When the first Dark Souls was released, it took the world by storm, but it was a really slow storm. The game started spreading by word of mouth. People started covering the game on social media, but it took a while until it became the giant phenomena we know of today. It started as a cult, and ended up becoming a fully fledged religion. People go frantic, foaming at their mouths when they hear the name “John Souls”. The game bred a new genre, “soulslike”. As words spread about the “hardest game ever”, hype naturally started building in regards to a sequel.
I was still pretty young when Dark Souls 2 was released, but I remember being more hyped than I felt towards most games.
Then the game released, to mixed results, and a community split. The game isn’t bad, but a good way to describe it is “A good game, but a bad Dark Souls”. A lot of the charm and polish of the first game didn’t feel as apparent, and there were certain design choices that didn’t feel like they belonged.
For those who don’t know, the development of Dark Souls 2 was not lead by Miyazaki, the mastermind behind the other games, but was instead led by Yui Tanimura. Yui did a good job, but having to compete with the brain of a feet obsessed creator such as Miyazaki can’t be easy.
Certain design choices in the second game were weird. Invincibility frames during dodging was tied to a stat that you leveled up, the areas felt more “barren” and less polished, and the enemy placement and design were off. Instead of well thought out positions for the enemies, the game instead landed on a “quantity over quality” philosophy, and the enemies themselves were almost always some sort of humanoid and all very similar.
So the game isn’t perfect, it failed to carry the torch of its predecessor, but I’d lie if I said I didn’t love it. Sure we didn’t get fair dodging, but we got the ability to dualwield greatswords! Unpolished areas? Yes, but some of the best PvP arenas in the franchise. It missed a lot, but it also held on to this certain charm that might, or might not be, an issue of nostalgia in my case.
Aside from the issues regarding gameplay, the artistic aspects of the game are still absolutely stunning. The music, lore and art direction are all still very well made. Albeit the lore and story are a bit cut off from the rest of the games. The hub of the game, Majula, is to this day probably my favorite hub area in any game I’ve played. The music and atmosphere makes it feel so serene.
Then you got the bosses. One of the, if not THE, biggest highlight of any souls game. Dark Souls 2 has very mixed quality when it comes to them. Some are absolutely great; Sir Alonne, Fume Knight, Mirror Knight, etc. Some are absolutely dogshit.. looking at you, Frog..
All in all, I can’t say I don’t recommend this game, because I absolutely do. I’ve had friends hate me for telling them to play it, and some obsess over it. There’s no guarantee you’ll like it simply because it’s a “Souls” game, and it most likely won’t change your life – but there’s some crude beauty here, something most games won’t, or can’t, replicate.
Don’t you dare go hollow because of Dark Souls 2. 9/10!