The ESRB has just released the official rating for Dark Souls II, and many are surprised to see that it is actually more mildly rated than both Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls. From what has been shown from gameplay footage and heard from interviews, what is it that has been toned down, if anything at all?

In my opinion, this isn’t a case of things being toned down as much as it is the rating systems becoming more lenient. I think that many would agree that both Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls were games that could have been rated T due to the fact that they contained no sex at all and the combat, while intense, was not overly gory. I wouldn’t be surprised if Dark Souls II is just as intense as the previous versions in the series, but the times have changed now so that that same content is now given a T instead of an M.

A lot of people have also wondered if it is the difficulty of the game that has resulted in previous games getting M ratings, as they are unforgiving and are easily some of the most difficult games to have come out in several years. However, I don’t think the ESRB takes things like difficulty into account when rating the material in a game. Also, it doesn’t look like there is any way in hell that this game is going to be any easier than the previous installments.

Dark Souls II comes out on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on March 11.