Like I mentioned in our 2014 Time Capsule, the game takes a scattershot approach to Dark Souls’ traditional world order. You shoot between dark forests and ancient peaks and there’s even a point where you ride a spooky ghost ship. But it’s this lack of cohesion that makes it so memorable, as you’re just some undead warrior going on this odyssey through a ravaged land, encountering all its weird and wonderful beasties. The DLCs elevate the game’s status as a concept album, whisking you off to three forgotten kingdoms to reclaim crowns from ice-blasted cities and sunken Aztec-inspired temples. And while a lot of its levels are fairly linear, you wonder whether they set the stage for Elden Ring’s open world. I mean, Elden Ring certainly resembles the DS2 experience out of all FromSoftware’s offerings but ups the intricacy levels and ties things together better. Cheers to Dark Souls 2, a wild ride.
