Sequel to From Software's role-playing game revealed at awards show; coming to Xbox 360, PS3, and PC with focus on new hero in "unfamiliar setting"; revamped server-based multiplayer also planned.
Dark Souls is getting a sequel. Tonight during the 2012 Video Game Awards show, Dark Souls II was announced via a new trailer.
Information regarding platform availability or a release window for Dark Souls II was not announced at the show. However, a subsequent press release officially announcing the game has confirmed a range of details for the game. First, it is in development at From Software for release on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.
Notably, Demon's Souls and Dark Souls director Hidetaka Miyazaki is not the chief mind behind Dark Souls II. He will serve as a "supervisor" on the project, with development instead led by From Software director Tomohiro Shibuya.
Dark Souls II will feature a new hero, a fresh storyline, and an "unfamiliar" setting. "Epic battles with gruesome enemies" are promised, as well as a revamped server-based multiplayer mode that aims to "put a distinct Dark Souls II twist on the concept of playing with others."
The original Dark Souls (itself a spiritual successor to Demon's Souls) has sold more than 1.19 million units in North America and Europe since launch during October 2011. Despite the game's commercial success, From Software said that a sequel was not a sure thing.
Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.
Hopefully the ending to the new game will actually be decent this time, Instead of like the last two games in which the endings were just really, really bad. Basically If I fight my way through a game with that much atmosphere, I expect it to have an ending that lasts a few minutes and explains things a little more.
I would like to see more of what Demon's Souls was good at...more difficulty...more complex and mysterious yet logical and accurate stats, abilities, and items to decipher. I like realizing they had stats for everything, even stats you don't see, like poise. I would like the combat to likewise follow suit with these new abilities, new attacks, and new stats and become increasingly more complex. More mysterious atmosphere with top tier voice acting for every NPC. That was Dark Souls biggest weakness in comparison to demon's souls and the weakness of many successful games, they don't improve on what they were good at. There were so few new moves or attacks between the two. The mechanics were virtually the same. It was great that they gave a larger world to explore which was one aspect of an improvement of demon's souls, but also give more spells, more complexity, kind of like how castlevania improved in castlevania 3, there was a huge change in the battle mechanics of the three new characters you could play, while retaining the old stuff too or how WoW constantly adds new moves to its basic classes. I don't want them to lose what is already good. Just be more creative and add to it.
Who cares if there's a sequel? As long as Miyazaki and From continue to make 'spiritual successors' (actually to King's Field) all is right in the world of gaming. I hope Miyazaki lives forever.
2 Like First, Demon Souls
This was an "under the radar" title that my friends teased me for because it seemd a bit bizarre and was extremely difficult. But I was hooked and really appreciated its "weirdness" because "weird" is often the label cast on things that are just a break from the usual. It's important to note that I played it online very few times and never experienced a dual.
Second, Dark Souls
After so many play throughs of Demon's Souls, there was no way that I was going to pass up the sequel. This was one of the BEST gaming experiences I've had. EVER!!! The very first journey through the Catacombs and Tomb of The Giants will never be forgotten. It was an improvement over the first in every way (including being a smidgeon less difficult and adding bonfire check points). Demon's Souls was brutal with forcing you to begin at the very beginning of an area, even if you reached the boss! (although there was the "Quit Game" cheat, the idea was just cold lol). Let's not forget how it is an improvement visually as well. Again, I initially played offline. It is recently that I dove deep into the online part (including the DLC) and the two combined made it a whole new experience. The invasion concept is exciting and fun and is best when there is a team trying to hunt down the invader while there are still enemies in the stage posing an equal threat. Everything behind this title was uncommon, well thought and well executed (in my opinion).
I'm excited about Dark Souls 2 (which I kind of guessed they'd name it, a la Soul Caliber series) for the most part. I would like for the difficulty to remain on par because that is truthfully the spirit of this series! Hopefully the dev team will listen to the fans and veer too far off from what made DS such a great title to begin with. Not only is it fun and addictive, but they respected the consumer by not nickel and diming the life out of us (kill yourself, EA). I pray they just take what worked and just add more to it. Dark Souls is a great foundation and I'd be glad to see it go further and pick up new fans on the way.
The Souls series really set standards for how to make a modern action role-playing game (not just difficult games). Demon's Souls was one of the greatest games of the past decade, and in my honest opinion Dark Souls is the greatest game of this generation.
But about Dark Souls II...I heard about it from my brother, he told me of a mystery trailer that was shown on the VGA's. So he showed me, without telling what was the game. After the tittle showed up, I shit my pants of excitement...but honestly, that where the good stuff ends for me :(
I feel bad for saying this, but I really hated this trailer. After I watched it, I started thinking about it and I was like: "I would never guess that was Dark Souls, or anything Souls like" That's what killed me, it didn't feel like Dark Souls to me, at least. I mean the generic music, a narrator started talking (please don't tell me this is the kind of storytelling you're going for)...I didn't like it at all...
And the Edge interview on the new directors really didn't help at all. It's not the new directors i'm worried about (Miyazaki was amazing but hey new directors can bring new fresh takes on the series, which could stop it from becoming stale without dumbing it down), but the whole thing about easier, more understandable and staightforward is just...man...i'm not liking this at all, and I feel bad.
As a true hardcore fan of the series, I want what's best for it and I don't think this is the right direction. You're basically removing what made the series so special and unique in the first place (it wasn't just the difficulty that made it special). I'm sorry, but this is how I feel...and I hope i'm wrong...
One of my all time favorite game series. Nothing is as brutal an experience. Because the difficulty is sooo high, you dread every corner you round wondering what's next. Cannot wait for this!
I think it'll be out before that. They're gonna want to get it out before the arrival of the next-gen consoles.
The Souls games were released in 2009 and 2011 respectively. Does that mean what I think it does? It' gonna be a long wait till 2013, but then again, it's worth it.
Lovely!!!!!!!!!! I Beat Demon Souls and Dark Souls cant wait for this one to come through I wish they would have made it for the Vita so we can have a portable version that would be awesome!
@brgreen The 1st one is actually better, and better quality, and has real servers. Dark Souls doesn't have its own servers, so if you want to play with other then Demons Souls is by far better!
It is just as amazing, though the difficulty is even higher as there are no bonfires. You have to get through each section without fail or start at the beginning. What they do give you is shortcuts you can unlock to move through areas already conquered. You will also see the concept of light and dark world tendencies. This is something I missed in Dark Souls. Worth every cent. They just renewed the servers for the Atlas release so I wouldn't wait long to play it.
@brgreen Yeah, it does require patience. Recommend doing a little research. Don't do too much, but just enough to understand the scaling of weapons, etc. There is a learning curve on the combat system, but once you understand it and get it down...it's heaven. Try not to get frustrated. It's OK to die. Don't go in thinking you're all macho and shit, cause you'll get a nice slice of humble pie....served hot!!! :)
1 Like @brgreen Best game of 2011, hands down. Hard -but not as hard as Demon's Souls- but well worth the rewards.
I have completed Dark Souls so many times since it was released in 2011 and everytime I start again it feels like a new game. Such a rare, unique game in this day and age.
3 Like @brgreen It requires quite a bit of patience, but it's very rewarding. You should get it.
1 Like I think they should've named it something else, since it's not really a sequel but more of a stand alone game. I dunno something like Evil Souls, Dead Souls or whatever. Just saying cause the 2 previous games were named differently.
They're basically taking a page out of the book of Soul Caliber, being that the original was called Soul Edge.
Anyway, you're not the first person I've run into who mentioned "Dead Souls" and I must say I kinda like it. Who knows. Being that it's still in developement, they still may change the title. But I think they're sticking with "Dark" because it was more successful and they're hoping it may become a bigger franchise or something like that.
1 Like Like everyone who has playeed and loved dark souls, i was originally owrried about them making it easier to attract more players. However, the difficulty is the hallmark of the series and they know their fanbase, eveything is in safe hands :)
"Dark Souls II retains the core essence of Dark Souls while evolving to present new twists and challenges that are sure to please longtime fans and attract new comers to the series,? says Carlson Choi, Vice President of Marketing at NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc.?FromSoftware is going to take a very dark path with Dark Souls II; players will need to look deep within themselves to see if they have the intestinal fortitude to embark on this journey.?
"Dark Souls 2 will be "more straightforward and more understandable" than its predecessor". This is what they mean when they say dark souls 2 will be more "approachable" so dont be worried my fellow dark soulsians. While i was a huge fan, dark souls was, as an example, pretty confusing with how weapons ungraded and benifits of doing different upgrade paths. I spent a lot of time scouring stats online to figure out what the hell was going on and i certainly wouldnt complain if it was made slightly more understandable in game.
@thread-of-red An optimist! You're describing exactly how I'm hoping they'll tackle things. However, there are a number of ways that you could possibly interpret "approachable."
What if they were to decide that the core gameplay experience is the high level of difficulty, combat mechanics and atmosphere, but cut out portions of the stat management system? Automate it and put it in the background so that you never see it. Although I'll agree Dark Souls 2 could definitely benefit from have some of the systems explained better in game (i.e. weapon upgrading), they might decide it'll be easier to digest if they dump the pages of stats that people are able to wade through. That would be heartbreaking! One of the things that I love about Dark Souls is the depth that has. If you want to, you can keep learning and learning...
I guess what I'm saying is that there's a fine line between understandable and destroying that incredible sense of discovery that can come with playing Dark Souls. Fingers crossed!
Yeah I know what you mean and I agree completely. However, again I think FromSoftware wouldn't be nieve to take out the hardcore RPG elements that's hard to find these days, another thing the series is loved for by so many people. I am a huge fan the depth involved with the weapons and armour, but just more explaination in game would have gone a long way. for instance the scaling with weapons and your stats is awesome, but it's hard to grasp purely in game and going on the internet to figure it all out is almost neccesary (it was for me atleast)
@thread-of-red You make an excellent point. Making the menus a little more approachable, how to upgrade weapons and armor, etc. may be their way of "approachable". To be honest, I love the scaling system in DarkSouls, but I can't say it jumped out at me right away how it worked, nor was is it explain to me in game. It's a bit of an unnecessary "difficulty" that can lead to shuning players away
There is a petition going on requesting FROM to develop Dark Souls 2 also on the Wii U. Can't hurt... it worked for the PC version of Dark Souls: http://www.change.org/petitions/dark-souls-ii-for-the-nintendo-wiiu
I have two things to say, first its not gonna be called "Dark Souls 2" it will be called "<insert something to do with darkness and evil" Souls" and secondly PREPARE TO DIE
I'm not sure how I like the "2" in the name tbh, I guess I'm just worried that the game may end up becoming a victim to its' own success (irrational logic I know, but I fear official sequels as opposed to the spiritual successors).I have faith in From to keep up the great work seen in the first two though, god speed!
7 Like If this game turns out to be easy and stream lined i swear to god i am gonna chew someone's head off. And to anyone who are going to say i am a selfish idiot for being like this i say f*** you! i am tired of seeing my favorite franchises being dumbed down in order to suit the casual gamer demographic! this has to end!
"Dark Souls II retains the core essence of Dark Souls while evolving to present new twists and challenges that are sure to please longtime fans and attract new comers to the series,? says Carlson Choi, Vice President of Marketing at NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. ?FromSoftware is going to take a very dark path with Dark Souls II; players will need to look deep within themselves to see if they have the intestinal fortitude to embark on this journey.?
Dont worry, they know there fan base, it's in safe hands ;)
@System4Ever The soul games are never designed to be easy. They just become easy once you've accumulated enough experience with each game, knowing where everything is and gaining new skills with the new weapons. It's the same with every game.
1 Like Thankfully it looks like they will be fixing things. Namco Bandai(and i am not lying) forced them to go for peer to peer networking for Dark Souls on the consoles because it was cheaper.
From the looks of it , it won't be that terrible peer to peer crap and have actual good servers like DeS did. That way things always work smoothly, no freakin lag stabbing, teleports, and other nonsense.
Anyone who says PC gamers are a bunch of elitists needs to read these comments. Dark Souls fans have beaten.
@mlcarter815 Truly inspiring words have you ever been annoyed by a Elder scrolls fan boys?
1 Like @mlcarter815 LOL Well, I'm a PS3 Demons Souls survivor, wil be getting this on PS3 aswell! :D
Simple, anyone who thinks this franchise sucks, is obviously fucking shit at it! hahahah.
I've only played Demons Souls so far, and that was fucking amazing.
lol so many comments trying to say game sucks and everyone that likes the game sucks just to generate flames.
From Software creative director Hidetaka Miyazaki apologizes for "technical difficulties" in last year's role-playing game, says not sure if studio will make another title in universe.
Users who looked at this article also looked at these content items.
As part of multiyear exclusive arrangement, DICE and Visceral will work on new "core" Star Wars games. Full Story
[UPDATE] Patrice Desilets says Ubisoft terminated his position today and did not allow him to collect personal belongings. Full Story
New research finds frequent exposure to violent games can have numbing effect on teenagers, though no cause-and-effect relationship proven. Full Story
Subscriber base for aging MMO dips 1.3 million in three months; Activision Blizzard posts $456 million profit on $1.32 billion in revenue for Q1. Full Story
"FIFA continues to be very strong," says EA, which has been making FIFA games since 1993. Full Story
MachineGames' upcoming shooter will be single-player-only experience. Full Story
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag producer says Sony has created a compelling piece of technology and it is up to designers to make most of it. Full Story
NPD: Injustice: Gods Among Us April's top seller in US
NetherRealm's DC brawler the best-selling title in region last month; overall industry sales slide 25 percent; Xbox 360 sales hit 130,000.
