Dark Souls II
Category: PlayStation 3 Game
Console: PlayStation 3 (Download Emulator)
Developer: FromSoftware
Publisher: Bandai Namco Games
Series: Dark Souls
Genre: Action / RPG
Mode: Single-player / Multiplayer
Region: US
Views: 11,384,567
Downloads: 9,558,238
Released: March 11, 2014
File Size: 8.29 GB
Rating: 4.9/5 (2,578 votes)
Dark Souls II is a 2014 action role-playing game developed by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Games. The second game in the Dark Souls series, it is set in the fallen kingdom of Drangleic and follows an undead traveler seeking a cure for their curse.
It retains the series' emphasis on challenging combat, character customization, exploration and online interaction, while introducing changes such as a hollowing system that reduces the player's maximum health after repeated deaths.
Dark Souls II was released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in March, with a Windows version following in April. Unlike Dark Souls and Dark Souls III, it was not directed by series creator Hidetaka Miyazaki, who served as supervisor, Tomohiro Shibuya and Yui Tanimura directed the game.
Review aggregators reported universal acclaim for the original versions, with critics praising its atmosphere, world design and scale, while some criticized its boss encounters, combat changes and difficulty. By April 2015, it had sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide.
Dark Souls II is an action role-playing game in which the player explores Drangleic, fights enemies with weapons and magic, and improves their character by collecting souls.
Like earlier games in the series, it emphasizes challenging combat: standard enemies and bosses can quickly kill the player, and most actions consume stamina. Souls function as both experience points and currency, allowing players to level up, buy items and repair equipment.
When the player dies, their collected souls are left at the place of death and can be recovered by returning there; dying again before reclaiming them causes the souls to be lost permanently. Death also turns the player character into an undead state and reduces their maximum health, a process known as hollowing, which can continue until the health bar reaches 50 percent of its full value.
Players level up by spending souls on attributes such as vigor, endurance, vitality, attunement, adaptability, strength, dexterity, intelligence and faith. These attributes determine statistics including health, stamina, equipment load, spell use and weapon damage. Raising them can also allow the use of equipment or magic that has minimum attribute requirements.
Dark Souls II received universal acclaim, according to review aggregator platform Metacritic. Critics praised the game's story, atmosphere, visuals, and environmental design, though some were critical of the boss quality, combat mechanics, and increased difficulty, adding that, in these regards, it fared poorly in comparison to the previous games (Dark Souls and its spiritual predecessor, Demon's Souls).
Famitsu reviewed the game with four reviewers giving their opinions, who gave it 9/10/9/9, bringing the total score to 37/40. IGN's critic Marty Sliva gave the game a score of 9/10: "Dark Souls II is a smart, massive, and incredibly rewarding sequel. It's crammed with deep systems, tense encounters, and enough clever multiplayer and New Game Plus elements to make me want to restart the second I saw the end credits.
Dark Souls II won the "Game of the Year" award at the 2014 Golden Joystick Awards. At The Game Awards 2014, Dark Souls II received nominations for "Game of the Year", "Best Role Playing Game", and "Best Online Experience". However, Dark Souls II is considered by some to be the black sheep of the Dark Souls franchise.
A few weeks after release, the game had shipped over a million copies within the United States and Europe. A year after release, the game had sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide.
