Dark Souls 2 giving series a ‘major upgrade’

New Dark Souls 2 director Tomohiro Shibuya revealed more of his plans for the game.

Shibuya is taking over for Hidetaka Miyazaki and making changes to the series' style for the upcoming game, which is releasing for PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.

"Rather than focusing on shading and lighting technologies, I believe that having a more realistic atmosphere while showing better details of the monsters and their expressions would definitely have a bigger impact," he said in an interview with 4Gamer, according to Siliconera.

Dark Souls 2 isn't a direct sequel, but it will take place in the same world — only in a different area with new people. Shibuya also decided to retain the original map style instead of making a more open world. The sequel, he said, will only be slightly larger than the first game. He wants to keep the length about equal.

“My concept is to get Dark Souls and what made it great, and give it a major upgrade,” said Shibuya.

The director previously announced that Dark Souls 2 would be "more straightforward and more understandable."

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