Many fervent
Dark Souls
fans have written off
Dark Souls II
as an accident. But, in the words of Bob Ross who’d no doubt look over Medula with a tear in his eye, the sun setting over an endless sea, bathing the ruins of a once proud civilisation in golden light: it’s a happy accident.
Dark Souls II has all the ‘serious’ series staples, of course. There are ruined castles, dead kings, piles of lore implying terrible histories of avarice and sorrow. But in contrast with those expectations, Dark Souls II folds in endless absurdity, humour, and creativity, particularly in its boss design. This is a grim fantasy world, but it’s one that never takes itself too seriously, which is why I remember more of Dark Souls II beat-by-beat than any other game in the series.
There’s the Executioner’s Chariot boss, a horseman led by spectral horses that races around a coliseum. He’s the kind of bad guy you’d see painted in the window of a pop-up Halloween costume store. Scorpioness Najka is a scorpion centaur with two tails, because the character modeller was hungover that morning or something. The Demon of Song is a huge, blind frog that pukes out the desiccated face of a corpse the size of a party van and waves around two weird stick figure arms like whips.