Nearly 10 years later, Dark Souls 2 may have gotten its best graphics mod yet

Ganaboy via NexusMods — (Image credit: FromSoftware)

A lighting overhaul that's been praised as the "best graphics mod" for Dark Souls 2 is out right now.

The flashy new mod launched over the weekend on May 13, and it's already going down a storm. The player just below tried to draw deserved attention to the mod, 'DS2LIGHTINGENGINE SOFTS' on NexusMods, praising it as the "best graphics mod for DS2 right now."

A new lighting mod for Dark Souls II came out today, and it's awesome. This is not a simple reshade, this is a rewrite of the game's lighting engine, and it's the best graphic mod for DS2 right now.Try it out by yourself if you don't believe me:https://t.co/MhJlqEB3l4 pic.twitter.com/CMag6gvRbdMay 14, 2023

Judging from some of the mod screenshots, that bold claim might just be true. There's a stunning amount of detail packed into this, as it completely overhauls Dark Souls 2's lighting on PC to give it incredibly realistic detail, effectively breathing new life into the game with a fresh coat of paint.

Oh, and if you thought there was a weird grey filter on some of those screenshots, that's actually volumetric fog. The mod's creator has enabled an entirely new feature through their work, and not only that, they've also overhauled shading model techniques for the whole game.

The work doesn't even end with this impressive makeover, either. The mod's creator said on NexusMods that this is merely the "alpha" version of the lighting overhaul for Dark Souls 2, and they'll actually be improving and expanding upon it further down the road.

So far, the mod has been tested on seven high-end graphics cards, and all but one was able to maintain a stable 60 frames per second with the mod enabled (the Radeon RX 550 was the only one that couldn't reach that high). This is an incredible result, not just for the modder, but for the FromSoftware faithful looking to revisit one of the more overlooked games in the Souls catalog.

Check out our upcoming PC games guide for a look ahead at some other flashy games you can get your hands on in the near future.

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.