"Hopefully players will become addicted to dying several times"

We caught up with Tak Miyazoe, publishing producer on Dark Souls II, in Cologne to find out more about the upcoming beta and the work that has gone into the new game. Namco Bandai and developer From Software are planning two limited beta tests of the online component of Dark Souls II.

"For Dark Souls II we want to make sure we do proper stress tests on servers to make sure we've cleared all the bugs, issues so that we can deliver the best quality game in March next year."

Even with poularity surging and hype building you can expect the same level of challenge as in previous games.

"The sense of achievement and the sense of accomplishment of being able to get over the hurdles is something that's strong for this game. That strong emotional happiness I guess when you're able to conquer the difficulties is something that players will continue to strive for when they play Dark Souls II. And as much people say this is a challenging and difficult game, we hope that players will pick it up and hopefully become addicted to to dying several times."

Apologies for the subpar sound quality at the start of the clip.