#18
YoY: -4 My Rating: 9.3/10
Although Dark Souls II is quite comfortably the weakest of the Fromsoftware Soulsborne games, that is only in relation to what are in my opinion among the greatest games of all time. In many ways, Dark Souls II feels like a very different game from the other two entries in the series, and not just because Hidetaka Miyazaki was less involved in its creation. The story and world are much less connected to the lore of the first and third games, and especially the story of Gwyn, although in Scholar of the First Sin, Gwyn's breaking of the cycle of the world becomes a significant inciting incident for one of the major antagonists of the game. However, despite this disconnect, I find Dark Souls II a fascinating game from lore perspective. It feels much more of a human story, while the other two games were more concerned with the actions of gods and the consequences of those actions.
Other notable differences include the world design, which is much less insular and connected than in DS1 and DS3. The various locations don't really wrap around each other or connect to one another, rather they are a series of long chains that shoot out from a central location. However, Dark Souls II also features some of the best designed locations in the entire series, specifically in the three DLC expansions, though weirdly, each of them also contains an optional area that is among the most infuriating locations in the series. The gameplay can also, at least in comparison to the other games, feel weirdly unbalanced and even disjointed at times, owing much to the slightly off-feeling hitboxes.
Still, despite everything, this is still an exceptional game. It might lack some of what makes many other FromSoftware games masterpieces, but I can't hold being the least great game in a series of amazing games against Dark Souls II. The high points are simply so far above most other games that the few places where it stumbles slightly are quickly forgotten.
