Dark Souls II

Released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in March, with a Windows version following in April. Unlike Dark Souls and Dark Souls III, it was not directed by series creator Hidetaka Miyazaki, who served as supervisor; Tomohiro Shibuya and Yui Tanimura directed the game. Review aggregators reported universal acclaim for the original versions, with critics praising its atmosphere, world design and scale, while some criticized its boss encounters, combat changes and difficulty. Three downloadable content packs, collectively titled The Lost Crowns, were released in 2014. An enhanced version, Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin, was released in 2015; it includes the base game and the DLC trilogy, and its PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows DirectX 11 versions add upgraded visuals, altered enemy placement, expanded multiplayer and other changes. Followed by Dark Souls III in 2016.

Dark Souls II is an action role-playing game in which the player explores Drangleic, fights enemies with weapons and magic, and improves their character by collecting souls. Like earlier games in the series, it emphasizes challenging combat: standard enemies and bosses can quickly kill the player, and most actions consume stamina. Souls function as both experience points and currency, allowing players to level up, buy items and repair equipment. When the player dies, their collected souls are left at the place of death and can be recovered by returning there; dying again before reclaiming them causes the souls to be lost permanently. Death also turns the player character into an undead state and reduces their maximum health, a process known as hollowing, which can continue until the health bar reaches 50 percent of its full value. Using a Human Effigy restores the character to human form and removes the health penalty. Many standard enemies eventually stop respawning after repeated defeats, although certain items can make enemies in an area return and become stronger. Players level up by spending souls on attributes such as vigor, endurance, vitality, attunement, adaptability, strength, dexterity, intelligence and faith. These attributes determine statistics including health, stamina, equipment load, spell use and weapon damage. Raising them can also allow the use of equipment or magic that has minimum attribute requirements. Multiplayer uses asynchronous and direct online elements. While connected to the game server, players can see apparitions of other players, read and rate messages, view bloodstains showing how other players died, and place summon signs that allow them to be summoned into another player's world. Direct multiplayer includes cooperative play, invasions and duels. The game uses a "Soul Memory" system for matchmaking, which tracks the total number of souls a character has collected, even if those souls are later lost, and pairs players for summons and invasions based on comparable totals. Online services for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions ended on March 31, 2024, disabling asynchronous online elements such as shades, bloodstains and messages, and multiplayer elements such as cooperative play, invasions and duels on those platforms. Offline play remains available, and the shutdown did not affect the Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions. Dark Souls II features an expanded new game plus mode. With each replay, the player retains their levels, souls and most items, while keys and certain progression items are removed. Subsequent playthroughs increase enemy health and damage and can alter the game in other ways, including new enemy encounters, changed boss encounters, expanded merchant inventories, higher item-drop chances and exclusive rewards.

Dark Souls II takes place in Drangleic, a ruined kingdom affected by the undead curse. Like its predecessor, the game presents much of its story indirectly through dialogue, item descriptions and environmental details, leaving many events and motives implicit.

The story begins with the Bearer of the Curse, an undead human drawn to Drangleic while searching for a cure to a curse that gradually erodes memory and identity. In the settlement of Majula, the Emerald Herald directs the Bearer to seek powerful souls and eventually King Vendrick, ruler of Drangleic. After obtaining four Great Souls, the Bearer reaches Drangleic Castle and meets Queen Nashandra, who says that Vendrick abandoned his duty and fled his kingdom. The Bearer later finds Vendrick hollowed and wandering in the Undead Crypt. Through memories of the past, they learn that Nashandra manipulated Vendrick into invading the land of the giants across the sea. Vendrick stole a great power from the giants, who retaliated by invading Drangleic and devastating the kingdom. Realizing that Nashandra intended to claim the Throne of Want for herself, Vendrick withdrew to the Undead Crypt and left the throne sealed away. After defeating the Giant Lord in a memory and obtaining the Giant's Kinship, the Bearer opens the path to the Throne of Want. Nashandra, revealed through the game's lore to be a fragment of Manus, Father of the Abyss, appears to claim the throne's power but is defeated. The Bearer then enters the throne, leaving ambiguous whether they will link the fire or allow it to fade. In versions that include the Scholar of the First Sin update, Aldia, Vendrick's brother, appears throughout the game and questions the cycle of light and dark. If the player has defeated Vendrick and encountered Aldia throughout the game, Aldia appears after Nashandra as an additional final boss. After defeating him, the player may either take the Throne of Want or leave it, rejecting the choice between light and dark.

The Lost Crowns is a trilogy of downloadable content packs consisting of Crown of the Sunken King, Crown of the Old Iron King and Crown of the Ivory King. Each expansion sends the Bearer of the Curse to a separate fallen kingdom to recover a crown sought by Vendrick. Their stories center on the crowns of the Sunken King, the Old Iron King and the Ivory King, as well as Elana, Nadalia and Alsanna, three other fragments of Manus. After obtaining the three crowns, the player can enter Vendrick's memory with them and Vendrick's own crown. Vendrick then blesses the crowns, allowing them to prevent hollowing while worn; this does not permanently cure the undead curse.

Dark Souls II was announced at the Spike Video Game Awards on December 7, 2012. Hidetaka Miyazaki, who directed Dark Souls, served as supervisor, while Tomohiro Shibuya and Yui Tanimura directed the sequel. FromSoftware sought to retain the basic gameplay and controls of Dark Souls while making some systems clearer for new players. Shibuya said he did not intend to change the controls, and described covenants as returning in a more accessible form. The team also aimed to give players more freedom in progression and to make the opening of the game easier to understand, while retaining the series' emphasis on challenge. Tanimura said that the game would not include an easy mode, explaining that challenge and difficulty were core elements of the project. The sequel used a more powerful graphics engine than its predecessor. FromSoftware also developed a more advanced artificial intelligence system, allowing enemies to react to a wider range of player actions. In September 2013, Tanimura said the Windows version would follow the console release so that it could be optimized separately.

Before the game's release, Bandai Namco Games producer Takeshi Miyazoe said that the team did not expect to create downloadable content for Dark Souls II. In January 2014, however, he said that downloadable content was possible depending on fan feedback. On June 4, 2014, FromSoftware announced The Lost Crowns, a trilogy of downloadable content packs consisting of Crown of the Sunken King, Crown of the Old Iron King and Crown of the Ivory King. The first two packs were released on July 22 and August 26, 2014, respectively; the third was originally scheduled for September 24, but was delayed until the end of September and early October, depending on platform.

A few weeks after release, the game had shipped over a million copies within the United States and Europe. A year after release, the game had sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide.