FromSoftware's Dark Souls games are third-person action-adventure RPGs through-and-through, with players sometimes able to go in first-person mode when aiming with certain weapons. The third-person camera is definitely best-suited for Dark Souls' style of gameplay, but that hasn't stopped one fan from setting out to make a full-fledged first-person mod for Dark Souls 3.
Reddit user Dasaav recently shared a clip of their Dark Souls 3 first-person mod, which aims to make the entire game playable from a first-person perspective. This isn't the first time that someone has made a Dark Souls 3 first-person mod, though Dasaav explained how their take will differ from previous attempts.
After another Reddit user pointed out that a Dark Souls 3 first-person mod was made by Zullie the Witch six years ago, Dasaav explained how their vision of a first-person mod for the game differs. According to Dasaav, their Dark Souls 3 first-person mod will be a "full conversion," whereas previous mods used clever placement to make the existing third-person camera look as though it was providing a first-person viewpoint. "In my mod, I plan to both attach the camera to the actual head of the player, so it moves together with the head, and make the player always face in the direction of the camera, with movement being relative to that, i.e. strafing not turning and walking forward," Dasaav explained. Dasaav compared the movement in their Dark Souls 3 first-person mod to Skyrim, and while the video provided shows the mod in its earliest stages of development, it does bring to mind Bethesda's open world epic.
Regardless of how first-person is implemented in Dark Souls 3, one has to imagine that the viewpoint is going to make the game significantly harder. The third-person camera lets players see more of the world around them, and the combat mechanics are built entirely around it. Swapping viewpoints could drastically change the experience, potentially making Dark Souls 3's toughest combat encounters exponentially more difficult than they would be if the game were played in its normal third-person viewpoint.
And since Dark Souls 3, like FromSoftware's other games, is generally considered one of the most difficult games of modern times, it seems like trying to play through the game in first-person could be a near-insurmountable challenge for many players. There are those who struggle to beat the game and reach one of Dark Souls 3's endings when playing the game as it was intended, after all.
Dasaav made it clear that this is just a rough example of the mod in action, and that there will be improvements to it with future updates. There are many great Dark Souls 3 mods out there already, and it will be interesting to see how this one turns out when work on it is done.
Dark Souls 3 is out now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.