Dark Souls II

 PC
User Score
7.2

Mixed or average reviews- based on 3117 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,992 out of 3117
  2. Mixed: 521 out of 3117
  3. Negative: 604 out of 3117
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  1. EmpireNO
    Sep 28, 2014
    4
    I was a huge fan of Demon's Souls, I even loved Dark Souls despite the abysmal port. Now several years later I had higher hopes for DS2, it is better but these guys really don't know anything about PC and how a game should work on PC. My niggles are too many with this game.
  2. mselene
    May 11, 2014
    4
    I really do not understand the praise this game gets. Don't kid yourself: this isn't a PC game, it's a console game that's been ported to PC, and not particularly well. While most people talk about how difficult and "hardcore" the game is, I found most of the difficulty to come from the awful controls, not the gameplay. Let me repeat that because I can't stress it enough: the controls areI really do not understand the praise this game gets. Don't kid yourself: this isn't a PC game, it's a console game that's been ported to PC, and not particularly well. While most people talk about how difficult and "hardcore" the game is, I found most of the difficulty to come from the awful controls, not the gameplay. Let me repeat that because I can't stress it enough: the controls are -awful-. Awful. Ranged combat is a joke - their idea of making it "difficult" is that you aim without a reticle and unless you get the game to "click" and recognize the target you are trying to aim at - which is difficult and random, and has no visual queue to let you know you've done it - you miss wildly, wasting ammunition/spells that are rather precious in a game like this.

    If you can get past all that, you'll probably enjoy the game. And if you are a sadist, you may even praise the terrible controls and aiming as somehow making the game "hardcore". As for me, I just wish I could get my money back.    … Expand
  3. adff500
    Apr 27, 2014
    4
    1. AMD graphics card owners (7870,7970....) prepare yourself as you pay to become betatester.
    2. When you finaly run the game,you will see tutorial and interface with xbox controller prompts. (press LS and A....)
    3.Graphics are average at best.
    4. No LAN support.
    5. Wait for sale or bargain bin with patches included.
  4. FirStie
    May 11, 2014
    4
    This is the most overrated phenomena in video game industry to this day. Don't get me wrong: I prefer to play games on high difficulty, I appreciate the challenge, but only when the game is decent, fair and rewarding. This game is neither of that: terrible controls, off-key hit detection, clumsy combat system, lack of any balance, and, of course, the infamous "hardcore difficulty" set byThis is the most overrated phenomena in video game industry to this day. Don't get me wrong: I prefer to play games on high difficulty, I appreciate the challenge, but only when the game is decent, fair and rewarding. This game is neither of that: terrible controls, off-key hit detection, clumsy combat system, lack of any balance, and, of course, the infamous "hardcore difficulty" set by default, rendering any newcomers helpless and confused - even if you'd like to learn to play better, it just doesn't let you.
    It is an unpopular opinion, but I've got to spill it out: this game is awful. It's not worth it. The cult created around it is just hipster kids trying to go hardcore. I'm afraid you are doing it wrong.    … Expand
  5. sliderh2o
    May 28, 2014
    4
    I normally go with the critic ratings when it comes to reviews. That was a mistake bigtime ! The players have it right on this game! 9.2 critics rating is completely wrong. This game looks pretty, but if it's game play you like this isn't your cup of tea. You know why this game is hard? Because the controls are a joke, that's how they made it hard. I don't mind hard, if the controls wereI normally go with the critic ratings when it comes to reviews. That was a mistake bigtime ! The players have it right on this game! 9.2 critics rating is completely wrong. This game looks pretty, but if it's game play you like this isn't your cup of tea. You know why this game is hard? Because the controls are a joke, that's how they made it hard. I don't mind hard, if the controls were responsive but there not. I give this game a 4 because it is pretty, but shame on the critics for getting this one wrong! I wasted $50 listening to them, should have listened to the players.… Expand
  6. jheinone
    Apr 25, 2014
    4
    The controls are really, really borked in the PC version. Felt like something that existed 15 years ago.

    All hints and tips in the tutorial are for controller players, so unless you use that, you are screwed, or you just have to man up and randomly mash buttons to see what goes where in the mapping... Not very helpful to know that "B" or "LS"-button does something on the controller if    The controls are really, really borked in the PC version. Felt like something that existed 15 years ago.

    All hints and tips in the tutorial are for controller players, so unless you use that, you are screwed, or you just have to man up and randomly mash buttons to see what goes where in the mapping... Not very helpful to know that "B" or "LS"-button does something on the controller if you are using mouse & keyboard.

    tl;dr:If you use keyboard + mouse combo, don't even bother.
    Graphics and general feel is so-so.    … Expand
  7. DelMann2
    May 21, 2014
    4
    I finished DS1, game was fun, I enjoyed it thoroughly. Not this time. There are quite a lot of bugs, game got "cheaper" - 360 dodge hits, through wall hits. You can't fight in tight spaces with certain weapons and the game is a piece of cake with spells. (from what I've seen and heard)

    Unbalance and glitches are the main issues at the moment - and of course - if you are a determined    I finished DS1, game was fun, I enjoyed it thoroughly. Not this time. There are quite a lot of bugs, game got "cheaper" - 360 dodge hits, through wall hits. You can't fight in tight spaces with certain weapons and the game is a piece of cake with spells. (from what I've seen and heard)

    Unbalance and glitches are the main issues at the moment - and of course - if you are a determined keyboard user, you might have a bit of problems.

    Few patches down the line and the game could be on a pedestal again, but it simply doesn't have the feel like the previous game had. I don't believe I will ever enjoy it as much as its predecessor.    … Expand
  8. MadJaples
    May 7, 2014
    4
    What do you mean it's only worth FOUR!? HEATHEN!!

    Well it's only worth four, simply because these bastard devs keep producing (and I *do* notice it is distinctly from the Japanese end of the market and it's **** annoying as HELL) these games that look so damn good, sound great, have godawful long FMV sequences so it's as good as renting a friggin movie, only to discover....the controls    What do you mean it's only worth FOUR!? HEATHEN!!

    Well it's only worth four, simply because these bastard devs keep producing (and I *do* notice it is distinctly from the Japanese end of the market and it's **** annoying as HELL) these games that look so damn good, sound great, have godawful long FMV sequences so it's as good as renting a friggin movie, only to discover....the controls on the keyboard **** really.
    No really they are, and worse still, when you pull up the controls list, it's all displayed in the most un-user friendly manner possible, with a mixture of colour co-ordinated key press on gamepad you don't have, with letter press on keyboard you DO have, and that simply has to be probably THE most annoying thing about **** ports. And that's why it's a **** port.
    If you have a controller, all power to you, because you'll probably actually be used to twiddling yer thumbs on two sticks and pressing all of 8 or 9 buttons on a controller, but once again, this friggin annoying annoyance destroys any credibility of those who produce these games without much in the way of thought as to what sort of people are going to play their game. This is not a singular issue, it is becoming far too commonplace now, and it has to stop.

    It's people that produce games like these that are probably some of the reason people choose to obtain their games illegally instead of paying for them!

    "THINK! MCFLY! THINK!"    … Expand
  9. Xipe93
    Apr 26, 2014
    4
    This game is so overrated(which i don't understand why) that people can't see how flawed the game is.The only thing good with this game is that it is challenging.
  10. ARurouni
    Apr 26, 2014
    4
    It's a great game whatsoever, great playability but I see some flaws in it: sometimes my attack, almost touching the enemy doesn't do any kind of damage on the hollows and the bug that wasn't fixed till now take me away from playing it in my big picture HDMI TV that turns out to be a real letdown.
  11. torongo
    May 10, 2014
    4
    To begin with, the first Dark Souls was a great game, and I liked it very much. I was hyped for the sequel, but after playing it a hour or so I've changed my mind about it. I've spent about 30 minutes to figure out where to go in the first place. In the first game, there was only 2 ways where you can go - up and down.
    Combat system from Dark Souls? Excellent. Combat system from Dark Souls    To begin with, the first Dark Souls was a great game, and I liked it very much. I was hyped for the sequel, but after playing it a hour or so I've changed my mind about it. I've spent about 30 minutes to figure out where to go in the first place. In the first game, there was only 2 ways where you can go - up and down.
    Combat system from Dark Souls? Excellent. Combat system from Dark Souls 2? Freaking garbage. Now you **** if you ran out of stamina in mid-fight, and if there is more than one enemy -- then you are **** twice. Only one life flask, level up only from that girl, decreasing health when you die too much and so on. If you call that "more difficult" - you're wrong.    … Expand
  12. tranxhdr
    Jun 4, 2014
    4
    If you're not a fan of the first game, don't expect anything different. I can't really understand why the media rated this game so high. It's a typical Japanese hacknslash action rpg where respawn checkpoints are horrendous and you get hundreds of enemies coming after you even on normal mode!! You can skip this game, you won't missout on anything.
  13. Philbo
    Jun 4, 2014
    4
    I'm new to the Dark Souls franchise. I was taken in by the overwhelmingly positive reviews and a few videos I watched. I've logged 9 hours in the game and can say with a great deal of certainty; this game is NOT 'open world' as I was lead to believe. Not even kind of. Calling a game 'Open World' is almost all you have to tell me to compel me to pull out my wallet. Needless to say, I wasI'm new to the Dark Souls franchise. I was taken in by the overwhelmingly positive reviews and a few videos I watched. I've logged 9 hours in the game and can say with a great deal of certainty; this game is NOT 'open world' as I was lead to believe. Not even kind of. Calling a game 'Open World' is almost all you have to tell me to compel me to pull out my wallet. Needless to say, I was very disappointed with the "vast open world" (quote from the Steam description) of Dark Souls 2. I'm really only writing this review to clear up the apparent confusion about what open world means in a game.

    If you can look off in the not too far distance in a game and see terrain that you cannot travel to.... the game is NOT open world. In Dark Souls 2, I'm constantly faced with rocks, cliffs, fences, etc. that guide me down a very narrow path. What's on the other side of those obstacles? Nothing, because it's not open world. Open world means; you hop over the fence and find your own way to point B. It means there's not just one or maybe two ways to reach point B, but TONS of ways with plenty of side adventures along the way. There are a few wide open areas where I can see far off areas that I can travel to.... and those areas are covered in water hazards still forcing me down a straight and narrow path. (I guess if I could swim, I could swim past all the giant sentry dudes instead of fighting... and we certainly can't have that now can we?) There is no real exploring in Dark Souls 2. That's my gripe. There's only one path to really follow. That's not to say that you won't overlook a cave entrance covered in bushes, but that's console-style exploring as far as I'm concerned. The only way I can think of that they got away with calling it "open world" is the lack of loading screens between the very well defined zones. That's it.

    All in all, Dark Souls 2 does have some very neat features and is very challenging. I'm just upset about the verbage used in so many descriptions I read before spending $50. If you're going to call Dark Souls 2 "open world", you may as well call Devil May Cry, Fable, and God of War open world as well. If you want to know what an open world game really is, play Skyrim, Fallout 3New Vegas, any GTA game, or DayZ (if you like pain).    … Expand
  14. goodgoy
    Sep 6, 2014
    4
    At the time of writing, Metacritic ranks Dark Souls II as one of the top 100 PC games ever released, with a critical reception comparable to that received by landmarks such as Baldur's Gate, Planescape: Torment, and the original Deus Ex. However, unlike the aforementioned masterpieces, and contrary to what this game's advocates would have you believe, this is a game which is certainlyAt the time of writing, Metacritic ranks Dark Souls II as one of the top 100 PC games ever released, with a critical reception comparable to that received by landmarks such as Baldur's Gate, Planescape: Torment, and the original Deus Ex. However, unlike the aforementioned masterpieces, and contrary to what this game's advocates would have you believe, this is a game which is certainly unworthy of its hype. Discounting the issues resulting from what is essentially a quick and dirty console port (which are detailed extensively in many other reviews), the game soon reveals its many lacklustre gameplay aspects.

    This series' main claim to fame is its relentless difficulty; however, Dark Souls II seldom presents any challenge containing what could be regarded as "legitimate" difficultly. That is to say, all that is needed to overcome any given enemy is to exploit its very predictable AI; to learn its attack pattern, and by extension, learn when to move, when to dodge, when to block, when to attack, etc. and repeat until said enemy is defeated. The only other difficulty comes from plain unfairness in the NPCs' advantages over the player; enemies are able to attack the player through walls and through other enemies with no consequence, have infinite ammunition, often have an extremely disproportionate amount of health and/or damage potential, and so forth.

    By resetting enemy spawns and returning the player to the start of an area upon death, the game could appear "hardcore" to a gamer growing up playing games with checkpoints and regenerating health, but this does not add any inherent difficulty to the actual gameplay; it only serves to increase the gameplay time without increasing progression, and thus increase tediousness and frustration. Neither of the two aforementioned elements (predictable AI, often with an unfair advantage over the player, and a reset of progress after failure) are anything new; countless arcade games did the same thing more than 20 years ago. So why has this game attained such an astounding level of critical and commercial success? It certainly can't be from the sub-par visual quality, bland art direction, directionless, pseudo-nonlinear environment, or the brain-dead friendly NPCs.

    The answer is that, prior to the Souls series, console gaming had not seen a critically acclaimed revival of such arcade mechanics, in the skin of a AAA RPG (published by Namco Bandai), in a significant amount of time. In the age of hand-holding and blinking arrows, a game like Dark Souls II is seen as revelatory. Critical acclaim begets hype, and hype begets popularity. And of course, the average "real gamer" is unwilling to call out this game's vapidness in fear of others insinuating that they found the game too difficult, calling their legitimacy as a "real gamer" into question. And so the resounding opinion is that of how glorious the emperor's new clothes are. However, those either secure in their own gaming ability or just not stupid enough to care about such trivialities, and old enough to have owned an SNES, will see games such as this for what they are.    … Expand
  15. Wiebe
    Feb 27, 2020
    4
    Not a pc game, don't play it if you are a pc gamer, if you like consoles this might be for you, it just wasn't for me
  16. thereallyoldher
    Apr 27, 2016
    4
    The game is not supposed to be played with keyboard+mouse. You have to google how to play this game with keyboard and mouse and download and run some scripts before you can play this game using a regular gaming PC. I am quite sure that the people who are giving this game anything above 5 are doing so for non-PC version of this game. The least the game developers should have done is to showThe game is not supposed to be played with keyboard+mouse. You have to google how to play this game with keyboard and mouse and download and run some scripts before you can play this game using a regular gaming PC. I am quite sure that the people who are giving this game anything above 5 are doing so for non-PC version of this game. The least the game developers should have done is to show the correct key-bindings (instead of a triangle) while interacting with the environment. These are the reasons that I doubt I will ever be finishing this game.… Expand
  17. Hexen-Slayer
    Sep 16, 2020
    4
    This is more DULL SOULS than DARK SOULS, as the creative heads of From Soft all went to make the outstanding BLOODBORNE, it seems they left the graveyard shift to throw together this abysmal sequel.
    I don't get the "professional" reviewers, this one has a higher metascore than the original and it is so much worse in EVERY aspect!
    - level design: gone is the level design with the clever    This is more DULL SOULS than DARK SOULS, as the creative heads of From Soft all went to make the outstanding BLOODBORNE, it seems they left the graveyard shift to throw together this abysmal sequel.
    I don't get the "professional" reviewers, this one has a higher metascore than the original and it is so much worse in EVERY aspect!
    - level design: gone is the level design with the clever connections and shortcuts, this is as linear as it gets
    - enemy design: copy & paste Ornstein. You fight like 4 variations of him within the first hour of the game. Many other enemies and bosses are copy & paste jobs as well. No boss really is memorable
    - atmosphere: lacking! The dark and sinister yields to a lighter and brighter world that does not hold the candle to DARK SOULS I, it doesn't even come close!
    - clunky combat: what the hell did they do to combat? It feels awfully clunky compared to DARK SOULS 1 & 3! Something is just off with the jerky movement.
    - terrible port: mouse & keyboard controls are terrible - unplayable. Graphics have not been improved either. As lazy as ports get
    - DS 1's addictive gameplay: gone! DARK SOULS was addictive. You died and died and died and died some more, yet you kept coming back. DARK SOULS II? Never finished it. Never will. There's no motivation here. Everything you see in DARK SOULS II you've seen in DARK SOULS I, just much much better
    - bad gameplay mechanic: if you die, you lose a portion of your max. health. This stacks, unless you use a limited resource. For people who are already struggling this is an unnecessarily frustrating mechanic

    Bottom line: of the DARK SOULS series this is by far the worst. The "Enhanced"? Edition known as SCHOLAR OF THE FIRST SIN doesn't make it much better. DARK SOULS III is just slightly better. Of the two I recommend NEITHER. Stick to DARK SOULS I, the Remastered version is the one to go, that's the version that should have been released in the first place. IF you should get DARK SOULS II then the SCHOLAR OF THE FIRST SIN is of course the one you want to pick up.
    4 out of 9 (Below Average)    … Expand
  18. Game_Seeker
    Jun 9, 2021
    4
    While I did play DARK SOULS 1 (never played DEMON'S SOULS though since I don't have a console and never will) it did keep me occupied for a while although I must admit that gameplay-wise I did not care for it all that much. While I did enjoy the game's dark atmosphere (I love dark fantasy, the only way to go, f*** hobbits and elves) and the cryptic story (that was brilliant) the gameWhile I did play DARK SOULS 1 (never played DEMON'S SOULS though since I don't have a console and never will) it did keep me occupied for a while although I must admit that gameplay-wise I did not care for it all that much. While I did enjoy the game's dark atmosphere (I love dark fantasy, the only way to go, f*** hobbits and elves) and the cryptic story (that was brilliant) the game design was rather poor: focusing on over-the-top bosses with an insane health pool while you go down in 2 - 3 hits is not really my idea of fun, even more so when the combat isn't even tactical but simple memorizing attack patterns of your foes while rolling away in the right moment (in full plate armor!). There is zero depth to that system. The level design, while being intelligently designed (I've never seen levels brought together in a realistic way like this) however places your respawn point in New York, while the boss room is in LA and you have to fight your way through trash mob after trash mob to get there. This is just pi$$ poor design.
    DARK SOULS II comes along and takes a humongous sh!+ into bed. Gone is the dark atmosphere. Gone is the superb level design. Some (moron) at FromSoft must have said: "let's have more bosses!" so you get more than 30 bosses (the original had about 20). There's 3 in one level, almost door to door, which are reskins of a boss from DARK SOULS 1. Get used to it, you'll se more of that.
    To add insult to injury, each time you die you lose a chunk of your maximum hit points, kind of saying to newcomers: "hey you're struggling? Well f*** you!" Yeah, you "git gud nazis can f*** right off. This isn't good game design, this is sh!++y game design.
    The level design is as bland as can be, no more inter-connected world, it seems all the creative heads of FromSoft (not many there to begin with) were on vacation.
    DARK SOULS II is a very poor sequel. All the things that made the first game stand out are gone now. Technically it's been polished up a bit but still looks outdated. Controls with mouse & keyboard (git over it guys, controllers SUCK, they should not exist) are close to useless (was a problem with the original game, too), the camera is terrible. Enemy design is lacking, too, nowhere near as good as in the first game. All in all DARK SOULS II is an underwhelming sequel that does everything worse than the original and nothing better. It should never have been made. DARK SOULS fans will probably disagree and dislike this, but you guys probably didn't read this far anyway.    … Expand
  19. ManHoof
    Jul 29, 2023
    4
    It's the only game in the Souls series I don't want to return to.
    The plot and voice acting are as good as always. The atmosphere is also good. There are small gameplay details that are very interesting. Unfortunately, there are more cons. The color palette is unpleasant to the eye (except of course Majula). The musical themes are definitely not something special in this part. Most of the    It's the only game in the Souls series I don't want to return to.
    The plot and voice acting are as good as always. The atmosphere is also good. There are small gameplay details that are very interesting. Unfortunately, there are more cons. The color palette is unpleasant to the eye (except of course Majula). The musical themes are definitely not something special in this part. Most of the bosses are just garbage. The combat system is worse than even the first part.
    I rate it without DLC.    … Expand
  20. Fuz
    Apr 28, 2014
    3
    They did it again, and it's even more inexcusable this time.
    Mouse controls are terrible, redefining keyboard is messy and incredible chore, even more so because they didn't even bother to change the keys showed up in the interface, so you'll still see "A", "B", "Y" instead of the keys you're actually using.
    Terrible, terrible, terrible port.
  21. Vasot
    Apr 26, 2014
    3
    FREAKING AWFUL very overrated game especially for PC do not listen to pro-reviewers that give a 9.0 or 10 to this abomination. The graphics are a joke they are not as bad as the first game but still are bad with a lot of blurry low quality textures and polygon designed animations that even in the highest graphic settings remind me some old games from 2002 as for the gameplay feelsFREAKING AWFUL very overrated game especially for PC do not listen to pro-reviewers that give a 9.0 or 10 to this abomination. The graphics are a joke they are not as bad as the first game but still are bad with a lot of blurry low quality textures and polygon designed animations that even in the highest graphic settings remind me some old games from 2002 as for the gameplay feels lacking and amateur programming work, it is almost unplayable and annoying if you try to play with a keyboard and a mouse (i am not going to waste my money to buy a gamepad just for one title). It is a very very overrated title and extremely overhyped from stupid paid game site and from reviewers that have been paid to promote this as the best RPG in the world do not fall into their hype and into their propaganda or you will regret your money. save them for buying The Witcher 3 or for Dragon Age Inquisition at least or some other future title… Expand
  22. Praesi
    Oct 14, 2014
    3
    PS "Gamer" who gave the PC Version a 10 are pathetic.
    Dont trust any Score above 5.
    The PC Version of this Game is a horrible Mess. Ugly Grafics, pathetic Controlls. On top, FROM Software showed us "Ingame Footage" that doesn´t exist, the Final Version dont look even close to that. FROM are Liars, nothing else. Every PC Gamer with Demands should make a huge bow around this technical    PS "Gamer" who gave the PC Version a 10 are pathetic.
    Dont trust any Score above 5.

    The PC Version of this Game is a horrible Mess. Ugly Grafics, pathetic Controlls. On top, FROM Software showed us "Ingame Footage" that doesn´t exist, the Final Version dont look even close to that. FROM are Liars, nothing else. Every PC Gamer with Demands should make a huge bow around this technical nightmare.    … Expand
  23. lozzer22
    Apr 27, 2014
    3
    The hitboxes are completely screwed, meaning any feeling of accomplishment from skilfully dodging an enemy is quickly lost as they somehow hit you from meters to the side. The controls of your character are also very unresponsive, after attacking you'll have to hit the button five or so times and wait for the animation of your character taking a quick break mid-combat to finish before youThe hitboxes are completely screwed, meaning any feeling of accomplishment from skilfully dodging an enemy is quickly lost as they somehow hit you from meters to the side. The controls of your character are also very unresponsive, after attacking you'll have to hit the button five or so times and wait for the animation of your character taking a quick break mid-combat to finish before you can roll out of the way. For a game that required skill and precision timing this just isn't good enough.… Expand
  24. Nogard123
    Apr 26, 2014
    3
    What a horrible port,its even worse then the dark souls 1 port IMHO .
    I would spend my money on something else if i where you.
    The biggest problem people seems to have is getting pass the start up crash.
    Yeah they promised a better port,the game isn't even working for some people,skip this pile of .... or if your realy hell bound to buy it wait for them to fix all the problems.
  25. bjaz
    Nov 15, 2014
    3
    Understanding the story is most tough job while playing this game
    Will enjoy the game first time,but after sometime players will get board & go to sleep
    Also This game is not well optimized for pc but console
    It's a REAL disappointment for a RPG game
  26. kotgaf
    Jul 9, 2014
    3
    I really enjoy hardcore games sometimes.
    But...
    Don't say a f*****g word about hardcore when talking about this game! Control on PC is totally broken!
    After all - average graphic, terrible interface,bugs, poor amount of ingame information - what, you call THIS hardcore?! You'd better try to win ADOM, you know.
    Hardcore and stupidity isn't same thing.
  27. Kraks
    May 9, 2014
    3
    Everyone seems to be talking about the controls and other technical issues on the PC, so I will instead talk about the actual game.

    The game itself is bad enough to deserve poor reviews. As others have mentioned, the open, interconnected, beautifully woven story and world from the original is gone. Instead, you get a very closed in, maze like, and contraption filled mess that barely    Everyone seems to be talking about the controls and other technical issues on the PC, so I will instead talk about the actual game.

    The game itself is bad enough to deserve poor reviews. As others have mentioned, the open, interconnected, beautifully woven story and world from the original is gone. Instead, you get a very closed in, maze like, and contraption filled mess that barely stitches together a world.

    The "quests" are just a mess, because there is almost no required order for anything. While I enjoy the open world and found that the ambiguity of the first one really helped pull me in, that isn't the case with Dark Souls 2. Ambiguity is replaced with obfuscation and plot holes. This means that even pouring enough into the game to play through it multiple times (100+ hours, easily) will still not lead to the results one might expect for some of the quest lines. I hate using spoiler sites, but when you have a game that hinges every bit of story progression with the NPCs on minutiae, you can't help but go looking for a friendly helper to make sure you're not having to start another new game because you didn't talk to the dwarf at X first instead of at Y....seriously? He doesn't even tell you where he's going at any point, just a "see ya around".

    As for difficulty, there really is none. The bosses in DS2 do not show nearly the same level of challenge as Artorious, Kalameet, Furtive Pigmy or even 4 Kings. They are all much slower fights. They can all be easily beaten by anyone choosing to play a caster spec. Melee players may have a little harder time, but definitely nothing on par with even Ornstein and Smough from DS 1.

    I could go on, but I will end this with my complaints about the online aspects of this game. First, the PVP isn't PVP. It is mostly griefing. Getting jumped by some random guy who comes in completely healed, completely geared for PVP, and has many other advantages, every 5 minutes while you're trying to progress the story line is just not fun. Disconnect so you can save yourself from possibly losing all your souls and the game will punish you. FromSoft relies on their famous ambiguity here as well, not telling you jack about this punishment until it is too late. Hey FromSoft...I paid for your game, let me play it how I want. If the PVP is so amazing and so desirable to such a huge amount of your fan base, you should have no issues finding enough people to voluntarily join in without also forcing those of us that enjoy the coop to participate in said farcical PVP (read: griefing).

    So another option is to play offline, right? Not really. You play offline at all during a play through and you can kiss achievements for that play through good bye. Start over time, again. And again, FromSoft does a horrible job of notifying people about this.

    I loved Dark Souls 1, even on the PC, and even with GFWL. At least with GFWL I could chat with people I played with without being required to use creepy and invasive voice chat. I'm not letting some random stranger 12 year old into my home, FromSoft. Are you out of your mind? The best thing about GFWL summoning not working all of the time was that I actually got to enjoy the game. Being invaded once an hour or two wasn't a big deal. Being invaded literally every other group of mobs in NG+ is just harassment, and quite frankly shows the maturity level of those developing this series.    … Expand
  28. Geekcrux
    Sep 5, 2014
    3
    My friend constantly raved about how this game was so great because it is challenging. I agree that it was very challenging at time. What the developers of this game forgot to put in this game was fun.

    I beat the game (minus the ancient dragon) and other than a sense of achievement in over coming the challenge, it was not fun. I do not feel relaxed. If anything the more I played this    My friend constantly raved about how this game was so great because it is challenging. I agree that it was very challenging at time. What the developers of this game forgot to put in this game was fun.

    I beat the game (minus the ancient dragon) and other than a sense of achievement in over coming the challenge, it was not fun. I do not feel relaxed. If anything the more I played this game the more despair and stress I developed. When it was over I was happy. Not happy because the game fulfilled me but happy that I can uninstall it and never play this game again.    … Expand
  29. Sjalka
    May 13, 2014
    3
    3/10 - but in that case i do not claim to be very objective at all, because i knew from the start that this was not "my kind of game"

    so why did i test it? - well to see what all the hype is about. - but more to the point... presentation is a mixed bag. setting and atmosphere is decent, graphical fidelity is average but does look outdated in parts. the player character model is    3/10 - but in that case i do not claim to be very objective at all, because i knew from the start that this was not "my kind of game"

    so why did i test it? - well to see what all the hype is about. - but more to the point...

    presentation is a mixed bag. setting and atmosphere is decent, graphical fidelity is average but does look outdated in parts. the player character model is horribly aweful despite plenty customization options. however enemy models range from average to excellent.

    the idea and difficulty is nothing that really influenced my rating, because i reckon people only pick that title up when they expect a gruesomely hard game and would be disappointed if it did not deliver that nearly frustrating degree of difficulty.

    what i did not like ( PC version )

    - a horrible UI - character management is aweful. UI and management is geared towards consoles and there has not been a single efford ( or so it seems ) to streamline it for PC

    - bad controls - and by that i mean controlling the character felt unintuitive. for a game that punishes every mistake you make, i d expect having a character that reacted instantly to any player input.

    - bad camera ( sometimes ) - again, for a game where precission and timing is vital, i felt like i d need a much better overview of the situation.

    so i cannot subscribe to the mantra "hard but fair" - because it was ( for me ) riddled with controlling and UI problems. i am quite certain that players who play on consoles or are used to a controller ( i am not, i never got the hang of it, i use mouse+keyboard ) have a greatly different experience.

    i can see the great potential of challenge and achievement there though, but it is not for everyone, that is for certain.

    postscript:

    if they fixed the UI for PC keyboard players to actually do the PC justice, it would be a 5/10 - if the controls and reaction time was improved, certainly a 8/10 - even for a more casual gamer.    … Expand
  30. Windolicker
    Apr 21, 2020
    3
    I tried to love this game. I just can't. It also really drives me crazy that there are fanboys who get so bent out of shape if anypne doesn't like this game. Look at every other From Software game.....there is something missing in DS2. I think there is credibility to the "B team" speculation. I have a huge ptoblem with the lore in this game; put of everything I think that is my biggestI tried to love this game. I just can't. It also really drives me crazy that there are fanboys who get so bent out of shape if anypne doesn't like this game. Look at every other From Software game.....there is something missing in DS2. I think there is credibility to the "B team" speculation. I have a huge ptoblem with the lore in this game; put of everything I think that is my biggest problem. I fell in love with the characters from DS1 and all of the lore. DS2 just throws it out and keeps the same framework. I don't even consider this installment to be canonical. DS3 is the true sequel and the only reason it included a few things from DS2 was probably due to the fact that it wpuld be a hive controversy to not include anything from it. Everything about this game seems uninspired. Whereas DS3 and DS1 are masterpieces. Wtf happened?!… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

2
#2 Best PC Game of 2014
8
#8 Most Discussed PC Game of 2014
12
#12 Most Shared PC Game of 2014

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
91

Universal acclaim - based on 36 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 36 out of 36
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 36
  3. Negative: 0 out of 36
  1. CD-Action
    Jul 23, 2014
    95
    This game’s playability puts to shame everything that’s been released for the new generation of consoles. [06/2014, p.54]
  2. PC PowerPlay
    Jun 6, 2014
    90
    The definitive Dark Souls II experience, the latest entry to The Souls series shines on the PC. [June 2014, p.50]
  3. Riot Pixels
    Jun 5, 2014
    80
    If you’re a fan of hardcore games, try Dark Souls 2. It is not as memorable as its predecessor, and yet it is still a phenomenal experience.
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