Have You Played... Dark Souls 2?

A wild ride

It’s easy to placeDark Souls 2in your crosshairs and take aim at its differences. Its map doesn’t intertwine likeDark Souls1 or 3. Lots of bosses do that thing where they summon in some mates and it’s quite annoying. The atmosphere lacked that magic glaze. And yet, its quirks and frustrations make it one of my favourites.

The DLCs elevate the game’s status as a concept album, whisking you off to three forgotten kingdoms to reclaim crowns from ice-blasted cities and sunken Aztec-inspired temples. And while a lot of its levels are fairly linear, you wonder whether they set the stage forElden Ring’s open world. I mean,Elden Ringcertainly resembles the DS2 experience out of all FromSoftware’s offerings but ups the intricacy levels and ties things together better.

Cheers to Dark Souls 2, a wild ride.