Dark Souls 2 Review (PlayStation 3)

The first time I died in Dark Souls 2 was at the hands of a hippopotamus-like creature that stood on its hind legs and basically threw itself over me, crushing me with just one powerful strike after I ineffectually attacked it from behind, aiming for a critical attack.

The second time I died because I stubbornly tried once more to take out this monster, even though I knew I should have first pushed forward in order to allow the title to teach me a little about the combat mechanics and about how to approach different enemies.

I then proceeded to spend about one full hour trying to take out the hippopotamus monster, all in vain, but with every new death I learned a little more about combat in general and about the routine of the creature I was facing.

I finally managed to take it out after I completed the tutorials and level up, using a more powerful broadsword and a shield equipped to stun it.

This small sequence encapsulates some of the essence of Dark Souls 2, a title developed by From Software and published by Namco Bandai, a title that’s never shy when it comes to killing players but always seems to be playing coy as for the gameplay and story.

Story

Dark Souls 2 takes place in the same world as its predecessor, but the action moves from Lordran to the new Kingdom of Drangliec, which means that the development team had a lot of freedom to introduce new characters and new enemies.

The main character is once again undead, and he is trying to make sure that he gets access to powerful souls in order to avoid sliding even deeper into oblivion, and the story of the title never evolves much past this core narrative.

At times players will find some familiar faces from the first game, and the universe of Dark Souls is interesting, although it takes effort and exploration to get information about it.

Battle time

In the rain

Working hard to get another bit of information makes it more valuable and I am sure that there are gamers who are willing to spend 80 hours plus with Dark Souls 2 in order to get the full picture about the story.

On top of that, there's also the New Game Plus modes (NG+, NG++, and so on) that add more variety to the experience, including enemies that are not part of the first play through.

From Software is also very capable when it comes to creating atmosphere, as I felt tense for each minute I was playing the game, despite the fact that often I was not under threat and simply had to explore large areas or retrace my steps.

Gameplay

At the heart of Dark Souls 2 stand two main mechanics: exploration and combat, and each of them are better than in the core game, although both remain perilous and can end up frustrating gamers.

The world created by From Software is more intricate and interesting than ever, and I would have been happy to be offered the option to strip away the enemies and simply walk around in a new mode, finding out exactly how various areas are connected.

But danger lurks at every turn here, and death is a constant companion because the difficulty level remains very, very challenging even for experienced gamers who have played the original and feel they have mastered its core concepts.

As in the first title, a player needs to carefully combine heavy and light attacks, dashes, rolls, jumping, blocking and solid use of items to defeat a wide array of enemies, ranging from hollowed out humans to monolithic monsters seemingly made of stone.

In order to make progress, gamers need to balance the need to risk in order to cope with the fact that they get punished for each death with a decrease in overall hit points and a requirement to get back the souls load they were carrying.

Bonfires now allow for fast travel and there’s a wider variety of items and use, which can also open up more strategies during battles.

Dual wielding

Magic power

Once a player manages to adopt the correct mind set, the game becomes less about completion and story, and more about understanding how to look at each combat puzzle and what you need to do to solve it.

The one element of Dark Souls 2 that is not about challenge and only about creating frustration is the way it uses the world design to place traps and enemies that are almost impossible to see on the first playthrough, basically setting up the player to fail before he can succeed.

Graphics and audio

Dark Souls 2 uses an entirely new engine and the results are clearly visible as soon as the character creation process is launched, with the biggest impact seen when it comes to faces and motion.

The development team has managed to create a world that’s beautiful and haunting at the same time, and I often stopped and dropped plans to launch into battle once more in order to simply look at what was around me.

The graphics quality also surfaces during combat, when it can make it easier for players to guess what an enemy plans to do and plan their riposte accordingly.

The fact that Dark Souls 2 at the moment only exists on the PlayStation 3 from Sony and the Xbox 360 from Microsoft means that there’s the occasional weird texture and that some jagged edges show up here and there.

It will be interesting to see how much better the version of the game arriving on the PC on April 25 will look.

The musical accompaniment of Dark Souls 2 is equally impressive, but the voice work seems a little lazy and fails to express too much emotion.

Multiplayer

Dark Souls 2 does not include multiplayer in the traditional sense, but the development team at From Software has expanded on the concept of invasion that was present in the original, allowing gamers to once again interact with others, either to kill them or to help them overcome the toughest battles.

Invasion is also possible in undead form, covenants now have an effect on the way the mechanics work, and there are items that tweak the way interactions with another player work, all of which will certainly appeal to a subset of players.

The Good

The Bad

Conclusion