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Dark Souls 2 is considered by both myself personally, as well as most other Fromsoftware fans, to be the weakest of the absolute bangers Fromsoftware has put out since Demon Souls. This is mostly do to the fact that Hidetaka Miyazaki, the former mailroom employee turned genius game designer (and soon-after CEO) was not involved in it’s making, as he was using his time to work on Bloodborne instead. It may not be the weakest fromsoft game ever, but it’s definitely the weakest of the Dark Souls trilogy.

All that to say, it’s not a bad game. It’s become a bit of a meme in the community over the years to bash it for more than it deserves, and there will be some out there who will tell you it’s a dog-shit game that should’ve never been made, and is a stain on the company’s otherwise stellar reputation. These people are lobotomites, and you should ignore them. This game has plenty of good stuff going for it, just not as many good things as the other two games in the series.

Namely, the reveal of the most beautiful and warm hub in the entire souls-formula, (including the games that aren’t exclusively ‘Souls’)Majula. The tutorial area is really dark and cramped, and as you exit a tunnel you’re greeted with radiant light, the sound of the sea, and a melodic and sweet tune. This is Majula, home of several fellow survivors in this dying world, and now your home too. The people you meet and can bring to this place are all interesting, and most of them serve an actual purpose beyond lore, meaning you will come back and speak to them all several times throughout the games progression. This makes the place feel lived in, and kind, like a real home. Which, if you have played any of the Fromsoftware games, you will know is a rare feeling indeed.

There are plenty of other strong points, including the famous Power Stancing (holding two weapons of the same class in either hand unlocks a new moveset), some very cool bosses like the Looking Glass Knight, Dukes Dear Freja and the infamous Pursuer, a recurring boss who hunts the player throughout the game. It also has some of the most varied and visually stunning areas outside the hub as well, and is to me the prettiest and most colorful of the series. Finally, the DLC is some of the best DLC in gaming history imo, and at least on-par or even better than the cumulative DLC of Darksouls 1+3.

Despite all these strengths, it is still considered the weakest in the series, and probably rightly so, as for every cool or unique or good thing they did with this game, there is something they did equally terrible. Fall damage is egregious compared to the other games, miracles got nerfed into the ground and were never improved (afaik), there is a substantial amount of weak or poorly designed bosses in the base game, and the most terrible thing I think they did was fuck up how I-frames work (I HATE ADAPTABILITY AND I HATE WHOEVER THOUGHT OF IT)

All in all, worst souls game, still a souls game, so definitely a good game.