I Was Wrong About DARK SOULS II

It's hard to deny that Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin makes for a better videogame than its predecessor. It tweaks more or less every aspect of the established gameplay (mostly successfully) in an effort to refine the experience. But, after nearly 50 hours of play, what is it that I believe DARK SOULS II does best in the series?

Well, that could be a number of things (though I forced myself to pick only one, as mentioning each and every improvement would make this article far too lengthy), but I'm here to argue a case for exploration. Whilst DARK SOULS' approach favoured a combination of stripped-back yet obscure mechanics coupled with a focus on storytelling, its sequel functions in the reverse: concentrating on gameplay over story. Because of this newfound mechanics-focused approach, general adventuring thus becomes far more compelling for the player, with the world simply feeling more alive overall.

For instance, even basic interaction with the game world has been broadened; players can now kick down objects to form bridges, destroy weak obstacles, open secret and illusory doors, and slide down ziplines, all to reach new areas. It's really neat that so much of the game has a level of world interaction that always contributes to progress in some way.

DARK SOULS II also goes all out and introduces something besides combat for players to tackle: puzzles. Though always simplistic in form, they still do a great job of reinforcing the old-school fantasy dungeon crawl vibe that Hidetaka Miyazaki's post and previous games lack. The puzzle elements (if they even fairly qualify for such a denomination) of his games amount to nothing more than, “Oo, I see a shiny over there! So, how do I reach it?”

The main, recurring puzzle introduced in DARK SOULS II is the torch mechanic, which has the player light fires around zones to accomplish different outcomes. As a welcome addition that rounds off and connects the whole experience nicely, it's a genuine shame that it never saw reintroduction in future games.

Sometimes, lighting a fire could lead to innocuous circumstances, like merely illuminating a path to follow should the player lose their way or die — fires do not reset on death. Other times, however, lighting one of the many lamps will reveal something special or unique. Really, there seems no end to the variation in reward (or punishment!) for having your torch lit at the right moment: scare enemies, reveal invisible NPCs, summon phantoms, shift the environment, and more.

Beyond puzzles, something else that breathes life into the world are the changes to loot chests. Now, they may contain a variety of traps — bombs, arrows, poison clouds, and magic — alongside the potential of being a Mimic, which amps up the risk/reward of treasure hunting. Chests (and their contents) are also destructible, so the tried and tested “smack it to check if it's an enemy” is no longer necessarily viable.

I appreciate that making the acquisition of valuables more troublesome can seem like a negative at face value. Why punish players more frequently for what can be deemed success? However, I think the subtle reworking of how chests work helps to keep tension high during exploration, and it keeps the sequel fresh for players hopping in from games in the series. Also, the balance of mimics and traps is pretty spot on, and players can easily be lulled into a false sense of security following a streak of numerous non-dangerous, regular chests.

Let's also not forget the Pharros faces and Fragrant Branches of Yore. The former are strange and ancient magical contraptions, which are scattered all throughout the lands of Drangleic. They are always easy to spot, due to the haunting face that represents them — three hollow, empty points that are reminiscent of a bowling ball — and require special stone keys to unlock their abilities. Similarly to the torch, these reward the player in different ways (again, some not always immediately obvious), from creating water sources to revealing hidden rooms.

The latter are just that: tree branches. However, they are magical and can be sacrificed to unpetrify individuals all over Drangleic. Some of these cursed, stone people possess useful equipment or information, and others block necessary pathways. As they are placed 1:1 with (though not directly beside) petrified folk throughout the game world, some back and forth is required during adventuring in order to eventually acquire all branches and free all trapped individuals, and I found it to be pretty fun and satisfying doing so overall.

Ultimately, directors Tomohiro Shibuya and Yui Tanimura (as well as the rest of their respective teams) understood the assignment from the off: enhance the gameplay. Whether this was the brief given or an understanding reached internally during production is unknown, but it was certainly a good call. Miyazaki had already done the legwork in lore previously and established an intriguing world, so all that was left to do was to iron out the kinks in gameplay — something that FromSoftware achieved in spades!