Dark Souls 2 Director Making Game More Accessible, Not Easier For Players; Set for March 2014 Release Date

Dark Souls 2 is eagerly anticipated by fans of the cult classic series of games developed by From Software, which are known for their unforgiving difficulty. However, some fans were worried when game director Yui Tanimura stated that he intends to make Dark Souls 2 more accessible. In a new interview with GameInformer, Tanimura discusses the distinction between "accessible" and "easier":

"The reason why we used the word accessible was not to say that the game is going to be easier by any means. We're maintaining the difficulty and we think the challenges are required. What we meant was, there are certain aspects of the game where it didn't really have a direct connection to the sense of satisfaction of overcoming. There were things that were a little bit time consuming or a little bit tedious that we wanted to streamline - sort of carve away all the fat so we could really deliver the lean pure expression of what Dark Souls tries to communicate, which is the sense of satisfaction of overcoming. In terms of accessibility, what we meant was a more streamlined experience to deliver the more pure essence of Dark Souls."

While it sounds like Dark Souls 2 will continue the From Software tradition of giving gamers fits of rage over the course of the game, at least Tanimura is dedicated to make those frustrating experiences worth it once players are able to overcome them.

Tanimura also discussed what he personally added to the game. He reveals he spends much of his time focused on making sure the game is balanced properly, which adds to the overall accessibility vibe the director is going for:

"I take care of a lot of the balancing of the game - with the difficulty, the trickiness, of the frustration that you feel. I intend to spend a lot of my time trying to balance placements of the enemies, the parameters of the enemies so that players can face that difficulty, face those challenges, but also conquer enough to sense that satisfaction."

Dark Souls 2 will be out March 2014 for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC.