[E3 2012] DarkSiders II

[Psykoboy2]

Out of everything I had an appointment with at E3 this year, about 90% of those (maybe more) were sequels or reboots. Games where they’ve got something that works and want to improve upon and sell it again. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.

There’s certain games where a sequel is wanted but only so we have more to do in that game. Burnout and Uncharted are great examples of this. Keep it all the same, just give us a new place to play around in. In other words, your game mechanics and stuff don’t need to be messed with. We just want a new story or setting to keep on doing what we love.

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Darksiders was a game like that for me. And I honestly expected that for the sequel. A new character and a new story, but everything else would pretty much remain the same. I could not be more wrong.

I played a demo for the game that introduced nearly everything from the first game. Wall climbing, wall running, attacks, horse riding, it was all there, just as it was in the first game. I died at the final boss of the demo and as I left I turned to two of the developers and thanked them for their time and said I was looking forward to the sequel and started to explain to them what I had mentioned above. They quickly shook their heads and told me all of the stuff I was unable to see with the demo.

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Darksiders II isn’t resting on its laurels. It isn’t a re-skin or anything akin to being a lazy sequel. It’s packed with content and more so than I thought could be put into the game.

We’ll start with the obvious thing I could see from the demo: loot drops. Enemies now drop loot when you kill them, be it armor, potions, or weapons. The loot follows a tier system and also consists of different levels of rarity. Some of the loot might belong to a named set which, once you collect and equip the full named set will grant you even more stats. You can pick up and equip immediately whatever loot is dropped - if you are high enough in level for that item. Which is the next addition: a leveling system.

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The leveling system also brings about another addition to the game that I couldn’t see in the demo: skill trees. Essentially, they’ve made an RPG out of Darksiders II. There are two branches of the skill tree. One side belongs to the harbinger tree, a skill mainly devoted to attacks of strength and use of weapons, while the other side is necromancer, a skill of spells including pets. And while some of the bigger fights with bosses and minibosses will require you to engage the enemy with close ranged attacks, you could easily advance the necromancer tree to the point where you never physically engage an enemy at all.

Also not shown in the demo but explained to me by the devs were the hub towns you’ll come across in the game. In these towns you’ll be able to pick up side quests from NPC’s or sell and even trade your loot to them for other items.

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With all of the things they didn’t have to do for this sequel, because, honestly, I had very little complaints with the first game, they decided to put much more into it than just giving us a new story. I believe there was also mention of a new game plus mode as well so you could continue to level up Death and max out his skills. Put all of that together set to a score composed by Jesper Kyd and you’re going to have one Hell of a game to play on the 360, PS3, and PC come this August.

[menage]

Can't wait for this. One of the few day one sales for me this year.

[DarkDay]

I picked up the first one when Gears 3 came out, remembered hearing so much about it and it was 10 bucks..needless to say I ended up playing it before and more than gears...

This sounds awesome, add in the loot drops and im there day one. Maybe make up for the crap loot in D3

[KamaItachi]

The first was an absolute Gem that just got looked over by many, including me. I got it for a tenner and absolutely loved it. I'm in on a sequel day one, but I didn't think I could have been more sold on it until just now.

[Kelegacy]

I loved nearly everything about the first game. I loved the artstyle most of all I think. In an age of Modern Warfare gritty graphics, I'm glad stuff like Darksiders exists. Will be an insta-purchase for me.

[pomeroy]

Isn't the story of this one concurrent to the first game?

Because that sucks ass. I want the story moving forward.

[Kelegacy]

Originally Posted by pomeroy

Isn't the story of this one concurrent to the first game?

Because that sucks ass. I want the story moving forward.

Yeah, same here. And if the game doesn't sell well enough to make THQ happy then we might never see the story go any further.

[PathMaster]

Looks great. Should be a blast.

I will say that the first game had a sort of leveling system though, nothing as obvious though.

[Cyndair]

Thanks for the writeup! I loved the original, but you could tell that it was the first effort of a new developer. Really looking forward to what this sequel will have to offer now that the devs have a bit more experience and feedback to work off of.

[Abyssion]

I loved the original too. I'm really excited for this game... so much so I pre-ordered from Gamestop for the dlc >_> (and I ordered the collector's edition <_< )

[Psykoboy2]

I really want that skull mask.

[Narradisall]

I picked the first one up day one, as it was a new IP, and it looked nice.

I fucking loved that game.

This one will be a must buy for me as well.

[menage]

Originally Posted by pomeroy

Isn't the story of this one concurrent to the first game?

Because that sucks ass. I want the story moving forward.

It is a totally new story though, so it will probably explain a lot of stuff. Death didn't heed the call the first time around, I'm actually quite interested to hear why and how.

Heck, we may even collide with the end of 1 halfway through and pick up from there, who knows. That would be so awesome.

[muddi900]

Originally Posted by Kelegacy

Yeah, same here. And if the game doesn't sell well enough to make THQ happy then we might never see the story go any further.

If it doesn't sell well we might not see THQ go any further.