Dark Souls II developer From Software revealed the first four of the six winners of its May, 2013 Shield Design Contest on its official Facebook page last week, where the exceptional design work of the winning contestants was exhibited to the masses. Furthermore, the winning designs will be integrated into the game itself.
The six winning shields have all been adapted a little bit by From Software from the original designs so that the finished models will better match and fit the aesthetics of Dark Souls II . These new shields will also become a part of the lore of the game, as they will be placed in the mysterious fallen kingdom Drangleic, wherein the story of Dark Souls II unfolds.
What’s more, as detailed in a press release today (January 30), as an extra reward to the winning contestants, Namco Bandai Games ( Dark Souls II’s publisher outside of Japan) has announced that each of them will receive a physical recreation of their respective shield’s designs, forged by the genuine blacksmiths of the Armdia, a company that specializes in creating medieval weapons and accessories. As if that wasn’t enough of a reward, the contestants will also each receive a copy Dark Souls II: Collectors Edition for their contributions. The winners will also be credited with their designs in the game itself. Personally, I’d be happy enough just to get the shield! That’d be awesome to hang on my wall. For all the work that can go into designing something like this, however, the additional compensation of receiving a copy of the Collector’s Edition having one’s name credited in a game is well justified.
Both From Software and Bandai Games would like to thank the designers of the winning designs, whose names are Denis “DasHurz” Bachmaier, Charles Collier, Illim, Gabriel Verdon and Alexandre Etiennes Jonathan Du Cass. Kudos to those designers indeed. Well done!
The remaining two of the six designs will be revealed on Dark Souls II’s official Facebook tomorrow (January 31). Dark Souls II will drop on PlayStation 3 and Xbox one on March 11 in North America, March 13 in Japan, and March 14 in Europe and Australasia. A PC version will also be coming later on in the year.