TL/DR rating down below.
I started off in my souls career all the way back when Demon Souls was the first souls game in the series. Although I didn't finish it, as for someone who was in middle school at the time, you can guess that my inexperienced, impatient behind was not ready to take on one of the most arguably difficult games of that generation. Now that all the souls games are here (including PS4 exclusive Bloodborne and all platform Sekiro) , i'm older,have completed all souls games (except Sekiro), and deciding to restart my Souls journey with this one, I feel contempt in writing an unbiased review.

PROS.
- Lore - Dark Souls II has an extremely intense and quite intimidating world. with hollows (basically zombies), beasts, worn knights, and vengeful spirits looming around every corner. This game does include a linear story, however it's not good. The dialogue is nonsensical and really stereotypical for almost any fantasy game. Although if you take the time to read item descriptions and maybe watch some youtube videos, the overall story and world is amazing. If not wanting to invest time into the story and secrets that hide in this game, then you'll miss some interesting storylines. I guess it's up to the player if you wanna feel like you're actually doing something.
- Enemy Variety - This game has enemies from spiky frozen death rolly bunnies, to one eyed ogres wanting to eat you. I don't know the actual amount of different enemies, but it's alot. Lots of variety, same carnage.
- Areas - So this one is tough to write about, but lemme explain. All the areas before the major castle and "DLC" are absolutely boring and gross. Maybe leaving out one or two areas, the beginning of the game really lacks in beauty, and from the what they can do at the endgame areas, and world hub, its really disappointing. poopoo areas, but also golden areas.
-Armor and Areas - The looooooot is so good. From a freaking metal horse helmet, to a glowing fiery deathsword, the things your main character can wear is vast and impressive. Good loot = best loot.
- Exploration- Exploring in this game feels extremely rewarding, as you can always obtain some great loot, or even hidden loot. I once heard that if you rush through a rpg without feeling the need to explore, then that rpg itself has failed on one of its basic gameplay loops. I tend to agree with this saying. Luckily Dark Souls II does not fail.
- Multiplayer - even though this game has been out for 5 years there is still a vast amount of people who still play. Either they're dedicated to the soulsy goodness this game offers, or the multiplayer is that good. The multiplayer is really just that good.
- Leveling - The leveling is easy to understand and do. Get souls, and use souls to level up stats. and if you ♥♥♥♥ up, then go reallocate. Simple as pie, Simple as that.
- NG+ - Now if you're masochistic enough and want to go through the entire game again, then you're in for a treat. New Game + offers more gear that can't be acquired in your first playthrough, and more/different enemy placements, plus a whole new endgame boss. This could be to extend the games lifespan and kinda gimmicky yea i get it, but imo if done right it's honestly really cool and interesting. I believe this game does it right.

CONS.
- Story - As I said above, the linear story is convoluted and there will be countless of times when someone is talking to you or revealing themselves to you where you will be thinking "bro i dont give a flying ♥♥♥♥", but if you actually care and take your time, the story starts to make sense, including the convoluted dialogue.
- Combat - never have I been so frustrated in a game in my entire life. Being spoiled by Dark Souls III and Bloodborne combat, you cannot even come close to that precise, pixel perfect action in this game. The combat isn't entirely bad, but being slammed on by a boss that wasn't even ontop of you is extremely annoying, dare I say "unforgiving. I can see people getting by as I did by just slamming enemies before they slam you, but just be warned that the combat is slow and clunky, even more so than the first installment of this game series.
-Areas - Like I mentioned in the PROS, the areas before the main castle you adventure too are just boring and bland. The beauty this game offers is there in some parts, but for the first 10 or so hours the game does not offer anything that'll spark the players eyes. uglier than mud sometimes.
- BS deaths - I guess you can argue that "ITS A SOULS GAME BLAH BLAH BLAH", but that's no excuse imo. In many of my deaths an enemies weapon hit me through a damn wall instantly killing me, or the camera freaked out and I fell off a cliff, or the boss decided they could 180 without any indication and rigiddy-rigiddy-wreck me, causing me to die and cry. Maybe it's a "bad cause mad" phenomenon, but I honestly beg to differ, it's just bad-bad-not good phenomenon.
- Bosses- The Bosses in this game are so LAME. I could say only like 6 or 7 bosses out of 41 are actually unique and designed well. Worse part is almost all of them are from the DLC areas. which are optional.

Conclusion.
- Dark Souls II is a mess of good and bad. Especially where the good never really out weighs the bad and vice-versa, it's all kinda balanced in that sense. Yea I get why someone would argue that there should be no bad in a good game, but no game is perfect, such as this one. With clunky af gameplay, a mix of amazing and bad areas, I can see some players not ever enjoying themselves. This being in my mindset I surprisingly did. Maybe it's because I went through the entire game with a friend that I enjoyed myself and found some things cool and interesting, or maybe it's because my love for the Souls series is too great. I cant say this game is for everyone, but I can't say it's for no one either. Dark Souls II has it's moments of "Damn thats cool" and enough of them too, but it also has those "This game is absolute dog trash' as well. With amazing styles of armors and weapons, and with a great variety of enemies, getting over the clunkiness of it all is easy, but not static as some other enemy will bs you with a slam dunk to your head. It's a balanced beauty that I can see myself coming back too maybe in 2 or so years. For now though, after going through all the bosses and DLC, and seeing what the game has to offer. I'm exhausted of it.

TL/DR Rating: Game is clunky, has cool armor and weapons, areas are awesome, but also bad, great enemy variety, leveling is easy and fun, multiplayer is good, linear story bad, overall lore is great.
Final Rating:
7.5/10

TL/DR rating down below. I started off in my souls career all the way back when Demon Souls was the first souls game in the series. Although I didn't finish it, as for someone who was in middle school at the time, you can guess that my inexperienced, impatient behind was not ready to take on one of the most arguably difficult games of that generation. Now that all the souls games are here (including PS4 exclusive Bloodborne and all platform Sekiro) , i'm older,have completed all souls games (except Sekiro), and deciding to restart my Souls journey with this one, I feel contempt in writing an unbiased review. PROS. - Lore - Dark Souls II has an extremely intense and quite intimidating world. with hollows (basically zombies), beasts, worn knights, and vengeful spirits looming around every corner. This game does include a linear story, however it's not good. The dialogue is nonsensical and really stereotypical for almost any fantasy game. Although if you take the time to read item descriptions and maybe watch some youtube videos, the overall story and world is amazing. If not wanting to invest time into the story and secrets that hide in this game, then you'll miss some interesting storylines. I guess it's up to the player if you wanna feel like you're actually doing something. - Enemy Variety - This game has enemies from spiky frozen death rolly bunnies, to one eyed ogres wanting to eat you. I don't know the actual amount of different enemies, but it's alot. Lots of variety, same carnage. - Areas - So this one is tough to write about, but lemme explain. All the areas before the major castle and "DLC" are absolutely boring and gross. Maybe leaving out one or two areas, the beginning of the game really lacks in beauty, and from the what they can do at the endgame areas, and world hub, its really disappointing. poopoo areas, but also golden areas. -Armor and Areas - The looooooot is so good. From a freaking metal horse helmet, to a glowing fiery deathsword, the things your main character can wear is vast and impressive. Good loot = best loot. - Exploration- Exploring in this game feels extremely rewarding, as you can always obtain some great loot, or even hidden loot. I once heard that if you rush through a rpg without feeling the need to explore, then that rpg itself has failed on one of its basic gameplay loops. I tend to agree with this saying. Luckily Dark Souls II does not fail. - Multiplayer - even though this game has been out for 5 years there is still a vast amount of people who still play. Either they're dedicated to the soulsy goodness this game offers, or the multiplayer is that good. The multiplayer is really just that good. - Leveling - The leveling is easy to understand and do. Get souls, and use souls to level up stats. and if you fuck up, then go reallocate. Simple as pie, Simple as that. - NG+ - Now if you're masochistic enough and want to go through the entire game again, then you're in for a treat. New Game + offers more gear that can't be acquired in your first playthrough, and more/different enemy placements, plus a whole new endgame boss. This could be to extend the games lifespan and kinda gimmicky yea i get it, but imo if done right it's honestly really cool and interesting. I believe this game does it right. CONS. - Story - As I said above, the linear story is convoluted and there will be countless of times when someone is talking to you or revealing themselves to you where you will be thinking "bro i dont give a flying fuck", but if you actually care and take your time, the story starts to make sense, including the convoluted dialogue. - Combat - never have I been so frustrated in a game in my entire life. Being spoiled by Dark Souls III and Bloodborne combat, you cannot even come close to that precise, pixel perfect action in this game. The combat isn't entirely bad, but being slammed on by a boss that wasn't even ontop of you is extremely annoying, dare I say "unforgiving. I can see people getting by as I did by just slamming enemies before they slam you, but just be warned that the combat is slow and clunky, even more so than the first installment of this game series. -Areas - Like I mentioned in the PROS, the areas before the main castle you adventure too are just boring and bland. The beauty this game offers is there in some parts, but for the first 10 or so hours the game does not offer anything that'll spark the players eyes. uglier than mud sometimes. - BS deaths - I guess you can argue that "ITS A SOULS GAME BLAH BLAH BLAH", but that's no excuse imo. In many of my deaths an enemies weapon hit me through a damn wall instantly killing me, or the camera freaked out and I fell off a cliff, or the boss decided they could 180 without any indication and rigiddy-rigiddy-wreck me, causing me to die and cry. Maybe it's a "bad cause mad" phenomenon, but I honestly beg to differ, it's just bad-bad-not good phenomenon. - Bosses- The Bosses in this game are so LAME. I could say only like 6 or 7 bosses out of 41 are actually unique and designed well. Worse part is almost all of them are from the DLC areas. which are optional. Conclusion. - Dark Souls II is a mess of good and bad. Especially where the good never really out weighs the bad and vice-versa, it's all kinda balanced in that sense. Yea I get why someone would argue that there should be no bad in a good game, but no game is perfect, such as this one. With clunky af gameplay, a mix of amazing and bad areas, I can see some players not ever enjoying themselves. This being in my mindset I surprisingly did. Maybe it's because I went through the entire game with a friend that I enjoyed myself and found some things cool and interesting, or maybe it's because my love for the Souls series is too great. I cant say this game is for everyone, but I can't say it's for no one either. Dark Souls II has it's moments of "Damn thats cool" and enough of them too, but it also has those "This game is absolute dog trash' as well. With amazing styles of armors and weapons, and with a great variety of enemies, getting over the clunkiness of it all is easy, but not static as some other enemy will bs you with a slam dunk to your head. It's a balanced beauty that I can see myself coming back too maybe in 2 or so years. For now though, after going through all the bosses and DLC, and seeing what the game has to offer. I'm exhausted of it. TL/DR Rating: Game is clunky, has cool armor and weapons, areas are awesome, but also bad, great enemy variety, leveling is easy and fun, multiplayer is good, linear story bad, overall lore is great. Final Rating: 7.5/10