Darksiders II Review

Soggy Pronoun went ahead and wrote this piece and I'm posting it for him. Hope you enjoy!

By: Soggy Pronoun

Darksiders II the direct successor to the Vigil Games sneak up smash hit of 2010, but it doesn’t merely ride on the coattails of it’s older brother, it makes a damn good effort to outdo him; in some ways it does, while in others it falls a little short.

Darksiders II follows the story of the next member of “The Four Horsemen”, Death shortly after his brother (War) mistakenly starts the apocalypse and eradicates the Human race, leaving the world in the hands of the ever warring Angels, Demons, and atrocious abominations which now run rampant across the world. Unlike War, Death is not out for answers and vengeance; he seeks redemption, in more ways than one.

The gameplay doesn’t veer too far from the stylings of the original. Once again if you are a fan of other popular game series such as: The Legend of Zelda, God of War, and Prince of Persia, you’re going to get another gameplay casserole with these as your main ingredients. That’s not a bad thing though, if it worked for you the first time around, it continues to work this time. They did at least change the colors of the Voidwalker weapon this time so it doesn’t taste so much like “Portal”. They do also expand the game with another well loved gameplay element from a top tier game. Instead of having trinkets spread across the desecrated world, that increase the badassery of your armor; this time they went with the Diablo style loot grind. As you hack, slash, and bash at adversaries, Gilt (gold) and loot spring from the fresh kills sporting different colors; the most valuable of these being orange and more so when they are orange “Possessed Weapons”.

Possessed Weapons don’t always seem to be the greatest weapons at first, but they take advantage of the bountiful loot you find, and would otherwise sell to a vendor for meager earnings, by allowing you to feed them to your possessed weapon. The quality of the items you allow a Possessed Weapon to gorge itself on increases the amount of experience the weapon receives as it progresses through it’s five possible upgraded levels. The real treat to it is: as you shove whites, greens, blues, and purples down its gullet and it finally reaches the next level you are given a choice of what additional stat you would like to add to your weapon depending upon the stat bonuses of the weapons you fed to it throughout that level. It makes for interesting customization options to support your gameplay style and it’s a nice way to make you feel like you’re not always carrying around junk. With the variety of weapon items in the game I found it entertaining to hunt down new tools to support my fighting style.


There are two primary attacks, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they are your light and heavy attacks. In the first slot Death always wields dual scythes either in his hands or on his sides, they are quick and ruthless, and all the different model variations look menacing. The second weapon slot is where you are once again given the ability to customize to your play style, and can get some really interesting weapons. In a range from quick “slice and dice” hand blades and claws, to slow bludgeoning maces and hammers you are given the choice of having two quick weapons or one fast and one slow. In addition to your physical weapons, with each level you are given points to spend on additional magic skills across two tiers, Harbinger and Necromancer, which can be generalized as close combat or ranged, respectively. No matter what configuration you choose, you get to mash down your enemies with the devastating power expected of a Horseman.

And mash you will, the fighting system in the game is unashamed in it’s button mashing.There are hundreds of thousands worth of Gilt to be spent on different attack combos, and even though I bought every one; I’ll be honest in saying that I didn’t really pay any attention to them and just wildly mashed my way through the game. While not necessarily game breaking, I do wish at some point the game had required me to at least pay a little attention to the combinations. The boss fights are interesting, require some focus before resuming the mashing. Each fight is not overly challenging but the bosses themselves vary greatly, which adds some good variety. Darksiders II hurts itself when it decides that it wants to be a third person shooter for a painfully long section. Fortunately there is only one of these sections as opposed to the several in the first game, but this is still where Death falls short. Maybe it was just the length of it, but it was far more annoying than when War did it. Fortunately, like his brother, Death still pulls off telling a good story.


Death rides for redemption on his mighty steed Strife, and with his faithful companion crow Dust. Dust is a useful tool meant to be a guide when you aren’t sure where exactly you should go next and does a pretty good job...most of the time. Unfortunately he is no wise owl, and at some of the more complicated parts he seemed just as confused as I was. There were times when he would fly back and forth from one side of a room to another with what seems like an aggressive form of Avian A.D.D. and on several occasions I caught him frantically spinning in a circle on one wing tip rising into the heavens. I found myself cursing my fowl tormentor, flagrantly break-dancing his way into the sky, as he seemingly mocked my inability to navigate. When I did finally find my way through the mazes and puzzle of the game I was met with interesting cutscenes. Even though Death’s face was completely covered by a mask, they were able to effectively portray his emotions; which were only bangs and eyeliner away from being full Emo at times. The characters I encountered on Death’s quest for redemption varied widely, ranging from an old scarecrow like man, to demigods and a seductive demon, just to highlight a few. They all interacted with Death well and did a great job at really establishing who he is as a character.The story was driven by fetch quest after fetch quest, but I never felt too bothered them since the puzzles to the items were interesting enough and the puzzles involved actually gave me several real “Aha!” moments. The ending brought me back to the story of the original in a great way, while leaving me excited for the next installment. Don’t forget to stick around until after the credits, there’s an intriguing little cutscene to watch. Even still that doesn’t have to be the end of your story as Death.


Chock full of side mission, collections, and a wave based “Crucible” fighting arena, which is no walk in the park, optional content should keep a completionist busy for some time; in addition to what has become an almost obligatory “New Game+” mode.

At the end of the line I logged in just over twenty-one hours of game play, with only having done a handful of the side missions. While Darksiders II does have it’s fair share of flaws, it was time well-spent and the continuation of what is already a fun and exciting Apocalypse story that still has two Horsemen to go.