From Software visited IGN earlier today to unveil the first gameplay footage of Dark Souls II, the direct sequel to the death inducing game Dark Souls in 2011. This new footage shows 12 minutes of gameplay from the new game, showing off the new mechanics as well as the more refined mechanics carrying over form the first game. You can check out the full 12 minute footage with commentary from game director Yui Tanimura from IGN below:
The gameplay reveal along with the commentary reveals the many new mechanics as well as the old present in Dark Souls II. Some of the new striking things from the video is that the game looks amazing. The game looks more shiny, the animations on the enemies are more smooth and a lot of things are being rendered without any major frame drops. The game will also have improved AI with more dynamic reactions, such as the enemy using its back to crush the player. Lighting also seems to play a major role in the game, illuminating dark areas and the bonfires themselves lighting up. The combat largely remains the same with some new tweaks and improvements, such as using the bow whilst moving and more efficient dual wielding. Also note that the player can equip more than two weapons at a time but this could only be for demo purposes.
IGN also conducted a Q&A session with the director of the game which can be seen below:
In addition a new official trailer was also released for Dark Souls II:
A series of screenshots were also released for the game:
There is still a lot more to know about Dark Souls II, including the setting and lore about the game, where even all the lore of Dark Soulshas not been found yet. There are also lots of important information from today’s videos and screenshots, such as the importance of the dragons, the emphasise on the varieties of deaths, the focus of refining the gameplay rather than adding new mechanics, and the aesthetic of the setting.
From Software is a game developer form Japan that is known for the Kings Field, Armored Core and Tenchu series across multiple platforms. In 2009 they produced Demon’s Souls for the PlayStation 3 which was published by Namco Bandai (From approached Sony to publish the game but refused due to the game’s high difficulty). It gained high praise and a cult following and became famous for its notoriously hard difficulty yet still remained rewarding and satisfying. From then released their spiritual successor Dark Souls in 2011 on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, with a PC port in 2012 due to popular demand. The game once again received high praise for the same reasons and Dark Souls II is looking like it will do the same.
Dark Souls II will be released simultaneously for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC with a planned release date of 2014. There was no mention of next-gen consoles. Stay tuned for more deadly news and footage as we all prepare to die for this game.