A remake of Dark Souls 2 is on the way in the form of Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin, and will arrive in 2015 on PS4 and Xbox One.
Publisher Namco Bandai announced that the game will be released on current and ‘next-gen’ consoles in April next year, a couple of months after the eagerly anticipated Bloodborne.
Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin will include numerous changes such as improved graphics (on PS4 and Xbox One), thanks to the hardware and additional gameplay challenges, as well as all of the previously released DLC.
All versions will include:
- Additional NPCs for an improved story experience.
- Parameter adjustments for improved game balance.
- Improved Online matchmaking.
- Augmented item descriptions.
PS3 and Xbox 360 players will receive these changes as part of a patch, so if you already own the game there isn’t much of a case for buying it again, especially if you have purchased the Crowns DLC like me.
One of the flaws of the game I thought was the lack of NPCs, prominent in the DLC. The story is still compelling, however if the addition of more NPCs can bring with them more clarity and a better overall story experience then it can only aid the game, and not having to pay for them (owning the game on PS3) is a bonus.
On ‘next-gen’ systems the most notable improvements are to graphics, sound, performance and the total number of online players being changed to six. I would have loved the game to have been released on PS4 and Xbox One when it came out originally but I understand that Namco and From Soft wanted this to be a complete package.
If Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin is significantly discounted for people that already own the game then this would help sway many gamers back into the unforgiving lands of Dragleic, ready to die over and over in 1080p.
Announcement Trailer:
http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0GxBZcVmHc
Hopefully this can bring me to play through Dark Souls 2 for a third time, but we’ll have to wait and see. I would recommend that new players pick up Scholar of the First Sin, or those who have an Xbox or PC and can’t play Boodborne.