Although Elden Ring Nightreign is due out sometime in 2025, it seems like the current Elden Ring-dominated era of FromSoftware is coming to an end. Fans of the Japanese developer have enjoyed many similar eras so far, with DLC and re-releases helping certain games like Dark Souls 2 and Demon’s Souls stick around longer than one might expect. The time for something new is likely just over the horizon, and many are taking advantage of this as a time to revisit FromSoftware’s modern classics, like the aforementioned Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls 2.
The idea of the latter title being a “classic” will be contentious for some, but Dark Souls 2 being such a mixed bag means some of its aspects still stand out in a good way. Fans often boast that DS2 is the most mechanically creative Dark Souls entry, and as much as Elden Ring tried to rehabilitate some of Dark Souls 2’s best aspects, like Power Stance, it didn’t bring back everything. What could arguably be the best feature in a recent FromSoftware title is still stuck in Dark Souls 2, and FromSoftware should consider bringing it back in a fully realized form.
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7 Reasons Why Dark Souls 2 Is The Best Souls Game (& 8 Why It Isn’t)
Dark Souls 2 is one of the most polarizing titles of the Souls games, but there are fans who clearly consider it the best of the series.
New Game + Is A FromSoftware Staple, But Dark Souls 2 Excels At It
Every FromSoftware Soulslike, including related modern titles like Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and Armored Core 6, has a New Game + option once players have finished the main story. Sometimes this is automatically loaded in, while other times it lingers as an option in the hub, but it is always there. Armored Core 6 does the most with its successive playthroughs, though that’s arguably because the first three are intended to be seen as one complete story. The other games let players keep their levels and items while increasing the damage and health of enemies.
How Dark Souls 2’s New Game + Works
Dark Souls 2 does do that, but it doesn’t stop there. For one, Dark Souls 2 in NG+ is not the same as it was in New Game. No changes are larger than the early fight against The Duke’s Dear Freja, but there are many extra enemies, repopulated minor chests, and other small alterations scattered throughout Drangleic. Further New Game + cycles only prompt the usual enemy buffs, but Bonfire Ascetics can do that early by permanently raising an area’s NG number when burnt at a local Bonfire. That also grants DS2 boss refights and respawned treasures, allowing players to customize their playthrough and grind Souls in ways no other FromSoftware game allows.
FromSoftware Should Bring Dark Souls 2’s NG+ Back
A New Game Can Complete DS2’s Repeat Playthrough Vision
Unprecedented NG+ freedom is nice, but Dark Souls 2’s implementation of this interesting concept is hampered by a feeling that it’s not as thoroughly different from the first playthrough as FromSoftware wanted it to be. However, the studio now has more experience with New Game + alterations from Armored Core 6, as well as more resources and, likely, ambitions compared to when it made Dark Souls 2. Though a true DS2 Master Quest experience is currently only found through mods, a future FromSoftware title could finish where Dark Souls 2 started and make its successive playthroughs worth staying for.
Expanding on Dark Souls 2’s bespoke NG+ couldn’t come at a better time, as FromSoftware leadership has expressed that Elden Ring is the limit of what it can do with the Soulslike format, and it needs to scale back. A shorter game with more new content in a second or third playthrough is an ideal solution, and something with the length of an average 2010 FromSoftware title should have no trouble impressing players who only want one run. Ideally, this title could have both remixed and wholly original content in its New Game +, finally delivering on what Dark Souls 2 promised all those years ago.
- Released
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April 2, 2015
- ESRB
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T For Teen Due To Blood and Gore, Game Experience May Change During Online Play, Mild Language, Partial Nudity, Violence
- Developer(s)
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FromSoftware
- Publisher(s)
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Namco Bandai, FromSoftware
- Franchise
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Dark Souls
- How Long To Beat
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36 Hours
- OpenCritic Rating
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Mighty
