What do you think?
Rate this book
Dark Souls 2 Design Works
Collecting the dark and haunting artwork behind the critically-acclaimed Dark Souls II in a prestigious hardcover tome. Dark Souls II: Design Works features armor and weapon designs, character concepts, creatures, locations, rough sketches, an exclusive interview with the game's creators, and more!
- GenresArtVideo Games
240 pages, Hardcover
Published October 1, 2015
1 person is currently reading
27 people want to read
About the author
From Software
9 books7 followersFromSoftware, Inc. is a Japanese video game development company founded in November 1986. The company is known primarily outside Japan for being the developers of the Armored Core and Souls series, as well as Bloodborne.
FromSoftware have developed for a wide range of platforms, including the Dreamcast, Nintendo DS, GameCube, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation Portable, Wii, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, and various mobile devices.
With fifteen titles developed, the Armored Core series is the studio's longest running franchise. The most recent title, Armored Core: Verdict Day, was released worldwide in September 2013 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Earlier, less notable outside Japan, titles include the Enchanted Arms, King's Field, Chromehounds, Otogi, and Tenchu series, all of which have been met with mostly favorable reviews.
In 2009, they released Demon's Souls for the PlayStation 3, which brought them international exposure. Its spiritual successor, Dark Souls, was released in 2011. In March 2014, Dark Souls II, was released, while Dark Souls III was released in 2016.[8] A title inspired by the Souls series, Bloodborne, was released in March 2015. The Souls series, along with Bloodborne, received widespread critical acclaim, as well as strong sales domestically and internationally.[9][10][11] They have also received a number of awards, primarily those for the role-playing genre, including multiple "RPG of the Year" and Game of the Year awards.[12][13][14][15] Since release, Dark Souls and Bloodborne have been cited by many publications to be among the greatest games of all time.
n April 2016, FromSoftware revealed that they were working on a new intellectual property, as well as stating their intent to return to the Armored Core series.[19] Two games, the PlayStation VR exclusive Déraciné and the multiplatform Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, were announced at E3 2018.
FromSoftware have developed for a wide range of platforms, including the Dreamcast, Nintendo DS, GameCube, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation Portable, Wii, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, and various mobile devices.
With fifteen titles developed, the Armored Core series is the studio's longest running franchise. The most recent title, Armored Core: Verdict Day, was released worldwide in September 2013 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Earlier, less notable outside Japan, titles include the Enchanted Arms, King's Field, Chromehounds, Otogi, and Tenchu series, all of which have been met with mostly favorable reviews.
In 2009, they released Demon's Souls for the PlayStation 3, which brought them international exposure. Its spiritual successor, Dark Souls, was released in 2011. In March 2014, Dark Souls II, was released, while Dark Souls III was released in 2016.[8] A title inspired by the Souls series, Bloodborne, was released in March 2015. The Souls series, along with Bloodborne, received widespread critical acclaim, as well as strong sales domestically and internationally.[9][10][11] They have also received a number of awards, primarily those for the role-playing genre, including multiple "RPG of the Year" and Game of the Year awards.[12][13][14][15] Since release, Dark Souls and Bloodborne have been cited by many publications to be among the greatest games of all time.
n April 2016, FromSoftware revealed that they were working on a new intellectual property, as well as stating their intent to return to the Armored Core series.[19] Two games, the PlayStation VR exclusive Déraciné and the multiplatform Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, were announced at E3 2018.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 25, 2019
[As with the first design works, since it's more illustrations than text, keeping it as a semi short review.]
I got this one for my bf for V-day and while he was reading it, I went back and read the first, and then finally got around to reading/looking at this one.
I feel like after others were asking why/commenting that the first design works felt so incomplete [especially since a lot of official art that was able to be seen online wasn't in the book for some reason] they learned from this and the second design works definitely feels more complete and rounded. There is still official art that was left out, but it seems like it was more apparent some of that art came from exclusive scenarios that were posted by fans vs officially posted. It's definitely more complete than the first.
The commentary on the designs as well as lots of interviews at the end of the book were very well done/thorough and it was awesome to read what went into such an incredible series. Like with the first [and I'll say it for all, lol] - It's very high quality, both physically and the content within. It's so nice to be able to see art/diagrams of the many enemies in the games, since most of the time the game is so dark, and moves so fast, you don't get to see the detail that goes into the things you fight most of the time.
If you're a fan of the Soulsborne series at all, definitely suggest. It's obviously pretty spoiler-y if you haven't played DS2, however.
I got this one for my bf for V-day and while he was reading it, I went back and read the first, and then finally got around to reading/looking at this one.
I feel like after others were asking why/commenting that the first design works felt so incomplete [especially since a lot of official art that was able to be seen online wasn't in the book for some reason] they learned from this and the second design works definitely feels more complete and rounded. There is still official art that was left out, but it seems like it was more apparent some of that art came from exclusive scenarios that were posted by fans vs officially posted. It's definitely more complete than the first.
The commentary on the designs as well as lots of interviews at the end of the book were very well done/thorough and it was awesome to read what went into such an incredible series. Like with the first [and I'll say it for all, lol] - It's very high quality, both physically and the content within. It's so nice to be able to see art/diagrams of the many enemies in the games, since most of the time the game is so dark, and moves so fast, you don't get to see the detail that goes into the things you fight most of the time.
If you're a fan of the Soulsborne series at all, definitely suggest. It's obviously pretty spoiler-y if you haven't played DS2, however.
Read
March 30, 2017I'm a huge fan of Dark Souls. I own five copies of the first game -- literally every avaliable edition and on multiple platforms. The same goes for the PC version, and Dark Souls 3. So, naturally, as a collector who loves this franchise, I had to have both the design works books!
The first book was short, and at it's price, left a little to be desired. $55 for a book you'll thumb through a few times is a pretty steep price, but the quality was mint. This book is much the same, but the authors have really upped their game. This book is considerably longer than the first design works and still has the same amount of quality, including a lengthy interview with a couple of the talents who worked on the game.
My only real complaint is that some sections felt sparse. I would have liked to see more commentary throughout the book expressing some of the design choices. The equipment and armour page section was incredibly short considering how much stuff there is actually in the game. All in all, I'm satisfied. It'll look great on my Dark Souls shelf.
The first book was short, and at it's price, left a little to be desired. $55 for a book you'll thumb through a few times is a pretty steep price, but the quality was mint. This book is much the same, but the authors have really upped their game. This book is considerably longer than the first design works and still has the same amount of quality, including a lengthy interview with a couple of the talents who worked on the game.
My only real complaint is that some sections felt sparse. I would have liked to see more commentary throughout the book expressing some of the design choices. The equipment and armour page section was incredibly short considering how much stuff there is actually in the game. All in all, I'm satisfied. It'll look great on my Dark Souls shelf.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews