temporary.
If this rumour is legitimate, it likely stems from internal documents about Dark Souls 3 and not early press materials. That would explain terminology like the PC version being “negotiable” and the specificity around features like the exact enemy count. (Then again, Dark Souls 2 was huge on PC, so that remains a confusing point.)
It’s entirely possible — if not likely — that Dark Souls 3 will be announced at E3 in a week and a half. But there’s good reason to stay sceptical about the specifics here.
Comments
16 responses to “YouTube Channel Claims To Have First Dark Souls 3 Screens, Details”
All sounds legit to me. Kotaku’s skepticism seems more like they’re bummed they didn’t hear this stuff first.
And it’s the specific numbers that make it seem more legit, like something straight from the development team rather than a press notice.
Looking forward to Microsoft’s Silent Hill announcement and everyone quickly changing their tone.
Indeed, there’s been a really weird bitchy tone to a few articles lately hasn’t there…
For sure. Maybe some of the writers are having bad days or something? Not really enjoying the tone…
Either way it’d be nice if they could stop talking shit about others. I once thought Kotaku was better than that, silly me I guess.
I’ll bet if the info from The Know gets confirmed in a DS3 reveal that the inevitable Kotaku article that details it all later on conveniently glosses over who had the original scoop. All the while they’ll be reminding everyone forever that Kotaku were the ones who leaked all the Fallout 4 info way back when.
I’m not even a massive fan of The Know, but at this point I really would love MS to announce Silent Hills solely to prove the Funhaus guys right so I can watch people choke on the fact.
Absolutely. I’m a huge fan of Funhaus and The Know, and they did amazing work in both of their leak videos over the past week. And I think people disregard them because they’re not IGN, Kotaku, Polygon, etc.
Xbox denying the SH rumour doesn’t make it true. As they denied the Kinect rumour and it was legit. As if Microsoft would somehow give away a HUGE get for them two weeks before E3…
I’ve always been a fan of Kotaku for their reporting, but this snarkiness and poorly-hidden jealousy doesn’t suit them. Hoping it goes away soon!
While I don’t pay much attention to The Know specifically I do watch the Funhaus guys’ content on their channel.
I like the Funhaus style… Some people apparently don’t understand that news is still news even if it’s not delivered with a perfect ‘professional’ take where the people presenting it look like they just had their souls ripped out.
I’ll be a little disappointed if Funhaus don’t release a totally tactful, totally professional, “Fuck you guys, we were right about everything!” video if the DS3 and SH stuff turns out to be accurate.
I too love Funhaus. They deliver accurate and informative content while still being inclusive and light-hearted. It’s their ability to realise the fact that “video game journalism” is kind of a silly idea (despite the size of the industry).
I think that’s why high-and-mighty journalistic folk like Kotaku and others dismiss them. Seems to me like maybe they feel it cheapens their job titles, or perhaps that they are more worthy than a “YouTube channel”.
Cant wait for ds3 if it happens. That video sucked though and those guys should stay away from all things souls.
They make videos about whatever gaming news there is.
Also the video was awesome.
This is the second article in the last couple of days that reads like a bitchy blog post about someone else getting attention for releasing information. At least the other article had SOME legitimacy for it given that Kotaku did originally leak the information in question.
The point about the UI being ‘lifted directly’ from DS1 is laughable at best. It looks similar to both games. Go figure for a game in the same series right? And if the rumours of Hidetaka Miyazaki being back at the helm are true, it actually makes sense it might look a bit more like 1 than 2.
Also, I didn’t want to mention it but it sort of looks like the Demon Souls’ and Bloodborne interfaces… Conspiracy!
Yeah it looks like elements from both (or even Demons) with little bits and pieces there. Which is good. I think more elements from Demon Souls (and Bloodborne as a spiritual successor) will be a great way to fresh up Dark Souls for a third installment.
thats weird a game made in japan has japanese text
If there were no screenshots to go with it, then sure you could say its just a fake rumor. But with all of those screenshots I think its pretty safe to say this is a legit leak.
I hope it’s not legit. Those screens look pretty damn polished which would mean they have been working on it for a while.
Which would mean Miyazaki would have been busy with Bloodborne and not taking a central role on DS3 which no thanks.
I love his Ghibli films XD
I’d like to believe they are real, as the thought that someone would spend so much time on creating a fake reveal like this is just sad.
To me, the only thing that possibly says it’s fake is the UI (the bars straight out of DS1, the item artwork almost identical to DS2, and the white lines seemingly from BB), but as stated it could just be a temporary layout.