Dark Souls II

And here's where the quantity focus hurts the most. I expected lots of ugly textures, seams, light leaks, reskinned characters, items, and objects. I also expected that the art design would trump most these typical game concerns. Sadly, the quality of the game's visuals really wanders. There are a few impressive vistas, reveals, and interesting designs for bosses and characters. Mostly though, the game is a step down from its predecessor when it comes to visual fidelity and art design. It often exhibits even less sizzle than the 'Dark Souls' expansion.

The texture resolution on many of the backgrounds makes for the kind unsightliness to suggest the notion of anti-demo material. Much of the game's UI elements and enemy set are recycled from the previous game, and overall the art style can feel imitative and less inspired and polished than past efforts. The new torch mechanic while sometimes fun means entire rooms of low-light that typically only receive a point light after being cleared out.

I noticed frequent trouble spots between areas and a noticeable chug at many points when pulling an enemy as the game unloaded one area and loaded another. While running through complicated areas both quickly and slow, there were many moments when holes in the world, missing geometry faces, or other similar environmental artifacts became visible or noticeable. These issues did not affect play, and never where bad enough to fill the screen. They are only glaring when specifically searching for them.

The PC version should (if players are lucky) alleviate issues like texture and shadow depth, while future patches many help the console version's tricky streaming bugs. (Images here in the review are stock and seem to be taken from the PC version.)

When it comes to audio, the game is terribly effective at what it sets out to do. Whether it's the limited use of music or the jingle of chains of a enemy hidden behind a secret door or the terrible voice of a riled and formerly friendly NPC, the sound design bends nearly every rule in an effort to subtly build tension, and this with a mostly recycled set of sound effects. Rarely ever in games are the surrounds engaged to simultaneously fool and inform the player, and 'Dark Souls II' never relents on this audio assault. Let a large enemy chase you, and you'll find that their loud steps have just the right break between to cast doubts about their continued pursuit... until you turn around.

A few things, like barrel combustion, can make the volume jump alarmingly. Walking on sand is even louder than splashing water.

Be it desperate, crazy, or sanguine, voice acting for the NPCs retains an exaggerated quality. Somehow, when combined with the limited and often perfunctory conversation loops, (key for extracting story details) the result just seems even more perfectly suited for this installment than the last.

For much of my playthrough, I kept thinking that if I had to choose one of the 'Souls' titles to play or recommend, it would be 'Dark Souls.' And yet 'Dark Souls II' was clearly meant to entertain the veteran 'Souls' player with a depth beyond its predecessor. Though parts of the game feel like a poor rehash, everything that make the series thrilling, challenging, and enjoyable is here along with revamped online options that dare to tempt even the most solitary player. Hunting down items, NPCs, bosses, areas, shortcuts- I gorged myself on it all, and still I'm ready to jump back in for more as the replay value has been pushed to new heights. Detractors of the series (those that have actually played a title) can be comfortable opting out, but everyone else should see that death is only the beginning, the preparation necessary to live.