Namco Bandai released the Dark Souls II game to eager fans just before the weekend. This gaming sequel was made available on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on Friday 14th March (the PC version is set to be released on Friday 25th April). The problem is that the released game bears little resemblance to the previously published official preview videos showing gameplay. An internet based campaign has been started with the hashtags #DarkSoulsDowngrade and #YOULIED.

You can see the huge differences in graphics qualities of the trailed version of the game and new PS3 footage of the released version of the game above, published by IGN magazine. The notably superior graphics are easy to see in the side-by side and A-B comparisons in the video. Texture quality, detail, complexity, lighting, effects and draw distance all look poorer in the relased version of the game.

Most commentators think that Namco Bandai has been using PC gameplay footage as representative of the game on all platforms in most of the previously released footage and trailers. However previous footage from what was said to be the PS3 version is also apparently been downgraded.

It's not that unexpected for a game on the last generation consoles to look poor compared to the PC version but software director Yui Tanimura previously talked up the importance of graphics and the improvements coming to Dark Souls II. "One of the first things we immediately tried to improve in terms of Dark Souls 2 was the graphic quality of the game," he told IGN. "One thing we really focused on obviously for Dark Souls and more so in Dark Souls 2 is how much you can get deep into the game emotionally and physically, and one of the things we felt was critical to that was the graphical improvements for more reality, more realistic expressions of everything we want to show in the game."

The PC version of the new game should be in line with expectations as it is trailed on the Steam pre-order page. The PC sequel is promised to be better than the original in terms of graphics which were limited, at launch, to 720p and 30fps.