DARK SOULS™ II

Great game. Easily more consistent then the first game, if not perfect.

a wonderful game which is oft maligned for some reason. i dont really care enough to sit through hours of video essays shitting on it, as i have now played the game and made my own mind up.

the opening few hours of the game are rocky, but once i got out of no mans wharf i was having a great time. combat is exciting, exploration is fun, and the different vistas are super nice to travel around. theres also a great number of fun NPCs to run into, im sure some of which have quests.

the game has a few undeniable downsides:
- losing some HP bar as a punishment for dying. stupid.
- some of the most dog ass runbacks of all time
- having to level a stat to make dodge-rolling into an actual mechanic.
- no mans wharf
- some absolutely horseshit hitboxes
but looking past that stuff gets you a very tight and fun game with wide open player options and unique questlines and stories. i didnt do everything in this game, i have had one playthrough, and i almost took 60 hours to beat it. cant argue with that.

i still prefer ds1

will update this once i've played the SOTFS version (who knows when that'll be...)

Back when a man and his magic mace could solo the verse

10 hours in, and i hate it. Do me a solid and just buy ds 3 or play other souls like games

amazing game a bit janky but its old so it makes sense

Dark Souls II is not merely a game—it is a cathedral of suffering, a baroque tapestry woven with the threads of despair and triumph, a magnum opus that lesser minds might dare to call 'flawed.' To play it is to sip from the chalice of peak fiction, a vintage so refined it leaves the palate of modern gaming parched for anything remotely comparable. The clunky elegance of its world design? A deliberate stroke of genius, like a cubist painting smeared across the canvas of Lordran’s legacy. The hitboxes, you say, are imperfect? Nay, they are a philosophical challenge, a reminder that life itself is a dodge roll through an indifferent universe.

I chortled—yes, chortled—as I parried the Fume Knight with the grace of a Victorian dandy, my soul enriched by every bonfire’s flicker. The Shrine of Amana? A sonnet in blue, penned by a sadist poet. This is not a game for the faint of heart or the feeble of spirit; it is a pilgrimage for those who understand that true art lies in the grind. Five stars, for I have gazed into the abyss, and it offered me a +10 greatsword.

What can i say that hasn't already been said. This is one of the best games ever made- ignore the haters who dump on ds2! it's my favorite Fromsoft game, and the idiosyncracies that people complain about are what make it feel so special!

I didn't write this. my partner did. They have good taste tho.

Changed PC
Lost all characters
Created a new one
Wanted to do PvP with a friend
Opened cheat engine
Added 400 Old Iron King's souls
Realized I went too far
Panicc
Edited soul memory to match that of my friend
Got softbanned
Never got to play with or heard from him again
Miss you Andrea

10/10 would do it all over again

(The game is good, best of the series imo (yeah come at me I don't care I really think that), but as I always say: all souls games can be excellent or terrible Souls games but all of them are always average Videogames.)

Because Demon's Souls for PS3 is not on Steam, I will use Dark Souls II as a vessel to review it instead.
Released in 2009, Demon's Souls had all odds set against it. Serving as Michael Miyazaki IV's first directive notion in FromSoft, DS sprouted out of creative ideas and inexperience. The game was simply too hard, and people weren't ready to get good when the game was approaching release, which led to less than favorable reactions when the game was demo showcased at the Tokyo Game Show a bit before launch. The game's initial sales were disappointing, and the game struggled to find an audience as Japanese gamers at the time were not fans of hard games with mechanics like fat rolling and i frames. Thankfully, Miyazaki Michael Winslow made a career-saving decision to put out a patch that removed the shoes and socks of some characters, which led the game to surge in popularity and release in North America. If not for the feet patch, this game would have never succeeded, and with it, Dark Souls II would have never entered production. Unfortunately, Demon's Souls will never leave the PS3 and the remake looks like it just blew in from stupid town... The hardships of being a FromSoft fan.
As for Dark Souls II, since I should probably review it too... If Demon's Souls is the 'Whole Lotta Red' of gaming, Dark Souls II is the 'I AM MUSIC' of gaming. People hate it now, but every day it gets more and more appealing compared to modern titles in the same field. In the same way people warmed up to Demon's Souls gameplay design, I predict this game will be honored sometime in the future as well.

game couldve been good, if it wasnt plagued with bad game design. the entirety of the game feels like those enemy spam levels in mario maker, it just doesnt make sense. shrine of amana is also the absolute worst area in any of the soulsborne games. i replayed this game to 100% it and it is dreadful, not the most difficult 100% of the soulsgames but the one youll enjoy the least. gameplay wise the only improvements to og ds1 are the 60fps, bonfire teleports and a different jump button.

it is a charming and wondeful game, but the pc port is absolutely poor.

Definite improvement from DS1. Much friendlier setup, huge map, and variety of enemies. Definitely not DS3 or Elden Ring, this game favors quantity over quality, and whereas DS1 is "too hard lol" in the stupid sense, this one over-corrected on the easy side. Still fun to play, even more than DS1. I have no idea why DS1 would be praised in such high regard and somehow this one would be considered "the worst in the series." Not true by a long shot.

Not worth it at all, the only way I found to get some joy is to play it side by side with Pallytime's Hiro Playthrough and see someone suffer with me, but the game by itself is not really enjoyable. Difficult for the sake of being dificult and annoying, broken on purpose. The other darksouls are all very enjoyable, not this one.

I love Dark Souls II, I have to say that I personally prefer this vanilla version. I would recommend that it is probably a better idea to play this version first, and then after finishing this, you should play SoTFS version.

Dark Souls II is a f**king amazing game. It stands tall beside its peers as not only an amazing game but also an absolutely incredible Souls game, and no DS2 slander will be tolerated.
One day I will elaborate on this.

Wrong one you have to get the "Scholar of the first sin" edition which is also on steam for the real DSII experience

very bad sequel to dark souls, very good sequel to demon's souls.

Dark Souls II is ‘bad’ like Shrek 2 is ‘bad’ – it’s actually quite good, just nowhere near as good as its meisterstück predecessor.

Yes, the criticism directed at the intractable and, ironically, soulless design choices is justified, but to the perseverance of those that enjoy these games: they are comically appreciated, and no obstacle to the fun to be had.

This version is way better. It has less ganks, less annoying NPC invasions, no forlorn, you obtain all DLC keys instantly, and better NPC questline placements. Negatives are: price tag, less online players and lack of an armor/weapon set or two.

As for DS2, the game itself, it kinda sucks but hey, play it enough and it will grow on you. It has nice variety of weapons/armors/spells and I hear pvp is good.

Game works fine along with online features on Linux without any configuration.

I'll let this clip do the talking for me.
https://outplayed.tv/dark-souls-ii/G4av4N
Link expires by march 1st 2026 and im not going to update it

It's not bad but, get the Scholar version.

The morning it is sad,
The morning so beautiful.
The Sunshine it is sad,
The Shunshine no friend of mine.
You awake, It is day.

Buy Scholar of the First Sin, don't waste your time with this.

Sotfs is a definitive upgrade over whatever this game was back in Vanilla no matter what the rest of the community cry about Sotfs, It's not gankier, enemies are most of the time the same just in other places. If SOTFS didn't change some areas, they would be empty, you will see empty areas playing this many times.

Don't buy this unless you're achievement hunting or want to mod the game, unfortunately, some of the best mods are made for Vanilla and never got updated.

Game sucks.

Seriously, it is big fat ass and I'd liken it to a 10hour CBT sesh.

The level design is boring, confusing, annoying, frustrating, confusing again. I cannot overstate how confusing advancing through the game is. NOTHING is intuitive. The whole game feels like a long Sen's Fortress which is exhausting and quickly turns into a slog. It such a giant step down from DS1 and I'd rather play the latter half of DS1 100 times than play DS2 ever again.

Jesus Christ

Honestly I view it as easier than Dark Souls Remastered (And original), Dark Souls 3, and Elden Ring. However, it is honestly a really good game. It's easy to miss important areas, or hidden bosses, hidden items, etc... Which gives you the need to explore the areas fully. So definitely give it a shot if you're a Soulsborne fan. Highly recommended.

great game 9/10 not as great as 1 but better than 3

every one who says this game sucks is a pussy

The true irony of Dark Souls II is that it is not, in fact, a 'Dark Souls' game, and shouldn't be judged as such.

What am I on about? Simple, really: DS II is, in fact, far more of an homage to King's Field and Demon's Souls than it is a proper sequel to Dark Souls 1 (DS3 fills that role far better).

Is this game janky and half-baked? Very much so, yes.

Is it a bad game? That depends: As a Dark Souls sequel? Yes, unfortunately.

As a tribute to Dark Souls' aforementioned predecessors (which, by the by, are the main inspirations 'for' Dark Souls)? Not at all. In fact, when judged as such, it is actually a rather 'good' game, filled with a surprising number of innovative mechanics, both PVP and PVE related, that would have made the Demon's Souls sequel that we'll never see a masterpiece of gameplay in the early 2000's.

In many ways (barring a few missteps such as 'adaptability' and the rightly-infamous 'soul counter'), Dark Souls II is mechanically-superior to its immediate predecessor, as it offers new and improved takes on old ideas such as dual-wielding, and implements a degree of environmental-interactivity that both Dark Souls 1 and Dark Souls 3 lack (hitting locked doors in order to lure enemies into opening them from within, and tricking strong enemy NPC's into collapsing walls with hidden treasure and pathways for you, for example).

World design and overall layout is creative and thoughtfully put together. Majula, the most popular hub of all souls games for a reason, serves as a perfect focal point for the chosen undead's journey: providing outwardly branching pathways that lead to all areas of the game, giving the player freedom to explore at one's leisure that DS1 and 3 do not feature. Of course, not 'all' of the areas outside of Majula are winners (frigid outskirts and the gutter... @#$% those areas, honestly), but many, such as Shulva the sanctum city in 'Crown of the sunken King' (my personal favorite of the DLC areas), were clearly crafted with passion and attention to detail in mind.

Boss fights, unfortunately, are easily Dark Souls II's most glaring weakness, as they mostly amount to cheap gang-up fights (Elana the squalid Queen and the 'Throne watcher and throne defender-duo' as prime examples), though some, such as the Fume Knight (Crown of the Old Iron King DLC), are genuinely well-designed bosses that challenge you. Others, however, are the epitome of 'artificial difficulty' (Aeva the King's pet in the 'Crown of the Ivory King' DLC for example, even 'with' the item that allows you to see through her invisibility). In fact, some of the NPC invaders are more of a challenge than certain of the bosses (Covetous Demon)...

Items found in-world vary by exploitative-cheesiness (soul gems), but nothing is useless. Multiplayer items are cleverly dispersed through different parts of the game world and the same is true of base items such as throwing knives, of which there is a nice variety of types (poison, fire, lighting, magic) that weren't present in Dark Souls 1, and the same goes for arrows as well. Bonfire ascetics, one of the more controversial items, resets the area you are in to a NG+ state, which effects 'everything', including whatever boss is in the area. The dislike for this item is not something I agree with, as it provides a nice option for those who want to farm an area, while being challenged by tougher enemies as an offset for the attempt.

Overall sound design is effectively on-par with DS1's, though a few nice little variances are a welcome addition.

The 'fashion souls' aspect, nicely enough, is at its peak in DS2, and anyone who disagrees can go take a running jump down the pit that leads to the gutter in Majula.

All in all, this is the only Dark Souls game that made sincere attempts to innovate and experiment with the DS formula, though with varying degrees of success. Still, it deserves credit for at last 'trying', unlike DS3...

Final rating is 6/10 as a Dark Souls game, and 8.5/10 as a clear tribute to both Demon's Souls and King's Field.

Having completed a 100% run of both DS2 Scholar and the original game, I want to leave a review with my complete feelings on both versions.
I did enjoy playing DarkSouls 2, and the original release was the first DarkSouls game I ever played, on the Xbox 360, probably around 2016.
I have to say that I did not completely hate the original version, nor do I hate scholar, but I cannot really recommend that anyone who does not completely love DarkSouls play this one, it is a very poor introduction to this franchise/genera
I also can see where people are coming from when they say that scholar ruined this game, though I find myself disagreeing.
I think that scholar improved this game in many ways, however I think that much of the game's original intent was lost with the sweeping changes

TL;DR: Skip DS2 unless you love souls games, play scholar if you play DS2

hitboxes are terrible in this game but in rest the game is good

So far i like and dislike the game for many reasons... The game looks good and is kinda fun.. sometimes..
It would need hella quality of life upgrades to make it better,
1-Remove the health bar chunks getting cut every death...
2-Rebalance some enemy spawns some areas have way too much for way to small spaces...
3-Make us able to drink flask walking...
4-Make it possible to login offline like DS1-3....
Other than these problems i find the game alright.. id say DS3 best DS1 middle DS2 whorst...
Im still gonna play the game cause i payed for it... but as is im not gonna enjoy playing it as much as DS1-3

I'm actually having fun with this version don't get softs please.

Dark Souls 2 is a litmus test if someone is a coward of the Dark Souls series. An unforgettable adventure for sure.

the black ship of the family but in all actuallity a great game and a great Dark souls part of the series

Worst out of the 3 but still better than most games. They really like to gang up on that bussy stay safe

Went back to 100% it and discovered that the saves are local and my save from the former PC that had cleared all but 4 achievements is effectively lost. But you wanna know what? I'm not even mad, this game is a joy to play through. The music, atmosphere, and creative decisions are all amazing. It's a joy to play through this game once more.

Depending on how "not like the other girls" I feel on a given day, this might my favorite Souls game.

Empty corridors, barely any soul, hideous graphics. I don’t like this game much. It’s the worst dark souls, and I can attest to that

What do'th it say about mine mental state that being dashed against the rocks over and over sootheth mine soul on a day full of stress.

Don't touch this game. I will admit that as video-games go as a whole this game is not bad per se, however as souls games go this game is a big miss. The bosses feel slow but their attacks have so much lead that even if you dodge you can still get hit. You lose health when you die. You need to level your dodge I-frames. These are just some of the features FromSoft tried out and hit a big flop with. 4/10

After nearly a decade since first trying and bouncing off of Dark Souls, I finally got into FromSoft's Soulsborne library for real last year, starting with Bloodborne, then the original Demon's Souls, then taking care of unfinished business with Dark Souls. I was always super curious about Dark Souls II; its reputation preceded it, and yet a handful of friends both IRL and online actually enjoy it. Where would I stand?

Ultimately (aka tl;dr) it's a lesser game than the others—save maybe Demon's Souls—but yes, I did enjoy my time with it.

It's flawed, yes. Odd joystick deadzones make movement and camera controls feel imprecise. Hitboxes can seem a little off. Ripostes, backstabs, and even entering fog walls do not grant invincibility frames. Estus is a slow recharge rather than an instant fill. The adaptability stat is a baffling choice. The world doesn't have a congruent feel like DS1. Level design, for the most part, isn't as strong, including multiple instances where going off the beaten path rewards you with an item... and no way back other than die or homeward bone.

But... There are several neat elements that still make it engaging and a worthwhile experience. The story arc is compelling, with many enjoyable NPCs. There's so many kinds of weapons to play around with, and an easy way to redistribute stat points to try other builds without having to start over. The DLCs—their optional areas notwithstanding—are fantastically designed. And the game itself is rather gorgeous.

Ultimately, yes, I do think DS1 and Bloodborne are superior games that I prefer. But DS2 had many things that compelled me to keep playing despite its flaws, and that's got to count for something.

A masterclass of a game. They have a separate game that is this game + the DLC, called Scholar of the First Sin. Pick that game up if you are wanting to play this.

ya its different. So what. I'd say dont start here though. Play 1 or 3 first.

Write in Youtuber Tyrranicon Dark Souls 2 letsplay, it's 10 years old - watch it.

I bought this game and played more than 800 hours out of it because of Throthgar

God bless you people ! Jesus Christ of Nazareth loves you all !

AMEN

started game, walked around, died, got my first achievement. 10/10 would do again

This may just be a me problem but the controls are real funky and i cant get it to stop displaying the 360 controls

Too much hate on this game? Dunno.
Game is actually fine, but it starts to be boring real quick, at least that was my experience. Maybe, it's because I'm coming from the first game in the series, but Dark Souls 2 doesn't feel like it has purpose.

In the first game we had a narrative, a story I would say. And I saw a soul in Dark Souls 1. Here, I just don't see it. Exploring locations becomes boring and useless. There are some good ideas, but they often get drown by the enemy amount and enemy placement.

I can't call this game unique in any sense, honestly. And it's definitely worse than the first one.
But it's playable and you can have some fun here. So it's a good game. It's just not as good as it could be.

The worst game aside from ninja blade that from software has ever created. its too experimental for its own good and this game is rife with the cruelest design's. As if the first game being known for being hard was all that mattered, Instead of being challenging its just hard for hard sake. the only thing this has going for it is Majula. while this version is better than the Scholar of the First Sin version. both games are just bad at best and horrible at worst.

Even if you're on a souls kick rn, just avoid this one. its just not fun.

Not the best but the hardest fromsoft game

No clear path to the end game. Thank goodness its 2025 and virtual game guides are everywhere!!!

Game play is fine, but the rest of the game is too convoluted.

Base game: Surprisingly enjoyable. Coming from SOTFS it was a breath of fresh air for DS2 which is interesting considering this came out first. It's not the best souls game but it's a pretty good RPG with more stupid mechanics and issues than the other souls games.
Sunken King: Very boring, annoying enemies, okay boss fight. Won't be playing it again.
Ivory King: Tedious, annoying mechanics, horrible area design. Unfun bosses. Won't be playing it again.
Old Iron King: Fume knight is a good boss, everything else I did not enjoy. Very gank-ey.