DARK SOULS™ II: Scholar of the First Sin Review Summary

Great atmosphere and visuals with an interesting dual-wield system and lots of content, but poor enemy placement, imprecise controls, and forgettable easy bosses.

Great atmosphere and visuals: Multiple players praise the attractive atmosphere, visuals, and art design of Dark Souls 2, including the unique fantasy vibe and the stunning areas enhanced by the lighting engine.

Interesting dual-wield system: The dual-wielding system, especially power stancing, is highlighted as an interesting mechanic that expands playstyles and build potential, allowing varied movesets.

Large content volume: The game has a lot of content, being the longest base game with complete DLCs, offering high replayability despite potential grinding.

Majula is beautiful hub: Majula is repeatedly praised as the most beautiful hub in the Souls series, with a strong atmosphere and clear artistic vision, comparable or better than Firelink Shrine.

Convenient bonfire travel: The ability to warp to any bonfire from the start is a convenient feature, along with bonfire ascetics that allow converting areas to NG+ and refighting bosses.

Enemy placement is poorly designed: Enemies are frequently placed in frustrating ways, such as stacking them in narrow spaces, off-camera ambushes, or in overly dense groups. This makes combat feel unfair and time-consuming, particularly in areas like Iron Keep.

Controls are imprecise and janky: Multiple clusters highlight that the controls feel unresponsive, clunky, and poorly designed, especially on keyboard and mouse. The game suffers from imprecise movement, hit recognition, and key binding issues.

Bosses are too easy and forgettable: Most bosses are not challenging and have only 2-4 basic attacks, making them boring and unmemorable. The exception is a few difficult bosses, but the overall boss roster is disappointing.

Level design is poor and illogical: The level design is described as disjointed, unintuitive, and lacking the interconnectedness seen in previous games. Many areas feel awkward to navigate, with hidden doors and illogical layouts.

Mouse and keyboard support is broken: The game is unplayable with mouse and keyboard due to poor key binding, lack of proper UI, and Xbox controller prompts. This is a critical oversight for a PC release.

Linear level design criticized: Level design is more linear than Dark Souls 1, with dead ends and less interconnection, making the world feel less cohesive.

Base game boss difficulty: Bosses in the base game are considered easy, with limited movesets and not challenging enough for experienced players.

Backtracking required: Significant backtracking is needed to progress, as the world is not fully interconnected like other Souls games.

Boss runs as main challenge: The primary challenge comes from long boss runs rather than the bosses themselves, due to enemy placement and artificial difficulty.

Adaptability stat important: The Adaptability stat governs roll i-frames and item use speed, making it crucial for combat effectiveness and requiring leveling.

Awful mouse and keyboard support: One player reported awful mouse and keyboard support for a PC port, indicating poor input mapping or responsiveness.

Save files lost after reinstall: One player reported that the game lacks a cloud save function, leading to save file loss after reinstalling the system, which is a significant oversight for PC releases.

Crashes require unplugging: One player reported severe crashes that require unplugging the computer to restart, indicating a critical system-level failure.

Crashes on startup: One player reported the game does not open or crashes on startup, suggesting a launching or compatibility issue.

Poor PC performance: One player reported poor overall PC performance, indicating suboptimal frame rates or responsiveness.

Not recommended; avoid wasting time: Multiple clusters strongly advise against playing the game, citing it as a waste of time and money. Players are urged to pursue other activities or games instead.

Preferred alternatives to play instead: Reviewers consistently recommend playing other FromSoftware games like Dark Souls 1, 3, Sekiro, Bloodborne, and Elden Ring, or high-quality indie soulslikes, over the current title.

Not recommended for newcomers to Souls series: The game is deemed too punishing for first-time players of the Souls series, with a steep learning curve and unforgiving mechanics. It is best avoided as an entry point.

Refund or avoid purchasing entirely: Several clusters indicate that players should not buy the game, with some explicitly requesting refunds or suggesting legally questionable means to obtain it. The purchase is considered unwise.

Original version preferred over Scholar of the First Sin: Multiple reviews advise playing the original version of Dark Souls 2 rather than the Scholar of the First Sin edition, citing it as a better experience overall.

Community fair range: $10.00 - $20.00.

Game completion: 57.0h.

Story completion: 20.0h.

Session length: 9.0h.

Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin presents a notoriously punishing early game that tests new players with limited resources and unfamiliar mechanics, but after surviving the first few hours and the initial bosses, the game opens up into a deeply rewarding and addictive experience that justifies the struggle.

Friction: low Adaptability (ADP) stat reducing invincibility frames and healing speed; maximum health loss on each death without Human Effigies; confusing progression paths and lack of guidance; overwhelming enemy ganks and ambush placement; slow and clunky early-game movement and combat; punishing soul memory system limiting co-op and matchmaking.

Unlock drivers: leveling Adaptability and gaining agility; acquiring Human Effigies and understanding their use; learning enemy patterns and proper positioning; finding better equipment and upgrading weapons; getting past the first few areas and bosses; adjusting to the game’s slower, more methodical pacing.

PvP Duelist: Focuses on duels at iconic locations like Iron Keep Bridge, invades or co-ops, experiments with PvP-oriented builds, and values lag-free matchmaking. Motivation: Engage in competitive, fair PvP with deep build variety and active online community. Stance: buy.

Build Theorist: Tries different weapon types, infusions, magic, and powerstancing; studies stat interactions; may use mods to enhance variety. Motivation: Explore and optimize diverse character builds and weapon combinations. Stance: sale.

Atmospheric Wanderer: Cautious, thorough exploration; uses environmental cues; often reads messages; enjoys NPC quests and hidden walls. Motivation: Immerse in the melancholic world, explore hidden secrets, and soak in the atmosphere. Stance: sale.

Performance varies across hardware cohorts, with positive reports for low and high VRAM configurations, but mixed results for mid-range VRAM groups.

Windows <8GB VRAM / <16GB RAM: positive. Most users report the game runs well, though there are isolated complaints about input lag and a 60 FPS lock.

Windows 12-15GB VRAM: mixed. Performance is inconsistent: some users report occasional flashing and black screens, while others experience severe driver issues and crashes.

Windows 8-11GB VRAM: positive. All users report smooth performance, with some noting enhanced visuals through mods.

Steam Deck: Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin on Steam Deck suffers from missing cloud saves, poor keyboard/mouse controls, forced online connectivity, and occasional crashes. While the game is playable with a controller and works on Linux via default Proton, these issues require tinkering and reduce the out-of-box experience, making it not as seamless as the Steam Deck verification suggests.

Linux and Proton: The majority of feedback indicates that Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin runs reliably on Linux via Proton, with stable performance and full achievements. A minority report minor controller recognition issues and missing cloud saves, but these do not prevent gameplay. The game is playable out of the box with default Proton settings.

Monetization: The user reviews focus on the challenging level design, DLC content, and base-game pricing of Dark Souls II. All mentions of cost refer to the one-time purchase price of the game or its expansion DLCs. There is no evidence of any in-game microtransactions, pay-to-win, loot boxes, or real-money shops. The game is a traditional single-player purchase with paid expansions, which falls under the 'Fair' category per the scoring criteria.

Mod reliance: The game has notable input and control bugs (double-click, deadzone) that require community mods to fix, but no reports of crashes on startup. Most mods are for visual or gameplay preference, not mandatory. Mod reliance is moderate but not critical.

External guides: The overwhelming majority of user complaints revolve around the game's poor in-game explanation of mechanics, lack of quest progression guidance, and extensive hidden content that is nearly impossible to discover without consulting external guides or wikis. This forces players to adopt a 'student' mentality, constantly looking up information to understand how to play.