Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin: PS4 Review

Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin: PS4 Review

Released by From Software
Platform: PS4

Dark Souls II was a tough game, there's no two ways about it.

When it came to PS3 last year, I rued the fact it took time to get to where it needed to and required a lot of the player, which in retrospect was no bad thing at all.

Playing a cursed undead soul, you have to make your way around different worlds, unlocking memories and surviving some pretty nasty challenges to your after-life body while you stumble around Drangelic.

This remaster from the original game collects together the DLC packages with the main game and bundles it all up for many hours of entertainment, wrapping the whole thing in a gorgeous HD remaster that graphically soars above what you may have been expecting, thanks to the grunt of the PS4 system.

But if you're expecting to be fore-armed with knowledge from the previous incarnation of the game, you're likely to be a little surprised; From Software has expected you'd be expecting that so they've switched things up by adding in more creatures, making the game deadlier than it was and giving that sense of reward more of a feeling afterwards.

With new areas, new surprises and a renewed sense of purpose towards completion, this is a remaster that's not just a simple port, but one which makes a valid case for another life outside and another purchase from an already hardened player. It's a smoother looking game, a game that makes the most of the shading and subtleties of the current gen engines, which is great given how much of Drangelic is bathed in cold hard darkness.

By throwing in the 3 DLC, sprucing things up and giving it a once over, this Dark Souls is really a compelling reason for remasters; for Souls fans you can't be without this and if you're enjoying the current Bloodborne from the same studio, you really should think about owning this title too.

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