Posted Wed Apr 1, 2015 at 03:58 PM PDT by Brian Hoss
So complicated.
Bandai Namco, in their wisdom, has elected to release the PC version of 'Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin' in North America today. For North America, the PS4 and Xbox One version don't drop until April 7th, so this PC release is the earliest for that market. Of course, with this release, 'Dark Souls II' becomes a very confusing multi-sku game. Here's a tabel that attempts to explain the different versions and their prices:
PlayStation 4 system and XBOX One |
$59.99 |
STEAM with DirectX 11 upgrade (DARK SOULS II Owners with DLC /without DLC) |
$19.99/$29.99 |
STEAM with DirectX 11 full game |
$49.99 |
STEAM with DirectX 9 full game |
$39.99 |
PlayStation 3 system and Xbox 360 |
$39.99 |
In essence there is the vanilla DX 9 'Dark Souls II' which was released on PC, 360, and PS3 last year. That version is getting some free updates, like a new NPC, and can be used with the three part DLC that has already been released. These new offerings, however, have a mix of gameplay and technical changes which aren't cross compatible with the old versions. (That includes both save and online play.)
As such, the DX11 'Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin' on the PC includes updated graphics and performance, new enemy placement, the new Forlorn invader, increased online multiplayer count, and additional gameplay enhancements. The gameplay updates (and some of the visual updates) found in this new PC version are the same as the PS4 and Xbox One versions.
You can find the latest info on 'Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin' linked from our Video Game Release Schedule.
Source: Bandai Namco
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