Once you are done with making your character, you are given an indirect tutorial that the player can view through messages on the ground that give you various controls for the game. This is awesome since it allows for players who already are familiar with the game to run straight through these messages and skip a tutorial they wouldn't need. After getting familiar to the game's controls, you explore the initial starting area, eventually running into an area that looks like an arena with a statue in the middle of it. When you walk up to the statue, you are given a prompt to pull out the sword that is impaling it. Doing so starts the first boss fight of the game not even an hour into the game!
The first time I encountered this boss, I was shocked. I never would've expected a game to give someone a difficult challenge this early on when they are still learning the controls. I still remember dying to him at least 8 times before I finally killed him. This just emphasizes the brutal nature of this game as well as how punishing the combat can be. If you perform an action at the wrong time while fighting something in Dark Souls 3, you will get punished for it. The game forces you to get good at the combat or else you won't be able to progress so much so that the term "get good" has become a staple response of the Dark Souls community when a player asks how to do something.
Besides the combat, Dark Souls 3 provides an incredible atmosphere through its visual and auditory design. The Gothic architecture and setting along with the very limited amount of music and ambient sound creates a dark and oppressive feeling as you explore the world. The only times the game plays music to my knowledge is when you are fighting a boss. The music typically starts out simple and quiet as you battle the boss' first phase, but when the HP of the boss drops below a certain point and the second or third phase of a fight starts, the music picks up and adds to the terror the player may feel if they are nearly dead as well as the intimidation of the boss itself.
One of the draw backs of this game is how difficult it is to figure out the story of it. I had no idea why I was killing all of these bosses until I looked it up on Google. The game doesn't tell its story through dialogue interactions between the player and NPCs, nor does it tell its story through cutscenes. Most of the story is hidden in the description texts of the game's items as well as previous entries of the Dark Souls series.
In conclusion, if you haven't played any of the other Dark Souls games, I recommend you start with this one. I have gone back and tried the other games in this series, and those are a lot less friendly to newer players. If you can get past the fact that this game has a rather complicated story and a brutal combat system, I think you will enjoy this game.