Dark Souls 2 is coming to PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and Windows PC next year in a new Scholar of the First Sin package, and publisher Bandai Namco released a trailer today to tease the expanded offering.
Beneath the ominous voiceover, the announcement trailer shows a montage of gameplay footage from all ends of the action role-playing game. What did the publisher and developer From Software think was important to show when announcing the expanded game to the world? In short, it's a mix of memorable moments from the campaign and downloadable content.
Let's see what we can identify.
The trailer begins with 20 seconds of darkness, which fades into a shot of Memories of a Dragon, the grayscale campaign level where players discover the corpse of an enormous dragon and collect the Ancient Dragon Soul.
The next shot covers opening the door at Aldia's Keep. The following shot teases some new content in Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin with some content from Crown of the Sunken King, the first downloadable content for the game.
An over-the-shoulder shot from The Pit follows, showing off the engine's lighting effects. A dolly shot highlighting the clockwork nature of the second DLC, Crown of the Old Iron King, follows. The camera dissolves and we're back to the Crown of the Sunken King and its final boss, the Sinh, the Slumbering Dragon. From there, we return to Crown of the Old Iron King as a cloaked hero activates the contraption around which the DLC is built.
The next shot takes us to the third DLC, Crown of the Ivory King, and showcases its desolate, snow-covered landscape.
The shot following that begins at about 58 seconds into the trailer, and the mangled monstrosity on display is a mystery to us. Does that look familiar to you? If you can identify what we can't, let us know in the comments below.
Next, a Dark Souls 2 warrior slashes his way through a flock of oversized spiders from Brightstone Cave Tseldora before returning to Crown of the Sunken King to wrestle with a gory worm and some Sanctum Soldiers. We then return to the campaign and the optional boss fight with the Ancient Dragon atop the Dragon Shrine.
The next shot shows off a bit of the expanded multiplayer in Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin on PS4, Xbox One and Windows PC, as six players battle in Huntsman's Copse. Then we're back to the campaign and the boss battle with the Looking Glass Knight.
A series of rapid clips follow showing battles with the Fume Knight from Crown of the Old Iron King; Aava, the King's Pet and some Knights of Eleum Loyce from Crown of the Ivory King; the Flexile sentry from No-Man's Wharf in the campaign; the Frozen Covetous Demon from Crown of the Ivory King; Sir Alonne from Crown of the Old Iron King; and finally a shot of the path that leads to the Ancient Dragon.
For more on Dark Souls 2, be sure to read Polygon's review as well as our reviews of Crown of the Sunken King and Crown of the Old Iron King. You can also check out Polygon's video-filled guide for Crown of the Ivory King.