"It's not about death, it's about what it teaches"

As many of you know, Dark Souls differs from other action / RPG games not only in its excessive complexity, but also in its oppressive atmosphere. The combination of the first with the second has already become the hallmark of the game. In the sequel, the developers left everything that the fans of the series loved so much and finalized it all, while changing the enemies and the scene.

The Damned begins his journey in a tattered cloak, unarmed and disfigured in the darkness of the Interworld. The road will lead the hero to a shack inhabited by three sisters - keepers of fire, with whose help you will create your character: choose a name, appearance and class. The list of initially available classes has changed a bit since the first part. In Dark Souls 2, this is a warrior, a knight, a swordsman, a cleric, a sorcerer, a wanderer, a robber, and a beggar who has fallen in love with many. The choice of class has little effect, except for a set of starting parameters and equipment. There is no specific framework for character development in the game: you can make a swordsman with two sabers out of a cleric, and a knight with a two-handed sword out of a sorcerer.

The concept of the game as a whole has not changed. Still difficult, still interesting and at first incomprehensible. However, Dark Souls 2 is in many ways friendlier than its predecessor, but this does not affect the mechanics of the game. At the beginning of the adventure, the hero's goal is rather illusory, but closer to the finale, the plot puzzles add up to a clear and logical picture. But before you get to the credits, just like in the first part, you will spend hours exploring dungeons, crypts, villages, caves and cities, encountering enemies and ingenious traps along the way.

By the way, about the enemies. The bestiary of ordinary opponents has been replenished with new types of undead, more deadly and cunning. The player can dress the character in the best armor, equip the character with deadly weapons, and still have difficulty meeting these enemies.

If we talk about bosses, then in Dark Souls 2 there are noticeably more of them, but the downside is that their combat tactics have become simpler compared to the original, and it is easier to adapt to them. Most of the bosses can be easily killed alone, but there are times (see the twentieth death in a row) when it's easier to call on the shadow of another player to help you.

Multiplayer is closely intertwined with the single player mode of the game. On almost every corner, you can see a clue left by another player, a summon sign that can be used to summon a phantom, or a bloodstain that shows the last moments of its owner's life. To draw the sign, white chalk is still used, which the Damned will receive as a gift from the character he meets. The invasion of other worlds has not gone away either, the only difference from the first part is that now you (or you) can be attacked even if you are hollow.

An analogue of Humanity for restoring a normal appearance is a Human figurine, which comes across in the game quite rarely, and is also bought from some merchants.

Separately, it is worth talking about covenants. Covenants are in-game factions, guilds, if you will, each of which is aimed at the PVP or PVE component. Joining a covenant gives you the opportunity to earn ranks and receive rewards for this, as well as some benefits. For example, if you are a member of the Knights of the Azure Way, then in the event of an attack on you by a dark phantom (an enemy player who invaded your world), a player in your covenant can come to your aid.

Let's talk about the combat system. It has not changed much since the first part, but some things still have to get used to the new. Now the roll is not a panacea for all enemy attacks, because opponents have learned to use horizontal strikes. The character seems to be heavier, the weight of the armor and weapons is felt, the moment of contact between the weapon and the body of the enemy is felt. Now you can fight with two weapons at the same time and get into a Fighting stance, which strengthens and accelerates the character's blows.

Flasks with Estus are no longer the only way to heal while traveling: there are other items that gradually restore HP. Dark Souls fans will probably take this as a simplification, and they will be partly right.

But if all these items did not help and the character still died, then he will be reborn in the form of a hollow at the last fire you visited. With each death, the character will become more and more like the undead, and the HP bar will decrease by several percent. You can return everything to its previous form using the Human figure.

Wizards of the world of Dark Souls 2 also made life easier. There are now items in the game that restore spell charges in real time without requiring you to be near a campfire.
The developers have previously said that a lot of time and attention is paid to the design of locations, and they did not lie. The world of the game wants to be explored, it is full of secrets, illusions and mysteries that are just waiting for the traveler to unravel or fall victim to them.

Another controversial innovation concerns the ability to move between locations using fires. To open fast travel, you first need to get to the right place yourself and find a fire there. Perhaps the decision of the developers to add this feature is due to the fact that leveling up a character is now possible only with the help of a character who, throughout the game, will be in the first settlement we encountered - Majula. This small village will be a kind of "safe haven" where the characters you meet will gather, where you can buy new armor, repair weapons and learn a couple of new spells.

As for the technical part of the game, here we can safely say that the developers kept their word and did a great job of optimizing Dark Souls 2 for PC. With improved graphics, lighting and added HDR, the game gives out the standard 50-60 fps where the first part gave out 30. The only thing that fails is the control. It is impossible to play with the mouse due to the delay, which is deadly in the world of Dark Souls. However, this problem is fixed by installing Autohotkey macros.

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The most hardcore AAA-class game of this generation, a game that has all your merits and titles in other projects of the Hack & Slash and RPG genres, meets you with the second part. The game, the sequel of which, in fact, is not needed in principle.

Where in adventure fantasy without parting chatter?

Seeing the number two in its title and remembering part number one, I really want to ask: where else is hardcore (the answer to this rhetorical question is especially interesting for PC players)? And From Software answered it in the way that only the developers of the second part can answer - not with a single hardcore, dear comrades.

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Spend your souls wisely. As long as you have them.

With fire and sword

The first thing they immediately make clear is that Dark Souls II is a game of completely different production costs. Everything is preceded by a chic video in which, without exchanging for cinematic special effects and expensive pre-rendering, they tell the story of this world. Looking at him, to be honest, you don’t even believe that the next sixty hours in the game will be filled with pain and suffering.

The mood of the locals is, for the most part, decadent.

Then you meet, no joke, living people. A couple of minutes of distant chatter about how not to literally become soulless (what it threatens, the Dark Souls fan does not need to explain) - and you are finally released into the game world.

As in the case of the first part, you can take and cross out all previous experience in the RPG - you will not need it here. And if you are a pampered user, the limit of which is to grow flowers in the "Merry Farm", feel free to walk past yourself, otherwise you will break off your freshly manicured nails.

The local store really lacks a normal tool for comparing items.

Especially when it comes to combat. As before, Dark Souls II is best played with a sword and shield - the only way the game really challenges your composure and reflexes. The combat system has not changed one iota: a weak blow, a strong blow, a blow with a shield, a roll, “raise the shield” and “devour the first-aid kit”. Everything. No complicated combos, no Assassin's Creed stances - just a shield, a sword, and your head.

If you accidentally hear the phrase “The fire is the head of everything”, know that we are talking about Dark Souls.

But the game for the magician is somewhat reminiscent of the game by him at the beginning of Diablo II - you, like a madman (by default, magicians move on the run), strafe around from a bunch of monsters, feverishly hammering the left mouse button into the table. At the same time, the inherent flexibility of such classes remained. Where a warrior, having overlaid everything and everyone with a three-story mat, will die over and over again, the magician will shower the reptile with lightning to death (and the thief with arrows).

An example of how not to play a magician - the enemy is close and determined to poke us with a dagger in the stomach.

The difference between them and a warrior here is about the same as in World of Warplanes between fighters and attack aircraft. In terms of mechanics, it’s worked out, it’s interesting to play, but in fact it’s just another interesting gaming facet and the essence of the whole gameplay is not in it.

But the best thing is that there are no restrictions on how you can develop your character. The choice of class is important only at the beginning - and nothing prevents later, with a shield and a sword at the ready, to learn some terrible spell and use it to burn out all living things, almost without touching the above-mentioned shield with a sword.

Something, but you don’t expect such views in Dark Souls II at all.

At this point, you can, of course, take and reproach From Software for the lack of new ideas and banal laziness ... but this has nothing to do with it. These people just perfectly understand what their game works on, and it is quite reasonable not to fix something that did not break anyway.

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The only thing they did was to properly fit and lubricate all the gears, reducing the noise and friction between them to zero. And most importantly, the developers left the feeling that each enemy is a separate puzzle, which you may not be able to solve alone.

You can join the covenant that increases the strength of enemies half an hour after the start of the game. Makes sense for Dark Souls, doesn't it?

By deed and word

And then you hear a word that warms the soul of any fan of the Halo series - the covenant. True, here this is not an association of alien races, but very earthly players. Each covenant pursues its own goal - one protects protected areas, the other serves the ancient god of blood, and the goal of the third is combat training, skill and constant battles with brothers. By fulfilling certain conditions, you increase your rank in the covenant, which promises good benefits - powerful spells and useful equipment.

The equipment from the pre-order kit makes life a lot easier at first. Especially the warrior.

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This is so that you do not forget which region you play in.

But this does not mean that without connecting to the server, Dark Souls II completely loses its meaning. On the one hand, you lose the necessary tips and do not collide with other players. On the other hand, the atmosphere and the effect of presence are expressed much better. Without a network connection, you get a much more personal, personal adventure, where you yourself and no one else are to blame for your every death.

The exploration of the world itself is similar to the recent Betrayer (or rather, Betrayer is similar to Dark Souls) - you just say “go”. And that's all. No signposts, no map (until the second half of the game), no GPS - go wherever you want.

You can stand like that as long as you like - the enemies do not know how to use the stairs.

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Take, for example, the beginning. You appear on some grassy glade, go into some house to get to the sea coast through a huge cave. After going through another tunnel, you find yourself near a river with a scattering of flowers, bypassing which you find yourself in the castle ruins.

If you try to express the entire Dark Souls II in one frame, then here it is.

And okay, the architecture of space in each of these places is different, so there is no single visual style for all this. On the one hand, the atmosphere is again collapsing, on the other hand, the picture on the screen does not have time to become boring. And the increased budget makes itself felt - the picture is simply full of details.

Sometimes Dark Souls II draws such views as you would expect from the next Risen. And this is a sixty-hour game, you see, it is necessary.

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Gamepad and mouse

Although it's just a sin for PC players to complain about the visual side of the game. First of all, as we know, the textures of the PC version weigh twice as much as the PS3 version, which is something that hardcore PC fans can't help but rejoice. And secondly, those of you who are familiar with the first part and really thought well before buying a second one, they know that the graphics are clearly not the first of what they came here for.

Don't believe anyone who says Dark Souls II isn't funny. Now, for example, the Hollows killed their brother with five arrows from the ballista in the back at once.

While we are talking about technical details, it is important to mention one more thing - from a technical point of view, Dark Souls II is much better than the first part. The main thing than the first part (in the PC version) was especially annoying - it was not so convenient to fight in it. And so not very responsive control, on the PC was generously seasoned with the scourge of all the bad console ports - unjustified brakes (the presence of which Namco Bandai declared to the public without the slightest remorse).

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The need to farm in order to earn enough for decent equipment has been carefully carried over to Dark Souls II.

The same applies to graphics. But if in the case of the Xbox 360 and PS3 (on which the original Dark Souls was also not without brakes), the developers had to make concessions (for which they were justly criticized by the press), then on the PC there are no compromises - clear textures, detailed lighting, normal HDR and effects. Not Crysis 3, of course, but one of the most beautiful games of the year for sure.

Fortunately, endless farming will not work - the enemies eventually disappear without a trace.

And in conclusion, one more detail (though not technical anymore) - the developers decided to increase the intensity of passions in the game in one elegant way, like a railway sleeper, in a way - with each of your deaths, your maximum health decreases. This is even substantiated by the plot - they say, with each new death, not only the body, but also the soul dies, making you more and more like enemies. True, this does not give a noticeable effect (as you die with two blows, you will die), but it still puts pressure on the nerves.

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And not only crushes, but also interferes with what everyone loves RPGs for - to explore. And for a game like Dark Souls, where exploration is one of the main things, in which the developers did not limit you never, in terms of the degree of prudence, such a step is comparable to ... have you ever washed down pills with alcohol? Here is something similar.

Well, at least, the enemies always respawn in the same places - it's not so scary to turn the corner. There is, of course, one counter-argument - the so-called "Human Figurine", which will restore everything to you, but in the first half of the game there are too few of them, and your deaths are too many.

Tired of Dark Souls II and want something new? Then the beggar is your client.

Conclusion

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There were very few such games in this generation (I personally could only remember Mirror’s Edge and Syndicate), but for someone who has been playing games for a long time, each such project is a hand-cut diamond, the bright shimmer of which against the background of its faceless counterparts is almost blinding.

Contrasts in Dark Souls II are everywhere. Even in graphics.

And Dark Souls among them all was perhaps the most striking. In the second part, the developers did not do something radically new and almost did not change anything, but simply added the only thing that was missing before - money. But it's not even about them.

You know, in this natural ode to pain, disappointment and suffering, there is one very good, downright beautiful and forgotten feeling - novelty. For her, believe me, you can forgive a lot. And there were quite a lot of such merciful ones at one time - the first part sold well on consoles, and probably everyone remembers the tearful petition of the players for the port of the game to our Palestine. And the gap between the release of Dark Souls II on consoles and PC turned out to be a typical artificial delay to raise console sales, and amounted to a little over a month.

Ballista, meanwhile, you can use yourself.

After all, tell me, what other game left behind all the beauty that it has in order to give you the main thing - gameplay. Pure, uncomplicated gaming happiness that makes you, like a small child, clutch a gamepad in your hands with an almost forgotten feeling that around the next turn you can see something that has never been seen anywhere and never.

And, believe me, for a real player, such games are too expensive to miss at least one of them.

Verdict: For the third time in a row, From Software proved to everyone that nothing is more important than gameplay in games.

Rating: 9.0.

Nikolai Plesovskikh aka late dress

“Compared to the first part, which was a frankly crooked console port, in terms of optimization for PC, Dark Souls II has taken a huge step forward. In addition to doubling the frame rate (FPS), the game now supports advanced graphics technologies such as complex shading (SSAO) and high-quality lighting (HDR).

Unfortunately, as with any console port, the FPS counter in Dark Souls II is locked at 60. Because of this, extensive testing was not possible. Nevertheless, the project is so well optimized that at 1920 x 1080 resolution all current processors and video cards demonstrated performance in the region of 55-60 FPS. Only when moving to 2560 x 1440 did lower-end graphics accelerators drop below 60 frames per second. The slowest of them, the Radeon HD 7750, achieved 36-40 FPS."

Game tested on PlayStation 3

“Abandon hope, everyone who enters here” - this is the line from the notorious work that comes to mind of your obedient servant every time you start Dark Souls 2. One of the most hardcore series of the last generation of consoles has returned, but something has happened to it since then. The small, almost intangible details that made Demon's Souls and Dark Souls as we know them were lost. Perhaps the little things went away along with Miyazaki, the main inspirer of the "soulful" series, faded into the background. However, not everything is as terrible as it might seem Let's start our walk through Drangleic, a kingdom that does not tolerate the weak.

⇡ Immersion in the underworld

Come in, come in. Have a seat. Now we will tell a very interesting thing - the game has become easier. Of course, within the series, but the difference between the releases is noticeable. The developers promised to make the new part more loyal to newcomers - and they did it, but who knew that the changes would affect the entire story campaign? Where Dark Souls, and even more so Demon's Souls, gave out heavy kicks and crackles with wild laughter, mocking the player from the very first minutes, Dark Souls 2 only lightly taps on the frail armor of the created character. If you are already familiar with the mechanics of the series, the first few hours will feel like walking through the resort area.The location of the fires - local spawn points - has also become more convenient.There is no longer a need to spend ten minutes on the way to the boss after death, since now the soul parking lot is located in comfortable proximity to a dangerous place.

An island of serenity in a stormy sea

Looks like we've been sitting up. Let's take a walk around the locations. Look at those wide floors and transitions. Look up to the ceiling - it is pristine. Look at the walls - not a single sharp corner. The second notable "feature" of Dark Souls 2 is that the levels (with very rare exceptions) do not pose any threat, do not try to kill with a cunningly set trap or an unexpected abyss. What kind of feeling of constant danger can we talk about when there is not even a potential threat to the life of the character? Although, it must be admitted, once the author did get caught - his hero ate a chest with pleasure. To be honest, for some time this discouraged the desire to open suspicious boxes, especially with several thousand souls in his bosom. However, there is one trick that helps to avoid such incidents in the future. It is worth mastering it, how you can feel completely protected from all the misfortunes with which the game does not shine anyway.

gape? Receive, sign

We will finish our pleasure walk with an acquaintance with the bosses. Okay, hell, they look. Hatred burns in his eyes, and his hands are shaking from the desire to squeeze the hero in a deadly embrace. It’s just that the adversary has become smaller today. It is rare that an opponent is significantly ahead of your character in terms of growth. This is not the Tower Knight from Demon's Souls, the mere sight of which caused sadness and hopelessness. Dark Souls 2, unfortunately, does not suffer from gigantomania. There were a couple of pleasant (read: multi-meter) exceptions, but in general, fights do not require the use of any - some special tactics or preparation - you can effortlessly “swing the sword” of almost any serious opponent.

⇡ Wonderful, wonderful world

All of the above may seem like just a grumble from a game-lover who challenges the player, but without these components, Dark Souls 2 feels different. The game deviates from the sadistic tendencies of previous releases further than we would like. Adventure from the most difficult turns into simply difficult. This will probably please beginners and people who have not found the strength to get close to the early parts.

However, it is worth entering the world of Dark Souls 2, as it tightens with incredible force. Let the locations become lighter and practically do not crush with gloomy architecture, it is a pleasure to explore them. Find out what's around the corner. Talk to perpetually melancholy or crazy characters. Try to get some sense out of their words. Understand what is going on in this world. At the head of the table sits the undisguised Liberty. We, as in the first part, are free to go to all four sides. Naturally, taking full responsibility for further consequences. Enemies will tell you if you wandered the wrong way - they will kill you instantly. So the game teaches you not to meddle with especially strong creatures without proper pumping.

If you are tired of adventure, then you can look at the beautiful sea

The project also adopted from its predecessors the hatred of careless researchers. Do you like to build a medieval Rambo out of yourself? Prepare for a blade piercing your unprotected back. But accuracy is fully encouraged here. Attentive players will be able not only to acquire useful items, but also save a fair amount of nerves. After all, Dark Souls 2 may have stopped brazenly mocking, but it has not lost the features of the series. A couple of missed hits are almost guaranteed to send you to the last spawn point. Death here turns into not only the loss of humanity, but also a decrease in the strip of life. Let them not take away as much as before, but a frequently dying hero has a great opportunity to be left without a good half of health, which will automatically complicate progress. You can become human again with the help of special artifacts, but they are too rare to afford the luxury of using them after every failure.

Since the core game mechanics did not need to be improved, the most significant changes were made to the systems of movement around the world and leveling up, as well as healing items. Now it is proposed to improve the characteristics of the hero in the manner of Demon's Souls - for a certain character in the main location. The movement system has been tailored for this need - any campfire now works both as a supply point and a teleporter. It is worth setting fire to a fire, as it will appear in the list of places available for movement. You might think that this is another indulgence, but believe me - given the huge size of the game world, this feature comes in handy. Finally, in order to increase the supply of estus flasks - a local version of first-aid kits - you will need to find their fragments and give them to the desired hero. You will start without the ability to heal at all, so finding as many healing items as possible is no less important than leveling up.

The game will teach you how to cope and not with such difficulties.

⇡ Prepare to die

Believe it or not, Dark Souls 2 is the perfect sequel. The game develops the ideas of the first part, supplementing them with point, but extremely important inclusions. Even though the difficulty level has dropped, and the bosses no longer make you throw a gamepad at the TV, the project has added in attractiveness and sophistication. After more than a dozen hours, you can still find something new. The outgoing generation of consoles received one of the most powerful and interesting RPGs of recent years. She is loyal to newcomers, but does not forget to entertain veterans. Throws difficulties, but teaches them to overcome. Surprises and sometimes makes you tear your hair out. Welcome to the world of Dark Souls 2 - a place where you are not welcome.

Advantages:

• the size of the world is striking in scope, and each of the many locations is unique in its own way;
• a fair challenge to the player's abilities;
• addictive adventure atmosphere;
• The passage will take more than a dozen hours.

Flaws:

• the simplest game in the series, which may not be a drawback at all.

Dark Souls 2

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With each new part, Dark Souls is transformed. The scenery is changing, old enemies and traps are being replaced by new troubles, and some elements of mechanics are crowding out others. But one thing remains unchanged: the atmosphere of a gloomy journey among the ruined castles and forgotten sanctuaries of the ancient gods, deeply penetrating into the soul.

Myths and legends about the former power of the kingdom succumbed to darkness envelop the traveler who set foot on its poisoned lands with a funeral shroud. The gift of immortality becomes a curse. Die, pilgrim, die. Lose the last sparks of humanity, time after time, until your body becomes the domain of darkness, and your soul becomes the prey of greedy demons. Or - absorb the great souls yourself and become a new legend for a world that has lost hope.

If you can, pilgrim, if you can.

Remembering your face

Dark Souls is not what it used to be. The number in the title could easily be sacrificed, and it would be even more correct to call the new Dark Demon's Souls - the ideas of the previous two games are so closely intertwined here. On the lands of Drangleic, everything lives according to its own, newly invented, rules. And even to experienced travelers, they will appear as a kind of ancient tome, each page of which has yet to be deciphered.

Plunging into darkness, do not forget to take a torch with you. Perhaps its light is the only thing that will scare away the voracious creatures and help them not to go astray.

Little has remained the same in the plot of the series. Those who have followed From Software role-playing games are well aware that each of them has its own fallen king - a great lord who led his kingdom to prosperity, and then, succumbing to madness, plunged into darkness. The moonlit two-handed sword, wandering from game to game, is sure to meet you on your travels. Other items and spells from Dark Souls will also come across, but they are all covered with a web of time, and no one remembers either the faces or the names of those to whom they once belonged. Drangleic is similar to both Boletaria from and Lordran from . Or maybe Drangleic is these kingdoms, past centuries of metamorphosis, turned inside out by cataclysms and transformed by ancient magic and curses?

« Drangleic. So that's what this place is called now", - the magician, who has woken up from a long, long oblivion, will say. Well, what difference does it make if one day another civilization grows on its ruins, flourishes, and then it will certainly perish? From Software created their own last fantasy only dark and cruel. In the games of the series there were no common storylines flowing into each other. There were no strong ones connecting with the first part of the bridges and in. Only general ideas, similar characters and significantly reworked, but still familiar gameplay.

The dead keep their secrets well, but even they can be unraveled. The main thing is not to turn off the path.

Giambattista Vico, an Italian philosopher, in his work of the 18th century, identified three eras in the development of civilizations: divine, heroic and human. In Dark Souls 2 we find ourselves in the last, third, era - the era of darkness, discord, madness and death. Ancient times, when the golden grain of well-being was sown and the gods wandered the earth, were replaced by the era of heroes who, under the auspices of the gods or against their will, built their legendary kingdoms. And then came the era of man, a creature subject to the curse, which destroys the seemingly unshakable greatness of civilization.

The world of Dark Souls 2 can hardly be called alive. He seemed to be hovering outside of time and space, between life and death, when further - only complete oblivion and emptiness. And your hero is no better than those who destroyed the once great castles. You are a man, you are a damned one, you are the one who almost became hollow. It is possible that this, coupled with the harsh gameplay, creates the atmosphere of a gloomy heroic epic. Your character, like a hero from half-forgotten myths, begins his journey from filth to greatness, to overcoming a cursed fate and perhaps to the revival of legendary times. But it takes souls to cheat fate. Lots of souls.

You are one of those who have come to Drangleic, drawn by the whispers and light of this precious substance. But by devouring other people's lives, don't you yourself become the demon you hunt on your journey?

Drangleic will lure many, many into his cursed lands. Some will gladly help you on your adventures, others will want to bypass. But all of them will be able to tell you their story and lift the veil over the past. If you were afraid that, for the sake of the general public, the developers would make concessions and sort out the plot twists and turns, you can exhale. As before, the plot background remains open for search and knowledge, and a simple victory over all the demons is not enough for disparate events to form a coherent picture. You need to talk with other inhabitants of Drangleic a lot and often. And they will begin to accustom you to this even in the first village. Majula is what they call her. An island of calm and serenity flooded with light. Perhaps the last in a fading world.

Walking into the abyss

The damned one begins his first steps wrapped in rags, without weapons, having nothing, not even a name. And just meeting old women in red he begins to remember who he is. By answering their questions, you gradually create your character by remembering the name, class, and your face. Who will be your hero? warrior, knight, swordsman, robber, cleric, sorcerer, wanderer or abandoned to fate beggars? You will have to choose wisely. Each class has a specific play style, and starting stats will limit your mobility, swords, shields, bows, and spells from the very beginning and for a long time to come.

Talking to old women in red is unlikely to add optimism to you. They will promise you nothing but death and oblivion.

Remembering yourself, it is better to immediately go through the training location. We do not recommend running past even those who are well acquainted with the series, because the combat mechanics have changed a lot, and it is better to get acquainted with the changes right away. But then you can safely rush towards adventure until the inevitable death cools your ardor, forcing you to act more carefully and prudently. Death will haunt you, it will become your faithful companion and teacher - it is with its help that you will learn this world.

You can only take a breath in Majula. Sunlit village, a kind of echo of the Nexus from Demon's Souls. Here, over time, all the key characters will gather. In the meantime, it seems empty - only a few sad pilgrims have chosen the ruins of houses, and the Emerald Herald, a girl in a hood, is waiting for you at the main fire. You will have to return to her again and again, because only she can bestow new strength, only she can spend souls to increase the level or get a healing flask from the collected fragments.

Gloomy crypts, ruined castles... What awaits you ahead, one can only guess, but still you are unlikely to be ready for anything. Dark Souls 2 loves to surprise.

Majula is the starting point of all your adventures. From it, as from the Firelink Shrine, several paths originate. At first glance, it seems that there are no alternatives, and the original route for most will turn out to be almost identical. Only later it becomes clear that the linearity of the passage is due to ignorance of all the key items and features of the game.

Alternative roads require a certain skill and skill from the player, and therefore are hidden from beginners by small obstacles. The developers no longer allow unprepared travelers to encounter transparent ghosts or immortal skeletons at the very beginning of the game. Is it a simplification or insurance for those who could quit the game in the first hours without understanding what to do - decide for yourself.

Although the torch plays an important role, there are a lot more bright locations in the game.

The locations themselves have become shorter, but wider and richer. You no longer have to run through all the same places just to get to the right corner of the world. It is enough to sit by the fire and choose a destination that you have already visited. Dark Souls 2 takes less time, but the feeling of completeness and scale only intensifies. Behind every turn, in every corridor, waiting for you something new. Secret passages, hidden treasures, barely visible paths, strange statues of unknown purpose - all this only kindles interest and makes you dive deeper into the game.

However, to complete the picture, you will have to visit the places you have already traveled, because the characters you meet do not waste time and also travel around Drangleic. They may well appear where you have been more than once. And if you miss the opportunity to chat, you will miss part of the plot, or even get stuck in the passage.

Previously, a player in a panic could accidentally (or intentionally) ruin an oncoming character or merchant - this did not lead to anything good. Now that hole has been patched up. Tombstones appear over time at the site of the travelers you killed. By sacrificing a certain number of souls, you can talk with his ghost and even buy little things, but you will no longer know his story.

THIS IS NOT IRON TARKUS: As before, you can find marks of various heroes in front of the bosses and call on those for help. But here they behave simply inadequately and are only suitable for diverting attention to themselves for some time. From the legendary knights, without your help, able to deal with the boss, there is no trace left. Although... we may not have searched everything yet, having played more than sixty hours.

A strange tree ahead will still play its role, but for now, such places are worth remembering.

Getting stuck looking for a way is now quite common. For too long and often the games of the series have been ruthless arenas, from now on you will have to keep in mind all suspicious dead ends, return to them again, look for options and think. The solution may lie in a single phrase of a conversation, in the description of a recently found ring, or even in the scenery itself.

There are almost no useless places in Dark Souls 2, and it is now completely unnecessary to hit stones with a sword in search of a cache (and the weapon breaks too quickly), hidden passages open at the touch of a button. And if the walls do not lend themselves to probing, it is worth taking a closer look to see if there are large and strong opponents nearby who could break through the passage, if there is a barrel of gunpowder that could be blown up nearby. Some hiding places are only visible with binoculars.

Sometimes you can see strange niches on the floor or walls that resemble screaming faces. If you insert a special stone key into the recess, the location will change, but you never know what will happen until you try. The first such "switch" is already in the ruins of the castle in the middle of the Forest of Giants.

The developers have been closely watching the players all this time. They did not ignore the attention with which they explored the locations, they noticed that, for example, on the stairs to Anor Londo, steps of different heights and widths - some for people, others for giants. How players compared the location from the DLC and the dark forest from the original, how they built guesses around the destroyed buildings about what upheavals destroyed the kingdom ... In Dark Souls 2, the architecture itself is also history, and over time, the player will even be able to see with his own eyes the shaking Drangleic cataclysms and brutal wars.

THIS ALREADY SAYS: players, as before, will be able to leave each other inscriptions-tips. They have been pretty reworked, and now even more or less intelligible sentences can be made from a set of words. In a world filled with secrets, this is an invaluable tool of help, but beware of pranksters! Some hints can kill you.

Enemies have a new habit - to attack in packs. Get used to it. This is Dark Souls.

The space and interactivity of locations, of course, heat up the iron of consoles. While building the mazes, the developers had to make compromises to keep a stable 30 frames per second, so technically the game does not look as good as we would like - let's see what happens on PC (Dark Souls 2 is released there on April 24).

However, the works of designers and artists will not go unnoticed: the landscapes that open up are breathtaking, and some places easily drive you into euphoria, and God forbid you get to them before going to bed - it will be difficult to fall asleep.

Straightening your shoulders

Rumors and speculation about the complexity of the game seem to have bothered the developers themselves. In one of the last interviews Brian Hong , director of marketing for Bandai Namco in America, admitted that changing the difficulty of Dark Souls is tantamount to killing the entire series. Nevertheless, the Japanese studio allows itself some flirting with complexity.

The first such experiment is revealed when you run to an unyielding boss over and over again. Now every common enemy has a limited number of respawns, and the more often you kill, the more deserted the corridors become. In the end, it may turn out that not a single damned soul will interfere with your path to the boss.

But do not panic: the developers have tested this moment well, and the monsters begin to disappear just when they are already quite bored. And within the framework of the mythology of the world, where the damned lose their last shreds of souls with each death, and even those doomed to eternal torment sooner or later cease to exist, this move is quite appropriate. Well, and most importantly, the player is deprived of the opportunity to endlessly extract souls and precious items from monsters. If in the first parts it was possible to “grind” experience for hours and thus develop your hero, now this loophole has been patched up - accidentally losing souls or mediocrely wasting rare stones is now really an expensive pleasure.

Even such giants tend to disappear.

Don't like this twist? Well, throw the coals of enmity into the fire and return all opponents along with the boss to their place. However, they will noticeably increase their strength, as if you have reached the same place on a new round of passage. Together with old acquaintances, new red phantoms, especially generous in malice, will appear. Will all this fit your character? It is better to think once again - there will be no way back.

Online in the game and the game without online

During our playthrough, the game servers managed to work for only a few days, and the journalists who received early access were scattered all over Drangleic, so it was not yet possible to really try out the network innovations. A little later, we will definitely tell you about all the sorrows and joys that await players in a multiplayer game. Let's try out voice chat, see how filtering by region works, and check how easy it is to find the right person with a special name ring.

However, we were able to find all the covenants available in the game (something like MMO guilds) and we can get an idea of ​​\u200b\u200bwhat awaits a player who decides to devote himself to one of them.

Heirs of the Sun

The famous covenant of the Knights of the Sun changed its name, but remained true to its principles. The players who join it will come to your aid in the fight with the bosses. And their golden silhouettes will pleasantly illuminate the darkness around and inspire at least some hope for a brighter future.

Way of the Blue

If you're tired of invading enemy phantoms, it's time to take a closer look at this covenant. Upon joining it, the player has the opportunity to call on a player from the fraternal covenant to help him every time a bloodthirsty guest invades his world.

Blue Sentinels

Knights protecting other players from intruders. They devote their service to the fight against dark phantoms that encroached on the lives of members of the Way of the Blue covenant.

Brotherhood of Blood

A covenant for those who can't get enough blood on their blade. Members of this society yearn to bathe in it, listening to the death curses of their victims. All the greedy brotherhood cares about is fighting and winning, no matter who gets in the way - a random victim or a fellow covenant.

Bell Keepers

The Covenant that replaced the defenders of the forest. As in the previous part, the goal of the members of the order is to kill all the unfortunate who dared to enter into the possession of the covenant. And now there is one more such locations in the game.

Rat Covenant

Another group of players will unite under the auspices of the rat king. Like Bellkeepers, the covenant is tied to two locations, initially simple. But the members of the order can change them at their discretion, adding traps and strengthening monsters, and then lure other players into their world to hunt in the labyrinth of death assembled with their own hands.

Dragon Remnants

The legacy of the old dragon covenant from the first part has survived all the hardships. By joining this society, players will fight among themselves for the precious scales of ancient reptiles, so that one day they themselves will be transformed into fire-breathing lizards.

Company of Champions

Almost no online coventant. It will come in handy for those players who always lack complexity. You can enter it at the very beginning of the game, and then the passage will become more difficult. Enemies will become stronger and angrier, and the chance that a red phantom will invade you will increase.

Pilgrims of Darkness

A mysterious covenant, the path to which is not so easy to find, but once discovered, the player will be able to discover the darkest places of Drangleic. And in the final, perhaps, he will meet with an unknown opponent and old acquaintances - those who were spared by time.

But even without any additional lotions with the complexity of Dark Souls 2, everything is in perfect order. The cornerstone of previous games - backstab and parry, are no longer a panacea, during the roll you can easily be hurt, and opponents no longer thresh the air in vain and attack much more accurately, preventing you from getting around from behind.

Bosses, meanwhile, have learned to change battle tactics on the go. The closer you are to triumph, the more difficult it becomes to resist the great demon. In the vastness of Drangleic, there is also such a demon that will haunt you throughout the kingdom, if you do not immediately finish him off in his own lair. There is also an optional boss, who, judging by some statistics, has not been killed by any of the journalists so far. Maybe you can do it?

Blade drawn

Understanding the intricacies of character development and learning how to perfectly manage it has not become easier one iota. Free Tip: Be sure to take a closer look at the updated stats before upgrading. Having spent souls according to old memory, you can end up with a completely different character that you would like. For example, we started out as a swordsman armed with two blades, one of which later had to be replaced with a shield, and closer to the final we ran holding a hefty sword with both hands.

We had to get used to the changed parries and rolls throughout the game, and only at the end of our character’s dodges did we reach the level where we could forget about defense. We left the characteristic that increases the health of the character at the basic level, since now other skills also increase its maximum supply, although not so significantly.

Pirate Bay will meet you with a crowd of monsters, reminiscent of Dovakin from Skyrim. There will also be a pirate ship.

It has become much easier to create hybrid characters that combine magical and physical skills. The lack of intelligence or faith (it is needed to perform miracles) can be compensated with a ring, and the necessary spell can be reduced in the required level of skills with special items. At the same time, pure magicians or "siloviki" still remain head and shoulders above hybrid characters. Spend souls on learning magic - you will weave spells faster and stronger. Follow the path of the warrior - get an advantage in attack speed and movement. We have already talked about combat mechanics in more detail in. By the release, the general concept has not changed much, except that the mages were still deprived of the ability to shoot fireballs accurately, as if from a bow.

But the undead in the new game is no longer so dangerous. Even the necromancer... smiles.

You will also have to reforge and improve your weapons according to the new rules, which, perhaps, you can only rejoice at. From now on, any weapon in the game can be endowed with elemental properties - even those created from the souls of defeated bosses. At the same time, a blade that deals damage with fire, lightning, or divine and dark magic does not completely lose its original properties. Let's say if you had a sword in your hands with an "S" damage bonus from dexterity, the bonus from the characteristics does not disappear, but only falls a step lower, turning into an "A" class. Elemental damage is also boosted by Faith and Intelligence.

At the same time, you should not criticize the developers for self-copying, and even more so expose the “cheap copy-paste”. All these parallels have, among other things, their plot background. And in terms of the execution of the game world and forcing the atmosphere of despondency and doom inherent in the series From software turned to the experience of a more subtle and graceful Demon's Souls- more details, small but significant "touches to the portrait": abandoned huts of the village Majula, located on a picturesque cliff in the heavy light of the setting sun, melodic - funeral - tunes of nymphs Shrine of Amana, church Brightstone Cove Tseldora, full of obsessed parishioners and clergy (at the same time, a beautiful allusion to the beloved by many Tower of Latria from DeS), a bell ringing that appeals to the guardians of the tomb Undead Crypt, spectacular rainy Drangleic Castle and incredible mountain Dragon Aerie with a truly epic panorama and so on and so forth.

Upsets another: the team DS2 swung at the scale, which, perhaps, was not quite up to her shoulder. Saturation of locations is not uniform, sometimes they simply lack variability. At times, the game simply cannot support its own weight - some fragments and even entire stages are too long or not diverse enough for their length: Shaded Ruins by the n-th hour of the game, it starts to naturally tire with a gray-green mass of the same textures, some segments of the mines suffer from the same disease Brightstone Cove Tseldora, not to mention another forest location, Huntsman's Cops, harassing endless sweeping of a boring mountain forest.

Exactly the same problem with a huge number of bosses. Many of them lack character and personality. However, I am sure that players will appreciate a gigantic dragon, terrifying in its size, a "mirror" knight or a chariot from the Underworld. Giants, the spider Freya and King Vendrick - some of the bosses, fortunately, are able to evoke emotions, as in the previous parts.

The so-called Lore, traditional for the series, contributes to the emotional aspect: a body of knowledge about the in-game story material. Here Dark Souls 2 again, she did not change the tradition and scattered numerous hints about the role and place of characters in history through dialogues, lengthy descriptions of souls and objects. The world is so vast that to piece together all its complex legend is the work of many weeks and months: war Dangleic and giants, the relationship between king and queen, the history of the creation of the kingdom, and the origin of the curse are just the most obvious of the questions. As before, each location keeps its secrets and its little history.

However, the plot component in the games of the series Souls never bulged out, never climbed to the fore: this is confirmed by the minimum of in-game videos, and the lack of need for knowledge of history to complete the game. Plot Dark Souls 2 is fed through the text and is reflected in the gameplay - in the environment, in battles with bosses, in numerous secrets. But it is the gameplay - heavy, combining exploration of the world, pumping weapons and character, and, of course, battles - that has always been the cornerstone of success. Souls.

Without making any changes to the basic game principles, it was important for the developers to rid the game of the problems of the previous parts and at the same time not change what worked so well.

We are still moving from checkpoint to checkpoint, from campfire to campfire, killing enemies and bosses, collecting souls for leveling up and shopping, as well as resources for crafting (leveling and changing weapons). At the same time, we have the opportunity to move to the worlds of other players with different goals: either help in passing the stage, or simply kill a comrade in misfortune - everything has its own reward.

Primarily From software made point changes in order to correct the lame balance of the first part Dark Souls. To increase the difficulty, enemy control zones have been increased - and now the hunt for a player in sight can go many hundreds of meters. In addition, the fog that separates the segments of locations, as well as items lying in chests, no longer make the player invulnerable while interacting with them, which in itself complicates suicide runs in order to get the right thing or get to the checkpoint. In addition, the restoration of health when using any "first-aid kits" occurs gradually, and not as before - instantly. From Demon's Souls the developers took the system of decreasing health with the death of a character. V Dark Souls 2 each death leads to a decrease of several percent with a minimum value of 50%. Farming (collection) of stones and other items was limited along with the number of lives of enemies: now they will not endlessly appear in their places (so-called respawn) with each location loading - they really die. After 15 deaths, the enemy disappears until a new game or until the use of a special item that renews the resurrection and increases the difficulty of the location.