FromSoftware's Dark Souls 2 routinely shows up on lists as the worst Souls game. It had a shaky launch, and it remains one of the series' most polarizing games. Some people played it in the vanilla state, while others experienced post-launch updates and DLCs. Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin is widely considered a masterpiece.
There's a heap of confusion surrounding the terminology. The Souls games are comprised of Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Dark Souls 2, and Dark Souls 3. This differs from Souls-likes, which include games like Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and Bloodborne. Which of the Souls games is indeed the greatest? There is an argument to say it's Dark Souls 2, a game that is often considered the black sheep of the Souls family.
Updated March 22, 2022, by Ritwik Mitra: Dark Souls 2 is considered by many to be the worst game in the trilogy. The lack of Hidetaka Miyazaki's involvement is clear for everyone to see, which is one of the major reasons why many players aren't really too fond of this game. That being said, there is a substantial portion of the fanbase that will actually defend the Dark Souls sequel with all their heart and passionately describe why the game isn't nearly as bad as some people like to make it out to be. Both sides of the fanbase and their arguments are represented below.
15 Adaptability (Why It Isn't)
Adaptability is one of the worst stat inclusions in Dark Souls 2 by a country mile. Given how important rolling is in the Dark Souls series, the fact that i-frames for this dodge move were locked behind a stat made things extremely frustrating for players.
Now, all of a sudden, players had to waste Souls on another stat that governed attributes of the game that should've either been attached to different stats or just didn't need to be nerfed from the get-go. This basically made frame-perfect dodges useless until players dumped points into this stat, which was a major pain.
14 Majula (Why It's The Best Souls Game)
Dark Souls is a series known for its amazing hub areas, and Dark Souls 2 doesn't disappoint in this regard. Getting to reach Majula and experience the amazing sights that players can witness made for a great time indeed.
While the areas surrounding these hubs weren't the greatest, Majula itself was a ton of fun to explore. Even the biggest naysayers of Dark Souls 2 can't deny the fact that Majula was in a class of its own as a hub area!
13 Enemy Placement (Why It Isn't)
A ton of things in Dark Souls 2 made it seem like a half-hearted sequel that learned all the wrong things about Dark Souls. The first game was never about its difficulty, but Dark Souls 2 seems to pride itself on its challenging nature so much that it can feel as though it's shoving it down the player's throat at every possible opportunity.
This can be seen in the enemy placement present in the game, which sacrifices clever and varied enemy encounters for meaningless enemy placement that derives its difficulty through quantity over quality. It's one of the biggest gripes that players have with this game, and understandably so!
12 Power Stancing (Why It's The Best Souls Game)
Dark Souls 2 might have made several questionable decisions when it came to the combat mechanics of the game, but there's one thing where the innovation was pretty solid. Any Dark Souls veteran knows what is about to follow here.
Power Stancing is one of the freshest and most engaging ways to approach combat in Dark Souls 2. The fact that Elden Ring features this mechanic as well proves that the team behind Dark Souls 2 at least got one thing right in the eyes of players.
11 Parry And Backstab Animations (Why It Isn't)
By far one of the worst changes Dark Souls 2 ever made to combat was altering the parry and backstab animations. While this might not seem like a big deal to some, many players who loved landing parries and backstabs in the game found these animations to be too elaborate and too long for their liking.
It doesn't help that enemies float through most objects in the game, making regular combat pretty unsatisfying as well. To change the parry and backstab animations in such a horrendous manner just adds more fuel to the fire for Dark Souls 2 haters.
10 Difficulty Level (Why It's The Best Souls Game)
The Dark Souls series is renowned for its punishing difficulty, yet each game has varying difficulties. Why FromSoftware decided to make the games' difficulty inconsistent is unknown, but it could have been to encourage new players.
Dark Souls 2 stands out for having an ideal difficulty level. The first Dark Souls is considered too hard, and the third is too easy. It could be said that Dark Souls 2 got the difficulty just right.
9 Map Design (Why It Isn't)
Dark Souls 2's map design forces players to backtrack, unlike in Dark Souls 3. To the credit of the game, the individual levels are fine. It's how they come together that is unsettling.
Only a few shortcuts in the game are worthwhile, and bonfire placement is nonsensical at times. Bonfires should be smartly placed after grueling encounters. Instead, we get too many bonfires, detracting from the gameplay.
8 Numerous Patches Post-Launch (Why It's The Best Souls Game)
After the release of Dark Souls 2, it became abundantly clear that FromSoftware hadn't released their best game. Thankfully, post-launch patches ensured that Dark Souls 2 wouldn't be the Souls franchise's black sheep.
Unfortunately, many people experienced the launch version of Dark Souls 2. The game's enemy placement and difficulty were reworked, among other things. FromSoftware's commitment made the difference, and it could be the series' best game.
7 Item Selection (Why It Isn't)
While Dark Souls 2's item selection was a noticeable improvement over Dark Souls and Demon's Souls, it didn't measure up to Dark Souls 3's. Weapons like the Crypt Blacksword, Black Knight Greataxe, Smelter Hammer, and Fume Ultra Greatsword are iconic.
However, Dark Souls 3's greatswords and hammers, like the Old King's Great Hammer, provided a humbling experience. Dark Souls 3 has arguably the best loot system, but Dark Souls 2's is certainly not the worst.
6 PVP (Why It's The Best Souls Game)
Dark Souls PVP tests players' skills against each other. There is a laundry list of problems in Dark Souls 2, but it's the PVP (player versus player) combat that is all-around excellent. Glitches and bugs plague PVP in the original Dark Souls; players exploit these regularly.
Dark Souls 2 has better locations and combat mechanics compared to its predecessor. Dark Souls 3 failed to make meaningful changes to PVP, and players die too fast. Dark Souls 2's PVP has to be the best in the Souls franchise.
5 The Gutter (Why It Isn't)
While the first Dark Souls had Blighttown, a dimly lit place that was frustrating to its core, Dark Souls 2 had an atrocious place called The Gutter. The Gutter is darker and more confusing to explore, but it doesn't have the poisonous pits as Blighttown does.
Dark Souls 2 is partially an upgrade over Dark Souls, but Dark Souls 3 had the most consistent level design of the Souls games.
4 Scholar Of The First Sin (Why It's The Best Souls Game)
Dark Souls 2's special edition is considered among the best in the series. It contains three DLCs— Crown of the Sunken King, Crown of the Ivory King, and Crown of the Old Iron King.
The special edition also added new NPCs for added storylines and improved online functionality. Without Scholar of the First Sin, Dark Souls 2 is a lackluster game. With it, however, the game stands out as possibly the best in the series.
3 Too Many Bosses (Why It Isn't)
The original Dark Souls did have a plethora of bosses, yet Dark Souls 2 may have gone overboard by having 32 bosses. While other games in the series focus on quality boss encounters, Dark Souls 2 has a lot of content that should have been cut.
Granted, many of these are optional, but it seems like Dark Souls 2 needs more quality bosses rather than a string of uninspiring ones.
2 New Game Plus (Why It's The Best Souls Game)
While you may have been frustrated by Dark Souls 2's level design the first time, once you familiarize yourself with the area, it's not that complex. Dark Souls 2's New Game Plus delivers as it usually does in Dark Souls, leading us to believe it could be the best Souls game.
Repeating the game with top-tier gear through familiar areas gives Dark Souls 2 tremendous replayability. Also, fast travel makes it less tedious than the original Dark Souls.
1 Weapon Degradation Is Too Fast (Why It Isn't)
It seems like at almost every instance, players must return to the blacksmith in Majula to repair their gear. While the blacksmith is one of the coolest NPCs in Dark Souls 2, it isn't sensible to visit him so often.
Although easily damaged weapons and armor add realism to Dark Souls 2, it makes the game frustrating.
Dark Souls 2 was released on March 11, 2014 and is available for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC.