Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition Review
Death Becomes Him
Since its initial release in 2012, Darksiders II has graced many different consoles and platforms, spread across several generations. Starting out on seventh-gen hardware, the title received its “Deathinitive Edition” as it moved onto eighth-generation systems. Eventually, it made the move to ninth-gen consoles, though this time without any additional bells and whistles outside of some graphical touch-ups. It’s important to remember that the thirteen-year-old title’s most recent iteration, on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, is essentially the same port that itself is already a decade old, so it doesn’t offer much new. That said, Darksiders II remains an entertaining, if somewhat by-the-book, romp that leans heavily into the bombastic design elements that fans of the series swear by and arguably contains the most RPG-inspired elements in the franchise.
Even though the events of the series’ first entry practically begged for a continuation, the story of Darksiders II largely goes its own way. After some cursory initial housekeeping that vaguely ties the games together, new protagonist Death heads off on a solo quest to revive the now-extinct human race, thereby clearing his brother War’s name of prematurely ushering in Armageddon in the process. Along the way, Death will sweep through Heaven and Hell, as well as a few other eclectic locations, as he is sent pinballing back and forth across all of Creation for one reason or another. The game may as well be called “The Great MacGuffin Hunt” for all the wild goose chases it sends players on, with objectives frequently breaking down into second, third, and fourth tiers of “find this object to gain access to the next one”. It’s not particularly original storytelling, but that doesn’t mean the journey to get to each place is any less fun or action-packed.
Death is the most agile of the Horsemen, and as such can propel himself quickly across wooden beams, clamber up structures with incredible speed, launch himself between posts and up sheer walls, and effortlessly string together moves to cover large distances. In fact, unlike many platforming games, it’s often an exciting thrill to launch Death into the unknown, trusting in his unparalleled athleticism to stick the landing.
What has always made Darksiders II an enjoyable experience is its amalgamation of frenetic combat, acrobatic parkour exploration, and expansive dungeon designs filled with a plethora of puzzles both big and small. Naturally, none of these elements have lost any of their appeal in the intervening years, making Darksiders II stand a bit above its series brethren. Riding through an open-world hub area, stopping only to explore various points of interest, before delving into a lengthy parkour-heavy dungeon session filled with combat encounters and puzzles that just never get old, and keep the twenty-plus-hour campaign feeling fresh throughout. Although it isn’t required, completionists also have the option of revisiting previous areas once they’ve unlocked Death’s full cadre of traversal abilities. There are plenty of collectibles to backtrack for, though the in-game map isn’t very helpful in locating these items, and finding, for example, every page of the Book of the Dead or all of Blackroot’s stonebits is a thankless chore without a guide. Still, there are far more straightforward sidequests that are worth completing, as well as a few beast hunts and combat arenas like the Crucible or the Soul Arbiter’s Maze to contend with.
Being the Deathinitive Edition, the game also includes all three released DLC packs that add several more hours onto the experience, albeit without bringing anything particularly noteworthy to the central narrative. “The Abyssal Forge” sees Death travel to the putrid Shadow Lands, where he encounters a new NPC known as the Mad Smith whose greatest creation must be dealt with before it threatens life across all worlds. “Argul’s Tomb” is perhaps the most obviously connected to the base game, with the merchant Ostegoth pitting Death against the icy terror Frostbane. Finally, “The Demon Lord Belial” takes place in the decimated Earth realm, where the angel Uriel tasks Death with locating and helping what was thought impossible: a human survivor in the devastated wasteland. Though they don’t tie in with the main narrative, they are essentially the title’s only new additions for anyone who has already played it upon its initial release. Each DLC rewards players with powerful new weapons and armor that carry over into the main game, and each unlocks sporadically throughout the course of the campaign and can be accessed from the main menu.
Sadly, there are really no other bells and whistles added to the out-of-the-box experience in the Deathinitive Edition. Graphics have been upscaled ever so slightly, with the most noteworthy difference being a tweak to make the lighting more blended in and less stylized, but it’s often not very noticeable. At the end of the day, the game still very much looks like its original release from two console generations ago. However, this sounds far more damning than it actually is: Darksiders as a series has always showcased strong visual designs, which still very much come through despite the minor tweaks to the graphics. The entire game basically looks like a heavy metal album cover, which makes sense considering Death spends a lot of his time slashing and chopping his way through the realms of Heaven and Hell. Starting off in the Maker’s Forge Lands affords the game’s early hours good pops of color, while the locations and architecture of the Underworld incorporate more glowing skulls and grim imagery than one can swing a scythe at. Character designs remain unchanged, still being just as much of a visual highlight as ever. While the game’s look won’t fool anyone into thinking it’s been recently updated, it remains just as strong of a visual showcase as it always was.
The series also has a deserved reputation for strong sound design, and this was evident even with its second installment. Combat encounters and Death’s acrobatic movement abilities are accompanied by the chunky, satisfying sound effects of blades scraping, chains clinking as they scream through the air, and plenty of heavy, meaty impact sounds. Voice acting for the series has been no less impressive between installments, and Darksiders II is up there with some of the franchise’s best voiceover talents on full display. The inimitable Michael Wincott as Death is a treat during each and every line delivery, while many recognizable past roles make a return, like Phil LaMarr as the slimy demon merchant Vulgrim.
While the Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition has plenty of positives in its column, this is primarily due to the original release already representing an impressive effort that is largely unchanged here. Frenetic combat and acrobatic exploration are still satisfying, with some optional collectible-hunting and a handful of other sidequests. The game’s lengthy dungeons and impressive graphics and audio have all been well-preserved, and the inclusion of all three DLC spells even more value for money. As positive as that sounds, there’s also a distinct sense of the game resting on its laurels. There’s a dearth of new features, from quality-of-life options to performance improvements — it’s worth noting that the game crashed a few times during the review playthrough. It seems there just wasn’t a whole lot of tinkering under the hood. Even story recaps, soundtrack samples, or cinematic galleries would have been welcome, but are all conspicuously absent, making for a barebones-effort remaster of an otherwise exciting game.
Disclosure: This review is based on a free copy of the game provided by the publisher.


Same great gameplay as before
Dungeons are long puzzle and combat boxes to solve
All DLC included
Michael Wincott is a treasure
No new features of any kind
Story always was a mess
Performance can still be buggy, two console generations later
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