GameSpot has already published two Dark Souls II reviews, one triumphant and effusive, and one disheartened and defeated. And neither one of them is wrong. This is the Souls series--as well as its cousin Bloodborne--encapsulated: grand trials by fire in which other games, with their boundless forgiveness, their comprehensive tutorials, and hand-holding linearity may be lifted and praised for their mercy or condemned for their patronization, qualities we have never received from the Souls games and likely never will. These games are brilliant, tedious, exhilarating, soul-crushing monsters, all.

With that in mind, the Scholar of the First Sin Edition is what it looks like when that monster puts on its best, smiling face, and tries its absolute best to be warm and welcoming to one and all. That's a welcome extended to the folks who've sunk hundreds of hours into the game who think they know what they're getting with this version. It's a welcome extended to complete newcomers who've never played a Souls game. It's a welcome extended to the people who've been mired in Bloodborne these past few weeks. And it's a welcome extended to me, someone's who's gone into each of these games determined to slay the beast, and found myself cowed each and every time. This version is meant to entice, a Cheshire smile shared between From Software and all players, old and new, that can't hide its newly sharpened teeth.

The new edition entices the way many predators do: with the utmost sweetness and light. In previous iterations, the world of Drangleic where Dark Souls II takes place felt like a ruined, half-faded memory of a beautiful place, whose washed out, dismal details gave the sense that the world itself was quietly eroding into the dirt. Even the PC version, running at its highest settings, in its most grand environments, had this feeling of dulled luster.

Stepping out of the first cave into hub world Majula this time inspires the sense of grandeur it was always meant to have. There's a new warmth and vibrancy to the place, a clarity that feels fully realized at last, serving to suggest the beauty that once was instead of accentuating the wreckage that it is. The graphical uptick has that effect on the whole game, offering a feeling of rejuvenation, that Drangleic is still alive.

It is alive, and crawling with the undead like never before.

From Software's version of "Welcome to Drangleic" is a higher fidelity to the visual than ever before, but its version of "Welcome back to Drangleic," for veterans, is about walking into the Forest of Fallen Giants for the first time, turning a corner, and running right into one of those massive hippo/cyclops creatures. It’s about trying to go to the Cathedral of Blue, and the Ring of Binding at its entrance, and finding it guarded by a fire-breathing wyvern instead of a single knight, and that's if you kill the sped-up spear-wielding white knights swarming in the Heide Tower of Flame area, and that's if, when you first get there, you get past the sleeping ones who no longer lay dormant if your level is high enough. It’s finding out that The Pursuer is almost as common as the giant knights at the Tower of Flame, and there are no handy giant crossbows to make their appearance any easier. A new relentless Hollow NPC assassin, The Forlorn, now lurks among the hordes when you least expect and never want it.

In that traditional dastardly way of theirs, From Software has revamped layout for NPCs, enemies, and items virtually throughout the entire game. Much of the game feels familiar, but you can hear the evil cackling of the developers trying their best to throw a wrench into any sense of comfort or routine in this new run. Enemies have been placed and replaced for maximum surprise factor--and unlike a new-game-plus, you may not have enemies performing new attacks, or have backup during boss fights, but you're also not starting with all your gear so you can deal with new problems when they arise. It changes the options for exploration in much the same way, where an area that was once accessible to everyone--well, as accessible as anything in Dark Souls can be--now has a bloody and brutal price of admission. Moments of respite at bonfires have either been moved, or now have an obstacle to surmount first.

It doesn't necessarily make for a brand new game, but it does give it a different flow. Death still comes in Dark Souls with all the ferocity of its reputation, but its tone and timbre has been altered, for the grudgingly, frustratingly better.

That said, if there's one thing that experts have always driven home about Dark Souls II, it's that it has a rhythm. There's a pace and structure to everything. Dark Souls as a musical genre is prog rock. It's insanely dense and intricate, and while it might not be everyone's favorite tempo, it is still there to be appreciated. And for what it's worth, something about this new tempo finally struck the right note. By the game's count, 67 hours have gone into this particular run through, and 22 of the game's bosses have died by my hand. Where I am now feels like a urgent, furious push into the unknown, a never-ending series of fights for my life. Even with a giant sword that destroys most anything in my way, and a tower shield that barely budges, there's the feeling that missing my cue will still cost me my life. I feel like I've passed some threshold and met the core of Dark Souls, where I no longer fear every interaction, but anticipate whatever new devilry wants to test my mettle. It's an ongoing supply of new revelations, characters adding their particular dysfunction to the experience, and equippable items all with their own tales to tell. It's a time where the simple act of opening a chest feels like I'm gambling with my life.

That said, it is, as of this moment, an incomplete experience, as the multiplayer servers on the PlayStation 4 remain closed, and the eponymous Scholar of the First Sin battle is explicitly tied to the endgame. I can't wait to meet him. I can't wait to look this ugly sucker in whatever passes for his eye and introduce him to my greatsword. I can't wait to collect up a horde of phantoms to lay waste to the demons in my wake like never before.

God help me, I can't wait to die again.