Dark Souls 2 lighting mod creators experiment with path tracing

Dark Souls 2 is widely regarded as the second-best entry in the series, but it has long carried a reputation for being the ugliest. A central gripe is that the game's original lighting engine—the one FromSoftware went to great lengths to show off back in 2013—was largely absent in the final release.

Pre-release footage showed lighting that looked ambitious for a seventh‑generation console, with torches intended to cast dynamic shadows and reflections and play a role in gameplay. When the game shipped on consoles and later on PC with the Scholar of the First Sin edition, those effects appeared muted: environments felt flat and murky, and torches were rarely necessary.

For players after that prerelease look, the DS2Lighting Engine Mod has been a go‑to. Its creators are now experimenting with path tracing, and the technique is changing the game's tone across spells and environments. Path traced scenes such as the Shaded Woods feel richly atmospheric and, to some viewers, almost pretty.

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