Dark Souls II

From Software, 20 euros

I played through the first Dark Souls about 5 times before hopping into this one, which amplified how mediocre this one is in comparison. Dark Souls 2 is missing the atmosphere of Dark Souls while also cutting down and deviating form its plot.

Dark Souls 2 is visually of higher quality than it's predecessor, in return sacrificing charm and style. Both bright and dark settings have become dimmer with less detail or colour and texture variety. This, along with level design that is more linear and way more obvious when it decides to split, deals a heavy blow to the fun of exploration and the open world aspect that was so prominent in the first game.

Personally I dislike the central hub, because it is a downgrade to the first game's multiple "fireplace hub" which had additional NPCs serving as blacksmiths and firekeepers nearby. I also dislike the boss fights which both in design and gameplay seem noticeably worse than the first game. Finally, the souls like gameplay feels sloppy and gets infuriating, as enemies have been toned up not in difficulty, but in tools to cheat the player out of a hit.

This game seems more like an unsuccessful attempt to replicate the first, rather than a continuation or even a parallel to it, as almost every aspect is worse.

Considering how fun Dark Souls 3 is, how irrelevant this one is to the plot and how weirdly it fits into the lore, I would recommend skipping.

4/10