Originally published on Set The Tape
There are occasionally games that come out that feel like they change the landscape of gaming forever. Resident Evil changed the survival horror genre, Final Fantasy VII changed role playing games, Street Fighter II changed fighting games. Each one may not have been the first of their respective genres, but they did something that would make all other games that came after different, whether in an attempt to emulate, or an attempt to compete.
Dark Souls was not the first hugely punishing action adventure game (that would be Demon Souls), but Dark Souls is the one that ignited what would become known as the ‘Soulslike’ genre. Thanks to the popularity of Dark Souls other companies began trying to create their own version, but whilst they were all trying to catch hold of the wave FromSoftware did what the fans were hoping for for three years: they released a sequel.
Announced two years before, at the Video Game Awards in 2012, Dark Souls II took many elements from the previous game, and as such had a shorter development time. Staples of the series, such as the focus on combat difficulty, environmental storytelling, and monstrous enemies in a empty dark fantasy world, all made a return, with FromSoftware focusing on smaller innovations and changes rather than trying to change the things that fans had come to love. As such, even with an entirely new setting the game feels instantly familiar to those that have played the very first Dark Souls.
As with the previous game, Dark Souls II begins with the player character becoming cursed, made into an undead creature that can never truly die. Assigned a mission to obtain four Great Souls in order to break this curse and free themselves from undeath, the player character travels to the new land of Drangleic. As with the first game, this results in the player exploring their way through danger filled environments as they try to find the next piece of the puzzle in their quest. The story leads from one place, one deadly foe, to another, slowly growing stronger as you have to take on ever increasingly monstrous creatures. Things haven’t changed much from the last game, and it’s instead in the smaller details that any real changes that the developers have made can be found.
One of the most obvious ways in which the game differs is in its locations. Dark Souls II offers a little more variety than the first game, and it incorporates environments such as seaside kingdoms, castles surrounded in lava, and danger filled marshlands. Whilst the first game created one giant, interconnected world that worked from a practical level, Dark Souls II does not. The locations don’t line up properly, they can’t be in the places they’re supposed to exist in. This is something that modders and data-miners have explored further in the years since its release, discovering that certain locations actually inhabit the same spaces at times. The result is a world that feels less real and more dreamlike at times, where the rules of reality don’t work, and the result is a more unsettling and confusing experience.
The combat was also tweaked somewhat, with the magic system having been altered to become less powerful than the previous game, and the parrying system (which was already somewhat difficult to master) was made even more unforgiving as timings were made much stricter. The system of dying over and over was also altered slightly. Whilst it was still expected that players would die frequently, using the death as a learning experience, this time there was also a penalty for dying. In Dark Souls II each time you die you incur a penalty to your maximum health, with each death slowly bringing down how much health you have to play with the next time you respawn. In a game where death is not just expected, but part of the process, this penalty felt harsh to some, and whilst it was welcomed by returning players who were used to the Dark Souls gameplay style it did result in the game being even harder for new players.
Upon release Dark Souls II received almost universal acclaim, being awarded near perfect scores from many media outlets and gaming magazines. The game was praised for the improvements to environments and lighting effects, with some pointing out that the combat tweaks and increase in difficulty was something of a detraction. Despite that, most reviewers still scored the game highly, and it would go on to win Game of the Year at the Golden Joystick Awards, as well as being nominated for Game of the Year at other awards.
Whilst over time some people have come to view Dark Souls II as the weaker of the three Dark Souls games, and possibly the weakest of the entire FromSoftware catalogue, it’s by no means hated or disliked. Fans of the series love Dark Souls II, and its success proved that the franchise could go on for multiple entries (something FromSoftware have yet to do for their other SoulsLike series). The success of Dark Souls II, and the series as a whole, also helped to make the SoulsLike genre one that’s guaranteed to stick around.
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