FromSoftware’sDark Souls 2routinely shows up on lists as the worst Souls game. It had a shaky launch, and it remains one of the series' most polarizing games. Some people played it in the vanilla state, while others experienced post-launch updates and DLCs.Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sinis widely considered a masterpiece.
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There’s a heap of confusion surrounding the terminology. The Souls games are comprised ofDemon’s Souls,Dark Souls,Dark Souls 2, andDark Souls 3. This differs from Souls-likes, which include games likeSekiro: Shadows Die TwiceandBloodborne.Which of the Souls games is indeed the greatest? There is an argument to say it’sDark Souls 2,a game that is often considered the black sheep of the Souls family.
Updated July 13, 2025, by Ritwik Mitra:Dark Souls 2 is considered by many to be the worst game in the trilogy. The lack of Hidetaka Miyazaki’s involvement is clear for everyone to see, which is one of the major reasons why many players aren’t really too fond of this game. That being said, there is a substantial portion of the fanbase that will actually defend the Dark Souls sequel with all their heart and passionately describe why the game isn’t nearly as bad as some people like to make it out to be. Both sides of the fanbase and their arguments are represented below.
15Adaptability (Why It Isn’t)
Adaptability is one of the worst stat inclusions inDark Souls 2by a country mile. Given how important rolling is in theDark Soulsseries, the fact that i-frames for this dodge move were locked behind a stat made things extremely frustrating for players.
Now, all of a sudden, players had to waste Souls on another stat that governed attributes of the game that should’ve either been attached to different stats or just didn’t need to be nerfed from the get-go. This basically made frame-perfect dodges useless until players dumped points into this stat, which was a major pain.
14Majula (Why It’s The Best Souls Game)
Dark Soulsis a series known for its amazing hub areas, andDark Souls 2doesn’t disappoint in this regard. Getting to reach Majula and experience the amazing sights that players can witness made for a great time indeed.
While the areas surrounding these hubs weren’t the greatest, Majula itself was a ton of fun to explore. Even the biggest naysayers ofDark Souls 2can’t deny the fact that Majula was in a class of its own as a hub area!
13Enemy Placement (Why It Isn’t)
A ton of things inDark Souls 2made it seem like a half-hearted sequel thatlearned all the wrong things aboutDark Souls. The first game was never about its difficulty, butDark Souls 2seems to pride itself on its challenging nature so much that it can feel as though it’s shoving it down the player’s throat at every possible opportunity.
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This can be seen in the enemy placement present in the game, which sacrifices clever and varied enemy encounters for meaningless enemy placement that derives its difficulty through quantity over quality. It’s one of the biggest gripes that players have with this game, and understandably so!
12Power Stancing (Why It’s The Best Souls Game)
Dark Souls 2might have made several questionable decisions when it came to the combat mechanics of the game, but there’s one thing where the innovation was pretty solid. Any Dark Souls veteran knows what is about to follow here.
Power Stancing is one of the freshest and most engaging ways to approach combat in Dark Souls 2. The fact that Elden Ring features this mechanic as well proves that the team behindDark Souls 2at least got one thing right in the eyes of players.
11Parry And Backstab Animations (Why It Isn’t)
By far one of the worst changesDark Souls 2ever made to combat was altering the parry and backstab animations. While this might not seem like a big deal to some, many players who loved landing parries and backstabs in the game found these animations to be too elaborate and too long for their liking.
It doesn’t help that enemies float through most objects in the game, making regular combat pretty unsatisfying as well. To change the parry and backstab animations in such a horrendous manner just adds more fuel to the fire forDark Souls 2haters.
10Difficulty Level (Why It’s The Best Souls Game)
TheDark Soulsseries is renowned for its punishing difficulty, yet each game has varying difficulties. Why FromSoftware decided to make the games' difficulty inconsistent is unknown, but it could have been to encourage new players.
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Dark Souls 2stands out for having an ideal difficulty level. The firstDark Soulsis considered too hard, and the third is too easy. It could be said thatDark Souls 2got the difficulty just right.
9Map Design (Why It Isn’t)
Dark Souls 2’s map design forces players to backtrack, unlike inDark Souls 3. To the credit of the game, the individual levels are fine.It’s how they come together that is unsettling.
Only a few shortcuts in the game are worthwhile, and bonfire placement is nonsensical at times. Bonfires should be smartly placed after grueling encounters. Instead, we get too many bonfires, detracting from the gameplay.
8Numerous Patches Post-Launch (Why It’s The Best Souls Game)
After the release ofDark Souls 2, it became abundantly clear thatFromSoftware hadn’t released their best game.Thankfully, post-launch patches ensured thatDark Souls 2wouldn’t be the Souls franchise’s black sheep.
Unfortunately, many people experienced the launch version ofDark Souls 2.The game’s enemy placement and difficulty were reworked, among other things. FromSoftware’s commitment made the difference, and it could be the series' best game.
7Item Selection (Why It Isn’t)
WhileDark Souls 2’s item selection was a noticeable improvement overDark SoulsandDemon’s Souls, it didn’t measure up toDark Souls 3’s. Weapons like the Crypt Blacksword, Black Knight Greataxe, Smelter Hammer, and Fume Ultra Greatsword are iconic.
However,Dark Souls 3’s greatswords and hammers, like theOld King’s Great Hammer,provided a humbling experience.Dark Souls 3has arguably the best loot system, butDark Souls 2’s is certainly not the worst.
6PVP (Why It’s The Best Souls Game)
Dark SoulsPVP tests players' skills against each other.There is a laundry list of problems inDark Souls 2, but it’s the PVP (player versus player) combat that is all-around excellent. Glitches and bugs plague PVP in the originalDark Souls;players exploit these regularly.
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Dark Souls 2has better locations and combat mechanics compared to its predecessor.Dark Souls 3failed to make meaningful changes to PVP, and players die too fast.Dark Souls 2’s PVP has to be the best in the Souls franchise.
