Contrary to what you may have heard, Dark Souls II has been designed to crush your spirit into dust, just like the original.

Dark Souls II co-director Yui Tanimura is very sorry. He's very sorry for the pain he's caused Dark Souls fans upset by the idea that Dark Souls II might be "more accessible" than the original. With the game only a few months away from hitting store shelves, he and his team are very concerned with making sure everyone knows that exact terminology was a tragic mistake:

"First of all, we apologise [sic] for using the word 'accessible' and misleading the fans," Tanimura told Edge. "By 'accessible', what we mainly meant was going through the process of streamlining and carving away the fat to more clearly communicate the true essence of Dark Souls."

Tanimura used the a-word in a series of interviews shortly after Dark Souls II was first announced one year ago. The statement, which runs counter to very core of the Dark Souls experience, was not taken well by fans. Tanimura has since attempted to clarify that, to him, "more accessible" and "easier" were not the same thing[/a]. He's gone so far to explicitly state that Dark Souls II would be a difficult game.

Tanimura specifically notes that Dark Souls II will retain the original's forceful approach to exploration: Dark Souls not only avoids helping players find where to go or what to do, it rarely explains anything at all. Tanimura says that kind of gameplay is part of developer From Software's DNA:

"A main theme in all games developed by FromSoftware is to not fully explain all the elements of how to play and challenge players to figure it out for themselves. We would like to encourage players to conquer the elements they face by paying attention to the surroundings and also being creative in strategising [sic] [about] how to overcome the difficulties."

Dark Souls II will start making PS3 and Xbox 360 players tear their hair out March 11.

Source: Edge