Vigil Games’ mix of Zelda and God Of War arrives on the next gen with a HD makeover, but does the game still hold up?
Despite being one of the most critically and commercially successful franchises in the gaming world there are very few direct copies or clones of The Legend Of Zelda. The fairly simple explanation for this is that they’re not easy games to make. With elements of action, role-playing, open world adventure, and puzzle-solving few developers are brave enough to challenge Nintendo’s legendary franchise.
But Texan developer Vigil Games were. Inevitably the two Darksiders didn’t match up to the best the Zelda franchise has ever delivered, but they came surprisingly close at times. Unfortunately, following the collapse of publisher THQ, Vigil Games are no more and the Darksiders brand (along with Red Faction and MX Vs. ATV) has been bought up by little known publisher Nordic Games.
They’ve implied a new sequel will happen at some point in the future, but considering how much these games must cost to make we’re sceptical at how that’s going to work; especially given how technically unimpressive this HD remaster is. But we’ll get into that later.
As with the first game, Darksiders II deals with the aftermath of War, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, being accidentally tricked into causing Armageddon. Although this time it shifts to a parallel story starring his brother Death.
Both War and Death treat the premature Apocalypse as a stain on their professional reputation, rather than something they actually feel bad about. Death’s primary goal is to prove War’s innocence, and so he’s relatively indifferent when it’s suggested that the best way to achieve this would be to bring back humanity.
Controlling Death himself may seem intimidating, but he’s a surprisingly sarcastic, and even likeable, lead. Vigil’s early history making comic books is obvious in both the visual style and the breezy but enjoyable story, and they’re able to segue between semi-seriousness and outrageous silliness with impressive ease.
There is nothing that is genuinely original in Darksiders II, even compared to its predecessor, but it stiches together its various influences with consummate skill. The combat is perhaps the most distinct from Nintendo’s games, but its combo-heavy brawls simply swap its primary inspiration from Zelda to God Of War.
Death is more agile than the ‘roided out War, and he has a whole range of Prince Of Persia/Assassin’s Creed style platforming moves – running and jumping along walls with the best of them. In combat he prefers to dodge rather than block, which gently encourages you to think more tactically.
New moves can be bought from various sources, and Death has two separate skill trees to climb his way through – although their branches are fairly short. One is focused on special melee attacks, from adding fire or frost damage through to turning into a more traditional scythe-wielding monster. The other tree features more esoteric magic such as gangs of ghouls or crows for you to sick on enemies.
New weapons (both scythes and a huge range of separate secondary weapons) and armour can be looted from chests or downed enemies. It does seem a bit odd kitting out the embodiment of death with a new pair of boots, that he’s just stolen from a dead monster, but like most things in the game it’s best not to think about things too deeply as long as they’re fun.
The only problem with this seemingly endless array of upgrades is that as long as you pay attention it’s pretty easy to get Death to the point where he’s almost invincible. We certainly found the last hours to be surprisingly easy, and began to take victory in combat as a given.
In typical Zelda fashion new specialist equipment is also doled out at regular intervals, although here it’s Strife’s revolver rather than a Hyrulian catapult. Even so many of the items are almost identical in use, from what are essentially bomb flowers to a grappling hook. It’s telling that those that are entirely original – such as the ability to split into three different forms – are never as much fun as the more tried and tested options.
The hardest part to get right in a Zelda game is distinctive dungeon designs and a proper balance between their more puzzle-orientated challenges and exploring the open world environment. Crucially Darksiders II understands to mix these elements evenly, ensuring that its mammoth running time remains a positive and does not turn the experience into a chore.
As a remaster nothing has changed in terms of gameplay or features, although all the DLC is included. Instead Nordic Games has merely upped the resolution to 1080p, but left the frame rate at a disappointing 30fps. But it’s not even a steady 30fps and there can be some brief but noticeable slowdown, and even screen tearing, when things get busy. So implying this is any kind of definitive edition seems overstating things for what is really just a quick and dirty port.
The game itself is still solid though, even if it does often feel a little safe – like a tribute band enjoying the effort of emulating their idols rather than worrying as much as they should about whether their audience is entertained. They usually are anyway though and so it’s easy just to accept Death and go along for the ride.
Darksiders II: Deathinitive Edition
In Short: It’s not original, and it’s often unfocused, but Darksiders II remains one of the better Zelda clones – even if this slipshod remaster does it few favours.
Pros: Distinctive art style, with an enjoyable comic book style storyline. Huge adventure with a near endless array of abilities, weapons, and moves to discover.
Cons: Very few new ideas, and even those that weren’t in the first game are usually borrowed from another source. Slightly unbalanced difficulty. Frame rate is slightly worse than the original.
Score: 7/10
Formats: PlayStation 4 (reviewed), Xbox One, and PC
Price: £24.99
Publisher: Nordic Games
Developer: Gunfire Games and Vigil Games
Release Date: 27th October 2015 (PC on 5/11)
Age Rating: 16
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