Dark Souls 2 Will Hardly Explain Anything, Yet Reduce Player Frustration

If you’re looking for a game to explain each and every mechanic, you might want to pass up Dark Souls 2. Namco Bandai producer and Dark Souls 2 spokesperson, Tak Miyazoe, recently spoke to VG247 about the upcoming From Software project, indicating that effort is being put into reducing frustration from not knowing what to do next. The game’s going to be clearer, but that doesn’t mean that’s going to be accomplished through full explanations of gameplay mechanics.

“There’ll always be things that aren’t fully explained because that’s part of From’s design ethos and it’s important to maintain that sense of realization when you figure something out for yourself,” Miyazoe explained. “But we want to minimize those elements that make you feel like something is so obscure it’s pointless, because if you get to that stage then you’re really just a step away from stopping caring about it.

“There were some elements like that in Dark Souls and while Dark Souls 2 won’t explain everything to you – in fact it will hardly explain anything to you – it’s about being able to offer that faint light of hope that makes you want to find more information about something and then giving you the tools to do so. Maintaining that mystery is an important part of Dark Souls 2 but it’s just about streamlining that process a little bit and reinforcing player choice.”

If you really need the verbal help, you could also use the game’s new voice chat feature.