Dark Souls 2 News: Release date, gameplay, footage, difficulty

All the latest news, rumours, footage and screenshots for Dark Souls 2

When Dark Souls was released in 2011, it sent shockwaves through the gaming industry. While it didn’t rack up the impressive sales of FIFA 13 or Call Of Duty: Black Ops 2, it was critically acclaimed and it ignited a debate on the way games are developed.

A lot of the discussion focussed on Dark Souls’s unflinching difficulty, which repelled as many players as it attracted. In the eyes of many, Dark Souls became a standard bearer for an old-school gaming aesthetic, which prized real accomplishment and stood against the trend in gaming to reduce difficulty in order to sell more games.

Earlier this year, From Software announced they’d be making a sequel to Dark Souls. Here, we gather what we know so far about From’s gritty RPG adventure game.

Dark Souls 2: Difficulty

First things first, Dark Souls 2 will be hard. It will be very hard. In fact, it will be absolutely nastily rock-hard. This may put off prospective newbies, but it will be music to the ears of the Dark Souls faithful.

The reason for this is that when news of Dark Souls 2 first emerged, Edge Magazine reported that the developers had plans to make it more approachable than its predecessor. Cue much wailing and gnashing of teeth from the fan base.

The game’s director, Yui Tanimura, has recently clarified his earlier comments regarding the overall difficulty of Dark Souls 2.

"By all means, we didn’t mean to communicate [the idea] that the game will be easier," said Tanimura. "Obviously, the game will not be easier. What we meant by ‘making it more accessible’ was that we want to streamline away all of the tediousness, I suppose. We want to cut away all the fat and deliver a lean, pure, challenging experience.

"So I apologise for using the word ‘accessible’ so casually. Please understand we will maintain the quality of Dark Souls."

Dark Souls 2: Engine

Speaking of quality, Dark Souls 2 is running on a brand new engine developed specifically for the game by From Software. Not only does this make the game look a lot better than its predecessor, it’s hoped that it will help clear up some of the frame rate issues and glitches that featured in Dark Souls.

“One of the reasons we implemented a new engine was to try and fix [those issues], said Tanimura. “For this title, we’re hoping users won’t have to worry about that issue. We think the new engine will solve that.”

At a recent reveal event in New York, From Software showed off some of the gameplay for Dark Souls 2 and players and media got their first opportunity to see the new engine in action.

Dark Souls 2: Release Date and Platforms

There’s no official release date for Dark Souls 2 just yet. However, From Softrware has confirmed the game will be landing on the PS3, PC and Xbox 360 platforms.

In a rather surprising move, though, From Software will not be developing Dark Souls 2 for next-gen consoles

“We understand that the next-gen's coming out and it would be a lie to say we didn't consider it at all," director Yui Tanimura said. “But right now there's no attempt to put Dark Souls 2 on the next-gen.”

“We feel the current-gen's potential is still viable and we want to deliver Dark Souls 2 on current-gen.”