Dark Souls II

Dark Souls II is an action role-playing game from 2014, developed by FromSoftware and released by Bandai Namco Games. It is the second game in the Dark Souls series and takes place in the kingdom of Drangleic, where an undead character searches for a way to lift their curse. While the game shares similar presentation, gameplay, and some lore ties with the first Dark Souls, it introduces a harsher penalty for dying repeatedly through a "hollowing" mechanic. This is also the only game in the trilogy not directed by series creator Hidetaka Miyazaki. After some delays, the game launched worldwide on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in March 2014, with a Windows version following in April. It was a commercial hit and received strong reviews, with critics praising its story, atmosphere, world design, and visuals. However, opinions were split on its difficulty, and many felt its boss battles and combat mechanics were weaker than the original. A trilogy of downloadable content packs came out over the rest of 2014. An enhanced edition, Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin, bundled this content with other upgrades and additions and was released in 2015 on the original consoles as well as PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The next game in the series, Dark Souls III, arrived in 2016. Like other entries in the series, Dark Souls II is known for its high difficulty, where both bosses and regular enemies can kill the player in just a few hits. Health recovery options are limited, similar to the first game. Each time the player dies, their maximum health decreases through a process called hollowing, which can continue until the health bar reaches a minimum of 50%. To restore full health, the player must use a rare consumable item. The game uses souls as a shared currency for both leveling up and buying items. When the player dies, they drop all the souls they are carrying. They can retrieve them by returning to the spot of death, but dying again before doing so causes the souls to be lost forever. Character abilities depend on levels in nine attributes: vigor, endurance, vitality, attunement, adaptability, strength, dexterity, intelligence, and faith. Each time the player spends souls to level up, they can raise one attribute by one point.