In 2009, Darksiders blindsided the industry and helped rekindle a flame for action-adventure games not named The Legend of Zelda. After presenting a darker take on Nintendo’s family-friendly world and setting up a bitter war between Heaven and Hell, developer Vigil Games took their new series a step further by laying a solid gameplay foundation through a smart control scheme: A setup that allowed players to effortlessly switch between up-close melee combat, ranged combat, powerful special abilities, and smooth traversal through large dungeon environments.
As you’d expect, Darksiders 2 aims to expand the ideas of the original by adding more substance and adventure elements. I got a quick glimpse of their efforts during a recent three-hour demonstration, which began at the final dungeon of the Maker’s Realm, one of four main major zones in the sequel. It’s an area that players will encounter about six hours into the campaign. I gained control of the main character, Death — the brother of Darksiders protagonist War — at level 11 and dug into my stack of unspent skill points.
