Dark Souls II: Edge Magazine Analysis

So far, FromSoftware has been very tight lipped about the content in Dark Souls II. Very little information has been directly released. Even the Dark Souls 2 homepage has nothing but a single cinematic trailer. Most information that has been gathered so far consists mainly of hints and suggestions dropped during interviews, or conferences. Some other details have been confirmed by FromSoftware as a means of keeping fans interested and preventing the spread of completely wrong theories.

One detail that has been confirmed so far is that the control scheme will be the same as it was in the original Dark Souls. The unique control layout may be a bit out of place if used for other games, but the combat system in Dark Souls probably would not be as flexible without it. It can be assumed that since the controls will be the same, the majority of gameplay will be as well. Expect lots of parrying, backstabbing, kicking, and lunging.

Another subject that has been a bit less clear is that there may actually be a difficulty select of some form. Tomohiro Shibuya, co-director for Dark Souls II, has commented on various occasions that he "wants to make the game more accessible" (Barne). This would be a departure from the tone of both Dark Souls and its predecessor Demon Souls. Both previous games used its difficulty barrier as a selling point. Dark Souls’ catchphrase was, “Prepare to die.” 

As it stands right now, Dark Souls II looks like it intends to keep the majority of gameplay fairly similar to that of Dark Souls, but there may be some significant changes that could possibly leave the final result with a very different feel. Whether or not that is a good thing has yet to be seen, but hopefully some more solid information will be released in the near future.

Author: Sean Johnson
Sean's Blogs: Games You Never Played

Sources:

Barne, Adam. (2013). Dark Souls 2: Everything We Know So Far. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.nowgamer.com/features/1729804/dark_souls_2_everything_we_know_so_far.html. [Last Accessed April 2, 2013].

(2013). [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.darksoulsii.com/. [Last Accessed April 2, 2013].