Recent reviews by Shadowy Figure

I want to preface this with the overall message of "I had fun"

DS2 is the neglected middle child of the souls series and i think personally people are harsh on it because thats just the culture around it. At least that was the mindset i had going into this game.

I love souls games. they're my favorite genre, i play them religiously. Going into this game I knew about adaptability, i knew the enemy placement was infamous, i knew about some atrocious runbacks. All that considered, now, after getting all the achievements i understand why the game is both beloved in a cult following stronger than any other souls game and why it is hated so passionately by the rest of the souls community.

Level Design/Enemy Placement: 5/10

Holy hell this game is beautiful. DS2 has some stunning areas and genuinely interesting concepts for areas. The DLC I think is hands down the most beautiful/interesting designs we've been given (from DS1-3). There were several moments where i stopped by desperate search for a bonfire to just look at the area (promptly dying for this action as the enemies caught up to me but it was worth it).
However, i have some major gripes with the level design. Particularly in areas such as Lost Bastille, No-Man's Wharf, The Gutter, to name a few. Exploration is supposed to be rewarding, not a detriment. Times where i went out of my way to go the less obvious way, fighting through hordes of enemies only to find a door that just drops the player off the map. Or a secret area that just drops you into a death pit. An ambush for a consumable or 2 that you can buy from a merchant. It was beyond frustration and i felt like it discouraged a lot of the enjoyable exploration that i felt in other DS games.
This brings me to enemy placement. Early to mid game is some of the most frustrating gank fights i've ever had to deal with. I would take blight town with permanent toxic and 10fps over some of these fights. Narrow passageways with sometimes 10 or more enemies that dont stagger and if you get hit by one you get stun locked if one of the other enemies is in range. Until i got to late game this felt like the predominant feature of the game.
If i had to point at one thing that made this game "the hated DS game" it would be this.

Combat/Game Mechanics: 6/10

I think DS2 had some cool innovation on the souls like formula. The ideas implemented are cool on paper but the way they put it in i think missed the mark. For example, Hollowing. This is dark souls, you die. A lot. Losing a % of your max health every time you die to represent hollowing i think is cool as an idea but all it does is punish the people who suck at the game. souls vets have their stash of embers/humanities but the average joe who just wanted to get into dark souls will be punished so much harder by this. Combine this with the trap nature of the levels and gank fest that is early game, its no wonder why people didn't like this game as much as ds1 or 3.
Torches were another one of these mechanics that just punish the noobie. The last bit i want to touch on is I-frames. The infamoous I-frame conversation about DS2. Honestly I'm not the most upset about this. I think it makes sense to not have I-frames when pulling a lever, opening a door, going through a fog gate. It makes the player confront the danger around them instead of running past. However combined with the gank-design of the levels and the runbacks to some bosses/areas is truly awful. I can see why so many people are upset about this.

combat is stiff but methodical. There is a rhythm to things. After learning how the movement feels and combat plays i realized i had 3 options in boss fights: heal, attack, or regen stamina. Which i don't hate. I think in todays market we are used to complex fights with flashy visuals and fast paced combat. This was honestly refreshing. Slow and methoidcal with deliberate inputs. no panic rolls or anything like that. Some little things need work like enemies having way too much poise or attacks from enemies having little to no telegraph. but i can overlook that by just saying "don't overcommit. play smart".

Bosses: 3/10

Bosses weren't memorable. A lot of them were push overs. I didn't die to a boss until i reached The Rotten. Each boss has their 2-3 basic attacks they do over and over and over again. once you learn those moves its just a time suck at that point. There were a handful of bosses i thought were cool, but they were far outweighed by the dozen bosses that just confused me on why they were a boss. (looking at you RRE). Also I am a firm believer that gank fights should never be the bosses main form of difficulty. Gargoyles were the one that honest broke me. That whole fight was awful. RRE, Prowling Magus, Gargoyles, Flexile Sentry, etc. DS3 I think was close to doing this in an acceptable manner (deacons of the deep) but I still am heavily against it unless it's a gimmick fight.

Also, The final boss i think is just wack. 3 bosses in a row is insanity. each one making no sense on how they connect. Aldia is also just a meh fight. it lacks the same impact that DS1 and 3 had for their bosses.


OVERALL SCORE: 5/10

This game is good. It's not the best, it's the "worst" in a weird objective way. As in a developer "we were on to something here but didn't mix the ingredients right" way. A few tweaks would bump the game's feel to at least a 7/10. If you've played DS1 and 3 and just want more? play it. You won't regret it. It has all the familiarity of a souls game. If you are looking to get into souls games this is a rough pick but it's only up from here if you stick with it. If you played DS2 for your first game and beat it? more power to you. You did the dark souls thing of not giving up.

I wouldn't mind playing through the game again now that i am familiar with it, but it's unforgiving to new players. more so than i think any other souls game.



So good luck and stay safe, friend. Don't you dare go hollow.

--- THIS GAME IS A CHALLENGE RUNNER'S DREAM ---

And I cannot stress enough on this point:

THIS IS NOT DARKSOULS OR ELDEN RING

It is it's own game with a very different identity.
Now, with that point out of the way, this game is great in it's current state given the history of this dev team. This is very much a similar vibe to Dark souls 2's "you just have to stick it out" experience. it takes about 10-15 hours to beat (depending on your skill level) and is a very fun first play through.

The level designs can feel confusing or clunky but EVERYTHING has a purpose. The umbral realm mechanic makes this game feel much more like a 3d platformer and I'm personally a big fan. If you are not a fan of environmental puzzles while enemies try to eat you, i do not recommend this game to you. If you enjoy the stress and challenge then there you go.

A couple of things im NOT a fan of in this game:

- Enemy variety. Ok it was cool the first time i saw a guy with dual axes attacking me. but after the flaming dual axe guy and the ice axe guy it starts to get old. Archers are invisible and do some status effect. cool. great. maybe give the poison one a different ability than the ice one(some to differentiate them besides damage types)? idk just a personal gripe.

- Bosses becoming common enemies. I am 100% ok with this being a tutorial boss (soldier of God, Rick from elden ring, Tauros demon from Dark souls 1) and early game bosses im ok with too. but by the time im 3 or 4 bosses away from beating the game? are you kidding me? the assassin/hunter enemy in the abby to grab the rune of adyr becomes a common enemy in the next area.

- Unique Weapon DESIGN but not function. Dont get me wrong i ADORE the weapons in this game. there is no end to the variety of weapons you can use. however i do wish there was something similar to the weapon arts or ash of war from DS3 and ER. The weapons are "Big hammer that does holy damage" and "a hammer that does slightly more holy damage" but the designs are wildly different. give weapons a sense of uniqueness and the game would feel so much better.

phew, ok. still with me? good.
the real charm of this game comes when you beat the game for the first time. Congrats. that WAS the tutorial.

Veteran mode and the modifiers for your run really set this game apart. I'm such a fan of this "semi-roguelite" mechanic and i think this dev team is cooking with this idea. Iron man runs with tremendous vestige decay made me want to blow my brains out (in a good, soulsborne way). So if you want to have a dark souls 3 or elden ring experience with this game, you wont find it here. this is a Dark Souls 2 + Risk of Rain love child.

260,000 gamers bullied sony into leaving a good dev team alone. May 5th, 2024 shall be known as the day we fought against the tyrannical PSN and won.