Review: Darksiders II: Deathinitive Edition (PS4)

Awakened by the End of Days, Death, the most feared of the legendary Four Horsemen, embarks upon a quest to restore mankind, and redeem his brother’s name.

Pros:

• Decent graphics.
• Four save slots.
• Four difficulties: Easy, Normal, Apocalyptic and Deathinitive.
• Action brawler RPG game play.
• Opening tutorial section with ongoing support.
• Fully voiced cast for each character.
• Dungeons are plentiful and offer puzzles and complex platforming whilst facing off against hordes of enemies and bosses.
• Earn exp and level up to earn points to put into the massive upgrade tree which in turn unlocks new abilities, Powers and buffs.
• Solid fighting mechanic. Combo system coupled with dodge abilities plus you have primary and secondary weapons that you can hot swap between mid combo.
• Enemies can drop loot and money.
• Auto pick up loot function.
• Choose questions in dialogue conversations.
• You get a recap of the story when you load your save.
• Fast travel available.
• Despair: Your horse that you can call on to aid in travelling. You can still attack when mounted and you do have agallop button.
• Dust: Your bird that when called upon will show you the way in dungeons.
• Optional side quests.
• Reaper form: Transform into a reaper and have stronger attacks, Take more damage. Attack and kill enemies to keep your form going.
• Find secret rooms, shortcuts and hidden chests.
• Handy lock on button to aid fighting.
• Possessed gear: Once found you can sacrifice lower gear to upgrade the possessed weapons.
• New game plus option.
• Crucible is a wave based survival mode that adds hours of replay ability.
• Intriguing expansive lore.
• Huge boss fights.
• Mini map shows chests and mission markers.
• A huge open world where you can do as you like within the sandbox environment.
• Easily playable with a simple control scheme mixed with the whole pick up and play mentality.

Cons:

• Juddery performance with screen tearing and just general slow down its biggest problem.
• A lot of fiddly platforming sections with the main problem being that the game doesnt always register grabs and jumps properly.
• Menu system feels slow and clunky, Changing gear is a chore as is checking the map.
• Cannot use d pad in menu options.