Summary
Sunday, March 31 is going to be a sad day forDark Soulsfans, as that’s the day the PS3 and Xbox 360 servers forDark Souls 2are being shut down. FromSoftware’sDark Soulstrilogy earned widespread critical acclaim and popularized the Soulslike genre that is so prevalent today. However,Dark Souls 2is often pointed to as the black sheep of the series.
Dark Souls 2was not directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki, who served as the director of the original game andDark Souls 3. Instead, the legendary director took on a supervisor role withDark Souls 2.Dark Souls 2features some significant departuresfrom the otherDark Soulsgames, with an increased difficulty, tying invincibility frames to the Agility stat, lowering players' maximum health upon death, and other changes that were not received well. Others have praised the game as one of the best in the series and enjoy how it stands out.
Regardless of how one feels aboutDark Souls 2, March 31 is going to mark the end of an era for the game. On that day, FromSoftware will beshutting down theDark Souls 2servers on PS3 and Xbox 360, the game’s original platforms. This will effectively make it impossible for those on PS3 or Xbox 360 to experienceDark Souls 2’s PvP and co-op modes, though offline play will still be available. TheDark Souls 2servers will officially close at 5:00 PDT/14:00 CEST/21:00 JST.
When Are the Dark Souls 2 Servers Shutting Down?
It’s always sad whenever a game’s servers are shut down, but the good news is thatDark Souls 2’s online featureswill still be accessible on newer platforms through theScholar of the First Sinedition. Released about a year after the originalDark Souls 2launched,Scholar of the First Sinbrought the game to PS4 and Xbox One. This version ofDark Souls 2will keep its online servers for now, so gamers can still use its online features.
It’s possible that theDark Souls 2servers will eventually shut down for all versions of the game, though that remains to be seen. FromSoftware keeps the online alive for its games for quite a long time, even if the communities for those games have largely moved on tonewer FromSoftware projects.
Right now, it’s likely that FromSoftware’s most-populated game isElden Ring, as many fans have returned to the massive open world game in anticipation of theShadow of the Erdtreeexpansion. TheShadow of the ErdtreeDLC forElden Ringis scheduled to drop on June 21, so anyone needing their FromSoftware multiplayer fix should be sure to jump back intoElden Ringat that point.
