Dark Souls 2

Maybe not a good sequel, but a great game.

Why

• You want a different but familiar take on Dark Souls
• You enjoy being thrown into ridiculous situations and fighting your way through
• You like power-stancing to the same unhealthy degree as one of my coworkers

Why Not

• The only reason you liked Dark Souls was the interconnectedness of the world

Impressions

This one didn't pull me in to the same degree as the original; I took two long breaks to play other games (Ender Lillies/Magnolia, then Persona 5) and I think that's the biggest struggle for DS2. Living in the shadow of DS1's amazing world design and DS3's polish/fan service isn't easy, but if you can enjoy it on its own merits you'll discover a great game in the darkness.

To address one of the most common complaints about DS2, yes, the lack of interconnectivity is jarring coming from DS1. The Iron Keep is exactly as egregious as the memes claim (I knew about it and still couldn't believe where I was after the elevator), Majula is a true hub area unlike Firelink and you won't find any cool little shortcuts between areas here, just mostly linear paths radiating out from the Far Fire. Another letdown after DS1 is the characters, none even touched the charisma of Solaire or Siegmeyer and every non-Shanalotte character is pretty forgettable in the end. I think it was a missed opportunity to not have someone like Lautrec mess with Majula; it would've had more impact in this game since Majula feels more like home.

In terms of gameplay you more or less know what you're getting if you played the original, with the well-known caveats about reduced early iframes and hoolowing reducing your max HP. Honestly I wasn't bothered by either all that much, the first two souls games have slow enough enemies that you can often dodge with just good positioning, and it won't take long to get enough points in agility to not feel the difference anyway. The max-health reduction can be annoying at times, but as long as you're not popping a Human Effigy every time you die you'll have plenty to get you through and they can be farmed pretty reliably from midgame onward.

The level design holds up within areas despite them not being connected, with enough challenging encounters, creative shortcuts and 'You Died' moments to satsify any souls veteran. Drangleic castle stands out as making me absolutely terrified the whole way through, and Black Gulch was everything I'd been told Blightown was despite being a single 200m long ledge. They kept the variety of biomes from DS1 despite noticeably increasing the number of them and offer some truly spectacular vistas despite the ancient graphics. I was shocked to discover that despite the increased area count and much longer/more numerous DLCs my total playtime only clocked in at 8 hours more for DS2 than 1 thought.

Speaking of the DLCs they're good fun, each introduces a new 'thing' you need to do to progress and makes some creative choices with the smaller scope. The NPC invaders were definitely a highlight, much more personality than the base game. I'll leave some bullet point impressions on each below.

Crown of the Sunken King

• Nice level design, more DS1-ish in its interconnectedness and being able to go everywhere you see
• Some interesting 'puzzles' to spice things up & trick enemies like the ghosty bois
• Absolutely egregious gank fight on an optional path that's not obviously optional
• Bonfire after the dinosaurs was an excellent fakeout, I was right there and turned around rather than fight them

Crown of the Old Iron King

• The intial arrival in the throne room and getting the soul really faked me out
• Maldron is great, him hiding to ambush near the chest then running like a lil bitch when he gets hit was hilarious
• I also like that they signpost using the cogs as a platform to hit him without retaliation, and that he despawns after doing this for a while
• Fume knight is an excellent fight, Alonne as well though his runback in kinda annoying
  • You can just run past the adds once you know the route though
  • Interestingly, if you make it to the fog gate all the knights other than the archers fall back, so you can heal/become human

Crown of the Ivory King

• Another fun invader, I thought he was the chest for sure
• Went completely the wrong way for a long time at the start, so long that I didn't remember about the large, obvious church until a few bonfires in
• Love that you can just drop into the final fight right at the start, very funny and good for challenge runs
• Do not love how useless the 4 knights are, making you go through a giant melee every time before you get to the Ivory King
  • his fight is great, just so annoying to get there
  • don't summon, won't help that much against him and he gets way too tanky
  • better to take your lumps in the melee then actually do damage to him

Conclusion

A quality entry in the series and a great game, even if I wasn't drawn in as strongly as I was by the original. Well worth your money if you're a fan of the series, genre or just quality games (though I wish the series went on sale more often). You're missing out if you skip it to only play 1 & 3 as some suggest.