Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition

Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition builds its appeal on the hybrid action-adventure formula: sword fights, loot, dungeon crawling, and a big, busy fantasy world threaded together by puzzles and traversal. By our assessment, it works best as a loud, straightforward power fantasy, with a combat rhythm that keeps moving and a lot of gear to swap around. The honest limit is that this kind of game can feel overstuffed, with systems and side material that never quite turn into depth on the level of the best action RPGs. In play it is all about moving from arena to arena, unlocking paths, and wearing down enemies with a steady flow of abilities rather than careful tactical restraint. Compared with more polished modern action games, it is rougher and busier; compared with pure hack-and-slash, it asks for more wandering and puzzle solving. Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition is a decent pick when someone wants a fantasy action game with lots of motion and not much fuss, and the ceiling is set by how much that formula still holds interest.