The Custodians are combat machines and keys in the guise of artificial beings. More still, as those spheres they roll about on fit perfectly into indents in the floor parking on top of these changes the level, opening a door or activating an elevator. They can also fire large chains, slamming into distant walls to create a bridge. They’re not just battle-mounts though, they’re also the only means of clearing the corruption and therefore accessing new areas. To clear it, Death can hop onto Custodians, large humanoid structures that have a sphere in place of their legs and trundle about smashing enemies into pieces. However, a corruption has taken hold in this world and, presumably, all others, a webbing of dark fluids and crystals growing on surfaces and infecting some of the Makers’ own machinery. Accompanied by one of the beings, best described as a giant dwarf, Death is attempting to activate a huge automaton that will assist him in his quest. The Makers, from what I can gather, are the Genesis of all things and their realm is one of creation. Running along walls above spitting lakes of lava, scaling a toppled tower, activating ancient and ominous machinery that’s what he does best. There’s still plenty of combat, which involves the expected combos and side-splitting finishing moves, but it’s once an area is cleared that Death shows what he brings to the party. I spent less time scything down enemies than I did looking for hand-holds, overhangs and broken machinery from which to swing.
The towering, crumbling structures of the Makers’ Realm are pathways as much as obstacles, tracks along which Death can clamber, climb and wall-run. It’s a third-person action adventure with a similar visual style but, to return to somewhat lazy comparisons, this is less God of War and more Prince of Persia.
In some hands, a change of protagonist could mean a change of skin but Death is not War, though obviously related in many ways. As in the original, strong voicework and an interesting companion contribute to the world-building but it’s Death himself who makes this a sequel that is more than a retread.
The Makers’ Realm that I explored is part traditional fantasy, part proto-mechanical golem factory and altogether Vigil’s own creation. I play games so burning cities filled with angry demons are as familiar to me as my own kitchen.ĭarksiders II moves away from the familiar and into more inventive territory. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy the setting of the first game but I’d seen it before. By more mysterious I mean more imaginative. While War was stomping around our Earthly post-apocalypse, smiting demons and angels alike, Death was traversing other, more mysterious realms. Temporally, all of the action takes place alongside the events of the first game. Levels, abilities, enemies, dialogue, worlds – all are in service to Death, the spider-like, dodgy, jumpy horseman whose story this sequel tells. At times as I played through the final parts of the game’s first substantial realm I was convinced that I understood the formula entirely design a protagonist and then build a game around him. The big difference between Darksiders and Darksiders II is the protagonist. Now, onto the reasons why I was getting ahead of myself by expecting a rehash. Development has been parallel across the platforms and although I was playing with an Xbox controller (as I will on release it’s that sort of game) and didn’t have the chance to mess around with any settings beyond inverting my y-axis, it’s clearly a handsome devil. The good news is, this time around we won’t have to wait for a late release on PC.
When I’m invited to play a multiplatform title before release I expect to be plugged into a console so it was a pleasant surprise to have the PC build ready and waiting at all, let alone literally looking down on everybody else.
The nave was full of 360s, lined up awaiting eager journalists but I was ushered past them and directed to the elevation of the crossing, between the transepts, right before the altar.
I’m not telling you this because the setting matters, if the game is good I’d gladly play it in a cardboard box in Slough, but because the placement of the things inside the church on that particular day was pleasing. Wrong, wrong, wrong.īefore I talk about the game, here’s some info on where I played it. Sitting down to play the sequel I thought it would just be more of the same. What a pleasant surprise to play the game and find that it had character of its own and kept rewarding me with new toys throughout its substantial and entertainingly silly story. I didn’t play Darksiders until its PC release, which meant I’d already heard a million people compare it to Zelda and God of War.