Dark Souls 2 just got the visual overhaul it always deserved

Published Feb 11, 2026, 9:00 PM EST

Lee D’Amato is a writer born, raised and based in Queens, New York. With thousands of collective hours in games like Final Fantasy, Metal Gear, Elden Ring, and The Legend of Zelda, he now writes gaming features, guides, and reviews for Screen Rant, but has covered a wide range of topics, including ancient history, affordable travel, and general health.

An update of a popular Dark Souls 2 The graphics mod makes the 12-year-old game look better than ever. Often considered the black sheep of the franchise, Dark Souls 2 experienced a welcome resurgence in recent years, and many fans have rediscovered its charms.

This DS2 the revival sparked the creation of numerous fan projects, notably gameplay and visual mods which expand your gaming options. One of the finest and most popular mods is Dark Souls 2 Lighting Engine, or DS2LE for short. Its creators are now experimenting with a new type of lighting: the path tracing – which improved the look of the game immensely.

Dark Souls 2 is better than ever

It’s a whole new game

In the video demo above you can see a Dark Souls 2 character walking through, fittingly, the Shaded Woods. The result is impressive, with both the player and the trees casting dynamic shadows that change as their positions move and the available lighting sources change.

This is thanks to DS2LE’s work with path tracing, which allows all light sources in the scene, including spell effects, to cast realistic shadows. The result is something that appears to have been captured in Ancient RingOr the 2020 The souls of demons remake.

This is the redesign we always wanted

DS2 has never looked so good

A player exploring the Shaded Woods in Dark Souls 2.

When it comes to lighting, Dark Souls 2 has always suffered from inconsistency. Some areas are beautiful – I will never forget the feeling I had when the golden sun appeared behind the ruins during my first visit to Majula. Others, however, are lacking, especially when the game attempts to depict dark areas like the Shaded Woods.

In the original DS2and of course vanilla Scholar of the First Sinthe lighting in Shaded Woods is exaggerated. You can see every inch of the grassy textures, which really makes the low-detail areas pop. Foggy areas are more distracting than atmospheric, and shadows from gnarled trees are barely visible, if at all.

But DS2LE has created a new version of Shaded Woods that lives up to its name. It’s dark and disturbing. Visibility decreases as you pass through areas with thicker foliage. Your own shadow darts between the trees, adding a sense of urgency to the whole affair.

It’s undeniably impressive and, more than anything, it makes me want to jump into a new game of DS2 with the mod installed. Although path tracing is not yet publicly available in the Dark Souls 2 The Lighting Engine mod, which is still in beta, has many players – myself included – looking forward to seeing what it can do when it finally launches.