Dark Souls II

Dark Souls II sends the player to the kingdom of Drangleic on the vague promise that a cure for the undead curse can be found there. The structure stays true to its predecessor: an interconnected world full of shortcuts, bonfires serving as rest points that also revive enemies, and souls functioning as both experience and currency, which the player loses upon death until returning to reclaim them. The story again unfolds through item descriptions, architecture, and fragmentary conversations, so each player pieces together the tale of a cycle of rising and falling kingdoms on their own. New to this entry was a system that gradually lowered maximum health with each death, until the player used a rare item.

The gameplay still rests on patience, reading enemy animations, and managing stamina. The second installment added a stat determining dodge speed, the ability to switch between several equipment loadouts, and considerably more freedom in character building, since spellcasters and archers became fully viable paths. Players also pointed to a less cohesive world layout, where individual areas don't connect as elegantly as before, and lower-quality boss fights in places. On the Xbox 360, the game surprisingly ran steadily despite the scope of its locations, though at the cost of simpler effects and lighting compared to versions on newer machines. Sound remains crucial, since silence and distant footsteps carry tension better than the music, which barely plays outside combat.

Reception was very good, though somewhat cooler within the series than the first game, and debate still continues over whether it's the worst or, conversely, the most underrated take on the brand. The trio of Crown expansions ranks among the best parts of the game. The series' influence on the whole genre was already enormous by then, and Dark Souls II kept it alive at a moment when the brand was first being made without its original director. Today it's still an exceptionally sprawling and demanding game well worth discovering on the Xbox 360.