Dark Souls II

To begin the game, players customize the sex and physical features of a character in addition to choosing a gift and starting class, which determines starting statistics and equipment. From a third-person perspective, players explore a continuous, open world, where they are confronted by a hostile environment with unrelenting enemies and bosses. As enemies are defeated, "souls" are accumulated, which can be used as either currency or experience points, with players upgrading various character attributes to reflect a certain style of play.

The player moves through the world with little guidance or orientation, facing deadly opponents which generally increase in difficulty. The player can save their progress by lighting "bonfires," at which they can also rest to renew their health and magic, as well as repairing damage to their weapons. Resting at a bonfire also resets enemies in the particular area where that bonfire is located. The player can instantaneously travel between discovered bonfires in order to make backtracking less tedious. When a player is defeated, they "die", losing all the souls in their possession and returning to the last bonfire where they rested. When this happens, not only have they lost all their souls, but they are no longer human (called being "hollow"), and their maximum hit points have been decreased. The player can retrieve their lost souls at the location they died, but must do so before dying again, otherwise all souls accumulated up to that point will be permanently lost. As souls are accumulated, the player has the choice to either trade them in to increase one of more than a dozen attributes (e.g. strength — to increase the damage inflicted, vigor — to increase the maximum amount of damage taken, or vitality — to increase the amount of equipment one can carry without impairing movement), or to use them to purchase items, equipment, or weapons. A third option, as one progresses in the game, is to use souls (usually in combination with another acquired item) to upgrade weapons and armor. The end of each section of gameplay consists of battling a boss — a much more powerful enemy that rewards the player with a "boss soul," which can be consumed for a large numbers of souls or traded for certain pieces of equipment. After defeating the final boss, the player may enter New Game+ mode.

In the early stages of the game, once a player becomes hollow there are only two ways for them to regain their humanity: to use a "human effigy," or to be summoned into another player's world and assist in conquering a boss. There are several advantages to being human, with the main one being the ability to summon other players into your world, discussed below.

Multiplayer features heavily in Dark Souls II. Players can call up to two players to join them, in order to help them through a level and/or to battle a boss. As a player, you can put down a "sign", which other players can activate, calling you into their "world". You may only call other players into your world if you are in human form, although you may be summoned in either human or hollow mode. Players can also participate in player versus player (PvP) gameplay, by either invading other players' games, or by leaving a dark spirit summoning sign. There are specific areas set aside for dueling, with neither player being penalized for defeat. While random invasions still occur, many are part of belonging to a particular covenant. Several areas, mostly for covenants (groups the player can join), also include being summoned as a "gray spirit" to defend or invade the specific region for specific rewards and progression within that covenant. For example, the player can join the Bell Keepers covenant, to defend the in-game regions of Belfry Luna or Sol. Upon joining the covenant, the player receives a ring that will automatically summon the player to defend the bell in the latter areas from other players who attempt to ring them. Every covenant receives a covenant-specific ring, which all have their own covenant-related effect, usually a way to summon each other or keep track of PvP kills for the covenant.

Enemies do not respawn indefinitely; after they are defeated a set number of times, they disappear for the remainder of the current playthrough. They can be returned using a Bonfire Ascetic, at the cost of permanently increasing the difficulty of that area. While this makes certain areas easier to traverse if the player dies many times, it also makes farming upgrade materials and equipment more difficult. The other major difference is the player's maximum HP is reduced upon each death, until their maximum HP reaches 50% of the full health bar. This can only be overcome by a player regaining their humanity or through the use of the Ring of Binding, which limits health reduction to 75% rather than 50%.

Magic plays a major role, with many enemies and bosses being weak to particular forms of damage, such as lightning or fire, either from magical weapons or spells. Both require the player to have a certain skill levels, such as a minimum intelligence to cast a spells or strength to wield a sword, as well as considering the overall weight of the player's equipment set.

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