Darksiders 2: Vigil’s Love Letter to Hardcore Gamers

19 Jul, 2011

Shame on you if you missed out on Vigil Games’ offering Darksiders, released in 2009. Shame, because it took its cues from some of gaming’s greatest, like Legend of Zelda, God of War,and even Castlevania. The good ones, at least.

Many shrugged off Darksiders as yet another clone among clones, but those of us who stopped and gave it a thought were in for a treat. Oh, it was a delicious little treat.

Now, with an eye full of bright optimism, Vigil is bringing us Darksiders II, due out in 2012. While the typical route with sequels is a continuation in story, Vigil markedly departed from that path. In the first game, War is accused of starting the Apocalypse pre-maturely. Turns out, it was all part of a bigger picture, but we won’t be spoiling that for you. Guess you’ll have to turn around and play Darksiders now, right?

Darksiders II takes place alongside the events of the first game. Here, you take the role of Death, War’s brother. He’s working to clear War’s name, and ironically he’s doing it by restoring mankind.

Laugh it up, sure, but Death is going to pack quite a punch. While at first glance Death looks significantly smaller and less weighty than War, it’s also a clear indication that Death is going to play as a much faster character. A quick strike here, a quick strike there, and presto, you’ve got a winning formula. With free-running being all the rage these days, we can also expect to see Death unleash the inner assassin in him.

In the latest preview by CVG, much can be learned about this upcoming title. For one, all of the cut-scenes are in real time. There’s no CG here. While many of us will probably scoff at this, Vigil’s aim wasn’t to be the best at visuals, but rather to show the evolution of Death’s character as players level him up and grab more loot. As enemies are defeated, they drop off a variety of tiered loot that can be secondary weapons, pieces of armor, or accessories that can be equipped to help out with sagging stats.

Yes, loot. Any self-respecting game these days is going to have an end reward of loot or extra points. While the first Darksiders didn’t have much of that, the second will have plenty of shiny little goodies to find. With each enemy defeated, expect to find little bits and bobs of stuff to equip.

Of course, what better goes hand in hand with loot than quests. Vigil has said that in Darksiders II, we’ll be looking at a lot of optional side-quests, unlike the first game’s linear maps. With each side quest, we’ll also be seeing unique dungeons created just for that quest. So forget that sense of deja vu, because you’ll not be feeling it at all.

What greater reward, alongside all the shiny stuff and exploration, is there than levelling up? Creating a character that matches your play style, molding him into whatever it is you wish to be will require some planning as well. Vigil has stated that there will be a skill tree present, where experience points earned during combat will let you learn new abilities.

No surprise there, as it has become a norm in many games that you earn experience and can spend it on skills. What Vigil emphasizes though, is that you cannot possibly acquire all of the skills in a single play through. If you had dreams of grinding to the max and getting everything, you’re still not going to do it. The key here is experimentation and variety – players are being asked to give though to their character, and to try different formulas with each play through, be it a first-time or a replay.

Darksiders was a great game in its own right. By carefully taking what it established then and moving it to now, Vigil is on its way to crafting a triple-A blockbuster with Darksiders II. Please pay attention to this title, won’t you? It will be very well worth your time.

Darksiders II is slated for release sometime in 2012.

Read up on CVG’s full preview here.