ZackFurniss
Dark Souls II is hotly anticipated by many. We here at Rely on Horror decided to cover the series despite it not being specifically horror per se because it features so many things we enjoyed about the survivor horror games of old (resource management, high tension, and apprehension turning every corner).
The screenshots here show off the new covenants that you can choose to join. They seem to be similar to the covenants in the first Dark Souls, so I’m curious to see if they are narratively connected. The blue phantoms you see are part of the Way of the Blue and the Blue Sentinels covenants. If someone who joins the Way of the Blue is in immediate danger, a Blue Sentinel will be summoned to rescue him. These are obviously the “good guys” in Dark Souls II, though the lines aren’t usually so clear. The red phantoms belong to the Brotherhood of Blood. These bad dudes are going to traveling the world and killing other player characters to sacrifice blood to their god, Nahr Alma. Jerks. The gold phantoms are Heirs to the Sun, echoing the Warriors of Sunlight from the previous game. If they’re similar to the warriors, they can help other player characters during boss fights. The black phantoms are new: they are the Bell Guardians. Not much is known about them yet, but it’s assumed that they will try to prevent other players from ringing the two bells in the game necessary to proceed in the main adventure.
If you haven’t played a game in the series before, this all probably sounds a tad overwhelming. All I can say is welcome to Dark Souls. It requires some effort from the player but it’s wholly worth it. The sequel looks to be a worth successor in both content and graphical fidelity. I for one can’t wait to die over and over on March 11th.
