DARK SOULS II Impressions - E3 2013

Games E3 about 10 years agoby Christian Mills

Demon Souls and its spiritual successor Dark Souls are infamous in the gaming industry for their dark action and unforgiving difficulty. This year at E3 I was able to get an exclusive look at the next installment in the series, Dark Souls II.

The main point the presenter wanted to get across was that the game will be very hard. I figured this was a given considering its pedigree, but the presenter was adamant.

“This game is very hard...it will ruthlessly kick your ass when you get it.”

To illustrate this point, they had the head of QA for Dark Souls II playing the game while we observed and asked questions. We watched him die. Over and over again.

Dark Souls II will be using a new engine, and the hands-on stations were running a PC build of the game. It was gorgeous. The light effects were dramatic and realistic, becoming obscured by your character’s own clothing as you moved around the environments. In dark sections where your character is all but required to carry a torch, the lighting engine shines. Stark shadows are cast by every object, which leads to some very tense encounters.

Character generation in Dark Souls II will be different from the first game. Rather than having a list of classes to choose from, there will be a sort of personality test that determines your personal fighting style and then builds your character using that information. Other games have done this in the past, like Ogre Battle 64 and Fallout 3, but we will have to wait and see how effective the system is. When I asked if it will be possible to transfer character data over from Dark Souls I, the presenter hedged, declined to answer, then suspiciously acknowledged that it was a good question. What this actually means is a point of speculation, but I hope it means there is a way to transfer some semblance of your character data between games.

The presenter also told us a few smaller details that will be changed in Dark Souls II, like the addition of dual weapon wielding, being able to teleport to and from any bonfire from the beginning of the game, and improved enemy AI, all of which are welcome additions to the game.

Dark Souls II looks to be a capable installment to the Dark Souls franchise with a few much needed additions, and some other interesting ones. The hands on gameplay was a lot of fun, and I am definitely looking forward to its release in March, 2014 on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.