Namco Bandai announced today that Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin, available on April 3rd 2015 for the PC/STEAM, PS4, PS3, Xbox One and X360. Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin is described as the ultimate Dark Souls II experience, adding to the 2014’s critically acclaimed title, Dark Souls II not only its three DLC chapters; Crown Of The Sunken King, Crown Of The Old Iron King, and Crown Of The Ivory King but as well an array of all-new content.
Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin will add brand new game content including an expanded story featuring additional in-game events and NPC character along with new deadlier enemies and gameplay improvements.
It will also take advantage of the power of the PS4, Xbox One, and DirectX11 capable PCs to provide enhanced graphics for those specific platforms on top of several additional exclusive enhancements (remember that ‘Lighting downgrade’ debate? Guess we were all right when we said that the next-gen version would bring it back to the game).
Herve Hoerdt, Vice President of IP Strategy, Marketing & PR at BANDAI NAMCO Games Europe, said:
“DARK SOULS II launched in March 2014 to critical acclaim garnering a MetaCritic.com rating of 91%. With DARK SOULSTM II: Scholar of the First Sin, FROMSOFTWARE is inviting players back to a whole new undertaking of the kingdom of Drangleic! Thanks to its improved gameplay mechanics, gorgeous next-gen graphics, and new unknown dangers and lore; Scholar of the First Sin takes the meaning of its “Game of the Year” award from the Golden Joysticks Ceremony to a whole new level!”
Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin will also be available for the PS3, X360 and DX9 PCs. This version will include all three DLC missions (Crown Of The Sunken King, Crown Of The Old Iron King, and Crown Of The Ivory King) as well as a large-scale update (ver.1.10) which will add new features including an additional NPC to seek out along the treacherous quest through Drangleic as well as expanded story, in-game events, improved balance, and online matchmaking functionality.
Gamers who already own Dark Souls II on PC, X360 or PS3 will receive the ver.1.10 update free of charge.
Enjoy the game’s first trailer and screenshots!
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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DirectX11 support as a DLC, and I thought I had seen it all…
Not as DLC, as a completely separate full price release (that also includes all the DLC plus some new content). That is not compatible with your old save games. DLC would have been preferable.
it’s free, says so in the article, from have also confirmed this.
Nope, it isn’t free, not entirely.
Now we can buy it.
From screenshots it looks just like PC version of Dark Souls 2 , and since it’s DX11 the ENB won’t work so whats the point of buying this version on PC , thye just slapped DX11 over it and thats it
Uh, no… it includes all the released DLC.
They butchered and downgraded the PC version. Now they trying to sell us again with “DX11 features”. And most importantly, it’s still doesn’t look as good as early version.
Funny fact is, Bloodborne looks exactly like the early PC version of DS2, which means it wasn’t bullsh*t after all. They indeed have the engine capable of such visuals, but they decided to “hold” these visuals for the PS4 exclusive. Unbelievable.
but its free….
New Features:
– New characters and events (Included in all versions of SoFS, will be added in the 1.10 Patch for existing users)
– Story and world additions (Included in all versions of SoFS, will be added in the 1.10 Patch for existing users)
– Graphics and performance upgrades (Only included in next-gen versions of SoFS)
– Improved online multiplayer (Only included in next-gen versions of SoFS)
– Enemy and game design adjustments (Only included in next-gen versions of SoFS)
– Various balancing tweaks (Included in all versions of SoFS, will be added in the 1.10 Patch for existing users)
Included DLC:
– DLC1 (Included in all versions of SoFS, not included in the 1.10 Patch)
– DLC2 (Included in all versions of SoFS, not included in the 1.10 Patch)
– DLC3 (Included in all versions of SoFS, not included in the 1.10 Patch)
Nothing about those screens look improved over the original. You can already use Gedosato or ENB to get visuals far better than that without having to pay full price a second time for a game you already own.
Why is everyone implying you have to buy it again? It a free update for those that have the pc version already.
No it isn’t. The balance updates will be free for everyone in a patch, the other improvements have to be bought.
Pathetic .
So I was right that they removed lighting effects for a reason .
Glad I cancelled my preorder then 😉