Dark Souls III - Making it Accessible

In an article on GamesRadar, about Dark Souls III, the author explains that the game has lost some of it's mystique in favor of accessibility.

Perhaps though, by the time of a part three, the loss of some mystery was inevitable. Perhaps, in fact, Dark Souls could never truly exist more than once in its purest form, sequels inevitable but fundamentally unable to recreate the experience. By their very nature, intrigue and discovery cannot be repeated using the same systems – probably another reason Bloodborne took a slightly different direction. With repetition comes inherent degradation of the unknown, and many Dark Souls players have walked this path before. 

Maybe then, Dark Souls 3’s structure is less an erroneous mis-step as it is an admission of the problem, expressed through the very game design at the heart of the issue. Miyazaki is, after all, nothing if not a very insightful, experiential designer, one who has long mastered the art of communicating meaning through interaction. Coming alongside the end of Dark Souls as we know it, before From retools the series’ values in a fresh new direction, it’s entirely possible that DS3’s more direct, accessible set-up is intended as an everything-must-go fire sale, burning all that’s left as fast and as bright as possible, in the knowledge that the old shadows of mystery and intrigue just can’t and won’t do the job any more.