Building comparison
head to head
Dark Souls IIIvsGrand Theft Auto V
Dark Souls III asks more than Grand Theft Auto V, and the gap is execution.
Dark Souls III
Execution · Practiced Mastery
The fastest mainline Souls, distilling the formula into aggressive boss duels.
Grand Theft Auto V
Execution · Practiced Mastery
Sandbox crime playground spanning shooting, driving, and a persistent online economy.
Dark Souls III leans Execution (Practiced Mastery); Grand Theft Auto V leans Execution (Practiced Mastery).
Dark Souls IIIGrand Theft Auto V
Axis by axis
Execution8 vs 5
Dark Souls III leans clearly harder on execution.
Dark Souls III
fast roll timing against aggressive scripted bosses
Grand Theft Auto V
Driving and shooting demand decent inputs.
Reads1 vs 2
Grand Theft Auto V leans a little harder on reads, though the gap is small.
Dark Souls III
PvP invasions exist but are optional
Grand Theft Auto V
Online PvP exists but mostly gear/positioning, not modeling.
Variance1 vs 2
Grand Theft Auto V leans a little harder on variance, though the gap is small.
Dark Souls III
fixed encounters converge after first sight
Grand Theft Auto V
Some mission and lobby randomness.
Optimization7 vs 4
Dark Souls III leans clearly harder on optimization.
Dark Souls III
movesets and builds are fully mappable
Grand Theft Auto V
Heists, money loops, builds learnable.
A matching score does not mean a matching test. Two games can both sit at 10 on execution and demand completely different things of you - which is why the reasoning above matters more than the number beside it.