The souls series regularly wrestles with themes of impending doom, each of its fantastical kingdoms rotting, clinging onto the last slivers of life. The first being Lordran, brought to its knees by a festering darkness, its king hollow, feral. The second; Drangleic, shares a similar fate, succumbing to the cyclical degeneration imposed upon From-Soft’s worlds. Lordan carries itself with a certain grace throughout its descent, radiant with reminders of its former glory, whilst Drangleic fades into a melancholic dream-like absentia. The third entry in the series, Dark Souls III, has a particular sort of degradation occurring within its world, a world that weeps, begging for a conclusion.
The kingdom of Lothric is on life support, ash stricken, gray and festering with the pus of man, it is utterly hostile territory. A far cry from the wistful inertia of Majula, Lothric is often utterly devoid of color. What tones are discernible include gray, black, yellow, and a smoldering orange that evokes the smoldering heat of the first flame. Its various locales brimming with twisted inhabitants that act as the final spasms of a dying world. Our protagonist awakens in a mound of ash, tasked with slaying the “Lords of Cinder”, powerful beings tasked with the re-ignition of the first flame. During this particular cycle, the lords of cinder have failed to reignite the flame, and breaking the cycle has led to dire consequences. Lothric festers with the pus of man, its downfall metastasized into tar-like growths that burst from the insides of its denizens, thrashing and screeching.
Lothric echoes with the cries of a world begging to be euthanized, posing the inherently terrifying question of; when will time end? It’s a game built on conclusions, even going as far as recreating modern incarnations of locales from Dark Souls 1, but with a saddening twist. Anor Londo returns in Dark Souls III, devoid of its regent beauty it’s dying in its current state. Caked in slithering masses of pus of man and housing the depraved lord of cinder; Aldrich, who wears the decaying husk of Gwyndolin atop his own festering mass.
As players traverse the desolate landscapes of Lothric, they confront not only the physical decay but also the moral disintegration of its inhabitants. NPCs encountered along the journey mirror the kingdom's despair, embodying various shades of hopelessness and madness. From the crestfallen warrior to the crestfallen priestess, each character serves as a poignant reminder of the futility that pervades a world teetering on the edge of oblivion.
In essence, Dark Souls III stands as a poignant testament to the inevitable march of time and the ephemeral nature of all things. Lothric's crumbling architecture and its tormented denizens paint a vivid picture of a kingdom in its twilight hours, clinging desperately to the remnants of its former glory. As players navigate through this bleak landscape, they are confronted with the stark reality of entropy, where even the mightiest civilizations are destined to fade into obscurity. In the end, Dark Souls III poses a haunting question that reverberates long after the final boss is vanquished: when will time end, and what lies beyond the ashes of a world consumed by decay?