Among fans of the Dark Souls series, Dark Souls 2 stands as a black sheep, with the player base being fairly divided on the quality of this particular title. However, while the large quantity of bosses in Dark Souls 2 contains a certain lack of quality among the roster as a whole, some encounters like the Looking Glass Knight stand out as some of the best in the series.
The way that the Looking Glass Knight in particular makes its own unique imprint on the series is in the way that it blends normal boss combat with a tough PVP encounter. This wasn't exactly a new concept for the Souls series by the time Darks Souls 2 released, but this specific boss succeeds at the concept in ways that later games like Dark Souls 3 didn't manage to do better.
Looking Glass Knight as a PVP Boss
To say that the Looking Glass Knight is a PVP boss might give those who have never fought this boss the idea that a player gets control of a powerful enemy whenever someone else attempts to challenge it. While that's not quite the situation, the result is much closer to having a boss on the invading player's side while trying to win a duel against another player. Similarly, it means that not only does the player challenging the Looking Glass Knight have to fight an already difficult boss, but the difficulty is quickly ramped up as an invader brings their own Dark Souls 2 PVP build into the encounter.
For players who enjoy the added challenge of being invaded during the standard areas of the Dark Souls series, this is an incredible opportunity to really test their skills. Not only is there now an enemy on equal footing as the host player, but that enemy also has the backup of the Looking Glass Knight itself, which can easily end the fight in a single attack or combo if left on its own. Of course, this challenge only works if Dark Souls 2's PVP servers are active and the player has a stable internet feed, but it's an opportunity that many players consider being one of the highlights of the series.
Even without access to real players, the Looking Glass Knight can still call for backup in the form of several NPCs, none of which are as strong or smart as another person, but any of which can still kill the host. In this way, the encounter not only makes for a spectacular single boss, but it also evolves itself into one of FromSoftware's notorious duo boss fights over time. The PVP opponents or the NPCs even arrive with a completely different move-set and behavior than the original Looking Glass Knight, making it a much more dynamic encounter by simply not having it be two carbon copy enemies in the same room.
How Other PVP Bosses Failed to Beat Looking Glass Knight
Longtime fans of the Dark Souls series' bosses will likely remember that the Looking Glass Knight wasn't actually the first attempt by FromSoftware to make a PVP boss. One of the earliest attempts comes from Demon's Souls, which had the Old Monk that would summon another player that would start a one-on-one duel with the challenging host. This wasn't exactly an underwhelming fight on its own, but compared to the Looking Glass Knight, it lacks some of the spectacles and added challenge that comes with taking on a boss and another player at the same time.
Another example from a later game comes from the second DLC to Dark Souls 3, The Ringed City, which includes the fight against Halflight, Spear of the Church. The fight even adds a unique item known as the Ritual Spear Fragment, which can then be upgraded to the Divine Spear Fragment, to the invading players' arsenal from Dark Souls 3's weapons. However, even with this new method of attack, the fight still falls flat due to the fact that the invader's backup is little more than a painting guardian, once again making the PVP the central boss.
Now with Elden Ring out and filled with players ready to invade everywhere from Limgrave to the Ashen Capital, FromSoftware held back taking another swing at a new PVP boss. Although, many of the bosses out in the open field are open to being invaded. Whether FromSoftware is holding off on another true PVP boss for Elden Ring's DLC, both the blueprint and goalpost can be found in Dark Souls 2's Looking Glass Knight.
Dark Souls 2 is available now for PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.