As you might've spied James speaking about a few weeks back, Dark Souls 2's Return to Drangleic event kicked off over the weekend—a community-run affair that asks Souls players to return to the series' second entry to "engage in co-op and PvP along the way as much as possible."
Set to run from Saturday past through Saturday, March 11, players are encouraged to create new characters for this playthrough and while the game's revamped Scholars of the First Sin iteration is preferred, all platforms are welcome. Players are asked to obtain the Name Engraved Ring—following the Last Giant—and assign it to Kremmel, God of Struggle, which in turn should make it easier for players to connect to each other's worlds.
Furthermore, players are also encouraged to leave the message "Don't give up, skeleton" by the Majula bonfire, and, by upvoting others, will receive their own health boost in turn.
"Play through at your own pace," says event creator and prominent Souls figure illusorywall. "This has a suggested end date of March 11th, but the bulk of surge will certainly be in the first several days."
Until last night, I hadn't visited Drangleic in well over a year. I nipped in and was invaded less than five minutes after setting off from Majula. I was dead, oh, 30 seconds later? My lack of game time has clearly led my skills to atrophy. Yes, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.
Nonetheless, there does appear to be an inordinate amount of soapstone messages strewn around the Forest of Fallen Giants and Heide's Tower of Flame, which would suggest word of the event has reached a number of players. If you plan to dive in, good luck with the invasions. I'm sure you'll fare better than I.
More information on illusorywall's Return to Drangleic event can be found this way.
