Modder Makes Dark Souls 2 Look Brand New

A modder who goes by the handle Stayd is aiming to make Dark Souls 2 look better than ever before. Stayd has posted screenshots of the mod in progress to their Twitter account, and the results are intriguing to say the least.

In a few cases, Stayd has brightened the environments and given them more vibrant colors. These are most noticeable in side-by-side comparisons of the Tower of Flame and the Shrine of Amana. When shown next to screenshots of the original game, the difference is quite literally night and day. In other spots, we can see that Stayd has added more textures to the environments, including ruins and moss. The result is a game that feels like it could be an official HD remake, rather than a simple upgrade in picture quality.

However, this isn't simply being done to make an older game look new. In fact, this mod is intended to restore Dark Souls 2 to a state that was originally promised to gamers before its release.

It's easy to forget about now, considering how beloved the Souls series is, but the graphics in Dark Souls 2 caused a bit of an outcry when that game was released. This is because the original footage shown from the game featured a much more detailed and bright look to it.

When the final version of the game arrived in stores, it didn't quite live up to the gameplay footage and trailers we had previously seen. While From Software kind of waffled on explanations for the graphical downgrade, it was eventually reported that it simply came down to an issue of playability. The game couldn't manage a "playable framerate" and maintain the same level of graphical fidelity. 

It's unlikely we'll ever see an official version of the original, gorgeous Dark Souls 2. However, this modded version is a great look at what could have been, and a testament to the ingenuity of fans.