ever since i played my first fromsoftware game (dark souls 3 by the way) back in 2020 and getting more into the fandom, i've been led to believe that dark souls 2 was absolutely the worst game on the face of the earth. either that, or that it was the best souls game ever. the thing is, the truth is far from that. ds2 is... the worst souls game, but it is not a bad game, per se. this dark souls lacks a soul (hehe) in terms of being a souls game. you can see why hidetaka miyazaki is one of the most influential people in the videogame industry because without him, even a title like dark souls feels dull and lacks many things that make other ds games stand out.

the thing with ds games is that how many tries it takes, if the design of a boss is great (which they usually are), the feeling of self-accomplishment just after beating one is an amazing feeling. however, i finished this game just about 15 minutes ago as of writing this review, and i'm pretty sure i'll forget about every boss there is (even now, i can't count more than three). none of them are memorable, challenging, or exciting. gameplay is a bit better than the first game but nowhere near as good as it could, or as it will be with the third installment (heck, bloodborne is a better choice for me at 30 frames per second, and I'm not too fond of that framerate). this game focuses more on the cinematics and visuals which are nice touches. even though the scenery looks good, the level design of this game is horrendous. i remember playing ds1 and having my mind absolutely blown away every single time a new shortcut made its way to the firelink shrine, it was such a good designed map for the caliber of the first game. honestly, it didn't have to be that good and should be taught in classes for my fellows majoring in game design.

overall enjoyable experience, if you can make yourself forget it's a soulsborne (and that's a big if because otherwise this one is a chore to play).