I’d like to start this review by addressing the stigma attached to this game. When other games are rough around the edges, they’re flawed masterpieces but when it’s Dark Souls II, it’s the “black sheep of the franchise”. Much of the critique of this game is not objective but instead is the result of a consensus which emerged around the game’s launch as a result of how it differs from its predecessor. Pseudo-intellectual youtubers would make long and verbose videos decrying DS2 as a horribly irredeemable game and to this day people will trip over themselves thinking of more and more extreme hyperbolic ways of describing how bad the bad game is. As an example, just the other day I saw a post from a Twitch streamer with a sizeable audience stating how he finally beat DS2 and that he “hated every minute of it”... Really? Even the Lost Bastille? No Man’s Wharf? BRUME TOWER? Just imagine being the one person in your friend group who thought the bad game wasn’t in fact bad, how embarrassing would that be? (a glimpse into the mind of a normie) All of this is to say, much of the hatred for this game is memetic and a good review of this game needs to address this.

Entering Majula for the first time was a truly special moment as it’s just such an intoxicatingly beautiful area. That first vista upon exiting the Things Betwixt is like a painting in the tonalist style with a strong emphasis on the horizon, seemingly reaching out towards the infinite. Pure aesthetic maestria. It also has a relaxing and yet delightfully mysterious soundtrack too. To this day, this is the best hub area Fromsoft has made none of the others even come close. In the distance, ruins can be seen sinking into the sea. Just like in the first game, you are in a fallen world, afflicted with the undead curse and already losing your memories, not entirely certain even why you’ve arrived in Drangleic. The story of this game is told in a more direct manner than its predecessor from the opening cutscene alone, and I don’t think this is a bad thing at all, just different. The story to me also feels more personal than the other two souls games. Your character follows in the footsteps of the last monarch who sought to break the undead curse and as you progress through the world of Drangleic, learning the roots of the world, you are questioned: what is it that you truly want? Also throughout your journey, you come across others who bear the curse, some of which you can even bring back to Majula which I think is an awesome feature. You get to see the curse from their perspective through their dialogue and questlines, further adding to the deeply personal nature of this game’s story.

One of the more controversial changes in this game is the overhaul of the stats system, and I for one like the changes made, even the addition of the much maligned adaptability. There are no longer any useless stats like resistance and there are more important stats to level compared to DS1 but this isn’t an issue because the game is designed with this in mind and gives you an ample amount of souls to work with. Another superb addition this game made is the ability to finally be able to respec your character’s stats. To go along with this addition, smithing upgrades were made much more common than the first game, making you able to max out multiple weapons in a single playthrough in case you do change your build. I also really liked the major change made to the humanity system, with your health bar downsizing upon every death until you revert it by using humanity. The resource management of humanity in this game is satisfying and I like that there’s now an actual impetus to using it now besides summons. The coolest innovation this game made though was the creation of an item which allows you to accelerate a location’s new game plus cycle and even rechallenge bosses.

The level design of DS2 does not disappoint. The game starts off very strong with the Forest of the Fallen Giant’s which is able to be spotted a distance away from Majula. It’s a really stellar area with memorable encounters, creative shortcuts, cool bosses, and it also as an early location serves as a great primer for the worldbuilding of the game. My favourite area in the base game is the Gutter. It resides directly below Majula and it is absolutely horrifying. The main gimmick of the area is that it’s extremely dark and you’re expected to slowly navigate it lighting sconces with a torch along the way, slowly making your way to the end only to realise that it goes even deeper… The fact that it’s just right below comfy Majula makes its existence all the more disquieting. The game’s three DLCs exhibit some of the best level design in the franchise. From having to make your way through to the icy heart of the city of Eleum Loyce to melt all of the ice, expanding opportunities for exploration throughout the city, to navigating between the ruins of two gigantic ziggurats in the city of Shulva, and to descending carefully down Brume Tower before turning on the tower’s elevators to explore even more of it. Exploration in the DLCs is viscerally satisfying and the art direction in them is some of Fromsoft’s absolute best.

This game has some very memorable boss encounters. Getting to fight Ornstein solo is really awesome and the fact that you can do it right at the beginning of the game provides a nice challenge. The executioner’s chariot is also to this day my favourite gimmick fight that Fromsoft has ever made. The pure spectacle of the Looking Glass Knight fight is amazing and the fight also has a very unique mechanic where the boss is able to summon an NPC or potentially even a real player using its shield as a portal. Like with level design, the DLCs also have the very best boss encounters the game has to offer. The Crown of the Sunken King offers one of the best mage bosses in the franchise along with one of the franchise’s best dragon fights. The gimmick of the Aava fight in the Crown of the Ivory King DLC is cool and the Burnt Ivory King fight feels like proto-Radahn. The two main bosses of the Crown of the Old Iron King, Fume Knight and Sir Alonne provide the biggest challenges in the game and are easily my two favourite bosses in the game. Each DLC also added areas designed around co-op which I think is a neat addition and provide an insane challenge for those looking to complete them solo and without summons.

One of the best things about the first Dark Souls is how interconnected the world is and how if you see some place off in the distance that looks cool, you’ll most likely end up going there at some point. When I completed the first areas of DS2, I thought the world of Drangleic would be like the first Dark Souls in this regard. From Majula, you are able to see off in the distance the Forest of the Fallen Giants, Heide, and the Shaded Woods; but for most of the game, you won’t be getting scenic vistas of future areas to explore. Even worse than this, as you are exploring the world, the world does not feel at all believable and that is because it isn’t. The Iron Keep shouldn’t be on top of Earthen Peak and the Dragon Aerie shouldn’t be behind Aldia’s Keep and adjacent to Drangleic Castle and the Doors of Pharros. This is a big problem as it kills immersion and it’s especially jarring going from such a cohesive world like Lordran to the mess that is Drangleic. It’s like the developers just made a bunch of cool areas and slapped them together and went “just trust me bro”, it really is that bad and is indicative of the development hell the game went through. There are other areas in which the development hell shows. Had Yui Tanimura been made lead developer much earlier and the base game shared the same quality as the DLC, Dark Souls 2 could have gone from being a very good yet extremely flawed game to ascending to the heights that the other two Dark Souls games did.