Game Info Platform 360, PS3, Win, PS4, Xbox One Publisher Namco Bandai Developer FromSoftware Release Date Mar 11, 2014

Dark Souls 2 is the most intimidating game I have ever played.

This may not come as a surprise to fans of the notoriously challenging Dark Souls or its spiritual predecessor, Demon's Souls. But it's not just the difficulty that had me wincing in fear during my playthrough. Dark Souls 2 is unflinchingly ambitious in a way that few games are. Yes, the world is massive; yes, there are far more bosses than the last game; yes, I've spent dozens of hours playing, and I'm sure I still haven't seen close to everything. But where other open-world RPGs use that overwhelming size as an invitation to lose yourself in their world, with Dark Souls 2 it's a threat. From Software has embraced the challenge they're known for while simultaneously cutting away a lot of the fat — bits of previous games that were more annoying than they were difficult. The result is the strongest Souls game yet, and one that's worth giving a shot even if you were scared away last time.

Though it technically takes place in the same world as the first game, Dark Souls 2's plot and setting stand apart. Players take on the role of a voiceless, cursed character who has been exiled to a strange land called Drangleic. As time passes, the main character's body and mind will give in to the process of hollowing — basically, becoming undead. The only way they can stop it is to hunt down four great souls and discover the truth of why this kingdom fell. Though the setup is similar, Drangleic surpasses the first game's land of Lordran in every way. In addition to being larger and more varied, the environments in Dark Souls 2 succeed more often at telling a story. Each zone has its own lore that unfolds as you explore it, usually without the help of cutscenes or even dialogue.

The story being told expands across areas as well; plot points from different zones interlock with each other to form the greater narrative of the game. A room full of creepy dolls unsettled me when I first stumbled into it in a remote desert area; later, halfway across the world, I found myself fighting up a tower full of demonic mannequins that shared the same disturbing faces. By journeying across both of these areas, I was able to string together some theories about Drangleic's history without the game needing to make it explicit. It's an engrossing method of storytelling where players themselves are expected to do their fair share of the heavy lifting — not unlike the gameplay. Number of times died in Dark Souls 2 for this review: 235 Across two previous Souls-branded releases, developer From Software has built a reputation for creating some of the most exacting third-person action games. Dark Souls 2 continues that intense style of combat, demanding near-perfection from players and punishing the smallest mistakes with huge hits to the life bar, if not flat-out death. If you're not already an initiated fan of the series, it can be difficult to understand the appeal of this unforgiving approach. It's easy to focus on the punishment without also recognizing the rewards for success. Whether carefully inching through a new area full of death traps or fighting a new boss who's destined to kill me a dozen times, overcoming these obstacles not only pulled me through Dark Souls 2 — it was my primary reason for playing.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Online Play During our review time with Dark Souls 2, we have had limited access to the game's online functionality, which includes co-op and player-versus-player combat. What we can confirm so far is that the previous game's covenant system has been overhauled, seemingly for the better. Joining a covenant helps determine whether your character will focus on competitive or cooperative online play, and against/with whom. Whereas covenants were a confusing, poorly-explained part of the first game, their function is much more easily understandable here. There's also a character in the hub town who will allow you to easily manage which covenant you're a part of, and the covenant ranking system seem to have been expanded, providing more motivation to stick with a group and perform their primary task. We'll continue testing online features after the game launches and will update our review if they significantly impact our assessment of the game.