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. deathschemist
    Sep 4, 2014
    9
    this game is truely exquisite, one of my favourites of this generation. However its predecessor was superior in almost every way. this has a lot of fake difficulty and the enemy designs, while servicable, are uninspired compared to dark souls 1

    don't get me wrong, i'd rather be playing dark souls 2 than most other games from the last 5 years, but dark souls 1 is just far superior
  2. destructive41
    Sep 17, 2014
    10
    I think DARK SOULS II is indeed the best RPG game I´ve ever played, there are so many games like that, but nothing compares. Thanks for bringing back this incredible simulation of death!
  3. Centrey
    Jul 3, 2015
    8
    I, personally, had no issue with the game on PC nor did I have issue with the game on ps3 - This review on is based solely off of the quality of the game, not the PC port. Dark Souls 2 is often slated for not being 'what the promised' and not being as good as Dark Souls 1, I agree with this. They dumbed down certain features and reduced the quality of the game of PC, and the PvE in theI, personally, had no issue with the game on PC nor did I have issue with the game on ps3 - This review on is based solely off of the quality of the game, not the PC port. Dark Souls 2 is often slated for not being 'what the promised' and not being as good as Dark Souls 1, I agree with this. They dumbed down certain features and reduced the quality of the game of PC, and the PvE in the game (the story line included) was not anywhere near the same level as Dark Souls 1. However, what kept me playing this game for 700 hours+ was instead the PvP. A drastic improvement over Dark Souls 1, with better connectivity, quicker weapons and what I felt was a higher skill cap, due to the new parrying/backstab system. I am aware that there are some that think Dark Souls 1 PvP was superior, but for me, Dark Souls 2 really fixed the issues of Dark Souls 1 PvP.… Expand
  4. DRITZZ_ZARCON
    Oct 5, 2014
    9
    Seeing so many bad reviews I had to re-address the situation for what is an incredible game. I played the first Dark Souls on the Xbox and thus moving onto DS2 on the PC the graphics were much more polished and fluid, a BIG difference. Game play is hard but definitely rewarding, and love the way you can multiplayer the bosses etc.

    One of the best games I've played ever, that says a lot    Seeing so many bad reviews I had to re-address the situation for what is an incredible game. I played the first Dark Souls on the Xbox and thus moving onto DS2 on the PC the graphics were much more polished and fluid, a BIG difference. Game play is hard but definitely rewarding, and love the way you can multiplayer the bosses etc.

    One of the best games I've played ever, that says a lot considering I've been playing games across multiple formats for many a year.Loved it!

    I play with the xbox 360 controller which is fine, and anyone playing with a keyboard and mouse should go out and but a xbox adapter and a 360 controller as so many games now support this    … Expand
  5. xcolxmustardx
    Oct 27, 2014
    6
    Very disappointing. Gameplay is the same as the original Dark Souls, with small changes that don't really work to well. Infinite Life-gems make it so you don't have to conserve your healing potions at all. The PVP systems are poorly thought out and much more of a grind than they were in the original, which makes it way less enjoyable. (especially the Brotherhood of Blood.) They decidedVery disappointing. Gameplay is the same as the original Dark Souls, with small changes that don't really work to well. Infinite Life-gems make it so you don't have to conserve your healing potions at all. The PVP systems are poorly thought out and much more of a grind than they were in the original, which makes it way less enjoyable. (especially the Brotherhood of Blood.) They decided to sacrifice the story in this game for lore which makes it extremely boring and uninvolved. The world design (While beautiful) is poorly thought out, and doesn't intersect and build on itself the way the original Dark Souls did... (I'm looking at you "Shrine of Winter") I wasn't blown away by the difficulty, or by the puzzles, or challenging level designs the way I was with DKS1, (Sen's Fortress, Lost Izalith, Tomb of Giants, The Abyss, New Londo Ruins) and i found it annoying that the game decided to offer several different paths of travel, instead of guiding me to the areas that it wanted (In the early game) based on difficulty.
    Deciding to have someone else direct this game seriously hurt it's quality.
    I'm going back to the Undead Parish.    … Expand
  6. Robpants
    Mar 26, 2015
    6
    Comparing to the previous Dark Souls and Demon's Souls games, there are improvements and downgrades. Dark Souls II fixes some often annoying aspects of the other games, while removing large chunks of enjoyability and cohesion.

    To begin, the environment and atmosphere of the game is virtually gone. In Dark Souls, the game truly makes you feel as if you are alone in this undead journey,    Comparing to the previous Dark Souls and Demon's Souls games, there are improvements and downgrades. Dark Souls II fixes some often annoying aspects of the other games, while removing large chunks of enjoyability and cohesion.

    To begin, the environment and atmosphere of the game is virtually gone. In Dark Souls, the game truly makes you feel as if you are alone in this undead journey, which is a good feeling. It matches the game's atmosphere. Dark Souls II somehow has removed that dark and lonely atmosphere and in it's place is a bland, unenthusiastic attempt to appeal to more audiences. It feels more like any other game off the shelf, which is not what you expect from a Dark Souls game.

    Some would say the graphics in DS2 were updated from DS, and in some cases that is true. But for the most part the difference is negligible for a game that came out 3 years later. And going back to the atmosphere, the graphics style of DS2 is just boring, almost cartoon-ish in a game that is supposed to make you feel alone and undead.

    The game play mechanics have been revised in many ways from previous games. The jump command is now more easily attainable, combat has been refined, somewhat. But as many other reviewers have noted, the combat feels unfair. In previous games, the combat was difficult, but fair and so rewarding when you overcome an obstacle. In DS2, the enemies seem designed to do nothing but infuriate the player. Enemies will rotate incredibly to strike you with a slow attack that you should have easily dodged. Often you will be faced with waves of annoying enemies in place of a few well designed, challenging enemies.

    Level design is nicely varied, moving from poisonous ravines to molten strongholds and everywhere in between. However as others have pointed out, some of the level connections don't quite make sense.

    The story can be tough to follow at times, and is no where near as engaging as DS and Demon's Souls.

    Overall Dark Souls II brings some innovation to the party, but falls short on nearly everything else. It's the kind of game that you play if you enjoy the classic RPG experiences of leveling up, finding and equipping interesting gear, and fighting with powerful weapons and spells. But all of that alone does not make a good game.    … Expand
  7. Darth_Arrow
    Jun 20, 2015
    9
    Like many people, i loved the original Dark Souls. The second is at least is good as the first. Sure, it doesn't attain the level of world design the first one boasted, but the combat made up for it. From did a much better job porting this to PC. I don't care that much about the graphics being downgraded. The only real gripe i can have is that the boss battles are not as satisfying as theLike many people, i loved the original Dark Souls. The second is at least is good as the first. Sure, it doesn't attain the level of world design the first one boasted, but the combat made up for it. From did a much better job porting this to PC. I don't care that much about the graphics being downgraded. The only real gripe i can have is that the boss battles are not as satisfying as the original. Fingers crossed for DS3 bring the best of the previous souls game; marrying the new combat with the old world design and boss fights. A solid 9 in my book.… Expand
  8. tsmasher1000
    Dec 16, 2015
    7
    Imagine my excitement when I heard that there was a sequel coming to the absolutely fantastic game, Dark Souls! However, I was disappointed by the game overall. To me, the graphics didn't matter so much as the gameplay. The reason why Dark Souls was such a unique and fun experience was because Dark Souls, while inflicted with terrible graphics (which is not a big deal to me), had insanelyImagine my excitement when I heard that there was a sequel coming to the absolutely fantastic game, Dark Souls! However, I was disappointed by the game overall. To me, the graphics didn't matter so much as the gameplay. The reason why Dark Souls was such a unique and fun experience was because Dark Souls, while inflicted with terrible graphics (which is not a big deal to me), had insanely good gameplay. All of the enemies felt unique, special, and had interesting designs. Going back to Dark Souls 2, this is where it ultimately fails. The enemies are usually of linear design, and do not feel unique or interesting. Most of the enemies (which are knights) play relatively similar with no interesting variances. This is also not to mention the fact that the game seems to punish you for trying and experimenting different builds and seeing how to play the game. When you are killed, you lose maximum HP, something I felt was very annoying. It felt like I was limited to what I could experiment and it was annoying because in such a difficult game where simply bad footing will kill you, you will end up losing a lot of health and would be forced to use human effigies (which was annoying after a while). Another thing that felt punishing was that when one died too many times, the enemies would just vanish as though the developers were giving you a free pass. Again, it felt punishing because it was as though the developers didn't want you to have the challenge because you couldn't do it after a certain number of times. Those features added very little to the game and were not enjoyable. Overall, Dark Souls 2 was a disappointment that could have been a better game. Though it has better graphics, it feels like a cheaper imitation of its predecessors and had the potential to be much more than that.… Expand
  9. Jucarock
    Apr 28, 2018
    9
    If you played the first Dark Souls, you could find this game easiest. You know the logic behind the game and will face less difficulty. If you not played none of Dark Souls game, well, prepare to die a lot. DS2 improve the "lock target" system from the first game (if you play with mouse and keyboard), because on DS1 it was very difficulty at the beginning of the game. The map is bigger,If you played the first Dark Souls, you could find this game easiest. You know the logic behind the game and will face less difficulty. If you not played none of Dark Souls game, well, prepare to die a lot. DS2 improve the "lock target" system from the first game (if you play with mouse and keyboard), because on DS1 it was very difficulty at the beginning of the game. The map is bigger, more monsters, itens, etc. But the game itself is basically the same. It's very enjoyable at all if you have the patience to learn from your mistakes.… Expand
  10. 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
  11. Glaceon_Hit
    Aug 21, 2020
    9
    I must to say DS2 > DS3 U DS1.
    The 3 games are awesome, but I hate the people that just want to punish From Software for starting a Souls game without Miyazaki. That people say this games sucks, that people is casual.
    It is 3 times more bigger than DS1 and has more uniques zones than DS3. Big problems are the bosses, too many and they are so weak. But some of them have very good storys.    I must to say DS2 > DS3 U DS1.
    The 3 games are awesome, but I hate the people that just want to punish From Software for starting a Souls game without Miyazaki. That people say this games sucks, that people is casual.
    It is 3 times more bigger than DS1 and has more uniques zones than DS3.
    Big problems are the bosses, too many and they are so weak. But some of them have very good storys. I love the storys from the third DLC. Even with this there are good bosses, that reminded me the good bosses from DS1.
    And the zones are so uniques. That when I see the zones from DS3 I cant accept someone saying DS3 is better.
    The mechanics are horrible, yes, but a little better than DS1. And they balanced the classes. Like magic, priest and piromancer, and now they are **** except mage they were always ****.
    How about the story. It is explained by a waifu (half dragon) ... why. Anyways now the npcs are very good guys not like the ones on DS1. And half of the bosses has story, more than 25% from DS1.
    Okay the best part of the game is in the start. Majula. In DS1 you had the Fire Shine, there were 3-4 people but then you could bring a lot of people THAT go away while you continue with the story. But in Majula, everyone is happy there. They are relaxing. You can come here whenever you want to just talk with friends, watch the views, jump to the hole, fight some pigs. Majula is beatiful.    … Expand
  12. zoodle
    Oct 25, 2020
    5
    Under the impression of Dark Souls 1, I bought the second and third parts of the trilogy. But when I started playing it, I immediately did not like the controls and character animations, after playing more, I realized that I did not like this game at all, in comparison with the first part it was some horror, I did not like the gameplay too much and I immediately returned it after playingUnder the impression of Dark Souls 1, I bought the second and third parts of the trilogy. But when I started playing it, I immediately did not like the controls and character animations, after playing more, I realized that I did not like this game at all, in comparison with the first part it was some horror, I did not like the gameplay too much and I immediately returned it after playing something about 1.8 hours.… Expand
  13. Dom007
    Mar 26, 2021
    9
    Dark souls 2 is very flawed, but extremely enjoyable. The customisation and item variety is incredible allowing for multiple replays and playthroughs. Some of the bosses in the Dlc's are great and some of the areas are nicely designed.
    However there are so many weak and poorly designed areas which are just a slog to get through. Some bosses are just downright poor and some enemies are    Dark souls 2 is very flawed, but extremely enjoyable. The customisation and item variety is incredible allowing for multiple replays and playthroughs. Some of the bosses in the Dlc's are great and some of the areas are nicely designed.
    However there are so many weak and poorly designed areas which are just a slog to get through. Some bosses are just downright poor and some enemies are just awful.
    But overall my enjoyment of DS2 makes up for these flaws. A lot of it has to do with the Dlc's which are the best parts of the game for me.    … Expand
  14. Menetys
    Mar 1, 2021
    10
    This game is a little unfair to the player but it's good because IMO dark souls is all about overcoming mighty challenges!

    pvp:10/10
    pve:9/10
  15. cat15
    Jul 6, 2021
    0
    This game has the worst hitbix in the franchise, just play dark souls 1 or 3 instead
  16. F3T1W
    Aug 27, 2021
    5
    The worst Souls Like from Soft'ov, the atmosphere of DS is very imaginary, but the action is of high quality
  17. DarisW
    May 11, 2022
    7
    The only souls game I'm not eager to replay. I have some favourite moments in it, don't get me wrong, but there is a lot poor designed bosses and locations, and mobs are all over place sometimes. Also adaptability is complete bs. But I was invested in lore. It'll be great to read DS2 comic or something like that one day. +1 point for the cute cat in Majula
  18. coso132
    Oct 16, 2022
    8
    While this is the worst souls game, because of its many technical, narrative, gameplay, and marketing problems, the simple fact that it follows the souls formula and the quantity of content is enough for me to put hundreds of hours in it and have a lot of fun.
  19. Joe2539
    Jan 2, 2023
    10
    Very Good Good Good Good Good Good Good Good Good Good Good Good Good Good Good
  20. skrik
    Apr 27, 2014
    5
    Don't listen to the people who tell you to skip the bad reviews on this game. The game really does have issues unfortunately. I am a big fan of Deamon souls and DS 1 but the change of director for DS 2 really makes the game feel different. It's not about the game being hard... Its way easier than the two previous ones except for some oddly unbalanced parts of the game.
    No the real issue    Don't listen to the people who tell you to skip the bad reviews on this game. The game really does have issues unfortunately. I am a big fan of Deamon souls and DS 1 but the change of director for DS 2 really makes the game feel different. It's not about the game being hard... Its way easier than the two previous ones except for some oddly unbalanced parts of the game.
    No the real issue is that the game feels super lazy. Most of the ennemies are just ports from the previous games. Same for the items. It feels like playing Dark souls 1 again but with less interesting levels and monsters! Deamon Soul and Dark souls 1 had amazing ambiance and strange creatures, impressive bosses... Dark souls 2 throws at you nothing but zombie kind of humans and knights for hours. Even the bosses are just knights, with stronger attacks. Where the heck are my giant swamp things, blobs wearing shields and spears, giant fire breathing spiders ???
    The game feels horribly uninspired and I found myself bored playing it while it just threw at me hordes of the same, basic ennemies again and again ( counting on numbers to make it difficult instead of making the ennemies themselves interesting to fight).

    A big disappointment for anyone looking for a true sequel to the master pieces the other souls games were.    … Expand
  21. lanman61
    May 9, 2014
    0
    This is crappy console port from a lazy developer. I'm a PC gamer with keyboard/mouse and the controls are clunky. They can't even bother to change the controller pad prompts onscreen. with the game working against you prepare to get frustrated as you will die often. The graphics, even at ultra high settings, are nothing special. Terribly disappointed. Erased it off my hard driveThis is crappy console port from a lazy developer. I'm a PC gamer with keyboard/mouse and the controls are clunky. They can't even bother to change the controller pad prompts onscreen. with the game working against you prepare to get frustrated as you will die often. The graphics, even at ultra high settings, are nothing special. Terribly disappointed. Erased it off my hard drive after a few hours.… Expand
  22. 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
  23. Calriel
    Mar 27, 2015
    0
    Absolutely steer clear of this game if you're a true PC Gamer like myself. Do NOT fall for reviews on Gamespot or even my beloved PCGamer.

    This game is really a console game. You get constant messages with "press this console button" and it is up to you to delve into huge lists of incomprehensible key bindings to try and figure out which button they meant, what it is on your PC and then    Absolutely steer clear of this game if you're a true PC Gamer like myself. Do NOT fall for reviews on Gamespot or even my beloved PCGamer.

    This game is really a console game. You get constant messages with "press this console button" and it is up to you to delve into huge lists of incomprehensible key bindings to try and figure out which button they meant, what it is on your PC and then it ends up not doing what you think it is supposed to do.

    If you are looking forward to click "control + mousewheel", then "shift + double click right mouse button" and still not getting it, or painfully trying to re-do an entire list of dozens and dozens of key bindings, this is your game.

    The fact that the graphics are not at all what you'd hope for such a recent game.... that the controls, inventory system and menu options so cumbersome... and that the voice acting is poor and the script inane at best, make it that it is a struggle to even get through one hour of this nightmarish endeavour.

    Avoid like plague. And I don't say that often. But seriously. No.    … Expand
  24. WilliamWesker
    Aug 2, 2019
    0
    DS 2 is not even a true "DARK" game, in order to have the title of DARK SOULS in it, the 2013 DEMO of the same is, but the final version is definitely not. It has texture with a very poor quality in all its versions, including the one of PC, especially considering that it is a game of 2014, & in 2015 there were already games like The Witcher 3, which makes DS 2 to look like a game of aDS 2 is not even a true "DARK" game, in order to have the title of DARK SOULS in it, the 2013 DEMO of the same is, but the final version is definitely not. It has texture with a very poor quality in all its versions, including the one of PC, especially considering that it is a game of 2014, & in 2015 there were already games like The Witcher 3, which makes DS 2 to look like a game of a half a decade before the 2014, because of the difference with regard to the quality of textures between the two, something that it is really pathetic & embarrassing for the DS 2 piece of work. It allows the player to warp between Bonfires from the beginning, which literally murder in cold blood a great deal of immersion & exploration in it. The enemies are very badly misplaced in the levels. The animation of the sequences in the attacks are just terrible with respect to the lack of inmercion that it causes, to a player. Its system focuses on punishing the player when the same dies, at resurrect it with less life, instead of encouraging it to self-overcome, which is one of the main philosophies of the DARK SOULS series, Hidetaka Miyazaki himself confirmed that philosophy for the series. The writing level of the game is very poor. The NPCs are extremely depressing, & constantly encourage the player to surrender during the dialogues, instead of encouraging the player not to become Hollow, as they generally should with indifference responses like on DS 3 & ESPECIALLY in DS 1!… Expand
  25. tallem
    May 6, 2014
    1
    So first off, I played a total of 15 minutes and probably killed 4 enemies, this review has NOTHING to do with gameplay.

    I just could not get myself to play this game, everything about this screams of port. First off, the menus, they almost made me quit the game within a minute of launching it, they are probably the worst I've encountered in a game to date, nothing more to it. The    So first off, I played a total of 15 minutes and probably killed 4 enemies, this review has NOTHING to do with gameplay.

    I just could not get myself to play this game, everything about this screams of port. First off, the menus, they almost made me quit the game within a minute of launching it, they are probably the worst I've encountered in a game to date, nothing more to it. The options are for some reason even worse, to get to half of them you need to load up a save or in the case that you don't have one, start a new game. The UI has the buttons of a 360 controller yet the game does not work with mine for some unknown reason (yes it works in Steam big picture mode and in other games).

    The graphics are overall also quite "meh", lighting effects and some textures look good but a lot of animations are horrid and as I got to the character creation menu I was seriously doubting that I was playing a game released in 2014.

    Overall this just feels like an unfinished product and I am legitimately sad that I spent my money on it.    … Expand
  26. sclark13
    Mar 25, 2015
    0
    I've always been a supporter of From Software. I bought Demon's Souls when it released in Korea because I wasn't sure they would release it in the states. When it did release in the states, I bought it again for my friend who loved playing it at my house. When Dark Souls came out, I bought it for the PS3 and played through most of it, and when they released a really bad port of it on PC II've always been a supporter of From Software. I bought Demon's Souls when it released in Korea because I wasn't sure they would release it in the states. When it did release in the states, I bought it again for my friend who loved playing it at my house. When Dark Souls came out, I bought it for the PS3 and played through most of it, and when they released a really bad port of it on PC I bought it again just to have it on a preferred platform. I bought Dark Souls II for PC on pre-order partly because of the atmosphere that was advertised, but when it actually released I found it was a gimped version with barely any dynamic lighting, no SSAO, and low-res textures. I even paid full price for DLC in-spite of my anti-DLC stance, just to show them there is a market for their games. Finally the developers are putting out a version of Dark Souls II that promises to fix and optimize these issues, but instead of giving me that "fixed" version as a free patch, they are telling me and all the other players who have supported them that they want another $30 or more for that privilege.

    They are charging current PC users to unlock the improved performance that we were promised when we first bought the game.    … Expand
  27. 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
  28. nikolche
    Oct 6, 2016
    0
    If falling into pits all the time makes the game hard then sure, it is extremely hard. Seems like the main focus of the game is to piss you off. Like playing super Mario on the Nintendo. Could have been much better.
  29. Gzhindra
    Jun 17, 2014
    6
    Dark Souls 2 in not by any mean a bad game. To sum up, it is what happen when you give a great license with well though mechanics to someone lacking visions and understanding of what made Dark Soul 1 such a great game. The basis are good but the game designer should have heeded the moto "If it works don't try and fix it".

    Dark Souls 1 had a well thought and overall coherently made    Dark Souls 2 in not by any mean a bad game. To sum up, it is what happen when you give a great license with well though mechanics to someone lacking visions and understanding of what made Dark Soul 1 such a great game. The basis are good but the game designer should have heeded the moto "If it works don't try and fix it".

    Dark Souls 1 had a well thought and overall coherently made world. In Darks Souls 2 it is more like a patchwork of environments that hardly fit together without any logic. The game lacks terribly in atmosphere. The story was not the forte of Dark Souls 1 but there was a sense of purpose. There is no such thing in Dark Souls 2 as it has become only a beat them all with stats and upgradeable equipment. It is still fun to toy with but we lost something.

    There are at least to main game mechanics mistakes. The game has been casualized with a limited amount of respawn by enemies. If getting through an area is too difficult for you, you shouldn't worry as you can kill one enemy at a time, respawn them and after a while they simply won't be here anymore making you passing dead easy. They did this to prevent farming but they could have simply limited the number of souls and equipement one enemy can provide instead of doing this. The other broken mechanic is the weapon durability. It is base on frame rate. The higher your framerate the fastest your going to break your weapons. This mechanics is not only stupid, it is tedious and brings nothing good to the game, not even challenge.

    It was already the case with Dark Souls 1 but:
    - it lack a pause button which is not acceptable. People can have urgencies in their lives and while it understandable in PVP it isn't in PVE.
    - Online is forced on the player whether you like it or not
    - No return to Windows option in the menu.    … Expand
  30. Tassadaritze
    May 27, 2014
    0
    Who thought it was a good idea to change dodging to this piece of crap? Dodging is no longer rewarded if you can time it well, all that matters is that you get out of the range of the attack. No timing needed.
  31. Nus
    Mar 24, 2015
    0
    Awful game.
    Demons Souls and the first Dark Souls and Bloodborne is much better than this. Don't bother with this,
    This is the worst Souls game and nothing can fix that.
  32. Honesth0mbre
    Apr 29, 2014
    6
    All in all Darksouls II feels like a heartfelt but misguided homage to the series, rather than an entry in it. It is an enjoyable game with glaring flaws in its design philosophies and polish. The developers have made the fatal error of confusing obtuse and irrational mechanics for challenge and the result is a game that is difficult in all the wrong ways. These flaws keep it fromAll in all Darksouls II feels like a heartfelt but misguided homage to the series, rather than an entry in it. It is an enjoyable game with glaring flaws in its design philosophies and polish. The developers have made the fatal error of confusing obtuse and irrational mechanics for challenge and the result is a game that is difficult in all the wrong ways. These flaws keep it from greatness, but the source material the game is built from is simply too good for it to be crap. I will elaborate below, but if you are the type to be insulted by the notion of a controller being used to play a PC game…well I think you might do yourself a favour and just avoid this game for now…

    I own demon's souls (PS3) and darks souls 1 (PC, modded to glory). I beat both several times, I dance with wolves! Sif, I really wish there had been another way buddy, better you than me though :( And fundamentally this is a very interesting game in what it tries to accomplish as a sequel instead of a spiritual successor. The goal here is the tried and true sequel creed of “bigger, badder, more badass”, From Software has been explicit about this from the get-go but the usual hype train might have been boarded by some unfortunates swept up by said hype. Any souls game will rip you to shreds if you expect a mainstream action game, be prepared to die. Many, many, many times.

    The main problem with Dark Souls II is ironically that it has accomplished what it set out to do. But in the wrong ways more often than not. The new design team I fear, has misunderstood the proverbial 'Soul' of the Souls series. It is not in fact about difficulty but about the ambiance and immersion provided by a cruel and merciless world. What drives the Souls games is that the brutal difficulty is a cog in the wheel of a machine that spins out a tale summed up as follows: This world hates you, everything in this world hates you and wants to kill you. You are no more important than everything that hates you, and die just as easily as the animate things that hate you. Hate is the single most important part here, you hate the bosses and want to laugh over their dissolving corpses after countless violent deaths at their hands or more grotesque appendages. This is the source of the emotional payoff that has made the souls game's such instant smash hits. You felt things when playing these games, had emotional investment in your own stories. The lore was interesting but the anaemic plot was best ignored in favour of weaving your own tale.

    The thing is that, as I said before, Dark Souls II just doesn't "get it." Yes it is an enjoyable and punishing action RPG. But the punishment comes from poorly conceived and/or implemented sources.
    -weapons degrade very rapidly and repairs are frustrated by the rarity of materials that require them. In a similar vein, you lose maximum health upon every death and the rare item that restores your health is too rare for a game in which you are supposed to die countless times. The logic of having to face a monster you couldn’t beat with an ever diminishing chance of success upon successive tries is just baffling. Monsters killed you in previous Souls because you were not good enough, now it might just be that you don’t have the HP to survive any of their auto aim attacks.
    -enemies are on turn tables until they strike. I can deal with this mechanically since perfectly timed dodges are one of the mainstays of my beloved monster hunter series. But it just ruins the immersion for a giant armoured tortoise knight to just rotate whilst tracking my character. All the while looking frozen in its striking pose until it suddenly attacks the second I stop my futile strafing.
    - you cannot aim properly with magic unless you lock on, and your mobility in crippled to fatal levels when you do. There is a reason most playthroughs involve a shield people.
    - Drangleic is not a country but a series of independent zones. The variety on offer is actually very pleasant but geographically it just makes no sense...AT ALL. Again, an immersion killer.
    My biggest problem with Dark Souls II is how it handled its core promise of Darkness and the influence this would have had on enemy encounters. The now infamous PS3 demo was a harrowing and thrilling exercise in one on one combat where you had to make the choice of being able to reliably see your aggressor or reliably defend against his crushing blows. Apparently the lighting combined with the particle effects were too taxing for the primary systems (PS3 and Xbox). It was too late at that point, the promise had been made and release was looming. I think they went the mob route to try and create a new source of tension. Fact is, the Soul's games are one on one games, you're too clunky and easily tired (stamina mechanics) to deal with a zerg rush of enemies.    … Expand
  33. deadmonday
    Apr 27, 2014
    8
    Dark Souls games are unique, but sometimes From Software made big mistakes. the first Dark souls was a really bad port but luckily it was saved by the modding community and DSfix. This time From Software promised us a better PC experience and at first look they delivered it. The game looks really good, it feels fluid and reactive but there are still some problems. At first there was theDark Souls games are unique, but sometimes From Software made big mistakes. the first Dark souls was a really bad port but luckily it was saved by the modding community and DSfix. This time From Software promised us a better PC experience and at first look they delivered it. The game looks really good, it feels fluid and reactive but there are still some problems. At first there was the start up crash which is luckily easy to solve but really annoying and then the game crashed a few times. but the game is playable and they are right now working on a patch to solve the problems. I can't say anything about the keyboard and mouse controls because I'm used to play the first dark souls with the 360 game pad and I'll continue to play with it in Dark souls 2. It's really hard to talk about the game without spoiling anything but I'll try it. The game is harder then the first one. at least the normal enemies are. sadly the bosses are a bit easier. Invasions and summoning works within seconds and the loading screens are so short that I can't read the descriptions in a normal reading speed. All in all it's a great looking game with a special feeling to it, but it needs to be patched or good ol' trusty patches will kick fromsoftware into the abyss!… Expand
  34. moneer
    May 3, 2014
    0
    Crap port for PC. To open door press "Green X Button". Don't have a green, red, yellow, or blue buttons on my keyboard. Hate games that exhibit this kind of laziness. User interface is confusing and settings don't take (sometimes).
  35. 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
  36. toomany
    Apr 30, 2015
    0
    Perhaps the laziest port to PC I have ever seen. This game is not playable with a mouse and keyboard. I do not care about the rich story or dense lore if I am unable to move through the game without hitting alt-shift-leftmouse while hitting ctrl-scroll key at the same time. It may play well in a console, or with a game pad, but all the introductory directions ask for gamepad input whichPerhaps the laziest port to PC I have ever seen. This game is not playable with a mouse and keyboard. I do not care about the rich story or dense lore if I am unable to move through the game without hitting alt-shift-leftmouse while hitting ctrl-scroll key at the same time. It may play well in a console, or with a game pad, but all the introductory directions ask for gamepad input which can be done with Vulcan neck pinch contortions on the keyboard. Fourty minutes of frustration, and now it is in the trash.… Expand
  37. Not_Casual
    Feb 9, 2015
    0
    Since from software is shafting the pc users by not giving us a free upgrade to the scholar of the first sin, I am changing this rating to 0 for deceptive marketing.
  38. lm324
    May 11, 2014
    1
    I've given this game 5 days, but I give up it blows. The pc port is terrible, controls are the main problem tooltips do not update to the keybinds you select they always reference xbox360 controls. It should not take an hour to figure out how to use a damn torch either. It is not fun, it is not and rpg, it has a lousy tutorial and horrible help system . If u bought it read the wiki forI've given this game 5 days, but I give up it blows. The pc port is terrible, controls are the main problem tooltips do not update to the keybinds you select they always reference xbox360 controls. It should not take an hour to figure out how to use a damn torch either. It is not fun, it is not and rpg, it has a lousy tutorial and horrible help system . If u bought it read the wiki for a few hours if you haven't don't bother.… Expand
  39. 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.
  40. owen445x
    Jun 7, 2014
    7
    I really want to give this game more than a 7, but I can't after playing demon souls and dark souls.

    Demon souls was awesome and Dark souls took everything good from the first and made it even better in my opinion. I have over 160 hours on each game so I feel like I have a good grasp on each game. Then I get dark souls 2 and the graphics are stunning! But, so many new features were    I really want to give this game more than a 7, but I can't after playing demon souls and dark souls.

    Demon souls was awesome and Dark souls took everything good from the first and made it even better in my opinion. I have over 160 hours on each game so I feel like I have a good grasp on each game.

    Then I get dark souls 2 and the graphics are stunning! But, so many new features were added that weren't needed.

    Dark souls was all about learning from death. If you keep dying from a mob, then you are doing something wrong and you need to perfect your form in order to progress. Dark souls 2 adds more mobs to make each scenario difficult, but why add the health bar penalty each time you die.. like dying was bad enough and having to fight all the trash mobs over to get your original souls back.

    I agree the durability system was flawed in Dark Souls 1 and only served as an annoyance or an additional task to repair your equipment at the bon fire. But, this new durability system sucks in dark souls 2. I like to stick to my preferred weapon, but now I have to carry 3 -5 other weapons since each mob takes a good percentage of the weapon durability down. I would have made the durability of the weapon degrade if you were using it improperly. For example, using a large sword in a tight hallway. If you hit the walls, it should damage the sword since your using it incorrectly. This would make you switch to a spear or something where you can thrust in tight spaces.

    I also don't care for the new spawn system. After clearing an area X amount of times, the mobs won't spawn so you can't farm them like you could in Dark Souls 1. First of all, dark souls 1 made it where you became a pro from having to clear out trash mobs each time you stopped at a camp fire to rest. In dark souls 2, If I find a part that's hard.. I just farm the area till the mobs disappear. I can see where this is a conveyance, but overall it detracts from the experience in my opinion. It's like the developers crammed each area with tons of mobs expecting you to just farm them till they no longer spawn. In dark souls 1 each area was populated properly and this allowed you to go long distances before resting at a camp spot.

    Overall, I think the game is going to be ok. But, for new players.. I would highly recommend dark souls 1 of the sequel.    … Expand
  41. kcotten
    May 17, 2014
    10
    Absolutely amazing game. Bought it on both the PC and bought a Playstation to play it on the the PS3 while I waited. Only gripe was the low level of difficulty, but then again it's said your first souls game is the hardest.

    Never had a single issue being reported in the negative reviews. One very important item of note...this is a SOULS game, a controller is a must. Make sure you    Absolutely amazing game. Bought it on both the PC and bought a Playstation to play it on the the PS3 while I waited. Only gripe was the low level of difficulty, but then again it's said your first souls game is the hardest.

    Never had a single issue being reported in the negative reviews.

    One very important item of note...this is a SOULS game, a controller is a must. Make sure you grab a controller when picking this title up on PC, otherwise you'll be cheating yourself out of a large portion of the experience.    … Expand
  42. Freaksy
    May 23, 2014
    7
    The atmosphere and gameplay is great. But the grind, oh the hours of grind... Because of this grind you won't be able to start over with a new hero because you killed the same creatures like 1000 times before.
  43. Stalker2033
    May 15, 2014
    10
    like most of people i was bit disappointed when they downgrade the graphic and atmosphere in the actual game .
    i played demon souls and dark soul 1 and i can safely say that dark souls 2 is great successor to DS1 .
    -even when graphic is downgrade it alot .it still look pretty decent and better than DS1 .animation and mechanics have been improved . -added tons of new wapons and armors    like most of people i was bit disappointed when they downgrade the graphic and atmosphere in the actual game .
    i played demon souls and dark soul 1 and i can safely say that dark souls 2 is great successor to DS1 .
    -even when graphic is downgrade it alot .it still look pretty decent and better than DS1 .animation and mechanics have been improved .
    -added tons of new wapons and armors and still keeping alot of familiar weapons and armors from DS1 like elite knight set or the moonlight blade
    -the combat system is fun ...well (fun) is not the most accurate word .i guess you can say intense ..the moment miss an attack or failed to parry .you are probably died .specially in the pvp.
    -amazing bosses ost just like DS1.
    the game is really beautiful and hardcore .as you can see most low ratings here are from people who sucks at playing or people who cant run the game .if you loved demon souls and dark souls then you will diffidently love this one .    … Expand
  44. Lyther
    May 17, 2014
    7
    Dark Souls 2 is a good game, but it's disappointing in comparison to the first Dark Souls. This game had a different director than the previous Souls games and it really shows. Some comparisons:

    - The writing in the first game was intriguing. The first game had you start at an asylum for the undead at the "end of the world," and next you're told to ring the bells of awakening. The    Dark Souls 2 is a good game, but it's disappointing in comparison to the first Dark Souls. This game had a different director than the previous Souls games and it really shows. Some comparisons:

    - The writing in the first game was intriguing. The first game had you start at an asylum for the undead at the "end of the world," and next you're told to ring the bells of awakening. The writing for the second game isn't just bad in comparison, it's flat out bad. The second game starts with you being laughed at by old ladies, and then a NPC tells you to collect souls to break your curse. As souls are currency dropped by enemies, the plot amounts to "go kill things." The writing doesn't get much better. On a related note, there are no memorable NPCs this time around.

    - Level design has also taken a step backwards. Levels are no longer interconnected like in the first game. It often feels as though the game has levels stitched end-to-end without regard for theme or geometry. This is probably why you can fast-travel from the start.. Given this, it's not a surprise that floor plans have also been simplified. To its credit, the game is still loaded with secret areas to be found.

    - Combat is probably a bit worse. Hitboxes are definitely worse, combos and ripostes are less satisfying, and enemies now spin and attack in ways that violate physical intuition. On the plus side, there are a lot of new weapons, more equipment slots, and a new type of magic.

    - Leveling up now requires you to sit through two bonfire warps and some awful dialogue.

    Dark Souls 2 is saved by the fact that the previous Souls games provided a very solid foundation. The combat system, combined with the bonfire system and tough enemies creates an engaging and addictive experience. And Dark Souls 2 does provide a lot of new, difficult content. Unfortunately, uninspired writing, subpar world design, and some questionable game mechanics make for a game that's almost entirely devoid of the "magic" the first game had.    … Expand
  45. Gixkung
    May 18, 2014
    8
    S II is much better port than first one.Lightening can be fixed with mods.This game is total different than other ARPG, and here no light ways only hard.Everytime you dyie you learn something from your mistake and next time you behave more cautiously.

    P.s. dont listen crying babies who crying that game is to hard.Casuals must stay in facebook games and dont take hand on real players games.
  46. Derek_Bum
    May 19, 2014
    10
    If you're looking at Dark Souls 2, or even Dark Souls 1, and thinking to yourself "Do I have the balls to tackle a game like this?" Well the answer is gonna be "No". But I'll also tell you this, you're going to pick up that game anyway and give it your best shot because at the end of the day, even though you may be terrified, frustrated, or downright p*ssed off that you can't get through aIf you're looking at Dark Souls 2, or even Dark Souls 1, and thinking to yourself "Do I have the balls to tackle a game like this?" Well the answer is gonna be "No". But I'll also tell you this, you're going to pick up that game anyway and give it your best shot because at the end of the day, even though you may be terrified, frustrated, or downright p*ssed off that you can't get through a level, the feeling of pure ecstasy when defeating a tough boss, or actually even an annoyingly placed enemy, well...not game can beat that feeling.

    10 out of 10 - Would tear my hair out again    … Expand
  47. Mordeo
    Jul 1, 2014
    5
    I have played Dark Souls II for many hours completing a full play through and half of NG+. The most annoying thing I have noticed is the lack of boss variation. Most of the bosses are some form of humanoid creature or knight. There is the big Jabba The Hut looking thing and also the rat king boss but other than that they are all the same. I beat 90% of the bosses by either strafing to theI have played Dark Souls II for many hours completing a full play through and half of NG+. The most annoying thing I have noticed is the lack of boss variation. Most of the bosses are some form of humanoid creature or knight. There is the big Jabba The Hut looking thing and also the rat king boss but other than that they are all the same. I beat 90% of the bosses by either strafing to the left or right because of this. If you some how could not beat a boss you could always summon the phantom NPC to help you which are there for most bosses and since it is really easy to stay human that option is always there and make the fight an almost guaranteed win. The dragons were just plain weak which was very disappointing. There really were no mini bosses that were a challenge. It seems the developers made it sound like it was going to be much more difficult to get more sales because it was definitely not a challenge. The boss weapons were all crap. No point in even saving the boss souls for them because the ones that were good had some major flaw like the durability was low or something. Dying is not a big deal in Dark Souls II because you only lose a very small fraction of your health. On my third character I was able to make it through the entire game and only died about 7 times due to stupidity such as falling off a cliff or something. The conditions, such as poison or curse, barely do anything to even a character that is not resistant to them. On top of that the targeting system is jacked and rarely works how you want it to. The covenants are great if you love multiplayer but if you do not there are only a select few that will benefit you offline. With that being said there are a few things that were good about the game.

    One thing I thought was a major improvement was the PC controls. They are a little confusing at first but after a while of messing around with them it is just like playing any other game. The graphics are awesome and the developers did an amazing job on that but can also be scaled down far enough to work on a crap PC. The bonfire jumping, although it makes the game easier, I thought it was an improvement. There are also many easily missed secrets which may keep you interested through your second play through.

    I would rate the individual parts of the game as follows.
    Graphics 10/10
    Controls 9/10
    Gameplay 2/10
    Difficulty 1/10
    Multiplayer 5/10

    To sum this up I would say it is a fun game but if you want a true souls game play Demon Souls or the first Dark Souls because the developers like many others are just pumping these things out for money now.    … Expand
  48. 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
  49. Pmstz
    Jan 31, 2023
    9
    masterpiece

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
  50. Scurvy
    Apr 28, 2014
    8
    Keyboard and mouse is playable, despite what people here are saying. You do need to remap a few keys and adjust sensitivity to make it functional, and they didn't get rid of the console prompts - but it is fine and responsive if you put time to set it up. Some of Froms default keys are pretty badly placed, some horribly placed, which is why I think most of the complaints are influenced by.Keyboard and mouse is playable, despite what people here are saying. You do need to remap a few keys and adjust sensitivity to make it functional, and they didn't get rid of the console prompts - but it is fine and responsive if you put time to set it up. Some of Froms default keys are pretty badly placed, some horribly placed, which is why I think most of the complaints are influenced by. I actually feel more confident with mouse and keyboard in this game than with a controller.

    The game looks nice, its an improvement from the console versions. But it still suffers from not being as good as their teasers, probably due to the redesigns they probably had to do to get a nice framerate on consoles. There are some bad textures, tiled textures, cardboard cutout backgrounds, a few badly placed enemies and seemingly pointless empty areas that screams redesigned levels - at least to me. Regardless, its likely to get mods soon enough - which is hopefully possible without threat of VAC bans

    But, it is a fun and worthy title entry to the souls series. It improves upon some of the gameplay and mechanics, but some decisions will be controversial; like the despawning enemies after they have been killed often enough, and how invasions have a smaller presence.

    Its a console port, but its not a bad one. If you enjoyed previous Souls games, you will probably enjoy it, but some may find the feel of the game has changed and it has lost a little bit of the charm. Its one of my favorite games to come out of late, but it has a few problems.    … Expand
  51. JudgmentJay
    Apr 29, 2014
    10
    For this review, I'll first talk about the game itself then at the end talk about the PC version in particular.

    Dark Souls 2 is a great addition to the Souls series. If you liked the previous two games, then you're almost guaranteed to like this one. Core gameplay remains mostly the same. The combat is just as fluid, difficult, and satisfying as the previous titles. A huge variety of    For this review, I'll first talk about the game itself then at the end talk about the PC version in particular.

    Dark Souls 2 is a great addition to the Souls series. If you liked the previous two games, then you're almost guaranteed to like this one. Core gameplay remains mostly the same. The combat is just as fluid, difficult, and satisfying as the previous titles. A huge variety of weapons and playstyles gives the game a ton of replay value, just like the first two.

    The story is still minimal, the dialogue is in the same vein, and the lore is seemingly just as deep. Sound and music are fantastic as well.

    PvP and co-op PvE I feel is the best in the series. Summons/invasions are fast and thanks to PC load times are extremely quick. Multiplayer sessions feel more responsive and are less prone to lag due to dedicated servers.

    Now, a few differences/nitpicks: First, there are more bonfires than Dark Souls 1, and I feel that they are too close together. To be honest I thought Dark Souls 1 had too many, and this one has even more. Too many checkpoints removes some of the tension in the game, something that I feel Demon's Souls did best.

    Second, a few of the areas feel very bland from an aesthetic standpoint. I don't mind bleak and barren landscapes, but they actually just feel... unpolished/unfinished. Especially when compared to other areas in the game which look gorgeous. They're look so bad that they take me out of the experience a bit. Fortunately both areas in question are very short.

    Finally, and this one is purely subjective, I feel that the game is noticeably easier than the previous two titles. The aforementioned bonfire placement, enemies that despawn after being killed a certain number of times, a certain easily obtainable ring, and extremely strong NPC summons combine to provide an overall easier game.

    Devil's advocate on the third nitpick, there are also ways to make the game harder for those seeking a challenge. The Company of Champions covenant, joinable at the beginning of the game, simply increases enemy health and damage across the board. New Game+ is also considerably different and more challenging this time around with more enemies, different enemy placements, and lots of black phantoms that are often strategically placed to maximize their likelihood of killing you. There are also armors/weapons/spells that are exclusive to NG+/++. Finally, there is a reward for beating the game without dying and one for beating the game without using a bonfire. Pretty cool.

    All in all, it's a great game and it does some things better and some things worse than the other games. In my opinion, Demon's Souls is best for atmosphere/mood, Dark Souls is best for core PvE gameplay and lore, and Dark Souls 2 is best for PvP/co-op.

    As for the PC version, it is by far the definitive experience. 1080p+ (I'm downsampling from 4k) resolution, 60 FPS, 2-3 second load times, ability to use mods, and the ability to play with whatever input method you want make it so much nicer than the console version. I played about 100 hours on the PS3 version, and now that I've played the PC version I regret all 100 of those hours. The console versions are a blurry, sluggish, choppy mess in comparison.

    As a side note, I can't help but wonder how many of these negative reviews of the PC version are due to personal ineptitude when it comes to computers. Also, who the hell calls themselves a PC gamer and doesn't own a controller of some sort? I agree that KB+M is the best input method for many genres, but not all.    … Expand
  52. Tgc
    Oct 19, 2015
    0
    This game on PC is completely unplayable. Huge input lag, displaying console gamepad keys everywhere even I've setup game with mouse keyboard, random crashes and other **** game experience. Last time this bad conversion from a console I've seen in 90s. Maybe it's better on console, but on PC I definitely don't recommend it.
  53. Sunrunner37
    May 3, 2014
    0
    This game was so horrible that it made me create a meta critic account to share.

    * Graphics - mediocre at best * User interface - HORRIBLE... tooltips for consoles everywhere and it took be 10 minutes just to figure out how to save the video settings. * Movement/Keybindings - Terrible... no thought into porting to the PC. You can't execute all actions flawlessly with the mouse and    This game was so horrible that it made me create a meta critic account to share.

    * Graphics - mediocre at best
    * User interface - HORRIBLE... tooltips for consoles everywhere and it took be 10 minutes just to figure out how to save the video settings.
    * Movement/Keybindings - Terrible... no thought into porting to the PC. You can't execute all actions flawlessly with the mouse and keyboard. The camera was clearly not meant for the keyboard as it gave me slight motion sickness(something I've never had a PC game do.)

    Worst console port I've ever seen... don't waste your money.    … Expand
  54. BrecMadak
    May 4, 2014
    0
    Do you wanna witness how we were lied with your own eyes, then check this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOmWf4oSav8
    This is the biggest scam in pc world gaming of our time, you fooled millions but not me 'Fom Software' ! No buck from me !!
  55. Igniteme
    May 28, 2014
    6
    Let me start off by saying I WANT to like this game. I love the PvE, and for a few shoddy hitboxes and other issues it's pretty great.

    The problems start off at the porting issue and worst of all, the multiplayer. The keybindings only show Xbox buttons, and some actions are half-impossible to do without a macro program (such as guard break and leaping power attack) and with KB&Mouse    Let me start off by saying I WANT to like this game. I love the PvE, and for a few shoddy hitboxes and other issues it's pretty great.

    The problems start off at the porting issue and worst of all, the multiplayer. The keybindings only show Xbox buttons, and some actions are half-impossible to do without a macro program (such as guard break and leaping power attack) and with KB&Mouse they are bugged to begin with, so you better hope you have a controller.

    Worst offender in this game is the network. Don't let the option to disable "cross-region matchmaking" in the options fool you. There are 2 "regions" for the Dark Souls 2 game, and these are: 1. Japan 2. Not Japan. Yes, it's ridiculous. Players from Europe face opponents from outside of Europe 80% of the time, and with hit detection being clientside it is a fiasco. It is not rare to think you're safe, seeing your opponent swing their washing pole 10 meters away, only to take damage from it. Hell, I've been backstabbed from a different floor more than once.

    Also, Soul memory matchmaking is good in theory but it is currently broken in practice.

    And then there are the PvP item imbalances. I'm sure many of you are familiar with havelyn and santiers and the usual and while they are counterable and easier to fix, I don't have hope they will be changed at all.

    I can deal with the pc port, poor controls and the tryhardies in full havel with a washing pole spamming hexes, but the multiplayer issues are unforgivable. Don't fall prey to the zealously defending elitist who can retort with nothing but "git gud" because the only thing that needs to get better is the game.

    I would give the game a 9.5 if it was without any issues, alas. In it's current state it is 6 at best. You'd think they learned from their problems from the first game.    … Expand
  56. Bawaga
    May 1, 2014
    1
    I rarely come to Metacritc to do reviews but I had to warn all PC gamers out there. I can't believe I bought into the hype. My friends who have consoles were raving how good Dark Souls 2 was. WRONG. This game is a terrible PC port filled with bugs. The graphics are chunky, the voice acting sucks, and most of all it's really hard to play with a mouse + keyboard. I spent my first hourI rarely come to Metacritc to do reviews but I had to warn all PC gamers out there. I can't believe I bought into the hype. My friends who have consoles were raving how good Dark Souls 2 was. WRONG. This game is a terrible PC port filled with bugs. The graphics are chunky, the voice acting sucks, and most of all it's really hard to play with a mouse + keyboard. I spent my first hour rebinding keys over and over to get them to work somewhat. I would rebind the keys and game would still be somehow be mixing up the old bind with the new binds WTF. ____________________________________________________________________________________________

    The game is hard not because of the monsters but because it's very hard to control your own character. More than half of my deaths were caused because my character was not responding properly to the keybinds. If the enemy gets too close my character would sometimes swing his weapon through him and miss. WTF Too many clipping issues to count. I gave up after 5 hours of sheer frustration. Save your money and avoid this piece of garbage PC port at all cost.    … Expand
  57. EclipseEx
    May 1, 2014
    10
    Do not listen to the reviews that say that the game does not work as it has already been fixed. You will miss out on one of the best games available right now.

    The game looks fantastic on max settings.

    You will want to use a gamepad. Period.

    Your first death will likely come from three little pigs.

    Praise the sun!!
  58. an_african
    Apr 28, 2014
    10
    The game is definitely one of the best this year. The only complaint I have is of the keyboard/mouse settings. They are not ideally optimized, but they did try more than they did with Dark souls 1. I had to buy a controller specifically for this game. I guess the improved graphics and framerate make up for it.

    Other than that everything is basically just as good or better than the    The game is definitely one of the best this year. The only complaint I have is of the keyboard/mouse settings. They are not ideally optimized, but they did try more than they did with Dark souls 1. I had to buy a controller specifically for this game. I guess the improved graphics and framerate make up for it.

    Other than that everything is basically just as good or better than the first dark souls. Some of the zones are absolutely amazing and beat anything in the first dark souls. 10/10 from me    … Expand
  59. avil172
    May 5, 2014
    0
    terrible like the first one, ...except for the good weapons and armors....user score is the real score and thats a little overrated because the critic reviews affected this one.........problems could be minor, but lets not ignore the crap combat.....and dodging 4 times to attack one time is called a challenge?? thats skyrim a.k.a dark souls 1 crap!
  60. mattyo620
    May 3, 2014
    0
    Ridiculously bad hit detection, no way play with friends (white soap stone + name engraved ring is a JOKE), random pauses and glitchy attacks/blocks/movement. Terrible controls (you have to press space+shift+middle mouse to jump WTF?). The game suffers from consolitis (TERRIBLE porting on this game) no time was spent polishing this into a PC game. Dont waste your time and money.
  61. Birds
    Jun 30, 2014
    6
    This is a good RPG game, but if you are expecting a game that succeeds dark souls with the same experience or better you will be disappointed. It doesnt live up to the souls series, if you are a big fan of the souls series however i would suggest buying the game it fills some blank spots in our knowledge of the lore in dark souls but the difficulty has completely dissipated. My firstThis is a good RPG game, but if you are expecting a game that succeeds dark souls with the same experience or better you will be disappointed. It doesnt live up to the souls series, if you are a big fan of the souls series however i would suggest buying the game it fills some blank spots in our knowledge of the lore in dark souls but the difficulty has completely dissipated. My first time playing through the game there was no O&S there was no Four Kings it was just an easy experience and if you are a pvper id say PVP in both the previous soul games surpassed it, poise may as well not exist and there is no dead angling anymore and you cant aim rolling attacks behind you if you are unlocked anymore, very disappointing PVP experience… Expand
  62. AiurDJS
    Jul 5, 2015
    0
    Overrated trash game. Never buy this crap on PC, it's a waste of money. With graphics from 1989, no storyline, **** controls on M+K, the only thing going for it is the atmosphere because of decent ambient sounds and music (except for the footsteps sound, it's terrible). Characters look like pieces of wood on the ultra settings. Clunky character movement is praised to be the best combatOverrated trash game. Never buy this crap on PC, it's a waste of money. With graphics from 1989, no storyline, **** controls on M+K, the only thing going for it is the atmosphere because of decent ambient sounds and music (except for the footsteps sound, it's terrible). Characters look like pieces of wood on the ultra settings. Clunky character movement is praised to be the best combat system ever because it's just simple. All you do is use strong attack, weak attack and roll around. If you want a good game just buy The Witcher 3, not this ****… Expand
  63. chargerboy
    May 20, 2014
    5
    It's a decent game, but it just doesn't match up to the first Dark Souls at all.

    The port...well it does the job but once again, no keyboard prompts/onscreen buttons it only shows the Xbawks controller buttons so you have to figure out yourself what the keys do...I still can't figure out how to do a guard break attack or a jump attack. Game takes a while to understand when you want to    It's a decent game, but it just doesn't match up to the first Dark Souls at all.

    The port...well it does the job but once again, no keyboard prompts/onscreen buttons it only shows the Xbawks controller buttons so you have to figure out yourself what the keys do...I still can't figure out how to do a guard break attack or a jump attack. Game takes a while to understand when you want to run sometimes too. Really poor effort by From there.

    The story is the biggest letdown. It's mediocre and uninteresting and recycles too much from the first game. No motivation to make you feel like there's a point to what you are doing or achieving. I was able to start the game and go all the way to collecting one of the four 'great souls' (Lost Sinner) in a couple hours without realising it was meant to be one of the 'big' boss fights. Nor did I ever really feel overwhelmed by the bosses or enemies along the way.

    The first game presented the story to you in a way that you understood what your goals were and what you had to do and it let you figure out a lot by talking to NPC's or reading item descriptions. It was brilliant in the way it did that...Dark Souls II just has you running around with only the vaguest idea of what is going on or what you are meant to do.

    NPC's in the game are not memorable the way Solaire or Lautrec were in the first game. Not anywhere near it. The forced reliance on the Emerald Herald for levelling up was annoying, especially as she has the same lines and just repeats them over and over and over for 95% of the game.

    Locations don't feel right spatially, areas that are on the horizon take 40 seconds to run to through underground corridors (ie, Majula to Heide). Some areas (reached through branching corridors) overlap each other. Drangleic Castle was a huge disappointment. Shrine of Amana is the prettiest area in the game but you'll be spending 90% of your time there looking at the water so you don't fall off a hidden ledge.

    One big mistake IMO was being able to teleport between bonfires right from the start. It's admittedly 'convenient' for sure, but it sacrifices so much of the tension and moodiness that made the first game so great. The Catacombs/Depths/Blighttown from the first game wouldn't have been anywhere near as scary or painful to get through if you could just warp out from them whenever you felt like it.

    Graphics are pretty, combat is harder due to trash mobs being more aggressive with a greater range of movesets and more health. You can get stun-locked rather easily now, which isn't such a good thing, and enemies don't actually take advantage of that much. You have to level up Adaptability to get rolling to be any good as you have very low i-frames at the start.

    The bosses are a letdown for the most part. Way too many generic 'large humanoid boss with giant hurty weapons that they spam the same 3-hit combo with' for my liking. Very few bosses are actually challenging or bring fresh ideas to the table. Some are just reskinned bosses from the first game and one is literally the same boss. All you have to do to beat 70% of the bosses in this game is to hump their right leg and keep moving clockwise around them.

    The (optional) true final boss in particular is a joke...you have to spend ages collecting special items to even make it possible to kill him (if you don't he has 32x his normal defence values) and even then the battle is basically spending an hour praying that you don't make a single mistake because if you do, and the boss then uses his 3-hit combo you are instantly one shotted, no matter the armor or shield you have equipped.

    Soul Memory is an amazingly **** mechanic, you can read up on it elsewhere but it's so mindbogglingly dumb and ruins PvP or coop play as you'll have to keep recreating characters just to play with ppl online.

    It's much harder to farm rare items now as enemies will stop spawning after they have been killed 10 times, and the only way to get them back is to deliberately choose to burn a Bonfire Ascetic which allows them to respawn another 10 times at harder difficulties.

    Sorceries, miracles, pyromancies and hexes are amazingly OP and let you breeze through the game. Some even let you one shot ppl in PvP no matter the health or armor they have. There's plenty of lag and people abusing broken mechanics as well.

    Overall it's a disappointment compared to the first and doesn't even feel like the game that was promised by all the early trailers.    … Expand
  64. Look444
    Mar 13, 2016
    6
    I can't believe this game has a better score than the first one.

    Thankfully, this one runs on 60fps and has a good optimization but that's about it. The thing that annoys me in this game is the level design. It lost that feeling of being interconnected and stopped making sense, sea level changing to wherever the player is at. They also **** the durability system. It wasn't a good way of    I can't believe this game has a better score than the first one.

    Thankfully, this one runs on 60fps and has a good optimization but that's about it. The thing that annoys me in this game is the level design. It lost that feeling of being interconnected and stopped making sense, sea level changing to wherever the player is at. They also **** the durability system. It wasn't a good way of balancing OP weapons. No, it was **** to have your weapon break in the middle of a boss fight.
    They then decided to nerf miracles to the ground. Most damaging spells disappeared and got less cast uses. Same happened to pyromancies. At least they had variety.
    But then they decided to buff the hell out of magic and dark magic, which was already OP as fk in the first one.
    I could go on forever with flaws this game has, like boring boss fights, too many useless weapons, some lame designs and dexterity being trash.
    But hey, at least the DLC's were pretty good.    … Expand
  65. Wishdokkta
    Sep 7, 2014
    3
    An excellent concept, pretty well drawn but with a couple of major flaws.

    1. It is a console port. Sadly, the PC version has been lazily coded, all of the console buttons remain almost essential in order to enjoy the experience, mouse and keyboard are next to useless. A real disapointment leaving me thinking the PC version was a pure "cash-in" on the part of the developers. 2. You    An excellent concept, pretty well drawn but with a couple of major flaws.

    1. It is a console port. Sadly, the PC version has been lazily coded, all of the console buttons remain almost essential in order to enjoy the experience, mouse and keyboard are next to useless. A real disapointment leaving me thinking the PC version was a pure "cash-in" on the part of the developers.

    2. You will receive next to no help. You are on your own with this - there is virtually no tutorial and no intuitive help at all. Oh there are some guides in game on what to press but...you guessed it....they are all console buttons.

    Overall, a game that is undoubtedly great on PS3/Xbox, but PC gamers should avoid it. Extremely over-rated.    … Expand
  66. L_Coops
    Jun 2, 2015
    6
    I'll keep this short. Dark Souls 2 is clearly a lazy port to PC - from the horrible UI, the clumsy controls, the seriously outdated graphics and the fact that the tooltips tell you to press buttons on your xbox 360 controller to perform an action. If that last bit of information doesn't tip you off to this being a LAZY port then I don't know what will.

    Despite that, the game does still    I'll keep this short. Dark Souls 2 is clearly a lazy port to PC - from the horrible UI, the clumsy controls, the seriously outdated graphics and the fact that the tooltips tell you to press buttons on your xbox 360 controller to perform an action. If that last bit of information doesn't tip you off to this being a LAZY port then I don't know what will.

    Despite that, the game does still have a certain charm. The fact that it is so difficult for a newcomer gives it a certain mystery. You can't help but want to explore the world because getting anywhere feels like an accomplishment.

    Do yourself a favor and grab a controller of some sort if you are going to play Dark Souls 2 on the PC because the controls are terrible using keyboard and mouse.    … Expand
  67. mogy142
    May 1, 2014
    3
    How the hell are people enjoying this abomination of a game? They go around telling people it a 10/10 game, do they even know what 10/10 stands for? It means a perfect game with no flaws, apparently theres no flaws with Dark Souls 2 then? Get real and open your eyes. The graphics suck and are so dull for a 2014 game, it looks like a dog **** on a disc.

    Here are facts about lazy    How the hell are people enjoying this abomination of a game? They go around telling people it a 10/10 game, do they even know what 10/10 stands for? It means a perfect game with no flaws, apparently theres no flaws with Dark Souls 2 then? Get real and open your eyes. The graphics suck and are so dull for a 2014 game, it looks like a dog **** on a disc.

    Here are facts about lazy gameplay mechanics that you cant deny out of your ass. Any kind of decision you make in this game when in combat, stamina is consumed based on what you do, which is great because it secures that decision, but when you make a decision realistically, for example to correctly dodge an enemy or boss's attack and that boss/enemy's body is auto aiming towards your every exact location your going to dodge and land in in precisely, Its like the developers didnt want you to dodge, so shield yourself right? then your stamina gets destroyed and enemy can hit u even more easier. How can you honestly have fun in a game that has every enemy/boss's attack animations land with 100% accuracy (even the slow swinging attackers) in every move you make and leave you with 1-2 hits at most before you get clobbered by the enemy ?

    its not the difficulty, its the lazy mechanics, you 12 year olds that are giving this 10/10 wont understand what the difference is between correct and well thought out hard mode difficulty and lazy hard mode. Here ill summarize in the following scenario:

    Well thought out difficult setting: A boss has made the decision to attack, he attacks me and its too late for him to swing in your exact direction since I dodge right on time, he has left his back vulnerable therefore i can attack more then twice before i back off, so the boss turns around and does a different attack making me wonder how to dodge but i try anyway and just as he attacks, i roll and his attack hits the area that was originally targetted.

    Current lazy difficult setting: A boss has made the decision to attack, so right as he does, I dodge but his body is still auto aiming towards me as hes landing his attack instead of landing it where he should of missed originally. His back is almost never vulnerable, after he ends his attack animation, i have 1 or 2 attacks at most to do to him, as he recovers fast enough to repeat the combo again while auto aiming his every move towards my dodging points, so really all I find myself doing is running from him so much im too busy to notice when to attack.

    Oh yea real fun difficulty you got there, have fun with these cheap gameplay mechanics which you are too blind to understand the clear differences in.    … Expand
  68. TheMitherer
    Feb 7, 2023
    9
    First of all, I don't like being lied to. Blatant lies just to line someone's pockets are even worse. So -2 marks straightaway. This was not developed fist and foremost for PC. Not a chance. Gameplay and PVP are still very good, some of the innovations were good and bad at the same time. Ascetics for example - good of you want a sudden increase in difficulty and more loot, but bad becauseFirst of all, I don't like being lied to. Blatant lies just to line someone's pockets are even worse. So -2 marks straightaway. This was not developed fist and foremost for PC. Not a chance. Gameplay and PVP are still very good, some of the innovations were good and bad at the same time. Ascetics for example - good of you want a sudden increase in difficulty and more loot, but bad because some cheesy items could be farmed limitlessly with minimal effort, eg Gower's ring. They also dampened my desire to actually go to NG+. Respeccing is a good idea, lifegems just made the game a lot easier. Seed of a tree of giants was a good idea, soul memory was so-so. Some bosses were extremely hard solo but stupid easy with a summon. Other bosses were just easy full stop. On the whole I would say the game was easier than its predecessor and not quite as good. But definitely still worth playing. Probably deserves an 8 but doesn't get it for reasons already explained and those reasons ruined any chance that this developer got any DLC sale off me. After a long time I have upped my score to 9 purely because I love the PvP in this game and had many hours of fun with it. Best PvP in the series by a long way.… Expand
  69. kamikaz3kitten
    Apr 27, 2014
    5
    Coming off of dark souls this is not the game i expected or wanted. i is a let down, what was the extra month for, the game doesn't look next gen even on the latest pc's. there is no darkness even at low brightness setting why use the torches there's no point i can see everything just fine. no dynamic lighting no hd textures . i am sad, this was going to be so great , but no.
  70. kyle242gt
    Apr 28, 2014
    0
    Another zero just because of the horrible control setup. How they can call this a PC version is beyond me. Shameful. Didn't even get past the tutorial. These clowns need to know PC gamers use keyboard and mouse, not a gamepad.
  71. Femtoo
    Apr 28, 2014
    10
    A great game and a great port and thanks Durante great graphics. The gameplay, the atmosphere is unreal again. Online component has many improvements. Thank FromSoftware for this awesome experience.
  72. MatrixDev
    May 4, 2014
    0
    I really want to play this game but it's just a total garbage on PC. I don't know how first one worked (as far as I know it was nearly unplayable) but the second one is really bad. I don't care so much for graphics (yet it could be something more than a decade old looking and without shadows from beta trailers) but interface is just total crap!!! nearly no support for mouse, noI really want to play this game but it's just a total garbage on PC. I don't know how first one worked (as far as I know it was nearly unplayable) but the second one is really bad. I don't care so much for graphics (yet it could be something more than a decade old looking and without shadows from beta trailers) but interface is just total crap!!! nearly no support for mouse, no auto-tooltips, even ESC key works like ♥♥♥♥ - most of the time it doesn't move you to previous screen. But even this is not so critical. Constant lag from when I click mouse button and I see action on screen.
    In shot words - game is probably good but is extremely crappy port. Maybe after tons of patches it will became better.    … Expand
  73. panoszafas
    May 1, 2014
    0
    Those who play this as their first souls game....It's fun
    But compared to the previous two games this is just a cheap,uninspired imitation...end of story.
    Really surprised that so few people are saying this....It's soooooo obvious if you are a hardcore fan of the series. Looks like some completely different team tried to copy dark souls and demon souls without really understanding what    Those who play this as their first souls game....It's fun
    But compared to the previous two games this is just a cheap,uninspired imitation...end of story.
    Really surprised that so few people are saying this....It's soooooo obvious if you are a hardcore fan of the series.
    Looks like some completely different team tried to copy dark souls and demon souls without really understanding what made those games different and interesting.Huge dissapointment    … Expand
  74. DandyManInSpace
    May 5, 2014
    10
    I'm seriously facepalming at the negative reviews. Half of them don't even offer any valid reasons as to why they rated it so low, they're just trendy hipsters that like to be the minority. The game is beautiful, has nice graphics and the K&M controls ARE comfortable once you get familiar with them. The other half of the reviews fail to see the positives in this game and focus purely onI'm seriously facepalming at the negative reviews. Half of them don't even offer any valid reasons as to why they rated it so low, they're just trendy hipsters that like to be the minority. The game is beautiful, has nice graphics and the K&M controls ARE comfortable once you get familiar with them. The other half of the reviews fail to see the positives in this game and focus purely on the negatives. Don't listen to them and give this beast of a game a shot, see the epicness for yourself.… Expand
  75. NotPaidToWrite
    Jul 31, 2015
    3
    Two names: Ancient dragon and King Vendrick.
    You don't know them now, but you will know them once you play.
    Have fun holding onto a leg for a full thirty minutes with these two just to win. The pvp is broken. That's something you'll run into a lot of people saying. That's something you'll run into in game too regardless of what you do. I could go on with it and how it is, but if    Two names: Ancient dragon and King Vendrick.
    You don't know them now, but you will know them once you play.

    Have fun holding onto a leg for a full thirty minutes with these two just to win.

    The pvp is broken.
    That's something you'll run into a lot of people saying. That's something you'll run into in game too regardless of what you do. I could go on with it and how it is, but if googling ""dark souls 2 broken pvp builds"" in hopes of finding character builds to get better acquainted with pvp ---to only get results of people complaining about pvp with satire 'mlg' videos won't convince you that pvp is a joke, then I certainly won't convince you, so go ahead. Have fun getting hit from a sword being swung 20 yards away as the person suddenly teleports behind you with the power of raw unfiltered lag.

    Hackers are a big deal. Hackers can **** with your game. Hackers can also ban you from playing. So that's a fun possibility.

    Summoning others for co-op can be a pain. Some people think it's either soul memory or soul level that scales with who you can summon. You won't really know without looking it up and taking an opinion; and that's most of Dark Souls 2. A few areas you'll just get invaded over and over and killed by someone who desperately needs a new router or better connection. So good luck getting someone to fight that ancient dragon with you without getting killed before you reach it.

    Some enemies are just flat out annoying. I get it that the developers want the game to be harder than the first dark souls but it doesn't suit the system. If you ever played the first dark souls, then imagine what it would be like if a humanoid enemy locked onto you and just kept swinging a club every second non stop while running at you; just no breaks on its train. After a swing will be another within a second flat. Or imagine white knights that swing in a 360 angle every second with a large hit radius as if they had unlimited stamina.

    There's difficulty and then there's annoying. They can be beaten. Everything can. But I rather do something else than spend hours of gathering and looking up info on the internet, making a build, and going through hours of item hunting and researching just to beat a boss, while getting attacked by unbeatable lag players and hackers, just to continue on with the rest of the game's content. Taking the time to build a house for someone without getting paid will feel more worth it.    … Expand
  76. Backdatassup
    Apr 26, 2014
    6
    I enjoyed Dark Souls 2. I really did. But when I begin comparing to its predecessors, I can't help but not be disappointed. The atmosphere, the attention to detail in the environments, the narrative/lore and the boss fights all lack the believability of what I've already experienced.

    Demons Souls, and to a much larger extent, Dark Souls, was loved by many because of their perfect senses    I enjoyed Dark Souls 2. I really did. But when I begin comparing to its predecessors, I can't help but not be disappointed. The atmosphere, the attention to detail in the environments, the narrative/lore and the boss fights all lack the believability of what I've already experienced.

    Demons Souls, and to a much larger extent, Dark Souls, was loved by many because of their perfect senses of place. People felt wholly absorbed, which in today's gaming world is a rare treat. Unfortunately, Dark Souls 2 lacks that, and as such, feels like an imitation, rather than a genuine sequel.    … Expand
  77. 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
  78. 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
  79. Chewieflakes
    Jun 3, 2014
    0
    Abomination. Don't bother with this game if you're a fan of Demon Souls and Dark Souls (1). If you like bandwagons and wanna hop onto one, then go ahead buy it and tell all your friends you're a hardcore gamer because you bought it on Steam. The game is plagued by input lag on the controls, VERY laggy menus, and PvP that lacks an OUNCE of balance. A group of wild monkeys would have thoughtAbomination. Don't bother with this game if you're a fan of Demon Souls and Dark Souls (1). If you like bandwagons and wanna hop onto one, then go ahead buy it and tell all your friends you're a hardcore gamer because you bought it on Steam. The game is plagued by input lag on the controls, VERY laggy menus, and PvP that lacks an OUNCE of balance. A group of wild monkeys would have thought through pvp and pvp balance better than From Software. Also, it's important to note just how ugly the game is. The art style is so incredibly bland, generic, and boring that you'll never care about the world or it's history in the least. People confused challenge with mindless frustration. Timing dodge rolls for different enemies is not a challenge, it's boring frustrating.… Expand
  80. ompor
    May 4, 2014
    10
    Awesome game , better pc port (still not great) . You will die and learn ,this games makes winning or passing a difficult place an amazing feeling that everybody should feel. If you get angry at call of duty or anything at all this is not a game for you (Btw call of duty sucks) .
  81. BrutalBran95
    Oct 16, 2014
    0
    console port what else can I say anything thats a console port is flat out awful and doesnt get anything more then 0 from me its just a money grab and a screw you pc gamers im glad i didnt pay for this if you get what I mean even with a controller it doesnt fix its many problems which has already been said no point repeating
  82. khjir
    Apr 29, 2014
    9
    Well my first post on mc, only to soften damage, done by some silly people. :)

    The game itself is well, no questions here. But as far as PC port goes - let me say, graphics + mods, 60fps, somewhat not that bad menu browsing with partly mouse navigation and horrid console design - yep it's there. But now it's usable, not like first game. So get used to it or skip, really if menus do    Well my first post on mc, only to soften damage, done by some silly people. :)

    The game itself is well, no questions here.
    But as far as PC port goes - let me say, graphics + mods, 60fps, somewhat not that bad menu browsing with partly mouse navigation and horrid console design - yep it's there. But now it's usable, not like first game. So get used to it or skip, really if menus do anger you, don't even bother.

    now controls - first i was kinda 'meh'. tried it for few hours. and now i'm rolling :) with some minor tweaks to control scheme, no mods or etc. just give it a fair try, try to get used to it, and you will be ok :) again - not perfect, but really good. i'm finishing lost bastille now, but my achievement is = no man's warth with no deaths at all, with keyboard without any fancy stuff.

    so overall pc game is good, it lacks some stuff but nothing seriuos. game itself is fantastic :) ill give my 9 just because i'm not into 0/10 :)    … Expand
  83. Freeportaa
    Apr 29, 2014
    10
    9.5

    Amazing game, near-prefect port makes a great game even better! I have not had a single crash or problem since I started the game up a number of days ago and I've already put 20 hours into it already. The port runs at 1080p @ 60fps with 2-3 second load screens on an i7 as opposed to 15-25 seconds load screens on the PS3 (which I've already put 200+ hours into that version). People    9.5

    Amazing game, near-prefect port makes a great game even better! I have not had a single crash or problem since I started the game up a number of days ago and I've already put 20 hours into it already. The port runs at 1080p @ 60fps with 2-3 second load screens on an i7 as opposed to 15-25 seconds load screens on the PS3 (which I've already put 200+ hours into that version). People who are having problems with game crashes at start up are in the VAST minority and FromSoft is aware and working on a fix. In fact, I believe they have patched it and it's working for more people. Others who've complained that keyboard and mouse being horrible are incorrect. Mouse + Keyboard DO take a while to setup but it's quite intuitive after taking the time to get acquainted with that setup and getting a feel for the combat (which can take time even on a controller). Yes, the button prompts use Xbox 360 icons and so do the stones in the tutorial, if you can get past this hump you will find the controls do work well. My personal preference is for a Xbox 360 controller or any game pad in general, that is the easier option as this game was designed for one and works great. As you can see the Metascore for this game is a 9.1. Critics who know what the Souls series is about give this game a great score. I believe people who don't like the game are casuals who didn't expect this game to be as difficult as it is or are disappointed that this game is not quite up to Dark Souls near-perfect standards and have cheated themselves out of a stellar experience. I've seen people walk into sequels (video game, movies etc) with incredibly high (unreal!?) expectations and get burned for it. If you've never played a Souls series game do some research, walk into this game with an open mind and you will have a good time.    … Expand
  84. superexplosive
    May 1, 2014
    10
    Before I begin this review there are some things I'd like to get out of the way:

    1. Being bad at the game does not make it a bad game 2. Not being able to run the game does not make it a bad game 3. This game should not be compared so closely to other RPG's like the oh-so-popular Skyrim With those three points cleared up, I find it satisfying to say that Dark Souls II is a    Before I begin this review there are some things I'd like to get out of the way:

    1. Being bad at the game does not make it a bad game
    2. Not being able to run the game does not make it a bad game
    3. This game should not be compared so closely to other RPG's like the oh-so-popular Skyrim

    With those three points cleared up, I find it satisfying to say that Dark Souls II is a fantastic game.

    Following its predecessor Dark Souls, this sequel brings the same "Prepare to Die" mentality that veterans of the series are familiar with. In fact, Dark Souls II returns this same attitude alongside new characters, weapons, area designs, game mechanics and polished graphics. Upon first startup (by the way, I had NO startup issues whatsoever) I got the "Me vs. The World" feeling that I knew so well from the previous game. Upon navigating the locations that surround Majula, I could see various enemies waiting to kill me, yet I felt so alone. This is a feeling that I am rarely presented with in any other game. Needless to say, I like it a lot.

    Certainly this wouldn't be much of a review if I only shared my praises for Dark Souls II.
    There are really only two minor hiccups that I would like to discuss, the first being the "no-respawn" mechanic. After killing an enemy 15 times in Dark Souls II, they cease to return to life upon your resting at a bonfire. As this was not the case in Dark Souls (the first), I think it should have been an optional mechanic. While it may help players that can't seem to overcome certain foes, it also hinders the collection of items from enemy drops. I found this personally irritating while trying to obtain all pieces of an armor set only to find that I could no longer kill the enemy that dropped those pieces. That being said, this problem can be solved fairly easily with the use of a Bonfire Ascetic. Although the ascetic will increase the difficulty of an enemy, this shouldn't be much of a problem for the seasoned Dark Souls player.

    The second slight issue that I found with this game was the fact that sorceries have a ridiculous damage output. As I went to fight the Guardian Dragon boss with two phantom magic-users, I was a bit disappointed to see that such an epic looking dragon was destroyed within under a minute. I am inclined to believe that this is related to the power of the spells rather than the weakness of the boss (at least in this case). Casting may get annoying in PvP as well, but it can be contained if you know how to properly fight close-ranged.

    All in all, I will give Dark Souls II a 9.5/10 (rounded my score here up to 10).
    As a past fan of the Souls series, I definitely consider this entry worthy of its title and would recommend it to any gamer willing to put in a little effort and maybe some tears.    … Expand
  85. Khyrian
    Jul 30, 2014
    0
    I can't fathom the number of tens that this game has garnered on PC. Even after patches, it's unplayable without a 360 controller, and with one, the control system is still bizarre and laggy. The graphics are state of the art for something that hit the market in the mid 90s, the sound is laughably bad, and the writing is up to the par that one would see in a remedial grade 8 English class.I can't fathom the number of tens that this game has garnered on PC. Even after patches, it's unplayable without a 360 controller, and with one, the control system is still bizarre and laggy. The graphics are state of the art for something that hit the market in the mid 90s, the sound is laughably bad, and the writing is up to the par that one would see in a remedial grade 8 English class. It's been said that one needs to sink at least one gameplay into the title before discovering the depth of challenge, fun and novelty; there's a term for that: horrendous game design. I can understand a rating over five for those who find this to be their cup of tea, but those who are giving perfect scores need to invest in a head check.… Expand
  86. KamranMackey
    Apr 30, 2014
    10
    Dark Souls II is much better than it's predecessor Dark Souls. (I'm gonna be talking about the PC version in this review.) The PC port of the game is much better than the port of the original Dark Souls to the PC. The FPS limit in the Dark Souls 2 PC port has been lifted from 30 FPS in the original Dark Souls to a smooth 60 frames per second. From Software has also implemented a ton ofDark Souls II is much better than it's predecessor Dark Souls. (I'm gonna be talking about the PC version in this review.) The PC port of the game is much better than the port of the original Dark Souls to the PC. The FPS limit in the Dark Souls 2 PC port has been lifted from 30 FPS in the original Dark Souls to a smooth 60 frames per second. From Software has also implemented a ton of graphics settings, unlike the original Dark Souls where you had to download a tool called dsfix to change the graphics settings. The combat system in Dark Souls 2 is also a lot better than the original's. They have also added many more options to the Character Customization screen so you can customize your character even more than you were able to in Dark Souls 1. They have also added new weapons and a new balanced player progression system. Everything about Dark Souls 2 is awesome, and the PC port of the game is much better than the terrible Dark Souls 1 PC port. Highly recommend you grab this game on the PC. There are a couple issues with the PC port though but From Software and NAMCO BANDAI are working hard to fix the issues and there aren't even that many issues with the game. So go out and grab this game. It's worth every penny.… Expand
  87. invizo
    Apr 30, 2014
    10
    Works flawlessly on a 780 GTX and 3rd Gen i7 system. Using a Dualshock 4 PS4 controller on a USB cable for my PC and it is in every way superior to the console counterparts. Game is well optimized allowing me 4x Supersample of 2560x1440 and it runs a solid 60 FPS. No crashes or hiccups as seen in the '0' score reviews; they probably have old hardware.
  88. optimus111
    Dec 28, 2014
    0
    TERRIBLE! Never even got a chance to play. The mouse and keyboard controls are broken. Publisher actually RECOMMENDS you play with an x-box controller ... ON A PC!
  89. Hobbit
    May 1, 2014
    1
    I've played a lot of video games, and I'm okay with a degree of difficulty but after four days of trying a melee character and just dying over and over and over with no progress this just wasn't any fun. No easy mode to get to learn the game the first time thru, no way to sell gear gathered during repeated deaths to get some better basic gear. No real way to warm up to this game,I've played a lot of video games, and I'm okay with a degree of difficulty but after four days of trying a melee character and just dying over and over and over with no progress this just wasn't any fun. No easy mode to get to learn the game the first time thru, no way to sell gear gathered during repeated deaths to get some better basic gear. No real way to warm up to this game, disappointing waste of money for me. Can see how hard core gamers might enjoy the challenge but would think some form of difficulty scaling so others who buy the game and just want of play in offline mode could get something out of it would be a nice feature.… Expand
  90. xveganroxx
    Apr 30, 2014
    10
    This is the definitive Dark Souls experience. Yes, you will die, sometimes seemingly unfairly. Yes, you should use a 360 controller. Yes, people will invade you and stab you in the back. No, if someone tells you "Try jumping for treasure!" off a cliff, you shouldn't. No, you can't play it on a 2005 Celeron with onboard graphics. Yes, this is the most immersive and rewarding modern actionThis is the definitive Dark Souls experience. Yes, you will die, sometimes seemingly unfairly. Yes, you should use a 360 controller. Yes, people will invade you and stab you in the back. No, if someone tells you "Try jumping for treasure!" off a cliff, you shouldn't. No, you can't play it on a 2005 Celeron with onboard graphics. Yes, this is the most immersive and rewarding modern action RPG experience available. Get it.… Expand
  91. Piggles
    Jul 4, 2014
    0
    This is the real hardcore game that hardcore gamers play. OK. Lets actually call this what it is. Trial and Error. Apparently that's "Hardcore". Well OK.

    I'll expand: So you come to something you haven't seen before. It'll kill you. over and over again. Till you learn what to do. Like a QTE without the screen prompts. Once you know what to do for these - Then you can deal with    This is the real hardcore game that hardcore gamers play. OK. Lets actually call this what it is. Trial and Error. Apparently that's "Hardcore". Well OK.

    I'll expand: So you come to something you haven't seen before. It'll kill you. over and over again. Till you learn what to do. Like a QTE without the screen prompts. Once you know what to do for these - Then you can deal with these - no problem. And you proceed - Till you meet the next thing you don't know - and nothing you learnt from before will help - because they'll just throw a game play mechanic into the bin that you had been relying on or maybe they'll make a new mechanic you obviously don't know about that doesn't work anywhere else but you need to use now. And so on. And so on. Trial and error. The boss fights are a Joke - they are QTEs without screen prompts that last for 5 minutes - this is not an exaggeration. If you like being frustrated. . or if like doing the same thing over and over again. . step on up. I think it is actually total garbage, (game play wise).

    This game looks lovely - aesthetically - the terrain graphics are rubbish though - but the characters are gorgeous. I love the Lore. it is better than Game of Thrones. The move set for the weapons is awesome. But. . That's about it. And that's actually a lot of really great stuff in there. i'd loved for them to have played Mount and Blade - and then they'd really know how to actually make a decent "Hardcore" game. In parts this is actually a plat-former. . . I mean - really. . . Hard jumps - you start from the camp-fire if you die - you need to do these one after another and you die if you miss one. Good luck!

    You will get invaded and die instantly to cheat-engine / twinks. Nothing from DS1 was improved here. If you waste a single soul on something you don't need then you will be sub-optimal in PvP against normal opponents - and you will die because of it - skill has nothing to do with it. In DS1 if you were hitting someone and doing no damage - or they could one shot right through your Havel's shield - you'd think they were cheating. Not in DS2. Like I say - you build PvP or you don't. And if you haven't because you were just playing the game. . . . Then you will be invaded and you will die. (VAC isn't fixed yet and personally I think it won't be now. . . And people who didn't want banned for cheating before. . . well - they've been playing for almost three months now without VAC - 4 by the end of July - and they don't give two hoots about a ban now because they won't even still be playing in another month regardless - so yeah - cheat engine is coming back big style. Twinks with gear passed down to circumvent the Soul Memory mechanic is a big deal)    … Expand
  92. Nevextra
    Aug 13, 2014
    3
    This feels cheap giving this game a bad score for the very reason the first was so famous but i can't in good conscience praise this game the developers forgot how to make a good game the first game used difficulty as a means of immersion part of the story and it lore was so thick you needed an axe to cut through it and understand it all, but this is just not in the same ball park ofThis feels cheap giving this game a bad score for the very reason the first was so famous but i can't in good conscience praise this game the developers forgot how to make a good game the first game used difficulty as a means of immersion part of the story and it lore was so thick you needed an axe to cut through it and understand it all, but this is just not in the same ball park of quality the difficulty is there for its own sake imposing and obnoxious the game them in a blindingly dumb move it is also not there as enemies with stop spawn after an allotted amount of deaths making it impossible to farm items, armour or weapons off enemies on any meaningful way the bosses are not memorable in the slightest and the weapon movesets for certain weapons are just weird, but all that that aside the worst sin the game commits the nerfing of rolling you know the action you use to evade attacks and necessary for two hand weapon well instead of defined tiers and set invincibility frame between them your invincibility frame are tied to multiples stats killing the feasibility of two hand builds. The job endurance of dark souls 1 has been spread across two stat making it harder to make melee builds. The number of groups in the game has been increased no doubt to serve the difficulty of the game. The covenants are inferior also multiple covenants are complete busted because the developers didn't add items for support the covenants in dark souls 1 all covenants required the player to offer items to rank up and ALL items could be farmed in dark souls 1 unlike this game and its broken farming and if that wasn't bad enough some covenants mandate pvp interaction to rank up, in dark souls 1 the online was there to support the singleplayer and the atmosphere the game wanted in this game the multiplayer is left to fend of itself and the controls aren't meant for pvp you can take a dune buggy to a race track but don't expect to beat a track car.
    I could go on and on listing all my problems with the game and all the things that make it inferior to dark souls 1 are all to serve a difficulty the game undermine with its own mechanics.

    So in summary:
    Unnecessary difficulty (that game breaks itself)
    Broken farming (leads to pseudo RPG limbo)
    Broken covenants (lack of permanent item make this rare)
    Weird weapons movesets (personally issue (sue me))
    Clunky leveling stats (makes unduly hard to level efficiently)    … Expand
  93. drebin8
    Apr 28, 2014
    10
    While it isn't quite as good as Demon's Souls or Dark Souls, it's still a very enjoyable title. It's definitely worth playing, and I'm looking forward to the next entry.
  94. 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.
  95. HunterKiller945
    May 8, 2014
    0
    this game is a slap in the face of pc gamers! they didn't even replace the button icons with keys! and the landscape graphics look really bad. 2004 bad.

    this port is just lazy! i don't recommend this game be bought on pc at all.
  96. PixelCheese
    May 2, 2014
    0
    Lies, lies everywhere. this was gonna be a good port they said.... what a load of crap. Dont believe those critics that score this game 10/10. You've got to be blind to score this game 10/10 or time traveled from 1990s.
  97. 90ne1
    Apr 26, 2014
    10
    Really solid PC port of a great game. The one flaw I've noticed in the port is that all control instructions are given as the Xbox controller buttons, regardless of whether or not the player is using a controller. If you're using a controller, this makes no difference, and I don't feel it takes away from the quality of the port much. Really fleshed out graphical options, full 60fps/1080pReally solid PC port of a great game. The one flaw I've noticed in the port is that all control instructions are given as the Xbox controller buttons, regardless of whether or not the player is using a controller. If you're using a controller, this makes no difference, and I don't feel it takes away from the quality of the port much. Really fleshed out graphical options, full 60fps/1080p support without the need for fan made mods. If you don't already have this game for a console, it's more than worth picking up.… Expand
  98. tritium_3
    Apr 30, 2014
    0
    Did the critics actually play the released PC game? or did they get some other version? because if they actually played the PC released game on steam, and still think the graphcis are "rich", then they are clearly delusional. Huge graphical downgrade. game looks nothing like the e3 footage. Game was clearly rushed and not tested. GUI is clunky, controls are trash, gameplay is choppy,Did the critics actually play the released PC game? or did they get some other version? because if they actually played the PC released game on steam, and still think the graphcis are "rich", then they are clearly delusional. Huge graphical downgrade. game looks nothing like the e3 footage. Game was clearly rushed and not tested. GUI is clunky, controls are trash, gameplay is choppy, graphics are unbearable. Hey from software, THIS IS 2014, why does your game look like its from 2005? Completely unacceptable to have a game that is 10x worse graphics than its previous game released in 2010. what the **** were the developers doing? why release a game this horrible? dark souls 1 was a masterpiece, Dark souls 2 is a get rich quick scheme from FROM software to take advantage of the tremendous legacy of Darksouls and the dedicated fan base. they completely disappointed me, and many other people with releasing this pile of ****. Critics are either bribed from the software companies, or they clearly havent played the Steam released version of the game at all.

    DO NOT BUY FOR PC.    … Expand
  99. TBAAGamer
    May 2, 2014
    0
    This gaem is to hard.
    It's really, really hard, I can't enjoy a game this hard
    this is liek, japan levels of hard.
    Nope, this gaem is to hard, it's bad because it's hard.
  100. backInBone
    Apr 30, 2014
    10
    I'm now on half way of the game and can't help come and rate this a 10/10 before I finish it. It runs smooth and looks beautiful on PC. Also I don't see any problem with the keyboard&mouse control (for some actions it's even more convenient than using a gamepad). I feel all excited while playing. It's like I'm fighting in the game world myself, every single miss may lead me to death. I love it.
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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.
    Read full review
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