A few years ago a new unknown game called Darksiders came out. If you were like me you passed up on it and later picked it up on sale for very cheap. The game was incredible to say the least, easily one of the best under the radar games this gen. Mixing elements of DMC like action games with Zelda like dungeons and items made Darksiders an instant classic. Now the sequel promises to be bigger and better and this time we all should be buying day one.

August 14th US, August 21 EU

All preorders get upgraded to Limited Edition for free, this gives you the first DLC for free.

New Features (Taken from gaf):

Loot. Defeat enemies and open treasure chest to find loot of all sorts.



-Customization. Use the loot you find to upgrade and customize YOUR Death like YOU want.



-Skill Trees. Darksiders II gives you 2 Skill Trees, the Harbinger (melee focused) and Necromancer (magic focused.) You can re-spec at any time.



-Possessed Weapons. Very rare weapons that users can level up by feeding it other weapons you don't want. Stat increases depends on the weapons used to level up. You can name them too!



-Kinetic gameplay. Both Combat and Traversal now feel more streamlined and faster.



-Fast Travel. Go to your map and instantly teleport to any previously visited locations.



-Easier Exploration. You gain access to your trusted horse from the opening moment of the game.



-Nightmare Mode. Akin to Diablo 3's Hardcore Mode, one combat related death is permanent and you lose all your progress.



-New Game+. You keep your loot, enemies are stronger and you have better chances of finding better equipment. Most powerful gear is NG+ exclusive.



-Online Trading. The "Tomes". You can trade and share gear with your friends and also store up to 200 items.



-Arena combat mode. The Crucible is unlocked later in the game and lets Death battle waves and waves of enemies. Each 5 waves, Death can collect a reward and quit, or continue and gain even greater rewards. Each reward is generated randomly based on how far you get. You will fight enemies, mini-bosses and even bosses. Some items can only be found in The Crucible. You do not gain EXP when fighting in the arena. IF YOU DIE IN THE CRUCIBLE IN NIGHTMARE MODE, YOU LOSE YOUR PROGRESS COMPLETELY!

Look this game is very colorful!

Promising to be way bigger than the original with much more dungeons this game will be very special. As a Zelda fan I have to say the original Darksiders had the best non Zelda dungeons I have ever played in game which means I am thrilled to see how much better this games dungeons are. All fans of action/adventure games should be highly anticipating this game.

Reviews:

Play Magazine UK-86%
Consol Plus-93%
GamePro-93%
X360 Magazine UK-9/10

This is what most people think is "under the radar"?

phantom_leo said:

Shouldn't it be the Darksiders 2 Official Thread of Diablo Goodness?

Aussie Playstation Mag gives it 9/10

"The overwhelming feeling that shines through in Darksiders II is that this is an all-or-nothing bet that's been painstakingly crafted by a team who's all too well aware of the price of failure. Clearly there's been a lot of love put into this. So, should you cross over to the dark side of this underworld, one more time? Grinding nether-regions for 20 hours straight has never been this satisfying."

This game is so awesome! The combat feels great, still pretty easy but plenty of room for it to grow. The loot system seems like it will be put to good use as there are some powerful enemies you have to come back to later. The game world seems huge but a bit empty. Right at the start you see this optional area with keys, enemies, like a mini dungeon. So I got some treasure, fought a mini boss and discovered a strange path that lead to a hidden item. Then I noticed a can fall into the water below and so I did, underwater I went deep down and found a passage that lead me to a new area. At this new area was this optional boss that I is part of a secondary quest, one of four in this area. So I decide to fight it and it kills me in one hit, this thing is way overpowered. I got the sense of Dark Souls, finding enemies way to hard to face, so I will be back later when I am more leveled up.

I am going to start the first true dungeon now. I have seen all sorts of objects in the game world I still cant use or activate, need to find the items first, good old Zelda formula at its finest. The only bad things of note is the camera is a bit janky and the game studders a bit. Other than that so far its golden. Lets see how the dungeons stack up.

Well the PoP movement is pretty clear cut ripoff. It is IDENTICAL, not that its a bad thing but its borrowing from another game rather clearly.

The first dungeon was a fake dungeon, no boss, no item, it did have a map though. Basic puzzles with bombs and rolling balls. I assume this isnt a true dungeon, cause if it is the first dungeon of Darksiders 1 was much better. Or maybe this game has a bunch of small dungeons. We shall see. That said I did level up and I got to use the preorder bonus items to go back to that bastard boss that killed me and take him down, tough fight, very fun.

There are dungeons all over the place. Imagine climbing a hill and at the end of it is a door. Inside a puzzle room with stuff you clearly cant reach yet. Or a ruined castle sitting in the middle of your path to your next goal. Clearly a dungeon but with your current skills you cant get in yet. This stuff is everywhere, its so cool and makes exploring so rewarding.

Stupid battle with Stupid Thane.

I must be getting old. Took waaaay too many tries to beat him.

This game is soooo good. There is stuff to find everywhere, its an explorers dream. I found this amazing lava filled room with a dragon like monster flying around that I cant reach yet but as soon as I get the hookshot or whatever I am coming back. The combat is really easy even on hard, since it is loot based it is possible to be more powerful than the enemies are, not as balanced as the last game.

I can see some people complaining that this game has too many dungeons. The first game was a lot more fast paced than this one, that game had big action setpieces in between dungeons. it was more GoW at times with story heavy moments happening. Here you explore dungeons then go back to talk to some dudes standing around, so far that is it. No real story, no big setpieces, just dungeon crawling. Dungeon after dungeon after dungeon, of course overworld exploring which leads to dungeons. So if you dont like Zelda like dungeons avoid this game like the plague. I love it.

What is the combat like in this game? Will it annoy me? I read in a review that it wasn't as good as Batmans, which I found shocking considering how the combat in AA and AC works.