At a glance...

Previewer	Platform	Publisher	Developer	Players	Release Date
Richard Pilot	Xbox 360	THQ	Vigil Games	1	2012

Darksiders II preview

Please note that a newer preview of this game is also available.

Darksiders, released in 2010, was a fantastic action/adventure game. For me, the first game was a great success, and was one of most refreshing titles I’d played in a while. We were entrapped but its fantastical story telling and interesting art style. This time round Vigil Games wanted to create a bigger and more epic game.

With this new game, comes a new character. You no longer play as War, the 'hero' of the first game; instead you get to take on the role of one of War's brothers, another horseman, Death. Unlike War, who was a brutish, charge into the action, kind of guy, Death is a faster, more nimble character. He's the rogue to the War's tank. Death's weaponry and moves also fit this theme, sporting two scythes to dish out punishment in the similar hack and slash gameplay of the first game. Interestingly he never blocks and instead must dodge out of the way of attacks; whereas War would just head on in, Death is more willing to work behind the scenes. He's a shady character, but still does whatever it takes to get the job done.

With this knowledge, we got to see a section from the game, where Death is heading to see the a contact of his in the underworld to find out what's going on with War. Chronologically, Darksiders II happens at the same time as the first game, but takes place in the underworld; the abyss. Death wants to find out what happened on Earth, and knows that War didn't do the crimes he is accused off, and so he sets out to help get War's name cleared. This fantasy underworld allowed artists to break free a little more and had a wider remit to create artwork, as they were no longer confined to the derelict human cities depicted in the original.

This was evident as a gigantic snake appeared on screen, floating through the ether pulling a large barge. We see Death watch over the barge from on high and, getting his timing right, leaps onto one of these beasts. A horse materialises beneath him and he rides along the body of this thing and it's huge! Approaching the end, Death pulls out a hookshot, one of the new items in the game, and uses it to swing on board. Once there he meets one of the new characters, a ghostly creature of bones, who tells Death to speak with the Lord of Bones, the head champion of the gilded arena. As we set out on this quest, we leave the barge, which is now docked, with the two large snakes looming over your head. They bicker at each other, snapping their heads violently, so we make a hasty retreat.

Further on, we're treated to some bladed combat. Skeletons emerge from the ground, their eye sockets glowing. The combat uses of the hookshot are shown off here. It fits perfectly with Death's character, allowing him to fall back and then use the hookshot on enemies. On smaller foes, it drags them towards him, but on large opponents, you get pulled towards them, allowing you to swing round on their back or jump onto their head.

In the interest of time in this short demo, the scene jumps ahead. This time we find ourselves in a huge arena. Death has just completed a puzzle where he used the hookshot to reach a statue and places the a horn he has collected back in place. This triggers one of the larger boss encounters to begin. A snake monster, much like the beasts pulling the barge, appears before us, but before it gets a chance to attack a huge creature grabs it, intent on using it as a whip. This must be the Lord of Bones. When not wielding his snake whip, it's used as spine and head armour. Death gives him a taste of his own medicine though as we rip out the snakes and uses them against him. All in all, this action was pretty intensive and is fitting in nicely with similar action sequences from the first game. It was a great place to end the demo on.

At the end of session, the developers answered a few questions. The most important to Darksiders fans; will the ending of the first game be addressed? Unfortunately we didn't get a straight answer but there was a knowing smile so we suspect that this will be answered in one form or another. We were promised that Darksiders II would still be a mix of combat, exploration and puzzle solving. Like before, every area adds a new weapon to your arsenal; the hookshot that we saw would be acquired about 20% of the way in. They wouldn't comment on the exact length of the game but they said it would be longer than the first. There was also a brief question on platforms, as a Darksiders II trailer was buried within the Wii U announcements. The developer stressed that they're not really talking about that right now, but the development teams have been playing around with the Wii U controller and will hope that experience will be unique. As a fan of the first game, I'm eagerly looking forward to Darksiders II and we hope you will be too. Look out for it in 2012.

Copyright Information

Website design and content (c) 1999-2012 allaboutgames.co.uk.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License, except where otherwise noted.

Smileys taken from Crack's Smilies.