Dark Souls II is a multi-platform computer role-playing game developed by From Software and published by Namco Bandai Games in March 2014 (only on consoles – the PC version was released on April 25). The publisher in Russia is the company '1C-SoftClub'. Dark Souls II is positioned as a sequel to Dark Souls, although the second part hardly intersects with the 2011 game. Nevertheless, it contains various references to the parent project, but it is important to note that the events of Dark Souls II take place a thousand years after those described in the original.
The setting is the kingdom of Drangleic, where the cursed hero – the protagonist of Dark Souls II – arrives after jumping through the portal of souls. The story, as before, is almost a secondary element of the game authored by From Software. Most of the information is conveyed through one-sided dialogues with NPCs, whose conversations often confuse the situation even more. One thing is clear – the hero, being cursed and turned into the undead, must find a way to 'heal', which requires him to go to an unknown destination and find an unknown something. The only clue here is the king of Drangleic.
The second part of Dark Souls, although criticized for simplifying certain gameplay aspects (due to the ability to travel between bonfires in free mode, the introduction of new healing items, and the presence of in-game hints), still remains an extremely challenging game. One can literally die from just a few hits, and death is punished by a decrease in 'humanity' level. By the way, with each death, if special figurines are not used, the overall health scale decreases by about 5%. Thus, if there is a problem with some boss (and problems do arise for every player without exception), and there are no figurines around, then each subsequent approach to the enemy will be much more dangerous than before. However, it is not only the bosses that make the game dangerous – even ordinary fighters can pose a lot of problems, especially considering that they often attack from ambush or catch the player completely off guard.
The world of Dark Souls II is of the 'seamless' variety. The hero is allowed to travel through it without any restrictions, exploring a vast territory in search of needed items, answers to his questions, and problems for his fifth point. Drangleic hides many mysteries and secrets, and even after traversing the same place ten times, a player may find something they haven't seen before – such as a hidden passage or a descent into a cave. Falling into a ravine, where no one would casually venture, a gamer is likely to find a treasure trove of souls (souls are the main resources of the Dark Souls series) or good items. And accidentally breaking through a completely unremarkable wall in one of the hundreds of rooms in the castle, they might discover a path leading to an unknown location. Although there is a chance that a creature will jump out from there and devour the curious protagonist in the blink of an eye – one must not forget that Dark Souls II never forgives mistakes.
The online (social) component, slightly improved from the first part of Dark Souls, has carried over. As before, players can share tips in the form of messages, give hints, warn about dangers, or lead others to a hidden door or secret room. Phantoms, the other players, allow you to know what dangers might be lurking around the next corner, and bloody traces left by other players tell how a particular unfortunate soul met their demise. The summon signs remain, which can help find a partner for a joint passage of a difficult segment of the journey or for defeating especially challenging bosses. There is also the possibility of playing through Dark Souls II in cooperative mode, invading (when one player invades another’s world), as well as Orders you can join to further diversify the gameplay.