Dark Souls 2 To Have “Slightly Larger World” Than First, More Realistic Atmosphere

Dark Souls 2 has its fair share of hype, but a lot of attention was generated when it was announced that the game would be more streamlined and have a different director from the original. Talking to 4Gamer, supervisor and former Dark Souls director Hidetaka Miyazaki and Dark Souls 2 director Tomohiro Shibuya sat down and discussed some of the changes along with their current roles.

As Miyazaki states, “As far as being a developing games, Mr. Shibuya has far more experience than I do. He understands exactly what it takes to do a great job and we’re on the same page regarding where we’d like to take the Dark Souls franchise. I fully trust him and his judgment.”

The matter of personal reasons came up again, which lead to him being a supervisor on the title, but it does allow him to choose what he likes and doesn’t like about the game. But that’s only regarding the core experience – everything else is up to Shibuya.

Some of the decisions that Miyazaki is currently mulling over include a game server and refraining from DLC weapons and items.

Shibuya was more succinct, stating “Rather than focusing on shading and lighting technologies, I believe that having a more realistic atmosphere while showing better details of the monsters and their expressions would definitely have a bigger impact. My concept is to get Dark Souls and what made it great, and give it a major upgrade.”

He revealed that the game’s world will only be slightly larger than the first game, and that the team is aiming for roughly the same length.

Also, Dark Souls 2 isn’t a direct sequel, taking place in the same world as before but in a different area with different characters. Shibuya is also opting for the same level of map layout, rather than going open-world. Above everything, the emphasis is on making the experience as true to the original – but better – as possible.