The Chosen Undead wearing the Black Knight Set
- For the Dark Souls II variant, see New Game Plus (Dark Souls II).
- For the Dark Souls III variant, see New Game Plus (Dark Souls III).
New Game Plus, also New Game+ (NG+), is a game mechanic in Dark Souls. It is a restart of the game with increased difficulty where the player character retains most of their stats and items from the initial playthrough.
New Game Plus starts automatically after completing the game by defeating Gwyn, Lord of Cinder and watching one of the endings. Completing the game again in New Game Plus or any subsequent iteration starts a new iteration, commonly referred to as New Game++ (NG+2), New Game+++ (NG+3) and so on. While the game allows for infinite iterations, difficulty stops increasing past NG+7.
Differences[]
The story and events in New Game+ are identical to New Game. The primary difference is an increase in game difficulty, in the form of more powerful enemies, and greater reward in souls for their defeat. The player keeps all non-story based acquired weapons, armor, items, and rings. Additionally, bonfires kindled in New Game remain kindled in New Game+.
Items lost[]
- The Orange Charred Ring.
- The Covenant of Artorias.
- All Keys and items that appear under Keys in-game, including Embers, the Rite of Kindling, Weapon Smithbox, Armor Smithbox, Repairbox, the Lordvessel and the Crest of Artorias.
Exceptions are the Master Key and the Bottomless Box, which are not lost.
If the player is human before entering New Game+, they lose their human status and will have to reverse hollowing at a bonfire.
Difficulty scaling[]
In New Game Plus, the game increases the difficulty by raising the stats of all NPCs (non-player characters, including enemies and bosses). Each NPC's new stats are determined by applying a multiplier to their base stats that varies depending on their location in the game world. As a general rule, NPCs in early-game areas have a greater stat multiplier applied to compare to NPC in late-game areas.
The following table displays the stat multipliers for NPCs based on the location they appear in.
| Applies to | HP | Stamina | Attack | Defense | Souls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NPCs in the Undead Asylum | 2.70 | 2.20 | 2.40 | 1.70 | 5 |
| NPCs in/near Firelink Shrine | 2.60 | 2.12 | 2.31 | 1.64 | 5 |
| NPCs in the Undead Burg | 2.50 | 2.04 | 2.23 | 1.58 | 5 |
| NPCs in the Depths | 2.44 | 1.99 | 2.17 | 1.54 | 5 |
| NPCs in Darkroot Garden and the Darkroot Basin | 2.29 | 1.87 | 2.04 | 1.44 | 4 |
| Some NPCs in the Catacombs | 2.19 | 1.78 | 1.94 | 1.38 | 4 |
| Most NPCs in the Catacombs | 2.03 | 1.65 | 1.80 | 1.28 | 4 |
| NPCs in Blighttown | 1.92 | 1.56 | 1.70 | 1.21 | 3 |
| NPCs in Sen's Fortress | 1.83 | 1.49 | 1.62 | 1.15 | 3 |
| NPCs in Anor Londo | 1.75 | 1.43 | 1.56 | 1.10 | 3 |
| NPCs in the New Londo Ruins and in Darkroot Forest | 1.69 | 1.38 | 1.51 | 1.07 | 3 |
| NPCs in the Tomb of the Giants and in Ash Lake | 1.64 | 1.34 | 1.46 | 1.04 | 2 |
| NPCs in the Demon Ruins | 1.60 | 1.31 | 1.42 | 1.01 | 2 |
| NPCs in the Duke's Archives, Lost Izalith, the Royal Wood, Oolacile Township and in the Chasm of the Abyss | 1.57 | 1.28 | 1.39 | 0.99 | 2 |
| NPCs in the Kiln of the First Flame | 1.54 | 1.26 | 1.37 | 0.97 | 2 |