Darksiders II

Overview

Darksiders II is an action role-playing hack and slash game developed by Vigil Games and published by THQ. It is the sequel to Darksiders and was released in August 2012 for Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and as a launch title for the Wii U in November 2012. You play Death, who tries to clear the name of his brother War. On a total budget of 50 million dollars it was one of the most expensive games ever made.

The core is hack and slash with RPG systems. Death uses two scythes as his main weapons, with slower secondary weapons like hammers and axes and faster ones like claws. Loot drops from enemies and chests in twelve armour piece categories, and vendors and trainers sell gear and combo moves. The game has big open regions to explore on foot or on his horse Despair, plus dungeons with puzzles that need keys or special powers, and a fast travel system.

Death can swim, run along walls, climb and use the Death Grip as a grappling hook. Later he gets Voidwalker, Soul Splitter and Interdiction, which let you control more than one character to solve puzzles. A Reaper resource lets him briefly turn into his grim reaper form. Possessed weapons can be levelled by sacrificing other items to them.

The story runs parallel to the first game. Death travels from the Forge Lands to the Kingdom of the Dead looking for the Well of Souls, which could bring back humanity, and he has to deal with the Corruption and with Absalom, the first Nephilim. Michael Wincott voices Death, and James Cosmo voices the Maker Elder Eideard. In Japan the game was published and localized by Spike Chunsoft.

Pre-order bonuses were offered through GameStop, Best Buy and Amazon. A season pass included The Abyssal Forge and The Demon Lord Belial, two story expansions, plus The Maker Armor and Scythe Set. Argul's Tomb was sold separately, along with equipment packs such as the Angel of Death Pack and the Deadly Despair pack. A reworked Deathinitive Edition came out for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in October 2015.

Reviews were positive. Metacritic scores were 84 for PS3, 83 for Xbox 360, 85 for Wii U and 81 for PC. IGN gave it 7.5 out of 10 and called it a fun game despite its problems. It was the best-selling game in the United States in August 2012 with over 247,000 units, but by November 2012 it had sold 1.5 million copies, which THQ said did not meet its expectations.

Official trailer

Darksiders II - Death Strikes Part II (Official UK), Darksiders. Watch on YouTube

Gameplay

Darksiders II ps3 gameplay, RyoGamestation. Watch on YouTube

Screenshots

Game details

Genres

Action role-playing, Hack and slash

Developer

Vigil Games

Publisher

THQ

Series

Darksiders

Composers

Jesper Kyd

Designers

Haydn Dalton, Clint Bogue, Richard Vorodi, Ben Cureton

Writers

Paul De Meo, David Slagle

Producers

Ryan Stefanelli, Timothy Bell, Kay Gilmore, Sam Newman, David Stalker

Directors

Joe Madureira, David Adams, Marvin Donald

Modes

Single player

Yes

Local multiplayer

No

Online multiplayer

No

Release dates

Editions

Buy this game

Disc IDs

The serial printed on the disc and the case. It tells you which region a copy is from.

Trophies

Trophies50

Platinum possibleNo

Platinum

1

Gold

2

Silver

6

Bronze

41

Total

50

Points

1275

Platinum time

30 to 50 hours

100% time

30 to 50 hours

Difficulty

4 out of 10

Playthroughs for platinum

1.5

Playthroughs for 100%

1.5

New Game Plus

Yes. New Game Plus keeps stats, gear, skills and abilities; it overwrites the original save.

Platinum without online

No

Online trophies

4

Online servers running

No

Boosting needed

No

Online note

Pay It Forward is no longer possible. The Crucible trophies need the Crucible Pass, which is still sold.

DLC has trophies

No

Platinum includes DLC

No

100% includes DLC

No

DLC still for sale

Yes

DLC note

No DLC pack adds trophies.

Missable trophies

0

Chapter select fixes a miss

Yes

Separate trophy lists by region

No

Only in a language other than English

No

Region note

One list for every region.

Online-only version

No

Digital-only

No

Disc-only

No

Trophy list shared with other versions

No

Other versions

The PS4 Deathinitive Edition has its own list, with no online trophies.

Players with the platinum

7.29%

Grind

• Crucible arena waves
• Possessed weapons

• BFA Unlock Everything Platinum 7.3% of players
• Crow Carrion Defeat the Crowfather Bronze 92.02% of players
• Dust to Dust Defeat the Guardian Bronze 58.66% of players
• Clipped Wings Defeat Archon Bronze 40.12% of players
• It's Not Over Defeat Samael Bronze 38.2% of players
• Soul Crushing Defeat The Wailing Host Bronze 44.78% of players
• The Big Boss Defeat Absalom Bronze 37.3% of players
• A Stroll In The Demonic Park Complete the game on any difficulty setting Silver 37.3% of players
• Four My Brother Complete the game on NORMAL Gold 31.36% of players
• A True Horseman Complete the game on APOCALYPTIC Gold 13.22% of players
• Pathfinder First use of Fast Travel Silver 74.04% of players
• The Spectral Touch Collect Deathgrip Bronze 61.81% of players
• I Can Has Cake? Collect the Voidwalker Bronze 42.13% of players
• Tearing Time A New One Collect the Phasewalker Bronze 39.62% of players
• Looks Familiar Collect Redemption Bronze 77.42% of players
• Death Will Tear Us Apart Collect the Soul Splitter Bronze 47.44% of players
• By Your Command Collect the Interdiction Stone Bronze 53.79% of players
• The Triple Lindy Complete 3 different high dives in the Foundry Bronze 14.2% of players
• Fire of the Mountain Complete Fire of the Mountain Bronze 77.41% of players
• Tears of the Mountain Complete Tears of the Mountain Bronze 69.53% of players
• Gnomad Complete GnoMAD Bronze 15.23% of players
• To Move a Mountain Complete To Move a Mountain Bronze 63.7% of players
• Heart of the Mountain Complete Heart of the Mountain Bronze 58.67% of players
• Tree of Life Complete Tree of Life Bronze 57.99% of players
• The Lord of Bones Complete The Lord of Bones Bronze 55.62% of players
• The Toll of Kings Complete The Toll of Kings Bronze 53.8% of players
• The Court of Bones Defeat Basileus Bronze 47.71% of players
• The Book of the Dead Complete The Book of the Dead Bronze 11.69% of players
• City of the Dead Complete City of the Dead Bronze 44.53% of players
• The Root Of Corruption Open The Well Of Souls Bronze 37.5% of players
• The Rod of Arafel Complete The Rod of Arafel Bronze 42.56% of players
• Diamond Geezertron Unlock the final skill in either skill tree Bronze 35.38% of players
• Mass Ruckus Equip elite items to all slots Bronze 16.26% of players
• Stains of Heresy Complete Stains of Heresy Bronze 39.73% of players
• The Mad Queen Complete The Mad Queen Bronze 39.61% of players
• Lord of the Black Stone Complete Lord of the Black Stone Bronze 37.98% of players
• The Secondary Adventure Complete all Secondary Quests Silver 9.33% of players
• Grim Reaping Unlock Reaper Form Bronze 71.15% of players
• Bravo Old Chap Defeat Wicked K Bronze 10% of players
• Respec Yourself Your First Respec Silver 42.4% of players
• Is There Anyone Else? Complete The Crucible Silver 9.63% of players
• Like a Noss Defeat the four creatures named by Thane Bronze 28.83% of players
• Abracadabra Open all Death Tombs Silver 11.6% of players
• Antiquing Complete Lost Relics Bronze 10.29% of players
• I've Brought You A Gift Defeat the Soul Arbiter Bronze 18.34% of players
• Epic! Death Reaches Level 30 Bronze 11.63% of players
• Feeding Time Level Up Your 1st Possessed Weapon Bronze 56.36% of players
• Pay It Forward Gift An Item To A Friend Bronze Needs online 15.96% of players
• All You Can Eat Buffet Complete Sticks and Stones Bronze 9.5% of players
• Full Potential Unlock All Combat Moves & Upgrades Bronze 36.12% of players

Space and patches

Space neededAbout 6.0 GB

Update patch01.02

These are the patches Sony still hosts for this disc ID. The game's real history can be longer.

DLC

Story expansions and equipment packs were sold on PlayStation Network, some in a season pass, and the Crucible Pass unlocks the Crucible arena and gifting for used copies. Everything is still sold on the PS3 store. None of it adds trophies.

Items

Name	Date	Adds	Price	Obtainable today
Crucible Pass	2012-08-07	Unlocks the Crucible arena and item gifting; a code came with new copies.	US$9.99	Yes
Season Pass	2012-08-07	The Abyssal Forge, The Demon Lord Belial and the Maker Armor Set.	US$19.99	Yes
Argul's Tomb	2012-09-25	A story-driven dungeon pack. Not part of the season pass.	US$6.99	Yes
The Abyssal Forge	2012-10-30	Story expansion set in the Shadow Lands.	US$9.99	Yes
The Demon Lord Belial	2012-12-04	Story expansion set on Earth.	US$9.99	Yes
The Maker Armor Set	2012-11-13	Armour and scythe set.	US$2.99	Yes
Angel of Death Pack	2012-10-16	Enhanced weapons and armour and a new visual effect for Dust.	US$1.99	Yes
Deadly Despair and single weapons	2012-10-16	A speed boost for Despair, and Mortis, Mace Maximus, Rusanov's Axe and Fletcher's Crow Hammer.	US$0.99 each	Yes

Playable today

Playable offline todayPartly

The game plays in full; item gifting closed in February 2016.

Online

Online servers runningNo

Plays offlinePartly

Item gifting to friends ran on THQ's servers, which closed in February 2016. The Crucible arena itself is offline.

Services

Service	Status	Shutdown date
Item gifting	closed	2016-02

Reception

Aggregates

Outlet	Platform	Score	Scale
Metacritic	PS3	84	100
Metacritic	Xbox 360	83	100
Metacritic	PC	81	100
Metacritic	Wii U	85	100

Critics

Outlet	Score	Scale
IGN	7.5	10
Game Informer	9	10
GameSpot	8.5	10
Giant Bomb	4	5
Computer and Video Games	7.5	10
Game Revolution	7	10
G4	4.5	5
Official Xbox Magazine UK	7	10

Staff and cast

Staff

Role	Name
Director	Joe Madureira
Director	David Adams
Director	Marvin Donald
Writer	Paul De Meo
Writer	David Slagle
Programmer	Colin Bonstead
Artist	Han Randhawa
Composer	Jesper Kyd

Cast

Character	Actor
Death	Michael Wincott
Eideard	James Cosmo

Notes for collectors

• The PS3 list has 50 trophies: a platinum, 2 gold, 6 silver and 41 bronze.
• The reported development budget was 50 million dollars.
• It was one of the launch games for the Wii U in North America and Europe.
• The Limited Edition included a code for Argul's Tomb, which was otherwise sold at 6.99 USD.
• In Japan the game was published and localized by Spike Chunsoft.
• The Deathinitive Edition for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One includes the story expansions. There is no Deathinitive release for PS3.

Credits

Publisher

THQ

Developer

Vigil Games

Director

Joe Madureira

Released

2012-08-14

Age rating

ESRB M

Disc ID

BLUS30829

Region

US

Time to beat

about 21.5 hours