8 minute read
dark SoUlS ii
editor’s award
HEll’s BitcHin’ @oPm_Dave
Dark souls ii
Tricksy, but terrific things to do in Drangleic when you’re undead
info
Format ps3 Eta out now PuB Bandai namco DEv from software L ike haggis fritters smothered in Marmite, Dark Souls II’s unrelenting difficulty isn’t for everyone. Those who are gluttons for punishment are in for a meal that challenges and nourishes like no other – albeit one that likes to hoof you in the unmentionables every chance it gets. Hold me, dear reader. This is going to be one bumpy, but thankfully brilliant, descent back into the depths of despair.
For starters, fighting beasties is still ruddy amazing. Beautifully poised and sharply tactical, every considered thrust of your axe, sword or spear carries more menace and consequence for failure than a million haphazardly fired COD rounds. Class-leading combat is just one part of the brutal cocktail, mind. It’s also backed up by the peerless thrill of constantly pushing forth into the unknown. Each corner turned or mist barrier broken offers the promise of progression set against an unceasing backdrop of tension. Though every nerve-jangling duel bristles with the potential of sucking in souls to level up your Chosen Undead, it’s far more likely a moment of impatience or clumsiness will wipe out an hour’s worth of toil. The constant threat of smothering failure never leaves your side in a game that’s centred around leveraging your finite resources for greater rewards. This ever-evolving thrill of cat-and-mouse gambling is what makes Dark Souls II so horribly hard to put down.
Before you get your passport stamped for reentry to Hellsville, you best prepare for a change of destination in Drangleic. Though this openended kingdom is more compartmentalised and lacks the natural visual flow of Lordran, it’s still dotted with locales that are sure to burn in the memory long after you’ve sacked off your PS3 at a car boot sale for a tenner. Prepare to dodge the sweaty meat hooks of obese, nappy-wearing
right Learning to parry and riposte is a damn useful technique to master in DS II.
Cyclopses in the clawing quagmire of Things Betwixt (surely the greatest name for an opening level ever). Don’t forget to watch your step as you gingerly ghost past spectral sentries in the Silent Hill-aping Shaded Woods. While Lost Bastille’s deadly prison cells make a sleepover in Folsom look like an overnight stay in the Fireworks, Candy And Puppy Dogs Store. In short, there’s more artistic imagination on show here than any game currently on PS4.
Yes, it’s a last-gen game, but a strikingly handsome one: less cartoony, far richer in detail and substantially more lived-in than its predecessor. Full analogue movement and velvety combat animations ensure the action now slithers from the screen with a fluid, balletic brutality. It not only makes monster skirmishes appear less mechanical, but also ensures they’re more responsive to the touch – crucial when every millisecond of hesitation could see that ghoulish knight gut you with his 11-foot butcher’s knife.
In what’s sure to be a polarising move, From Software returns the series to the health system that made Demon’s Souls so unforgiving. Unlike the last game, every death you suffer gradually whittles down your life bar. Lose your Humanity and each time you perish, your health takes a tanking as you become more hollowed-out. Bite it enough times in a row without using a rare Human Effigy (the only item in the game that fully restores you) and you quickly find yourself capped at half HP. That means you’ll need to make a major mindset shift if you’re used to experimenting relatively riskfree in Dark Souls. Meeting a boss on 60% health is a peeper-watering prospect.
left If you go down to Shaded Woods today you’re sure for a big… oh, you’re dead.
BonFirE FrigHt
This is the key area where the sequel is way more vicious and, arguably, less fair. The game actively escalates its difficulty to punish players who are struggling. There’s a real sense this is the purest expression of the unwavering difficulty the Souls series has always clung onto so dearly. Something backed up by lifereplenishing bonfires lying further afield from boss scraps – so simply getting to the dastards is a seriously daunting task when 23 respawning zombie swashbucklers stand between you and a four-armed, two-headed take on Long John Silver’s Siamese twin.
Yet perversely, Drangelic is simultaneously more giving than Lordran. For one, it treats you to more weapon and ring slots. The ability to saddle yourself with an extra Blacksmith’s Hammer may not be that useful, but carrying four pieces of jewellery in your dishevelled pockets (twice that of the previous adventure) certainly is. Uncover enough of Drangleic’s precious finger bling and you can rock up to boss skirmishes with a heady blend of powers that often make all the difference between that glorious on-screen flash
above Fighting respawning rats in the Grave Of Saints is a stern early challenge.
right Spears are ace for those who favour a far more cautious combat style.
above Lost Bastille is imposing, while you constantly see other players’ ghosts.
of ‘Victory Achieved’ and padhurling anguish.
no grEat Boss
If there’s a disappointment, it’s that Dark Souls II can’t quite cook up opponents to rival the sheer scale of what’s come before. By and large, bosses are smaller and less grotesque. There’s no hulking goliath to quite match the Demon Ruins’ Ceaseless Discharge lava brute. And certainly nothing that competes with the ferocious beauty of the Moonlight Butterfly. Encounters are utterly gripping, demanding exhilarating levels of unbroken concentration. It’s just a shame they don’t equal the spectacles found in the first Dark Souls.
One element that persists just as thoroughly as before, though, is that beguiling sense of mystery which keeps you trudging forward. True to form, From gives only the merest hint of plot and leaves you to scramble the details together with the sort of hazy recollection usually reserved for the morning after a night on the sauce. What few cutscenes exist are admittedly directed with more flair than anything the series has shown in the past. Yet existing on such a threadbare narrative simply makes it that much more stimulating as you journey into parts of the map where every crumbled nook or foreign statue tells its own tale.
Dark Souls II is fuelled by an unending desire for progression and improvement. And that’s what keeps you pushing ever forward: for those brief spells of empowerment, earned more honestly here than in any other game. Victory achieved.
verdict uncompromising in its challenge, this supremely balanced slasher destroys your fingers and delights your soul with its unrivalled sense of triumph through trial. Dave meikleham
the opm breakdown
what you do in… d a rk s o uls ii
14% losing your souls as you mistime a single, but crucial block or parry. 15% stockpiling hard-fought souls to afford a shiny weapon upgrade.
10% Being beaten up by a room-sized boss, until you suss him.
40%
Dying… again and again and again… and again. Who’d have guessed that, eh?
20% seeing flesh peel off as you get more hollow. you’re looking pretty ill there, buddy.
1%
’accidentally’ killing a sultry pyromancer merchant. c’mon, this ain’t fluffy happy rainbow souls.
multiplayer
ds ii is a less lonely pursuit if you team up with fellow adventurers. certain rings now make it easier to pair up with other players, while a cracked red eye orb lets you invade their game for a pvp scrap. look out for a thorough online test next issue.
how to… stop the hp rot
1 2 3
1 want to drastically reduce how much your health bar tapers off when you die? you want to get your hands on the ring of Binding. 2 this extremely useful jewellery can be found outside the Blue cathedral. 3 to get there, go to heide’s tower of flame and follow the left-hand path from the room with the three large knights. Go along the walkways until you reach a circular platform with a lever, then pull it to lower a nearby drawbridge where the ring lies in a chest.
second opinion fragile soul Daunting doesn’t even begin to describe your first footsteps in Dark Souls II if, like me, you’ve steered clear of the Eat, Sleep, Die, Repeat dance up until now. But guess what? You don’t need a PhD after all: it is possible to learn ‘Souls even as a latecomer, and no game’s better at making you feel like your weapon really bites into an enemy. Phil Iwaniuk
trophy cabinet
tH i s i s Dark souls n Er ’s BonFirE s i n E l FlEss givEr s
bronze you’ll never come across a more naturally achievable trophy. simply bite it for the first time and it’s yours.
silver defeat the last sinner boss by constantly strafing. summoning the nearby phantom will help, too. gold to max-out your devotion to a covenant you have to complete its side-quests, while also offering up awe stones.
