Lurch   11 November 2015

The awfully named Deathinitive Edition gives players the best way to play Darksiders 2 on console and has given Gunfire Games, consisting primarily of staff from the original developers Virgil, another chance to touch up a game which suffered as a consequence of its publisher (THQ) collapsing during the final months of development. Gunfire Games has made a considerable number of graphical changes that improve the look of the game, integrated the previous DLC, and provided a more consistent performance (with some minor exceptions). While the game’s last-gen origin is apparent, the increased resolution, added texture/object detail and new lighting engine help improve upon the stylized comic-book visuals. All the DLC, consisting of 3 major quests, additional mini-quests and numerous pre-order weapons; have been thoughtfully integrated into the game which serve to bulk out the latter-half of the game which previously felt underdeveloped and rushed. These changes improve upon a title that retains its fantastic gameplay, but also its uneven pacing.

This review will consist of two parts: 1) a brief overview of the game for newcomers and then 2) a review of the “remastered” content for those familiar with the original game.


From the ancient temples of the Forge Lands, through The Kingdom of the Dead, the angelic realm of Lostlight and finally to the demonic realm of Shadow’s Edge; Darksiders 2 offers a huge variety of fantastic looking locations to explore. Full Size

Part 1: What is Darksiders 2?

For those new to the series, the decision to remaster only the 2nd game is questionable from a narrative standpoint, but as a parallel story to the original title it’s still enjoyable without prior knowledge of the series. As “Death”, one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, your character serves the ancient “Charred Council”, who are responsible for maintaining balance in the universe between the forces of Hell, Heaven and the young Kingdom of Man. The game takes place after the prologue of the first game, in which the horseman “War” is summoned to Earth for the “end war”, only to find the seventh seal was not broken (a literal interpretation of Christianity’s “Book of Revelation”) and a demonic horde has pre-emptively overrun Earth dooming mankind to extinction. Without the power of the seals, War is quickly defeated, blamed for triggering the invasion, and sentenced to damnation for destroying the balance. In an attempt to save his brother, Death sets out to “erase the crime” by finding a way to resurrect humanity and setting the stage for Darksiders 2.

As a relatively neutral yet fear-inducing character in the game’s lore, the player will interact with a range of diverse characters over the course of the story from angel to demonkind and everything in between. Dialogue often boils down to basic response selections for more information or to pick up secondary quest, however, the quality of voice-work and fantastic soundtrack elevate what would otherwise be a fairly standard RPG-component of the game.


Across the 4 acts, you’ll meet a wide selection of interesting characters and creatures, some of whom you will ally with for short sections of the game. Voice work is fantastic with some big names listed in the credits. Death himself is fantastically sardonic and threatening at the same time in dialogue. Full Size

The Darksiders franchise has always been described as derivative, with mechanics lifted straight from other action-adventure games. To an extent that is true however, while elements of the game (such as combat, traversal and puzzles) may not necessarily improve on their source material, the developers have successfully combined many styles of gameplay in one cohesive and entertaining package. The core gameplay revolves around exploring “dungeons”, accessed from an overworld map, to unlock new traversal abilities which in turn drive the plot forward by enabling access to new areas; a design borrowed from the Nintendo Zelda franchise. Death’s traversal move-set for navigating the environment comes straight from the Prince of Persia series. An incredibly nimble Death is capable of scrambling up (and along) walls, moving swiftly across narrow beams, making great leaps or swimming in murky depths. In the more open overworld zones, you can summon your trusty steed Despair, or use fast-travel to quickly move between discovered locations.


Navigating the game’s many dungeons will see you scrambling up and along walls while dodging hazards, swimming through murky waters and occasionally commandeering a ride. The complexity of dungeons varies but most will require a bit of thought and timing to get through, especially if searching for hidden areas. Full Size

Combat borrows heavily from the God of War series with primary and secondary weapon attacks chained together into combos, along with the ability to quickly dodge and counterattack enemies. A pair of upgradable skill-trees further modifies your combat abilities with one focussing on direct combat moves, the other on summoning minions and magical attacks. “Dungeons” look fantastic and appropriate to the setting but are themselves usually designed as environmental puzzles. Navigating them requires a combination of traversal moves and unlocked skills such as the “Deathgrip” (a grapple hook) or the “Voidwalker” (essentially a portal gun). The RPG elements of the game are kept simple with a basic levelling system (granting unlock points to put the skill-tree described above) and a loot system similar to those found in Diablo-esque action-RPGs. Both chests and slain enemies have the chance to drop a range of usable weapons and armour pieces which tend to buff specific play styles, such as direct combat or magic use. The best of these items are “possessed weapons” capable of being upgraded by sacrificing other items. A careful selection of sacrificed items allow the player to imbue up to 4 selected attributes to these weapons which can result in some very powerful weapons (and at times overpowered with the right planning). As with many open-world titles there is an abundance of collectibles and secret chests to discover within the game world, rewards for having a keen eye, exploring the environment and swinging a scythe at any object that can be destroyed.


What starts as simple traversal and switch puzzles, quickly escalates in complexity as your repertoire of skills increases over the course of the game. A brief segment of time-travelling is even included in the last act of the game, drastically changing the appearance of the environment you need to navigate. Full Size

The player needs to master all the above mechanics to progress and challenge the game’s many bosses. These encounters range from small sub-bosses in dungeons to the massive opponents at the end of each act. The constant shift between skilful combat, careful traversal and head-scratching puzzles during minute-to-minute gameplay ensures the player is always kept engaged. All the gameplay elements are combined with an intriguing (if at times poorly-paced) story which takes place across visually-striking locations.
Unfortunately while the ending of the game brings a conclusion to Death’s conflict with the primary antagonist, it feels somewhat abrupt in context of the overarching plot of resurrecting humanity and saving his brother War. To some extent, the ending of the first game provides a more satisfying conclusion regarding the fate of the Horsemen, sets up future games and would be well worth playing to compliment the 2nd game (and will hopefully be remastered as well at some point).


While some boss battles simply require to player to inflict sufficient damage while dodging attacks, many require careful observation and a combination skills to defeat, including some tough optional bosses accessible through sidequests. Full Size

Part 2: What is the Deathinitive Edition?

For those considering playing this for this first time, those who’ve never played the DLC content, or just fans of the series looking to re-experience the game; the Deathinitive Edition has a host of changes that improve upon the original. The bulk of the changes have gone into improving the presentation and the game now runs at a native 1080p at a fairly consistent v-synced 30FPS. Along with the bump in resolution; the environment, character and enemy models have all seen added polygon counts and improved textures. While the stylized artwork of Darksiders 2 still holds up in the last-gen version, the increase in resolution ensures finer details are much more apparent on distant parts of the environment and character/enemy models. The increase in texture detail and new objects added to the game world, such as trees and grass in the opening act, make the open-world sections feel more vibrant and detailed, rather than appearing as barren expanses of flat textures. There’s also been a bump in the quality and density of environmental effects such as smoke, mist, snow and rain which really improve the atmosphere in certain scenes. Unfortunately there are some inconsistencies such as the inclusion of a heat shimmer in areas of molten rock but the removal of a radiant bloom effect which was present in the last-gen versions.


Improvements made to the original game include the addition of more complex environment geometry, new textures and more foliage in open-world areas, coupled with an increase in the quality of effects such as mist and a new heat shimmer. Character models have also received a considerable amount of attention, best seen in the dialogue or cutscenes. Full Size

The most apparent and impressive upgrade to the Deathinitive Edition is the new lighting engine which generates more realistic illumination, on both the environment and character models, and produces much higher quality shadows. Shadows are now dynamically generated based on available light sources (be it sunlight or a brazier), and more light sources have been added to many scenes. Whether swinging a glowing pair of scythes, casting magic or walking past a light source; the environment and character models are accurately lit up and it looks especially fantastic in the middle of combat. However, at times the new lighting can reduce the impact of previous design choices. The orange glow of the fiery “Cauldron” dungeon and the blue glow of the water-based “Drenchfort” dungeon are muted compared to the last-gen version, but overall the lighting improvements improve most areas of the game and bring the visuals closer to that of current titles.

These improvements do come at a price however, as the game is running at a locked 30FPS rather than the 60FPS many other remasters target. The opening act also suffers from minor stuttering and screen tear in a few locations, however this is only crops up in the beginning area of the game and the entrances to some dungeons. From Act 2 onwards there were little to no performance issues with the game sticking to a solid v-synced 30FPS.


Whether in dimly-lit catacombs or fiery trap-filled dungeons, the new lighting engine allows for far more realistically lit surface and character models. An increased number of light sources cast dynamic shadows and higher quality effects are introduced such as the lightning storms when you visit a ruined Earth in Act 3. Full Size

The Deathinitive Edition also claims that all DLC has been integrated into the original game and rebalanced. This is true to a point but not as “integrated” as I’d hoped for. The first inclusion, which I originally dismissed as inessential, was the inclusion of the numerous pre-order weapons and armour into the game. This ended up making a considerable difference to my playthrough as instead of being accessible from the beginning as level 5 items, as was the case with the original game, they are level-scaled and allocated to sub-bosses or secret treasure chests that would have previously dropped random loot. This lead to me actively searching for these items and defeating optional bosses as many items were useful up until the end of the game.

The other major inclusions of interest to both new and returning players are the three DLC mini-campaigns, each of which add between 1-2 hours of gameplay taking place in a unique setting. Unfortunately these are not “integrated” in the sense of being accessible from the main game (you still have to save, quit, and load up the mini-campaign), but are rather unlocked at the end of Acts 2, 3 and 4. They are introduced after receiving the appropriate skill, scaled according to the expected player-level, and are a great way of expanding the final two acts which feel considerably shorter and less developed than the previous two. All 3 mini-campaigns have received the same attention as the rest of the game and both look improved and run smoothly. The “Abyssal Forge” and “Demon Lord Belial” DLC were both known to have numerous glitches, performance issues and could both lock up the console and affect save files. In the Deathinitive Edition, both these additional quests played out without issue and did not affect the base game. It should also be noted that any performance issues and crashes associated with parts of Act 3 and 4 have also been patched and ran perfectly.

Lastly, a new “Deathinitive” difficulty mode has been added which is a great way to challenge veteran players or encourage another playthrough in the New Game Plus mode. For seasoned players, “Apocalyptic” was a good starting point for a new character but difficulty in the NG+ mode become trivial with well-equipped and high-level Death.


The Abyssal Forge send Death to a hellish swamp to assist the Mad Smith destroy an army of self-replicating constructs. The DLC focusses on the “Soul Splitter” ability and requires the player to frequently alternate between two locations to solve puzzles. Full Size


Argul’s Tomb sends Death into a snow-swept mountain tomb to discover the source of the deposed King Argul’s power. The portal-generating “Voidwalker” is the focus of this DLC’s puzzles.
Full Size

Short, yet tough, The Demon Lord Belial DLC sends you back to a ruined Earth to find evidence of surviving humans and defeat the titular demon lord. The mission strips you of all but the basic “Deathgrip” and focusses on navigating the ruined streets and subways with tough combat against hordes of demons. Full Size

Conclusion

Worked on by a small team consisting of some of the original developers, the Darksiders 2 Deathinitive Edition is a great value remaster at this price point. While not running at a desirable 60FPS, considerably more effort has been put into the remaster than first impressions may suggest. The increase in resolution and texture detail make the stylized visuals, for both environments and character models, considerably sharper. An increase in environment polygons and assets greatly improve the appearance of areas that looked bland and empty on the last-gen release. While the last-gen origins of the artwork is apparent, the new lighting system results in some fantastic looking scenes that give the game an appearance more in line with modern titles. Outside of the opening area and transitions between dungeons in the first act, performance remains at a solid 30FPS; a massive improvement over the inconsistent performance and constant screen-tearing of the original. The integration of all the previous DLC is done well, changing up the standard loot progression by making weapons and armour useful for an appropriately levelled player. The 3 DLC mini-campaigns are unlocked at logical points in the game, which help bulk up the final two acts, and are scaled to the expected player level. Whether one is either long-time fan of the series, or a newcomer looking for a great action-adventure-RPG hybrid, Darksiders 2 tells an epic story while successfully blending the playstyles of multiple other games. The Deathinitive Edition is a great entry point into the franchise and considerably improves the last-gen experience, all at a great price.

Pros:
- A fantastic blend of different playstyles with an entertaining story, epic soundtrack, and well voiced characters.
- Skillful traversal, fast and strategic combat, thoughtful puzzles and tons of content.
- Improved graphics, a (mostly) stable frame rate and a fantastic lighting system.
- Thoughtful integration of the existing DLC both makes unique armour/weapon sets worth to finding and pads out the shorter 2nd half of the game.
- Technical issues that persisted in both main game and DLC have been patched.

Cons:
- First impressions suffer due to a few technical hitches in the opening act with minor stuttering and screen-tearing in some locations.
- Only existing material was remastered so there’s no new content to directly integrate DLC mini-campaigns into the game.
- The final two acts are still much shorter than the preceding acts and pacing suffers as a result.

Score: 8/10