How do you make a follow up to one of the most challenging yet rewarding of games that come every once in a while? Do you try to make changes or do you keep things as it is? Dark Souls 2 manages to stay true to its tried and tested formula in addition to improving some of the game’s mechanics that help give both new and returning players alike the same experience that made the Souls series great. To those who will try this as their first Souls game- this is Dark Souls. To those who played the two previous Souls game- prepare to die again.
You are an undead. As a new arrival to the world of Drangleic; and like all undead that came before, you are given the task of finding a cure for the undead curse- a twisted form of immortality that allows people to die and revive over and over again while losing a bit of memory, humanity and sanity in the process. As you progress further on you learn more about the world and its inhabitants, trying to get a clearer picture of what is going on and wondering why the curse still lingers to this day.
At the beginning the player is given a task that must be completed in the long term, and ultimately it is left to the players to freely explore what this world has to offer however and whenever they want. Even after the game is finished, you can’t help but be drawn to go back for more to try and see if what other mysteries you may have missed along the way. At successive game cycles more items and equipments are made available and more enemies are added not normally available when you play the game for the first time, giving players who completed the game incentives for going to New Game+ and beyond.
The game features a mix of action adventure and role playing elements similar to the two previous Souls games. Dark Souls 2’s controls are still as quick to respond as ever, very important in the game that requires quick thinking and fast reflexes since death potentially greets the player at every corner. Every button corresponds to a specific action that allows players do attack, block, cast spells, etc. Most of these actions drain stamina that should be managed carefully when engaging enemies- learning when to strike while also paying careful attention to your remaining stamina is important since most players are often punished easily for being too greedy or reckless. At the start the player is thrown into a tutorial area that shows the basics of combat that is useful in helping players survive longer in the harsh but fair world the game has to offer.
There are many customization options available to the player when creating their character. Each weapon possesses different attributes, and armor provides various resistances to enemy attacks. The player can choose among a variety of classes with different specialties. The sheer amount of weapons, armor, spells and items in the game make sure that players are able to experiment with different builds that excel in different situations.
Like the 2 games that come before it, Dark Souls 2 utilizes souls as the standard currency for most services that is offered to the player. As enemies and bosses are defeated they give out souls which can then be used in a variety of ways. When you die, you leave a bloodstain that contains all of the souls you’ve collected so far. When you die again, another bloodstain is created while removing the previous one, meaning the bloodstain that contains the souls you were carrying before can never be retrieved again.
Dark Souls 2 still preserves the risk-reward mechanic that make sure players carefully plan on what they need to do next, regardless of whether they are in or out of combat. Will you use the souls you’ve collected in increasing your stats? Will you save up your souls for better weapons, armors and upgrades? Will you use those souls to restock on important items and consumables? Will you use those souls to add more spells to your selection? Will you give those souls to a friendly NPC to open and reveal new paths? Or will you lose all your souls amassed so far and lament in the fact than you could have done any of these choices when you still had chance?
From start to finish patience and vigilance are keys to surviving the world of Drangleic, as failing to anticipate and react to the various situations that Dark Souls 2 throws at the player can result in an untimely death. Players are put to the test both in skill and in memory since when you die; it is often you yourself, not the game that is to blame. Learning the enemy’s movements and attack patterns then reacting appropriately can be the difference between life and death.
The environments are large varied and in terms of scale and design. Drangleic’s locale is made up of multiple interconnected areas that encourage players to explore and learn more about what happened to its inhabitants, its places and even its history. In each place you visit gives you a glimpse of what might have happened in the past- it’s that story that helps players get a feel of just how big and open the world truly is. Every location has its own secrets just waiting to be found, and often visits from the same place can yield different discoveries that you would otherwise miss the first time. Each individual you interact with in the game has their own story, and each item description tells you more information about the events that happened in Drangleic long before your arrival.
There are some changes Dark Souls 2 that are not in the previous Souls games. A new feature added to the game gives most of the enemies now a limited spawn counter, meaning after killing them a certain number of times they eventually cease to spawn making things easier when retrieving your bloodstain and when facing the bosses. Another important change is that each death in the game decreases your maximum health by 10% and caps at 50%, leaving you with only half your maximum health. The only way to counteract this is by equipping a certain ring or by reverting yourself to human form by using an item that is very limited in the game.
Warping between places is accessible from the start giving the player the freedom to explore the world in any order they want. Players can now use torches to illuminate dark areas and use it to interact with certain objects in the environment at the cost of temporarily not being able to use a shield. Also, players can now wield up to 3 weapons in each hand as well as wear 4 rings at a time rather than the traditional 2 weapons each and 2 ring slots. Spells are also varied, giving the players the option to choose between sorcery, pyromancy, miracles, or hexes. These and many more changes are added in order to help balance some of aspects of the game and improve the experience this series is known for. The game is long and takes at least 45 to 60 hours offline to complete; and even then, the online provides enough replayability to make the game last even longer.
One of the major highlights of Dark Souls 2 and the Souls series in general lies in the online aspect of the game. During online players can either assist or impede each other in their progress, making the game not only challenging but also unpredictable in ways the player would not expect. For example players can often leave or rate messages in the ground that can be seen by other players to help or hinder them on their journeys. These messages often contain information about the enemy, alternate paths and carefully placed items. To call all of these messages useful however is not entirely correct. Because both the source and the content cannot be verified, the credibility of the information is left for you yourself to find out. On the one hand, a message may tell you to interact with the wall to reveal a hidden path for helpful items that can help you on the way. On the other hand, a message may also tell you to jump down a suspicious hole that does nothing but lead to your death and halt your progress.
Being online may allow players to ask for help through cooperation that may make things easier, but it also has the risks of letting other players invade your world to defeat you in order to accomplish their own goals. Covenants make a return from the previous game- these are factions that have different goals and motivations that are integrated in the game. These covenants are now more useful compared to the first game where only a handful of them are really worth checking out. One covenant for example may ask you to invade the world of other players and defeat them in order to obtain rewards. Another covenant may ask you to assist the world of the person being invaded instead. These covenants focus on enhancing various aspects of both online and offline play, allowing you to freely choose which play style you are most comfortable with, whether it is player vs. player duel, invade or defend, cooperation or solo.
The game is not without its flaws. There are noticeable frame rate drops especially when there are multiple enemies in one area. Problems of lighting can be seen where some areas end up being flat. Although there are more bosses in this compared to the first two Souls games, they aren’t as memorable in terms of design and gimmick. There are also problems with the hit detection of some of the weapons and enemies where you’ll miss even if you’re so close to the enemy or the enemy will hit you even if you are a few feet away from them. Despite its faults however, the game’s pros far outweigh its cons.
Overall, Dark Souls 2 is a worthy sequel to one of the most challenging yet rewarding series that few games can offer. It still manages to capture the essence of what made the Souls series games great while also adding and improving unique upon features that were not found in the previous two. Few games make it a point to make sure that the player learns from their mistakes, even fewer games give the sense of accomplishment when obtaining victory against seemingly impossible odds.