Backstabbing will make a return in Dark Souls 2, but in a slightly different form. In the case of the Warrior character, executing a backstab with his short sword performed a three-hit animation: a hilt bash followed by two slashes to the back. Rather than stabbing through the torso of an enemy, backstabs will results in attacks with weapon-specific flourishes.
According to a Namco rep, players may accidentally "whiff" a backstab if they're within range, but not at a distance close enough to execute. A short sword backstab attempt may miss on the first part of the three-part attack, we were told, leaving the backstabber open to an attack — something we weren't able to witness firsthand during a hands-on demo.
But the changes to backstabs appear to be a move from the developer to reduce players' reliance on backstabs, which are easy to execute, carry little risk and yield high damage in the first Dark Souls.
The differences between Dark Souls 2 and its predecessor appear to be less dramatic than that of the transition from Demon's Souls to Dark Souls. Players will be able to heal themselves in multiple ways in Dark Souls 2, through the returning Estus Flask and with "lifegems." Those healing items will come in standard lifegem and radiant lifegem and, based on the demo, seem to function like humanity in the original Dark Souls. They replenish hit points and can be used on-the-go for faster replenishment.
The game also appears to feature the return of a Demon's Souls gameplay mechanic: Black Phantoms of run of the mill enemies — as opposed to named Black Phantoms, such as Maneater Mildred — can appear out of thin air. In one section of the demo, a trio of Black Phantoms materialized, tossing two dreglings and an armored tortoise knight at the player at once.
