Game Review: 'Dark Souls II' is to die for

You know a game is really special when, some fifteen minutes into its world, three, adorable piglets jump out of the bushes and totally butcher you.
 
Welcome to “Dark Souls II”.
 
But being gored to bloody shreds by little piggies is just the tip of this soul-crushing iceberg. As the successor of the award-winning “Dark Souls” and “Demon’s Souls”, “Dark Souls II” carries the series’ torch of brutally challenging yet utterly rewarding action-adventure gameplay. It also resumes the franchise’s place in the gaming industry as the complete antithesis of the countless mindless, button-mashing, quick fix-obsessed titles cluttering up our virtual playground.
 

 
Damned from the get-go
 
In “Dark Souls II”, you are the cursed Undead, doomed to lose all memory of who you are and eventually become a mindless Hollow. Your only hope? A possible cure, somewhere in the kingdom of Drangleic. As you roam these majestic yet treacherous lands in your quest for salvation, you will also have to gather the souls of fallen heroes and vanquished enemies – the only way to delay the inevitable loss of your humanity.
 
The story may seem plain, but this is because the game’s expansive lore is encrypted in various item descriptions and conversations with NPCs, and engraved in the crumbling walls and statues of Drangleic’s many locales. To get the full breadth of this fantastical tale, you will have to unravel those layers of mythology yourself.
 
This minimalist approach to story-telling is reflective of the game’s design philosophy. In “Dark Souls II”, you can never take anything for granted as nothing is ever given for free. Everything has to be earned the hard way. Every inch of land explored, every foe conquered, and every soul harvested is the result of sheer human effort and perseverance. “Dark Souls II” is no kid’s game. It is tough as hell, merciless, and sadistic.
  
The dance of death
 
The moment you encounter your first foe in “Dark Souls II”, you will realize how different it is from other games.
 
Any special action, be it a dodge roll or sword strike, depletes your stamina. Mashing the attack button leaves you drained and temporarily incapacitated – enough time for the enemy to sneak in an attack of his own. Lunge thoughtlessly at your adversary, and you could end up missing him by several feet: another fatal mistake likely to be abused by your foe.
 
This is not “God of War” or “Devil May Cry”, in which you can recklessly burst into a room and start swinging your weapons every which way in the hope that it will kill someone. In “Dark Souls II”, every action has to be measured, calculated, and deliberate, because each wasted move can get you killed.
 
Every combat situation is a dance of death, with you and your opponent circling each other, sizing one another up. It entails plenty of strafing, dodging, parrying, and feinting; putting your shield up when you know you can absorb the blow, and striking when you’ve finally found the chink in his armor. It is exhilarating as it is tense.
 
The feeling you get once you’ve defeated some of the more challenging foes is one of liberation and empowerment. You danced the dance, and you were able to outwit and outperform the enemy. No victory is ever empty; every triumph is well-deserved. This is the beauty of the “Souls” series – its ability to reward you with a sense of genuine satisfaction that you were able to surpass your own limits and grow from your failures.
 
And oh, how you will fail.
 
Enemies range from Hollow footmen and exploding zombies to colossal, armored knights and misshapen, water-dwelling behemoths. At the pinnacle of this fiendish bestiary are the bosses, many of which – including a writhing, gargantuan mass of meat, and a hulking, floating knight with Darth Vaderesque respiratory problems – will simultaneously test your mettle and curdle your blood.
 
But they’re not the only dangers to watch out for. “Dark Souls II” will murder you with booby traps, environmental hazards, and more. But while punishing, it is also fair. Death is rarely the result of a challenge being too cheap. Oftentimes, your own hubris or error of judgment are the true culprits. Perhaps you underestimated an enemy or failed to observe the visual cues in the environment. Maybe you brought the wrong weapons and spells to the fight. Or it could be you simply weren’t thinking when you blindly barged into that corridor crawling with monsters.
  
Don’t lose your souls
 
Fallen enemies yield souls, a form of currency used to level up your character or purchase items. Get killed, however, and you will be parted from these souls. You can retrieve lost souls from where they were dropped at the site of your demise, but if you get murdered again before reaching them, they are gone for good.
 
Permanently losing souls is one of the most harrowing experiences in “Dark Souls II”, especially because of a new mechanic that causes enemies to stop respawning if you kill them too many times. The upside to this is that you can effectively create a safe, clear path between the boss and yourself; the downside is that once those monsters have vanished, there’s no way you can farm them for souls anymore. Thankfully there’s a way around this issue, but the technique doesn’t rear its head until much later in the game.

Lighting the fire
 
Drangleic is a huge world comprised of several, seamlessly-connected regions. These include majestic castle ruins, an eerie, fog-covered forest, and one seemingly inspired by the most jaw-dropping moment in 1985’s “The Goonies”. And while some of the earlier levels appear a tad uninspired compared to those in the first two “Souls” games, Drangleic gets a whole lot weirder, and therefore trickier to navigate, further down the road.
 
Discovering different areas takes time; there are many locked doors that require misplaced keys, and many sites that demand the transformative effects of magic. Peeling back a level’s layers provokes as much dread as elation. What could be more crippling than the promise of new horrors? What could be more exciting than the chance to once again prove yourself against the game’s many obstacles?
 
Making exploration more convenient this time is the ability to warp between bonfires. Bonfires are scattered throughout Drangleic’s many regions and serve not only as teleporters, but also as the only safe havens in a world bent on slaughtering you.
 
 
Sharing the misery
 
Like its predecessors, “Dark Souls II” features a unique online system that allows players to invade each others’ worlds in a battle for souls. This time, it’s possible to set traps for invaders, which significantly alters the player versus player dynamic. Joining “Covenants”, or alliances of like-minded people, further opens up some intriguing new modes of play. For example, as part of the Bell Keeper Covenant, you will be summoned to other worlds to help prevent invaders from ringing a bell at the top of a tower.
 
Of course, you don’t have to be the tormentor. Players can assist each other by leaving helpful messages all over the world, or by participating in boss battles together. Even dying could help save someone else’s life, as other players get to see a ghostly reenactment of your demise, warning them of the dangers ahead.
 
A dream of a thousand deaths
 
With its unique and innovative brand of gameplay, the “Souls” series continues to change the gaming landscape by challenging timeworn industry norms.
 
“Dark Souls II” dispenses with flashy yet empty combos, choosing instead to focus on methodical, realistic combat. It is unapologetically ruthless, placing a premium on patience, observation, and timing. If you do not have the first, or are a trigger-happy button masher incapable of the other two, then this will be the hardest, most frustrating title you will ever play. But if you value a game that rewards caution, strategy, and combat finesse, then “Dark Souls II” will be a challenge so satisfying you will be willing to die for it, over and over again. — TJD, GMA News