Death is inevitable, and a port of Darksiders 2 seems just as inevitable. So it’s that time again, to jump back into the world of Darksiders. These days there’s an actual sequel as well as a prequel on the way. If you’ve already played this game before, then you’ll be glad to know it’s still Darksiders 2. If you’re someone who doesn’t own a copy on one of seven platforms please read on.
Darksiders 2 runs parallel to the story of the first Darksiders. One of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, War, is imprisoned accused of breaking the seven seals and bringing the end of the human race. This story follows another horseman; Death, the gaunt skull faced Nephilim who believes his Brother to be innocent and is intent on clearing his name. After discovering that resurrecting humanity might clear War’s name, Death will have to take on heaven and hell to get to the Tree of Life.
If that’s not a heavy enough task, there is also the fate of the race of Nephilim that the riders are the last of, as well as a spreading corruption threatening every realm. The story can feel overly serious but it is so exaggerated, especially because of the seriousness of the horsemen and their circumstances. With the first game, it took me a few hours to be sold on the premise. But when it gets its hooks into you, you’ll find yourself wanting to see what becomes of the overarching story with the riders and the Charred council who hold control over them.
Initially, when Darksiders 2 came out it was a bit of a let down that the story didn’t continue on from War’s entry. Over the course of the game you begin to accept that it runs parallel to a story you’ve already seen play out, it fleshes out the larger story and sets up any sequels to follow. They don’t call this edition the Deathinitive edition for nothing, along with the main game you also get the two expansions
The original Darksiders was a dark take on the 3D Zelda games. It has a large overworld with progress gated off, requiring new items and abilities to overcome. Darksiders 2 retains a lot of this gameplay, while introducing a loot element to proceedings. Across the 20-30 hours, you’ll be finding, equipping, swapping and using a wide variety of weapons and armour. While Death always retains his Scythes, there are a number of secondary weapons that are used as the heavy attack. The Darksiders series has often been seen as a mashup of Zelda and God of War style games. With the exploration and dungeons of a Zelda and the hack and slash combat of GOW, it turns out it’s a great combo. You can use a large heavy axe as the secondary heavy weapon, they’re sluggish but do big damage. There are also smaller weapons like claws/arm blades that are faster than even the scythe, but do less damage and have less range. Personally I liked the way that attack combos flowed better with a faster weapon. It was a nice addition that you have a choice.
Darksiders 2 also brings in an RPG element, as Death gains experience and can level up. There is even a skill tree as you choose between sinking skill points into more physical attacks or the ability to raise the dead and have them help fight. It took me a while to remember to actually use these skills in combat after just getting used to the rhythm of light and heavy attacks and dodging, but the further into the game they become much more useful.
When you’re not in the dungeons you’ll be out exploring the big open areas with your horse Despair. This is good because Death feels so slow to get anywhere. If you’re stuck in an area where you can’t call on Despair or stuck doing a giant ball rolling/box moving puzzle, you’ll also be in despair as you lamely jog around.
The visuals of Darksiders have always maintained a stylised look from creator Joe Madureira, who is also a comic book artist. His style can also be seen in Battle Chasers (also out on the Switch). With the exaggerated designs it’s hard not to like the over the top visuals. Originally a last gen title, the Switch edition can vary in quality, from nice and crisp visuals to the less detailed. Chances are you’re not going back to Darksiders 2 for the fancy graphics, but the style and worlds built around the game are still appealing to me.
There’s not much to say about the sound, the music sounds good throughout and fits the game. The voice work is also pretty good just like the first game. Conversations can be surprisingly witty or snarky at times. This is good because Death looks like a serious heavy metal caricature, it’s nice to have some levity while they throw out a lot of serious sounding lore.
The Switch is at least the 7th platform to see this game. It may not be the PS4 or Xbox One, but for the most part it holds its own. The frame rate does alternate between smooth and a little rough. It’s mostly impacted in open areas, although I saw it have its moments in the dungeons too. It’s not really a dealbreaker, but it’s a shame that older games still struggle in areas like this. A stranger issue in Darksiders 2 is when the game stops to load mid corridor! No loading screen or anything like that, just a sudden loading sign showing up as you move through a dungeon. It’s jarring, but thankfully it never got in the way of combat.
Other issues aren’t really about the port, just the game showing its age. The most notable issue is the camera, not exactly rare for the era of gaming. Death is often beset by several enemies at once, and the camera just can’t find a good way to keep track of them. You can hold down a button to lock on to an enemy to make it easier to pinpoint one, but that won’t stop the surrounding enemies being harder to track, especially the faster and smaller ones.
Darksiders 2 is a good game, and this is a decent port to try if you haven’t managed to try it yet. While it does have its hiccups, the game is ultimately the same game you’ve seen elsewhere for better or worse. Despite how slow the series can take to tell the overarching story, I still look forward to seeing what they do with these characters and with Darksiders Genesis. If you’re picking this game up for the second time let’s face it, you want to see what’s going to happen to.
Rating: 3.5 / 5
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