Despite the new setting, the presentation and gameplay, along with certain lore connections, remain similar to Dark Souls, with notable differences including further penalty for repeated deaths via a "hollowing" mechanic.

It was a commercial success and received critical acclaim, with reviewers praising its story, atmosphere, world design and visuals, although they were divided on its difficulty and deemed its boss battles and combat mechanics inferior to the original's.

For more experienced players, the designers placed higher skill cap items early that do more damage if executed correctly.

Historical events in the world and their significance are often implicit or left to player interpretation rather than fully shown or explained.

After fighting through the remains of the royal guards, the player encounters the Queen Nashandra, who reveals that the king failed in his duty and fled his kingdom long ago.

With his kingdom in ruins, the king discovered Nashandra's true purpose and locked himself inside the Undead Crypt.

[5][6] Hidetaka Miyazaki, who served as the director on Dark Souls,[7] acted as a supervisor, while the game was directed by Tomohiro Shibuya and Yui Tanimura.

[7] Dark Souls II features gameplay mechanics similar to its predecessor; Shibuya stated that he had no intention of changing the controls.

[8] Covenants, a feature in the original Dark Souls, that allowed the player to align with different factions, make a reappearance, though it is easier to understand and more accessible.

[11][12] The game features a more advanced AI system, that allows enemies to react to a wider range of actions by the player.

[13] Bandai Namco Games producer Takeshi Miyazoe originally stated in December 2013 that he did not expect there to be downloadable content (DLC) for Dark Souls II.

On PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, Scholar of the First Sin also features remastered visuals with more advanced lighting effects, running at 1080p resolution at 60 frames per second.

[52][51][50] Critics praised the game's story, atmosphere, visuals, and environmental design, though some were critical of the boss quality, combat mechanics, and increased difficulty, adding that, in these regards, it fared poorly in comparison to the previous games (Dark Souls and its spiritual predecessor, Demon's Souls).

[30] IGN's critic Marty Sliva gave the game a score of 9/10: "Dark Souls II is a smart, massive, and incredibly rewarding sequel.

It's crammed with deep systems, tense encounters, and enough clever multiplayer and New Game Plus elements to make me want to restart the second I saw the end credits.

"[36] Daniel Tack of Game Informer gave the game a 9.75 out of 10, stating: "Dark Souls II is an epic adventure from start to finish packed with wondrous environments, imaginative and terrifying foes, and the continual adrenaline-apprehension rush of passing through each fog gate makes this title a must-play.

"[32] Polygon's Phil Kollar also gave it a 9/10, and similarly praised the ambition displayed by the team in creating such a vast RPG universe for the player to explore, the notorious difficulty, and the sense of triumph that comes with eventually defeating the game; he notes that his character died 235 times before completing it.