Opinion: IGN's Dark Souls 2 First Look

(Credit: http://killscreendaily.com)

Dark Souls 2. Wow. My excitement is undeniable. The sneak peek was on the level of "oh my god" from my perspective. It is dark, it has dragons, it is gritty, oh and did I mention it has dragons... a lot of dragons.

This is currently my most anticipated release. Allow me to explain why.

Dark Souls and Demon Souls are two of my favourite RPG games. The extreme challenges that these games present to the player normally results in a thrown controller or a ragequit, however the satisfaction in completing these challenges is great.

Dark Souls 2 looks to be the same, which erases all of my previous doubts of the game.

After hearing about the "easy" mode being introduced I had some doubts, but the game seems to be darker, more aggressive and even less forgiving then the other two. The sneak peek from IGN shows some very interesting new mechanics. Let's start with what they covered.

The first new mechanic they introduced was the adaptation of enemies combat styles depending on how you fight them. I found this interesting as in Dark Souls many enemies could be defeated by simply rolling around them and this seems to bring an end to that.

The second new mechanic was the absolute pitch black some areas offer. In Dark Souls and Demon Souls, the light given off your character was almost always enough to survive with. In the preview, when the player switches out the torch, the view is very limited. This makes me believe the torch may actually be useful in this installment.

It also seems a lot of new area mechanics are being introduced which frightens me, but in the best way possible. Sen's Fortress anyone?

The enemies having the ability to break through walls was interesting and I am anxious to see what other new surprises they have in-store for us. The new death cinematics and ways to die also seem interesting enough.

Now for the things they didn't cover.

A couple things that were not mentioned within the video were lack of estus flasks and instead something called health stones. From the vast quantity carried on the player I am personally hoping he had bonfires upgraded or they heal less. The proper use of estus flasks was essential in the previous games, because it forced the player to come up with a strategy about when best to use them.

Another thing I noticed was humanity was no longer measured beside the health bar, instead it seemed to be replaced by a golden circle. This intrigues me, as I am not sure whether that is to measure humanity, or if it is something that has since replaced it.

And last but not least was the amount of weapons they cycled through and the animations of those weapons attacks. The bow now has a sight, axes now start with an under swing and the great sword now swings more like Dark Souls' great axe.

All in all my excitement is evident: I cannot wait for this game. The challenges, the anger, the monsters and the dying! All in one place! The newest trailer can be found here.

The release date has yet to be confirmed but, as more screenshots and footage continue to appear online, one can only hope for a short wait.

Praise the sun everyone. Praise the sun.

Will you be picking up a copy of Dark Souls II?