Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin

 PlayStation 4
User Score
7.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 1046 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 772 out of 1046
  2. Mixed: 159 out of 1046
  3. Negative: 115 out of 1046
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  1. SemenTheGreat
    Jul 29, 2016
    7
    I don't really know where I stand on this game. While I think it's good, it has quite a few obvious flaws. While Dark Souls 2 offers the best pvp in the series, and good dual-wielding mechanics, it fall short everywhere else compared to other games in the series. The combat feels clunky and unresponsive, dodging is an absolute pain due to the games questionable hit boxes, level design isI don't really know where I stand on this game. While I think it's good, it has quite a few obvious flaws. While Dark Souls 2 offers the best pvp in the series, and good dual-wielding mechanics, it fall short everywhere else compared to other games in the series. The combat feels clunky and unresponsive, dodging is an absolute pain due to the games questionable hit boxes, level design is very straight forward. There are some bosses in the game that really stands out, like the looking glass knight and fume knight, but the game relies too heavily on ganks to simulate some kind of boss difficulty. A part from that, I can't really dislike the game. I had a blast playing it.… Expand
  2. dangyosabyss
    Apr 11, 2020
    6
    A decent game but one that comes across as someone elses version of what a DS game should be. It feels like a secondary teams version of the first game. It has the worst level design in the whole series, the least imaginative bosses and the worst soundtrack (though it is still decent). Not a bad game but definitely the worst Dark Souls game. Some of the enemy layouts and areas are justA decent game but one that comes across as someone elses version of what a DS game should be. It feels like a secondary teams version of the first game. It has the worst level design in the whole series, the least imaginative bosses and the worst soundtrack (though it is still decent). Not a bad game but definitely the worst Dark Souls game. Some of the enemy layouts and areas are just trolling. Overall this is the Dark Souls you get after youve beaten the others and BB and Sekiro.… Expand
  3. Sunykamey
    Jan 11, 2018
    5
    I just have to give this game a bad rating due to high inconsistency with enemies and bosses. All enemies are deadly but some are just unfair with regards to their placement in the map which gives me the sense that they have only been placed between "normal" enemies to infuriate and frustrate the player. Armorer Dennis in the forest of fallen giants, do I need to say more?! This mischief II just have to give this game a bad rating due to high inconsistency with enemies and bosses. All enemies are deadly but some are just unfair with regards to their placement in the map which gives me the sense that they have only been placed between "normal" enemies to infuriate and frustrate the player. Armorer Dennis in the forest of fallen giants, do I need to say more?! This mischief I can't support.… Expand
  4. SasukeFuumetsu
    Mar 21, 2018
    5
    O pior Souls. O jogo mais parece off-topic do que um jogo que segue a cronologia de DS1 e DS3, a ambientação do jogo é boa, trilha sonora boa e uma boa vida útil, mas acaba perdendo feio em design de inimigos, milagres e magias de outros jogos da série, armas e várias outras coisas. O jogo é mediano, no geral.
  5. LordOMO
    Jun 15, 2019
    6
    I have a love/hate relationship with this game. On the one hand i can appreciate it as a massive and atmospheric dark fantasy role playing game, on the other hand i can't overlook its shortcomings (some being imherent to the dark souls series and some affecting specifically this game in the series).
    At its best you get the pure Dark Souls experience: mystic medieval castles with hidden    I have a love/hate relationship with this game. On the one hand i can appreciate it as a massive and atmospheric dark fantasy role playing game, on the other hand i can't overlook its shortcomings (some being imherent to the dark souls series and some affecting specifically this game in the series).
    At its best you get the pure Dark Souls experience: mystic medieval castles with hidden paths, challenging enemies and a large set of tools to overcome the challenges on the way. But to get there you have to deal with clumsy controls and huge variances in quality which effects visuals sound and unfortunately also gameplay. I've put many hours into the game but always have to deal with frustration along the way to get to the good parts (especially the DLC areas are 10/10 high quality but its a chore to get there). Here are all my gripes with the game:
    - controls suck. Especially in the beginning of the game everything feels bad because you actually have to level up a stat that improves your dodges. But even later on there are issues with the targeting system and with inputs seemingly not being read. Also movement in general feels clunky
    - some of the level design and enemies are very questionable (e.g. enemies that can snipe you from the other side of the map, or levels with blocked paths that you can never open)
    - graphics and sound have some very bad moments. Sound design often feels fake as in "oh yeah this is a footstep soundeffect" rather than actually feeling real. And while the visuals can be stunning in some parts despite geometry and vegetation being on the lower end (especially the castles look great), other areas are just plain ugly, e.g everything looking flat and greyish without any interesting details.
    - there is an overabundance of items and weapons in this game with little differentiation between them. I'd much rather have less but more unique stuff than a lot of junk (e.g. 10 different healing items) cluttering my inventory
    - some enemies and bosses are very forgetable    … Expand
  6. Wweald
    Jun 24, 2019
    7
    I find everything about this game to be worse than the first. The world design is less interesting, and doesn't lend itself to replayability nearly as much as the first. The combat feels way clunkier to me, and I don't like the changes to upgrades. The characters are all less interesting, the side quests are worse and even harder than the first to follow intuitively. The bosses areI find everything about this game to be worse than the first. The world design is less interesting, and doesn't lend itself to replayability nearly as much as the first. The combat feels way clunkier to me, and I don't like the changes to upgrades. The characters are all less interesting, the side quests are worse and even harder than the first to follow intuitively. The bosses are extremely basic, and they copy paste a lot of the bosses. The plot is less interesting, i find it much harder and not in a good way than the first, though a lot of people say it is the easiest. This is the only game in Fromsofts soulslikes (Except Demon Souls cause I haven't played it at all) that i haven't bothered to platinum just because I don't enjoy enough to do so. Though it is still a good game on it's own, it's lacking much compared to the first.… Expand
  7. Cafe_8bits
    Apr 5, 2020
    6
    Dark Souls 2 its a good game, and i had fun playing it single and multiplayer. But still its the worst Souls game in the franchise, its game design has many flaws that i think are sins to the souls formula, like artificial difficulty enhancement, and some changes in the enemies patterns to easy the experience for some players. (Like make enemies disappear if you kill them 12 times)
    The    Dark Souls 2 its a good game, and i had fun playing it single and multiplayer. But still its the worst Souls game in the franchise, its game design has many flaws that i think are sins to the souls formula, like artificial difficulty enhancement, and some changes in the enemies patterns to easy the experience for some players. (Like make enemies disappear if you kill them 12 times)
    The atmosphere and plot of this game are great, one of the best of the series for me, but in the end its design flaws took the best ot the experience for me.
    The multiplayer works very well, with few exceptions, and adds too much into the game.    … Expand
  8. Cap-radar
    Feb 18, 2020
    5
    Top game melhor versao pena que o meu ps4 ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
  9. kekseD
    Mar 13, 2020
    7
    Главные минусы игры это дебильные хитбоксы и скорость игры, она очень медленная
  10. Kamikazeshocki
    Aug 10, 2017
    7
    This is still a good game, yet I can't understand why it received those scores in comparison to all other Soulsborne games. I loved DS1, 3 and especially Bloodborne and their addons I have Platinum Trophy in the latter 2 of them and 200 hours in each title. Except for DS2.
    Reasons:
    - Level design is mediocre - Bosses are mediocre - When it came out it looked somehow worse than DS1 -    This is still a good game, yet I can't understand why it received those scores in comparison to all other Soulsborne games. I loved DS1, 3 and especially Bloodborne and their addons I have Platinum Trophy in the latter 2 of them and 200 hours in each title. Except for DS2.
    Reasons:
    - Level design is mediocre
    - Bosses are mediocre
    - When it came out it looked somehow worse than DS1
    - In summary it is often boring and tedious.

    You can really tell that Miyazaki did not direct this game. The core DS mechanics are there so it all "works pretty good" yet the DS flair is almost gone. I only completed this game for the sake of completing it. To my shame I did not even want to start the DLC allthough I heard it's way better than the main game. Some people think DS 2 is good because they focus on online PVP and are spending too much time dueling/doin builds. To me Dark Souls is not about that, that is just an extra feature. Though i consistently enjoy the seamless multiplayer invading stuff.

    I can't recommend this game for everyone or DS fans. You might wanna rent it first or get it cheap.    … Expand
  11. ootinii
    Apr 20, 2015
    6
    Let me just say first that I'm a huge fan of From Software's games. This game has a lot of positive things, the frame rate is incredible, graphics and lighting are a definite improvement, the game seems to perform very well in most aspects. This leads me to my major problem with this new release.

    The feel. This updated release of DS just feels clunky. In particular, character movement.    Let me just say first that I'm a huge fan of From Software's games. This game has a lot of positive things, the frame rate is incredible, graphics and lighting are a definite improvement, the game seems to perform very well in most aspects. This leads me to my major problem with this new release.

    The feel. This updated release of DS just feels clunky. In particular, character movement. One of the most important things to me when I play a game is how it feels, how responsive are the controls, how smooth is the movement. Unfortunately, the feel of this game is currently not good, not up to par. There is a strange dead zone in the movement when walking forward, and side to side movement is not smooth at all. It feels jerky at best. Moving from Bloodborne to this was pretty much intolerable. I am holding out hope that From will do something to at least make consistent character movement a reality in this remastered DSII, because as it stands currently, it feels like I'm trying to control a character who doesn't want to be controlled, which basically ruins the game's immersion. I look forward to updating this rating back to where it should be in the near future.    … Expand
  12. alexaxa
    May 22, 2016
    7
    Only "Souls" game i did not finished. Something was missing but i can't find exactly why... Bosses seemed less epic, level design was not as good as DS/DeS/BB...
  13. drevil99
    May 12, 2015
    7
    Overall it's a good addition to the Souls series

    Good - Huuuuuge world! It would still be huge even if they didn't include all 3 DLCs - you rarely get invaded by other players in your first play through, that is before you reach Soul Level 150 - PvP and covenants can be fun, I enjoyed dueling other players on the bridge - great coop feature in this game, there usually are summons    Overall it's a good addition to the Souls series

    Good
    - Huuuuuge world! It would still be huge even if they didn't include all 3 DLCs
    - you rarely get invaded by other players in your first play through, that is before you reach Soul Level 150
    - PvP and covenants can be fun, I enjoyed dueling other players on the bridge
    - great coop feature in this game, there usually are summons available when you need them
    - you have just as much, if not more customization options compared to DS1.
    - no framerate issue (I hear this is a problem in PS3 version)

    Bad:
    - invasions can get annoying later in the game, as they happen often, even in hollow form, and therefore feel forced. Personally I started to play offline in NG+
    - the controls are clunky when compared DS1 and Demon Souls. For example there seems to be some awkward pause from the time you press L1 to block to the time you actually start moving
    - there are some really bad lag issues in PvP
    - no balance in PvP as game strongly encourages certain builds, spell casters and those who wield quick small weapons have the advantage; having a tank who wields an ultra great-sword is a definite nono

    Ugly
    - I am not impressed by the graphics. When DS1 came to PS3, it was ahead of it's time in terms of visuals
    - The atmosphere of dark melancholy that DS1 had, just seems to be missing in DS2, nor does it have that feeling of terror from Demon Souls. I can't quite explain it.    … Expand
  14. Sheep_198
    Nov 21, 2015
    5
    After finishing bloodborne, thought to conquer DS2 on PS4, but sadly sold the game after one try. Being a souls series fan, DS2 is just not one of the masterpiece. Beat DS2 on PS3, and never replayed again, it's just not enjoyable, cheap deaths, ugly world, boring boss, no creativity, not art to treasure of, just pure death punishment, that's not Souls series's design. Thought it wouldAfter finishing bloodborne, thought to conquer DS2 on PS4, but sadly sold the game after one try. Being a souls series fan, DS2 is just not one of the masterpiece. Beat DS2 on PS3, and never replayed again, it's just not enjoyable, cheap deaths, ugly world, boring boss, no creativity, not art to treasure of, just pure death punishment, that's not Souls series's design. Thought it would be changed on PS4, turns out it's still the same or even worse, same ugly graphics as PS3, boring world, no much co-op opportunity as not much people playing. Just a dreadful experience, poor game.… Expand
  15. Steven105
    Feb 13, 2016
    5
    Im a huge fan of the souls series i got a platinum trophy on dark souls and bloodborne but i was disapointed with dark souls 2 so i bough scholar of the first sin for the ps4 and the game still has the same problem as the ps3 version .....SOUL MEMORY . It is the biggest bone head mistake that from has ever done and their " solution " is to give you a ring to stop you from receiving souls ,Im a huge fan of the souls series i got a platinum trophy on dark souls and bloodborne but i was disapointed with dark souls 2 so i bough scholar of the first sin for the ps4 and the game still has the same problem as the ps3 version .....SOUL MEMORY . It is the biggest bone head mistake that from has ever done and their " solution " is to give you a ring to stop you from receiving souls , rather than just removing soul memory completley . For me there were summon signs every where at the beginning of the game and now my soul memory is currently over 9 million and im on new game +4 there are ZERO summon signs because my soul memory is too high or to low , it just ruins the entire game… Expand
  16. zamapa
    Jan 24, 2016
    5
    Even though I dislike comparing games to others, this felt like a step down from the first Dark Souls to me. This has solid level design, cool bosses and enemies but added extremely frustrating mechanics. In the beginning of the game they give you lifegems and very little estus flasks, so if you take a lot of damage while playing the game, you have to grind or give up souls which couldEven though I dislike comparing games to others, this felt like a step down from the first Dark Souls to me. This has solid level design, cool bosses and enemies but added extremely frustrating mechanics. In the beginning of the game they give you lifegems and very little estus flasks, so if you take a lot of damage while playing the game, you have to grind or give up souls which could have brought you a level to stock up on lifegems. Adding this finite resource made me feel bad whenever I healed, because I knew I would later have to grind to buy more. And I despise the permanent loss of health upon death. It's meant to be another incentive against dying, but making your players weaker lowers their confidence in their ability to do well in the game. You can undo the life loss with a human effigy, but they're hard to find so you don't want to use them immediately when you die. In the first Dark Souls if you died to a boss you would only have to walk back to them again, and this was a great incentive not to die. It didn't make the player weaker but punished them all the same. These unforgiving mechanics made me frustrated with the game and myself, and caused me to enjoy it less. I still think it's a solid game in it's other aspects (not textures), such as enemies, bosses, weapons. But the addition of these mechanics which punish players for death, something which the game is based on frustrates me beyond belief.… Expand
  17. ripatti
    Apr 12, 2015
    5
    this cash grap annoys me and i already played ds2 on ps3 not buying this game fullprice again...
    cmon 40 buck for what. Slightly improved graphics and Slightly improved fps, it doesnt make the game better... Bought ds2 for full price 60bucks for ps3 now i have to pay 40 bucks more for remastered edition!!!?? and this is not even so remastered. this is BS.
  18. TagGamer1122
    Jul 5, 2015
    6
    Absolutely detest this game after playing bloodborne. They gimped the rolling so you need to play with a shield. They now placed enemies in a group so goodbye to soloing and say hello to being attacked from the back. Wanna play as just a dex character? Well too bad! They made it so you need to have some range and archery isn't good enough you'll need magic. The game is everything but fair.Absolutely detest this game after playing bloodborne. They gimped the rolling so you need to play with a shield. They now placed enemies in a group so goodbye to soloing and say hello to being attacked from the back. Wanna play as just a dex character? Well too bad! They made it so you need to have some range and archery isn't good enough you'll need magic. The game is everything but fair. The way they placed enemies makes this game incredibly unbalanced. Oh, you also can't just run to the next area cause they'll follow you and they're fast so you need to fight them. Absolutely detest this game. Not worth your money or your time. Fortunately, I can sell it and only end up losing a minimal amount. if you want a truly fair and faster game, then play bloodborne.… Expand
  19. P100
    Aug 1, 2016
    6
    I have played all the soul series games including demon souls and Bloodborne. Dark souls 2 is by far the worst off the series (in my opinion). It lacks a cirtain atmosfeer and i don't like most of the worlds enviorment. Some of the enviorments i found to be misplaced. Also the magnetic enemys feel out of place for most parts. The bosses i found te be less memorable then in the otherI have played all the soul series games including demon souls and Bloodborne. Dark souls 2 is by far the worst off the series (in my opinion). It lacks a cirtain atmosfeer and i don't like most of the worlds enviorment. Some of the enviorments i found to be misplaced. Also the magnetic enemys feel out of place for most parts. The bosses i found te be less memorable then in the other games. The combat have been improved (it's quicker/faster) same goes for the dodggeing system. Also some.items/machenics (like branch of yore) i found to be most irritating and pointless. I personaly had more fun with all other from software games.… Expand
  20. rAMZA
    Apr 25, 2017
    7
    Realy boring combat just hit and roll hit and roll, ill give it a 7 because it is still a good score, could have more difficulty options and a hc mode if character dies then its the end of it.
  21. zerox505
    Apr 8, 2015
    5
    you still want to play this pile of crap? Even as a remaster dark souls 2 still lacks the quality and environments reminiscent in the original dark souls. Taking so many steps backwards, this game is not as a great as many souls fans think it is. This is nothing but a poor man's bloodborne.
  22. dubloon7
    Jan 14, 2016
    7
    Dark Souls 2: SOTFS is a decent, and not great attempt at Souls gaming. The vanilla version on the PS3 is MUCH better, than this slightly modified attempt.

    The added DLC areas were a nice addition to the vanilla but MUCH more difficult than the remainder of the initial game: bosses were a joke, forcing the single-player to rely on MP, which is a total let down on the PS4 as you HAVE to    Dark Souls 2: SOTFS is a decent, and not great attempt at Souls gaming. The vanilla version on the PS3 is MUCH better, than this slightly modified attempt.

    The added DLC areas were a nice addition to the vanilla but MUCH more difficult than the remainder of the initial game: bosses were a joke, forcing the single-player to rely on MP, which is a total let down on the PS4 as you HAVE to pay for PS+ to play online to do this alone. Don't get me worong here, in my single playthru (NG) i tackled these areas around SL 150+ and still way too difficult. It was nice but fighting bosses became tiring and I was eager just to get the playing over with.

    Visuals: on my 32" LED HDTV i saw NO DIFFERENCE b/w the PS3 and PS4 version.
    Audio: Same as the vanilla PS3 version
    Controls: SAME
    Qualtiy: 7/10 for being a souls attempt game, but not enough *UMPF to keep me going.

    If you enjoy Demons Souls and Dark Souls 1, AVOID this game as it's the worst of the 3, and the entirety of it loses its steam halfway thru.    … Expand
  23. kenmil
    Apr 12, 2015
    5
    If this is what "improved graphics" looks like, they must have been crap in the original. It feels like something from the 90's. Throw in the ridiculous jumping controls, the frustrating camera issues, and the fact that swords apparently break after running a dozen guys through, and you have a pretty ordinary game. It lives and breathes on its ability to make it hard, but that is achievedIf this is what "improved graphics" looks like, they must have been crap in the original. It feels like something from the 90's. Throw in the ridiculous jumping controls, the frustrating camera issues, and the fact that swords apparently break after running a dozen guys through, and you have a pretty ordinary game. It lives and breathes on its ability to make it hard, but that is achieved by nothing more than overpowered enemies at every turn, rather than anything at all thoughtful. The DS fanboys will love it, but serious gamers who have experienced quality games would do well to keep their wallets closed.… Expand
  24. BlakDak666
    Mar 9, 2017
    7
    Dark Souls 2: Scholar of The First Sin is a solid and good Souls game. As fan of Souls series and playing all but Demon Souls, this is easily the weakest Souls game. The remastered and updated version fixed only a bit of what went wrong with original version and had a few problems that still came through that desperately needed fixing more. Combat against players can result in poor laggingDark Souls 2: Scholar of The First Sin is a solid and good Souls game. As fan of Souls series and playing all but Demon Souls, this is easily the weakest Souls game. The remastered and updated version fixed only a bit of what went wrong with original version and had a few problems that still came through that desperately needed fixing more. Combat against players can result in poor lagging and poor hit boxes, resulting in frustrating situations that could put off most players. The boss roster is over saturated with generic bosses and while a few good ones exist, there are just a sheer size of bad or mediocre ones to blanket it almost entirely. The game's base was decent overall, but with the well done Crown DLCs added in it brings up the experience to not make it as generic. It's hard to give this score because I do like Dark Souls 2, but it soaked in plenty of problems that were only partially fixed by the SoTS version.… Expand
  25. DinoBeam
    May 5, 2020
    6
    This game has alot of cool aspects to it such as atmosphere and art design, but ends up feeling like a slog. This game feels incredibly long with much less interesting level design than the original Dark Souls. Also, half the time to try to sprint it doesn't register.
  26. Ruzaky
    Aug 6, 2020
    7
    I Love Ds 1 and Bloodborne and even some time after release i learn to love ds 3. But Ds 2 is just worst out of other Fromsoftware games. You can really see that something happened during development. Levels feels unfinished, enemy placement even in this new version seems odd. Movement is strange. But even like that its good game. Just much worse then other
  27. giannis2001
    May 17, 2020
    7
    It's objectively the weakest from the series(boring designs, blunt locations, very frastrurating gameplay and locations as well etc) but that doesn't mean is bad in general, only compared to other From software soulsborne games. I would give it a try personally if I was a huge fan of soulsborne games, but if you want to start the series now, man don't start with this one. I would even sayIt's objectively the weakest from the series(boring designs, blunt locations, very frastrurating gameplay and locations as well etc) but that doesn't mean is bad in general, only compared to other From software soulsborne games. I would give it a try personally if I was a huge fan of soulsborne games, but if you want to start the series now, man don't start with this one. I would even say leave it as last.… Expand
  28. Manzanetti
    Aug 10, 2020
    7
    Didn't play the vanilla version, but came here after having completed DS:R, DS3, Bloodborne and Sekiro. Felt like the worst from FROM, uninspired, but with some cool mechanics. Enjoyed it overall, but doesn't keep up with it's brothers.
  29. Zero4747
    Jun 17, 2020
    6
    Dark Souls 2 is worse than Dark Souls 1 in many ways. Level design, lore, weapons, story, world design, controls, enemy design, hitboxes. Stamina recharges slowly even with rings and items that improve it. Pvp and pve is slower. The game throws hoardes of enemies at you. Many enemies have way more poise than they need to. Boss designs are worse. Most of them are regular giant knights withDark Souls 2 is worse than Dark Souls 1 in many ways. Level design, lore, weapons, story, world design, controls, enemy design, hitboxes. Stamina recharges slowly even with rings and items that improve it. Pvp and pve is slower. The game throws hoardes of enemies at you. Many enemies have way more poise than they need to. Boss designs are worse. Most of them are regular giant knights with weapons. The looking glass knight is by far the greatest boss in the game. However the game makes a few improvements graphically and i like the ability to replay bosses and reset areas.… Expand
  30. Fuyunii
    Jun 28, 2020
    5
    I'm giving this game 5 simply because it brings DS2 on PS4, and because of the sheer amount of content that makes this the longest game in the series. Here are the good things, and the bad things in DS2 SOFTS:
    >The Good
    -Magic. The sheer amount of different spells throughout the game, many of which have been reproposed in DS3 makes magic builds very strong and viable, if one is willing    I'm giving this game 5 simply because it brings DS2 on PS4, and because of the sheer amount of content that makes this the longest game in the series. Here are the good things, and the bad things in DS2 SOFTS:
    >The Good
    -Magic. The sheer amount of different spells throughout the game, many of which have been reproposed in DS3 makes magic builds very strong and viable, if one is willing to commit and study on those. They're also the highest damaging things in the game, so one should REALLY slap some magic in their build, at some point.
    -Power stance. This thing is stupid strong, with any possible combo it procs it's INSANE. Double rapier is still a mindless combo that basically kills everything.
    -PVP. I'm not a fan of PVP, but DS2 has the best PVP in the series hands down.
    -Graphics? It looks... better than DS1, that's that.
    -DLCs. Since this is a review for SOFTS, you have all 3 DLCs. They're all ok, and their bosses highlight some of the best moments of the game.
    -Respec system. It was a very nice addition that got carried over to DS3, albeit much more difficult to find, and much more restrictive. Still, in DS2 it allows you to very easily change your playstyle on the fly, so that you may experiment a little bit.

    >The Bad
    -Wrong difficulty. This will be a little longer as a point, but here's why I dislike DS2's difficulty. Most of it is VERY artificial. It's not about learning enemy patterns as much as it's "kill this mass of mobs before they corner me". It's simply not fun when 3 armored turtles all aggro you simultaneously. It's not fun if 5 hollows corner you on a broken, narrow path where falling means dying. It's not fun when 4 enemies who poison me all simultaneously aggro me while trying to stroll. It's not fun when magic caster enemies aggro from WAY farther than I can lock on while I'm trying to not drown. The game relies WAY too much on gangs of enemies and even bosses, such as Sentinels of Ruin, or Bell Gargoyles. It's not about being good at the game, it's about painfully and desperately trying to bottleneck the enemies in areas where you can't even do that. And let's not even talk about how **** the lack of i-frames during fog gates, until you effectively cross them you're at the mercy of enemies. This is further exacerbated by:
    -Hollowness. This HEAVILY reminds me of DeS, except in DeS you died once and that was it, you're now stuck with your soul form. Luckily, as in DeS, there's a ring that limits how much health you lose, so this gets almost a pass.
    -Limited respawns, & Champions covenant. Since this game really doesn't like explaining things, chances are once in Majula, you may join the Champions covenant: which literally makes enemies harder to kill, and easier for you to die. This however mitigates the painful thing in DS2 that after 12 times you kill an enemy it stops respawning, effectively capping the maximum number of souls naturally present in the game.
    -Soul Memory. Who thought this was a good idea? It makes coop needlessly annoying, and while I get it's supposed to counter the bad twink invasions in DS1, all it does is make the game even harder to play online (and you can't default the game to launch offline, by the way). Furthermore, the fact that souls that you lose by not retrieving them still add up to the count of your Soul Memory, which... doesn't make much sense to me.
    -Level design. It's just... a jumble of different areas all slammed together and that don't even connect that well. Case in point: you take an elevator going UPWARDS in the central tower of Earthen Peak, which is between the mountains just under a cloudy sky. You step out and you're in Iron Keep, an iron fortress collapsed in a huge lake of molten lava. What? I thought we were just... going up in a tower?
    -Questionable hitboxes. This game has the WORST hitbox detection I have EVER seen. Thrust weapons have the worst tracking ever, and you're VERY likely to miss, ESPECIALLY after a roll, with your character not properly aligning themselves to the enemy, but just hitting in the direction they just rolled. And sometimes i-frames work poorly, and more often than not you get hit from an attack while rolling with no vfx or sfx, you simply lose HP. Bosses also have some absurd lingering hitboxes as well, making rolling incredibly painful.
    -Slow healing. Estus flask starts from one use which is questionable in and of itself, and you have to find rare estus shards to upgrade those number of uses, and even then the healing is SUPER slow. Life gems, this game's version of DeS grass basically, heal even SLOWER. This makes getting hit unbearably punishing, as you not only need to find the right timing to use the item, but also to fill your HP.
    -Agility. This stat is bogus, as it directly determines your i-frames, and the speed at which you use items. It's basically a stat you're forced to upgrade if you want to have the slightest chance at surviving.    … Expand
  31. RoninNinjaXL
    Sep 18, 2020
    6
    THIS AIN'T A DARK SOULS GAME

    Story: 6
    Gameplay: 5
    ost: 8
    Characters: 8

Awards & Rankings

14
#14 Best PS4 Game of 2015
28
#28 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2015
36
#36 Most Shared PS4 Game of 2015

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
87

Generally favorable reviews - based on 42 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 40 out of 42
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 42
  3. Negative: 0 out of 42
  1. Gaming Nexus
    Jun 23, 2015
    90
    Whether you're new to Dark Souls II or played it on older consoles, Scholar of the First Sin is worth revisiting. This PlayStation 4 collection features the original game, along with the three expansion packs.
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  2. The Digital Fix
    Jun 5, 2015
    90
    Going backwards from Bloodborne feels almost archaic, and it takes some time to settle into that once familiar gameplay. However Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin offers the chance to revisit that still fantastic and familiar world with a slight twist to proceedings and a respectable face lift.
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  3. GameOver.gr
    Jun 2, 2015
    100
    The changes have made this edition slightly more difficult, but the core of the game remains true to the superb game design of the original.
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