The end result is a much crisper image, with a good deal less aliasing. So what is downsampling? In very simple terms, it involves rendering the game at a very high resolution before the GPU in your PC scales the image back down to your monitor resolution. It's a tool that's not just limited to Dark Souls 2, either - as the name suggests, it can potentially be used to downsample many other DirectX 9 games. Fortunately, an enterprising modder by the name of Durante stepped forward with an elegant tool called DSfix which allowed users to play the game at much higher resolutions.ĭurante has returned to prominence at the launch of the sequel with GeDoSaTo (Generic DownSampling Tool), a new tool which adds downsampling to Dark Souls 2, allowing for a much clearer image, along with some additional post-processing options, more control over in-game effects, and the option to modify textures in the game, which will be useful for the modding community. The first game in the series was locked at a resolution of 1024x720 - an unfortunate limitation given the performance gap between PC and consoles at the time. There's even more good news for those who choose to play the PC version of Dark Souls 2.

A SATA 3-compatible SSD will almost certainly offer the best experience, but note that you'll need a rather hefty 11.4GB of spare space to install the game. To mitigate the impact of loading interruptions as much as possible, we recommend installing the PC version of the game either to a fast SSD or to a RAID-configured HDD. Given the way the game is hubbed, that can result in an unfortunate amount of immersion-breaking loading time. If a single issue has dogged the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of Dark Souls 2, it's the lengthy loading times that appear when travelling between different regions. It's a decent sacrifice if you must maintain a consistent frame-rate, and certainly the least bothersome concession for the budget PC gamer. Doing so eliminates the problem entirely, and the drop in alpha effect quality is barely noticeable. If you're running Dark Souls 2 on a mid-range gaming PC and you wish to avoid these very occasional performance dips, then you might want to consider reducing the Effects setting down from High to Medium.

These issue soon right themselves, however, and the game quickly reverts to its standard 60fps. Using cheaper cards such as AMD's HD 7850 and HD 7790, you can expect only minor dips to around 50fps when sitting down at bonfires or during physics-intensive scenes such as the exploding barrels in the Forest of Fallen Giants.

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