Dark Souls II is an action role-playing game released in 2014. It was created by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Games. This is the second game in the Dark Souls series. It takes place in the kingdom of Drangleic and follows an undead traveler who is searching for a way to cure their condition. Although the setting is new, the game’s style, gameplay, and some story elements are similar to the first Dark Souls game. A key difference is a feature called "hollowing," which makes the player suffer greater consequences for dying repeatedly.
After some delays, Dark Souls II was released on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in March 2014. A version for Windows was released the next month. The game was successful and received praise from critics. Reviewers liked its story, atmosphere, world design, and visuals. However, opinions were split about how difficult the game was, and some said the boss battles and combat were not as strong as in the original. This is the only game in the trilogy that was not directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki, the creator of the series.
Three downloadable content packs were released later in 2014. An improved version of the game, called Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin, was released in 2015. It included all the DLC content, along with other upgrades. The game was available on the original platforms, as well as PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Dark Souls III followed in 2016.
Gameplay
Dark Souls II is part of the Dark Souls series, known for being very challenging. Both bosses and regular enemies can defeat the player quickly, often in just a few attacks. Like the first game, players have few chances to heal. Each time the player dies, their maximum health decreases. This process, called hollowing, continues until the player's health reaches 50%. The player can only restore their full health by using a rare item. The game uses a type of currency called "souls," which are used for leveling up and buying items. When the player dies, all their collected souls are lost. They can retrieve the souls by returning to the spot where they died, but if they die again before collecting them, the souls are gone forever.
Character abilities depend on their levels in specific attributes: vigor, endurance, vitality, attunement, adaptability, strength, dexterity, intelligence, and faith. When using souls to level up, one attribute can be increased by one point per level. Raising attributes improves a character's basic attack and defense abilities. At certain levels, it may allow the use of new equipment or impress certain characters in the game world, making them allies.
Multiplayer in Dark Souls II works similarly to earlier games. Players can join others through summoning, either by using a special item called soapstone or by joining a group through in-game covenants. Alternatively, players can fight each other by invading another player's world or participating in arena duels. Unlike other games in the series, Dark Souls II uses the "Soul Memory" system for matchmaking, which pairs players based on how many souls they have collected during their journey.
Dark Souls II includes a more advanced New Game Plus mode compared to the first game. When replaying, players keep their levels, souls, and most items. Enemy health and damage increase based on how many times New Game Plus has been used. Additional enemy encounters, changed boss battles, expanded merchant inventories, higher chances of finding items from defeated enemies, and new exclusive rewards are added, along with other changes.
Synopsis
Dark Souls II uses a simple way to tell its story and share information about its world. Important events and their meanings are often not clearly explained but instead left for players to figure out. Most of the story is shared through conversations with characters, descriptions on items, and the way the game world is designed. How players experience the story can change based on the choices they make.
The story starts with a human who becomes a Hollow, a lifeless creature, after dying. To stop this curse, the undead character travels to the fallen kingdom of Drangleic. There, a mysterious figure called the Emerald Herald gives the player a task: collect four Great Souls from other powerful undead. After completing this task, the Emerald Herald tells the player to "Seek the King" in the capital. The player fights through the remains of the royal guards and meets Queen Nashandra, who explains that King Vendrick failed in his duty and fled his kingdom long ago. She asks the player to kill the king.
Later in the Queen's quest, the player learns that Queen Nashandra caused the kingdom's destruction. She tricked King Vendrick into leading a failed attack on the lands of the giants. She wanted their power, but the giants fought back, destroying Drangleic. King Vendrick discovered Nashandra's betrayal and locked himself in the Undead Crypt to protect the kingdom's power and secrets. He used different methods to keep the Throne of Want, an object tied to the kingdom's power, out of her reach.
At the end of the story, the Emerald Herald reveals that Queen Nashandra is a piece of Manus, the final boss in the Artorias of the Abyss expansion of Dark Souls. The Herald asks the player to end Nashandra's existence and to link the fire. The player defeats Nashandra and then sits on the Throne of Want. Whether the player chooses to link the fire or let it fade is not clearly decided.
In Scholar of the First Sin, the main story changes slightly. A new character, Aldia, King Vendrick's brother, is added to the final area if the player defeats the optional boss, a hollow King Vendrick. Aldia appears throughout the game and gives hints about the repeating pattern of the world. With King Vendrick's memories, Aldia tries to help the player find a way to break the cycle of light and darkness. The player has two choices: claim the Throne of Want, as in the first game, or leave the throne and take a different path beyond light and dark, with Aldia joining the player.
The three The Lost Crowns DLCs add extra stories about three other daughters of Manus. Each story includes a quest to obtain the crowns of three long-fallen kings. After completing these quests, the player can return to the place where King Vendrick hid his power from Nashandra and collect a fourth crown. This crown combines the others and cures the player of undeath.
Development
Dark Souls II was announced at the Spike Video Game Awards on December 7, 2012. Hidetaka Miyazaki, who directed the first game, was a supervisor, while Tomohiro Shibuya and Yui Tanimura directed the game.
Dark Souls II has gameplay similar to its predecessor. Shibuya said he did not plan to change the controls. The game includes a new world with many weapons for fighting monsters. Covenants, a feature from the first game that let players join different groups, return in the sequel but are easier to understand. The game world is about the same size as the first game, but it has more content and gives players more freedom to choose how to progress. The beginning of the game is easier for new players. The game keeps the challenging gameplay from the original. Tanimura explained, "We do not plan to have an Easy Mode because challenge and difficulty are important parts of the game."
The development team used a more powerful graphics engine for the sequel. New challenges were added, increasing the game's difficulty. The game also has a more advanced AI system, allowing enemies to react to more player actions. In September 2013, Tanimura announced the PC version would be delayed to ensure it worked well.
Bandai Namco Games producer Takeshi Miyazoe said in December 2013 that he did not expect downloadable content (DLC) for Dark Souls II. However, in January 2014, he said there was potential for DLC, and fan feedback was important. On June 4, 2014, FromSoftware announced three DLCs called The Lost Crowns. The first, Crown of the Sunken King, was released on July 22, 2014. The second, Crown of the Old Iron King, was released on August 26, 2014. The third, Crown of the Ivory King, was planned for September 24, 2014, but was delayed until September 30, 2014.
On November 25, 2014, Bandai Namco Games announced an updated version of the game called Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin. It was released on April 1, 2015, for PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. This version includes the original game and all three DLCs. On PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, the game has improved visuals with better lighting effects, running at 1080p resolution and 60 frames per second. The remastered version also changes enemy positions and behaviors and allows up to six players in multiplayer. The release of Scholar of the First Sin coincided with patch version 1.10, which was released for existing versions of the game on February 5, 2015. The update improved online play, added the Scholar of the First Sin NPC, improved performance, and adjusted items and covenants. However, it did not fix a long-standing bug related to weapon degradation, which was later fixed in April 2015.
The original PC version of Dark Souls II received the 1.10 patch for free. The remastered Scholar of the First Sin edition must be purchased separately but is available at a discount for owners of the original game. The remastered version uses DirectX 11 instead of DirectX 9, and save data from the original version cannot be used with it.
Reception
Dark Souls II received high praise from critics, according to Metacritic, a website that collects reviews. Reviewers highlighted the game's story, atmosphere, visuals, and game environments. However, some critics noted that the quality of bosses, combat systems, and difficulty level were not as strong as in earlier games, such as Dark Souls and Demon's Souls. Famitsu, a Japanese gaming magazine, gave the game scores of 9, 10, 9, and 9 from four reviewers, totaling 37 out of 40. IGN's critic, Marty Sliva, scored the game 9 out of 10, saying it was a "smart, massive, and rewarding sequel" with many complex features, exciting challenges, and multiplayer elements. He also mentioned that some changes, like the penalty for dying, made the game very hard to play, but the game's enemies and levels made the experience enjoyable. Game Informer's Daniel Tack gave the game a 9.75 out of 10, calling it an "epic adventure" with amazing environments and thrilling challenges. Polygon's Phil Kollar scored it 9 out of 10, praising the game's large world, difficulty, and the feeling of accomplishment after completing it. He noted that his character died 235 times before finishing the game.
Dark Souls II won the "Game of the Year" award at the 2014 Golden Joystick Awards. At The Game Awards 2014, it was nominated for "Game of the Year," "Best Role Playing Game," and "Best Online Experience." However, some people consider it the least popular game in the Dark Souls series.
A few weeks after its release, the game sold over a million copies in the United States and Europe. One year after its release, it had sold more than 2.5 million copies worldwide.