Unfairly hated, still very fun
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 positive reviews
“Love this game! Not sure why it gets so much hate.”
Steam review · 135.8 h played ↗
DARK SOULS™ II
Worth buying? What 300 Steam reviews say.Worth buying? Here’s what 300 Steam reviews actually say.
Very Positive · 87%Very Positive · 87%FromSoftware, Inc.2014Souls-like · Action RPG · RPG
$39.99
Open on Steam ↗US Steam price, checked 3 h ago
The verdict
A divisive, flawed Souls entry with great build variety, atmosphere and DLC, but hurt by enemy ganks, janky hitboxes and the Adaptability stat. Skip it if you want DS1/DS3 polish.
Great for
Souls veterans and patient newcomers who want build variety, atmosphere and lots of content
Main risk
Enemy crowds, janky hitboxes and long runbacks make difficulty feel cheap rather than fair
What players love
Better than Scholar edition for many
Mentioned in ~1 in 7 positive reviews
“this game is significantly better than scholar in almost every way.”
Steam review · 83 h played ↗
Atmosphere, world and lore
Mentioned in ~1 in 7 positive reviews
“The atmosphere is probably the best part of this game you go to very different places but it still always feels like you are inside a dream”
Steam review · 139.8 h played ↗
Excellent DLC and bosses like Fume Knight
Mentioned in ~1 in 21 positive reviews
“the DLC trilogy (Sunken King, Old Iron King, Ivory King) contains some of the best level design FromSoftware has ever produced”
Steam review · 155.5 h played ↗
Great build variety
Mentioned in ~1 in 25 positive reviews
“The build variety is the best in the series and there's a ton of content to dig into.”
Steam review · 98.5 h played ↗
What players complain about
Janky hitboxes and clunky combat
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 negative reviews
“Thoroughly convinced no one on the team that worked on this game understands how a hitbox works”
Steam review · 7.2 h played ↗
Enemy ganks and crowded areas
Mentioned in ~1 in 6 negative reviews
“Bosses aren't that difficult it's just a PVE gankfest which makes it an absolute slog to get through.”
Steam review · 21.9 h played ↗
Weak bosses and long runbacks
Mentioned in ~1 in 6 negative reviews
“The runbacks are harder, more lethal, and time-consuming than the actual boss itself.”
Steam review · 18.6 h played ↗
Poor PC controls and port quality
Mentioned in ~1 in 11 negative reviews
“mouse and keyboard controls are horrendous, 60 fps cap”
Steam review · 52.6 h played ↗
Max HP loss on death
Mentioned in ~1 in 12 negative reviews
“The lose your health when you die system makes no sense.”
Steam review · 24.7 h played ↗
Scholar of the First Sin is the better pick
Mentioned in ~1 in 15 negative reviews
“DO NOT BUY THIS VERSION This is the original dark souls 2”
Steam review · 18.6 h played ↗
System requirements
From the Steam store page
Steam Deck: VerifiedController support12 GB
Minimum
OSWindows Vista SP2, Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8
ProcessorAMD® Phenom II™ X2 555 3.2Ghz or Intel® Pentium Core ™ 2 Duo E8500 3.17Ghz
Memory2 GB RAM
GraphicsNVIDIA® GeForce® 9600GT, ATI Radeon™ HD 5870
Storage12 GB available space
Recommended
OSWindows 7 SP1, Windows 8
ProcessorIntel® CoreTM i3 2100 3.10GHz or AMD® A8 3870K 3.0GHz
Memory4 GB RAM
GraphicsNVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 750 or ATI Radeon™ HD 6870 or higher
Storage15 GB available space
OSWindows Vista SP2, Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8
ProcessorAMD® Phenom II™ X2 555 3.2Ghz or Intel® Pentium Core ™ 2 Duo E8500 3.17Ghz
Memory2 GB RAM
GraphicsNVIDIA® GeForce® 9600GT, ATI Radeon™ HD 5870
Storage12 GB available space
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