Before Dark Souls 2's official release, fans were teased with alpha footage that looked markedly better than the finished product. The drop in quality from development to release left many fans speculating that the Dark Souls 2 team had made the call to prioritize performance over aesthetic beauty. At the time, these changes were met with major controversy among fans, with many feeling as though they had been lied to about the game's potential. Enter Twitter user Stayd3D who decided to take matters into their own hands and revamp the game's lighting in order to restore a bit of the game's dignity.
A mod is in development for Dark Souls 2 that completely revamps the game's lighting. Not your typical post-processing additions, the mod aims to rewrite the game's shaders and replace them with better, higher-quality techniques.
Stayd, a self-taught lighting artist and graphics programmer, is currently undertaking the task of remastering the entire game's lighting. With a few relatively small but massively important tweaks, the game suddenly takes on a new life. The difference is perhaps most noticeable when viewing any of the iconic boss fights in Dark Souls 2. A YouTube clip showing the fiery Smelter Demon boss fight is particularly revealing of the changes.
While the Dark Souls games have no shortage of mods, a complete lighting revamp could stand as one of the most ambitious. Alongside the lighting changes, Stayd has also toyed with the idea of implementing unique weapons and textures, but it's unclear if these will be included in the final mod. With no definitive timeline until completion, however, fans will have to continue to patiently wait.
Source: Stayd3D