DARK SOULS™ II

technically my first souls game. love it so far. doing a sorcerer playthough. if you have time i have to recommend this. majula has lovely music too.

Although the hate this game received made me sceptical, needless to say, I was delightfully surprised. The aged combat and strange additional mechanics are noticeable, yes, although aren't really a deal breaker (to me, at least), and have a bit of charm if anything. At the end of the day, I would consider Dark Souls II to be more slow paced and adventure-oriented than modern titles which focus a lot more on the combat; if you're willing to smell the roses and take in everything, you'll really enjoy this.

Leagues Ahead of SOTFS. Absolutely love this game. Really does feel like a Dark souls game like it should be (Hitbox still crap tho lol, level ADP)

Dark Souls II is my second favorite Souls game, right behind the original. It doesn’t reach the same atmospheric highs or world interconnectedness of Dark Souls 1, but it does a lot of things really well in its own right.

The map design is more layered and expansive than it gets credit for. While not as cohesive as Lordran, there's a sense of scale and variety in Drangleic that's fascinating to explore. From misty forests to crumbling castles, it always feels like there's something new around the corner—even if how you got there doesn't always make complete geographical sense.

One thing I really appreciate is the amount of build freedom. Between stats, gear, magic, and covenants, DS2 probably has the most diverse customization options in the series. Whether you want to be a pure strength tank, a dual-wielding dex monster, or a hex-casting glass cannon, the game supports it all—and it’s fun to experiment.

As for versions: I personally prefer the original vanilla release over Scholar of the First Sin. The enemy placements and overall pacing feel more deliberate and fair in the original. SotFS ramps up the difficulty in ways that sometimes feel artificial, and it adds enemy mobs that make certain areas more frustrating than challenging.

DS2 is far from perfect, but it's full of heart, and its unique flavor grows on you the more you play. If you loved the first game and want something that expands on its systems in interesting (if occasionally awkward) ways, this is absolutely worth diving into.

DARK SOULS II is an unexpected masterpiece. It's hard to describe the joy I get from it, it is everything I thought DARK SOULS I and III would be. DARK SOULS II is definitely one of my favorite games of all time and deserves the constant glaze it gets.

Still the best version of DS2. The only thing SOTFS did better was the Dragon in Heide's Tower to teach the player how to fight them early on. Most of the other changes felt a bit over the top. This is much closer to the DS1 experience than SOTFS is.

Crazy to think i thought Dark Souls 2 was a bad game because of the Scholar of the First Sin edition, This is unironically a good game that i can actually recommend that someone plays, And i seriously hope they unlist the Scholar of the First Sin edition so people buy this instead.

The great things about Dark Souls 2:

1. Really fun combat that is better, in my opinion, than Dark Souls 1's combat as it is faster. The stamina meter isn't very annoying because you can always use a ring that increases stamina recovery, or use stamina-recovery boosting items in addition to the ring.

2. Beautiful environmental sound design - the game has this very unique, and quite beautiful feeling when you are exploring the environments. The water, birds, and nature sounds, all contribute to a rather immersive atmosphere - even if the game itself doesn't look all that graphically good.

3. Immersive environments - I know that the game doesn't look that good, but it felt extremely immersive because of the sound design and generally quiet moments. As such, the environment was quite memorable too. There are more areas than Dark Souls 1, for example, and while the environments are not as expansive and spread-out, there is more vertical-exploration in this game. The DLCs' level design feels very similar to Dark Souls 3's level design.

4. Addictive gameplay - this is one of those games that is hard to put down because you're always levelling up, finding better gear, and encountering new unique-looking environments that are really fun to explore.

5. Nice gear - you can become a fashion icon with the amount of costumes and armour that you can find or purchase. Probably the best variety in outfits out of all FromSoftware games.

6. Accessible fast travel - unlike DS1 where you have to run around for 5 minutes from a bonfire to a boss you failed 10 times, here you can fast travel very easily between key places, making DS2 significantly less frustrating than DS1.

7. Vast build variety - you can get many different rings, weapons, magic abilities, and so on, making this game play out differently depending on your build.

8. Interesting lore - the environmental storytelling and characters all are perhaps even more interesting in this game than in the other Dark Souls games.

9. Beautiful music.

10. Majula is a very interesting hub, perhaps my favourite in out of all FromSoftware games

What could be better:

1. Graphics could be better but I don't think it really affects the experience.
2. The boss fights as they are quite generic overall.
3. Hit boxes - seriously, they are very annoying at times. Either my hits don't register at some points, or the enemy somehow hits me from a meter away horizontally.

What I didn't think was a problem:

1. Gank - the game isn't actually that hard. It is, in my opinion, the easiest Dark Souls game, due to the low requirements for soul upgrades, easy-to-find Soul items, the bosses being very easy overall. Some areas are difficult - particularly in the third DLC and Shrine of Amana. Other than that, I generally didn't find the game to be hard. The Fume Knight was probably the hardest boss fight. Therefore, when it comes to the "gank", it is a part of the challenge in some areas. In fact, in some ways, there is more "annoying" gank in this version than in Scholar of the First Sin. Scholar of the First Sin ironed out some of the gank and made the game more smoothly flowing in terms of the fights. Of course, if you are rushing the game and running past the enemies, you are going to struggle. But still, I think SOTFS is an overall better version, but I did like how you can get the keys straight away to access the DLCs, unlike in Scholar where you have to find the keys in the environment.

In total, to finish the game, it took me about 42 hours on Scholar on my first playthrough - this included all DLCs and doing the final boss encounter twice in the same playthrough with a Bonfire Ascetic to get both endings. In this version, it took me 30 hours to do the same thing (approximately 29-30 hours in-game).

Overall, the Vanilla version isn't significantly different from Scholar of the First Sin. In Vanilla (DX9) DS2, graphics are slightly worse, but the game is overall a bit easier. Scholar adds a lot of new encounters, like a dragon in Heide's Tower of Flame. The DLCs are very good and have a different style to the rest of the game. I personally enjoyed DS2 and DS2 SOTFS more than DS1 for sure. It is definitely worth playing, and I would say that Scholar is a slightly better version overall but this one is easier in my opinion, even though they're both overall pretty easy.

Dark Souls II is the middle child of FromSoftware’s notoriously punishing action-RPG trilogy—and it plays exactly like one. It's bolder in scope than its predecessor, yet often more uneven. It refines some mechanics, stumbles in others, and dares to step outside the rigid framework that made Dark Souls a legend.

Set in the crumbling world of Drangleic, the game trades the interconnected elegance of Lordran for a hub-based world with scattered spokes. While this design offers more variety—lush forests, poison-ridden valleys, and haunted castles—it loses some of the geographical and thematic cohesion that made the first game feel so grounded. Still, the sheer breadth of environments gives DSII its own identity.

Combat remains methodical and tense, with a slightly faster pace than the original. Enemy placement can sometimes feel unfair, especially in the Scholar of the First Sin edition, where mobs are packed tighter and ambushes more frequent. But the core loop—learning from failure, overcoming odds, and savoring victory—remains intact and satisfying.

Mechanically, Dark Souls II is the most experimental of the trilogy. Dual wielding, power stancing, and the agility stat (a love-it-or-hate-it addition) offer deeper customization, though not all changes were welcomed. The hollowing mechanic is harsher here, punishing repeated deaths with a steadily shrinking health bar—a thematic choice, but a divisive one.

Narratively, DSII embraces ambiguity. Its story is less direct, less personal, and more mythic. This can feel emotionally distant, but it's also haunting. The themes of forgetting, repetition, and identity echo long after the credits roll.

Dark Souls II is flawed, ambitious, and unforgettable. It's a bold detour in the series—a game that dared to try new things, even if not all of them worked. For fans of the series, it's a must-play. For newcomers, it might not be the ideal starting point, but it rewards patience with a dark, strange beauty all its own.

Rating: 8/10

My personal favourite of the Dark Souls trilogy.

Dark Souls 2 holds a warm, emotional spot in my heart. The game released shortly after I was first diagnosed with a chronic illness, and while the world around me was becoming increasingly isolating - with weeks and months spent stuck inside my uni dorm - Dark Souls 2 opened up a huge, virtual land hidden with mystery.

Starting with Majula, a coastal town which acts as the hub area of DS2. This small, dilapidated seaside town creates a warm sense of comfort and familiarity in a land otherwise anything but. While in DS1 you undertook faraway voyages to Anor Londo, leaving the hub area of Firelink Shrine largely behind (and painfully empty, once the Crestfallen Warrior leaves), Majula remains relevant the entire game. It has more characters to interact and trade with, and a worldwide death counter which provided a novel sense of community back in 2014. I can nearly taste the salt in the air and feel the breeze across my ears.

I’m no lore demon, so the world of Drangleic was mostly taught to me through the environments. The Gutter felt like a much-improved Blighttown, yet it was the new mysteries that captured my imagination. The Forest of Fallen Giants, for example, is a standard (if still challenging) beginner area that features multiple diverging routes leading to harder challenges to return to. Sandwiched between two lifts was a deep pit occupied by flame lizards, and I would always look down and wonder, if I got enough vitality to survive the drop, what’s down there? What type of loot could be nestled between the salamanders?

Back then, Dark Souls 1 was capped at 30fps. While a fan-made patch existed to bring the game up to 60fps when it eventually launched on PC, it seldom reached it and introduced a slew of gameplay glitches. Dark Souls 2 suffers a few of them, including weapons breaking in half the time they should have. Still, DS2’s introduction of native 60fps provided a world of difference back in 2014. For a game which requires frame-perfect inputs, 60fps made the entire game feel much more responsive to play. Parrying was easier, your character felt less sluggish, and input response was reduced enough that I felt I could never return to DS1.

While I mostly loved Dark Souls 2, I remember a few flaws back in 2014. Networking performance was horrible, with PvP almost always leading to your opponent teleporting behind you for a backstab. Progressing the game’s covenants always felt obscure and difficult to understand, too. Granted, this was before extensive walkthroughs had been produced online. The DLC eventually reached unmanageable levels of difficulty, although perhaps every casual Dark Souls player reaches their ceiling eventually. I might have just hit mine.

Other than that, Dark Souls 2 is pretty much my favourite Souls game (a term which didn’t exist back then!). It improved the ‘game feel’ significantly, added over a third more bosses, and introduced a new world bound in mystery. It gave me a world to explore when I wasn’t able to enjoy my own.

among other souls games it might feel like a step down but this is still a pretty good game

So weird how so many cool interactions/moments are just completely removed in sotfs edition. Very good game, just play sotfs edi tho, although the enemy spam and non stop ambushes are gone in this vers

Top 5? Easily.
Base game: 32 bosses.
DLCs bring it to 42.
Every one a lesson in patience, punishment, or both.
Builds character.

Not the fan favorite, but it's the one that stuck with me the longest.
seek seek

10/10 would hollow again.

PS: Don't cry about ADP.
8)

Extremely tough game but pays off with a fantastic story. DS2 gets a lot of hate for being different but I think it makes it stand out as a masterpiece.

I did not write any review of DS2 when I first played it back in the day when it was released and there are tons of reviews out there, so I will not repeat what's been said. What struck me during my current replay is the mismatch between the boss battles and the difficult way to reach them - it bothered me much less the first time around.

I think that FROM Software should think about re-balancing their concept in this regard : the mobs you have to fend off before reaching a boss are often just a chore, a lazy way to create "diffculty". Why not make the boss battle more momentous and rewarding, and leave the minions for dead once you put them down once. I know that losing your souls on the way to the boss was a key part of the Dark Souls design philosophy, but I have seen other soulslikes in the mean time where the idea of "difficult" has been evolved down other paths.

Still a great game, just not as good as DS 1 and 3.

Much better version than SotFS. No bullshit enemy placement here!
First sequence sucks, you have small ADP levels and there is not so much weapons available. But it becomes much better after Lost Sinner.

The entire last 3rd of the game is terrible

This game is like an abusive girlfriend. You know you should leave her, you know she treats you horribly, but damn she's just so hot. What I mean by that is this game undoubtedly flawed, with a lot of question design choices, but I would be lying if said it wasn't without its good points. You should still play this if you like souls games despite the bad wrap this game has. IF you are a new player though don't EVER make this game your introduction to the series.

This game has the Shrine of Amana. That automatically means it sucks.

Through every painful and annoying thing in this game (trust me there's many) it is still something I would consider a good game. You just won't appreciate it till you're done with it.

Sometimes I miss playing DS2... but then I remember that the Iron Keep and Shrine of Amana exist. 💀

This was my first DarkSouls game when i was a kid. I spent a lot of time playing it then, and now, as an adult, i'm glad to see it still holds up. Its a fine way to spend some time. The game has cool armor, awesome swords, and challenges that are fair and fun. I prefer this version over Scholar of the first sin edition for a couple reasons, i recommend doing your own research.

nice

hands down best fromsoft game, ADPcels stay winning

I once got lost hiking up a mountain until I came across a shepherd. I asked him, "How far up are we?" and he answered "Dark Souls II." That's how I realized, I already knew the answer. We were at the peak.

Honestly this game is one of my favorites from the Dark Souls Trilogy, it has its flaws but the hate is undeserved. This game added so many improvements then its predecessor like adding bonfires near boss room without having unnecessary run-backs, being able to power stance weapons (later added into Elden Ring), and being able to reset the area with a bonfire ascetic. Love this game for how different and experimental then later installments of the series. 9.5/10

This game is bad. The only good thing is the main bonfire atmosphere and most of the places. Every mechanic in this game is badly designed or just broken. I seriously cant comprehend how bad this game is. I have beaten the game when it first came out on ps3 but i forgot how shit is this game. Seriously. It should be called Tedious Souls,

Just cause it has a 2 in the Name doesn't mean it's the successor of the first game. It's well enough to be it's stand alone game and I still enjoy it, but it's sadly never comming close to any of the other Souls Games in terms of Quality and game design. 7/10

peaksouls 2 is probably one of the best games ever created. i love all of the unique mechanics, memorable boss fights, and long elevators! i love backing up saves right before the dragon aerie elevator and the iron keep elevator, just so i can ride the elevators over and over again. it's honestly the best part of the game.

love this game for all the right reasons medula best time share ever

This is the definitive version of Dark Souls II for new players. Scholar of The First Sin is basically a hellish version of this game that was released on April 1st (no, I'm not joking). Think of it as the official enemy randomizer for Dark Souls II, because nothing makes any sense. Scholar of The First Sin also includes a different lock-on system that allows your character to attack in any direction even when focused on an enemy. Which is not a good thing for those who are used to lock-on guiding your attacks (referring to the other Souls games). Luckily, this particular version doesn't have that problem. It's not on par with Dark Souls or Dark Souls III in my opinion, but it's still more satisfying to play than most other games due to the progression. My favorite mechanic by far is the bonfire ascetic. Which makes perfect sense in this type of game, and I hope to see a similar mechanic in the future.

PeakSouls,

I went in without any good expectations because everyone downplayed this. But I absolutely loved this game, I had such a blast playing it and would recommend it to everyone that enjoys these kind of games.

After playing through Scholar of the First Sin version of Dark Souls II, I figured I need to play the original too, to experience the different enemy & item placements. Its a bit different, some areas are alot easier here, with less enemies than in SotFS, other areas are actually harder imo, like Dragon Shrine. Still, its Dark Souls, so obviously its a good game that one can easily recommend, either this or SotFS edition.

The thought of playing a Dark Souls game is exciting, but then you play this one and it conditions you to just expect the worst in any situation at any given time. For being such an interesting game mechanics wise, this big pile of FROMSOFTWARE SLOP loves to just throw random bullshit at you making everything you work hard for and time invested into it a joke. Disjointed command grabs that grab you when enemy backs are turned, rooms with so many enemies once the stars align you MIGHT be able to dodge to safety, multiple bosses in a room, poison/bleed/curse cheese, you name something that makes your life miserable its here. This is the start of it all. Would only play if you're just filled with hatred or a massive masochist. Bonus points if you play on MnK. Git gud or die trying.

troll ass game but fun still. original > SotFS

Dark Souls 2 is rewarding, but can be incredibly frustrating to players. If you're used to any other Souls game, this one is out of place. And things could have been patched. Homeward bones do NOT automatically rest you at a bonfire -- you'll have your damaged health and missing estus every time. Even Dark Souls 1 got this right. Weapon ranges are deceptive, seeming to favor enemies. Damage is all over the place and can feel very unpredictable. They tried to implement damage based on what parts of the weapon hits, but because of range/hit box jank, you end up doing wild amounts of damage... sometimes killing enemies you didn't think you could in a single shot, while others that should die don't at all.

Zones are also very strange... you move from one to the next, but they just feel slapped together.

sure, it's a different Dev from the other games. But come on.... you made a game meant to be representative of the series, never properly patched in quality-of-life stuff, and said Go. It's a recommend, but with a heavy grain of salt.

Buy this rather than SoTFS, it's genuinely just better, less ganks and more enemies are where they were meant to be rather than a game sold as a "definitive" version just to make people realise ds2 vanilla is better so they have to buy 2 copies of the game

Doesn't deserve the hate that it receives, still a very fun installation of the souls series.

Fair warning, this game was my introduction to souls likes so this review might be a tad biassed.

Dark Souls II is a good bit different from it's two brothers DSI and DSIII.

While it does away with a good bit of the clunkiness and akward progression of DSI, it by far isn't as smooth as it's younger brother DSIII.
Yet it has expanded a lot on DSI and added a lot of really cool features, like powerstancing or resetting single areas and gearing them up a NG tier. Also DSII has a lot of replayability as the NG+ mechanic adds new items and modifies and expands some bossfights.

However DSII isn't exactly a perfect game and has a lot of quirks that can make it difficult to get into, like for example adp (do yourself a favor and play this game with the wiki at hand), or teh lingering hitboxes of some bosses.

All in all it is a game worth a play, which however requires a bit of guidance and patience.

FromSoftware’s Dark Souls 2 had the unenviable task of following up one of the greatest action RPGs of all time which it failed

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.