Darksiders II is an Action RPG, Previews and Trailers

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Written by BuckGB on January 26th, 2012

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Straight brawling has been tossed aside to usher in combat that rests on two new skill trees. Spending points on Harbinger abilities increases Death's agility, speed, and proficiency with melee strikes, while earning and unlocking those on the Necromancer side boosts his magical prowess. The addition of these trees gives the game a more role-playing feel, while another change is that enemies receive designated levels of difficulty, complete with visibly depleting health bars as you whittle them down with your attacks. Damage figures scroll across the screen as you land hits, and though Vigil is playing its cards close to its chest for the moment, we saw sporadically increased amounts of damage that suggests the new gear items that drop from bad guys may help raise your chance to perform critical strikes.

So there's a little of the Diablo formula present in the sparkly loot that enemies now drop, giving you a new piece of kit to try out after each encounter. It's good stuff, too. There are plenty of different armour sets available, but they all fall into three basic types, which work a little like classes. Necromancer armour will always boost spell-casting stats. Slayer armour will improve your defence, melee attacks and general weapons proficiency. Finally, Wanderer gear will steadily turn you into a kind of rogue character - fast, stealthy, and brilliant at assassinations.

"A lot of that stuff was meant to be in the first game, honestly," admits Mad. "But we were a new studio, and just getting a game out of the door that was solid was a challenge for us. It really heightens the gameplay experience. Call them RPG elements or game systems or whatever it just takes what was awesome in Darksiders and adds so many new layers to it I think if you were a fan of the first game, you will really appreciate it, and even if you weren't, it is a great world to step into. It's gameplay that will be familiar to a lot of people."

With a full stat set for loot, it's also no surprise the game comes with a more RPG-esque combat system that arguably compares (and potentially betters) to the forthcoming Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning in terms of visceral engagement tied to traditional RPG mathematical rules (though it's obviously not nearly as varied given the lack of an equally robust character creation system when compared to the same game). And from this also stems the advent of player-choice in warrior or spell-caster archetypes built into the framework - each with accompanying skill-trees that let you (Create Your Own Death).

It's more than cosmetic, of course - Vigil Games understands the powerful effect a customisable character can bring to the RPG experience. Just look at Skyrim. But Vigil is looking to bridge the experience, mixing together the build-your-own-adventure approach of the MMO with the context and plot of games like the original Darksiders, and The Legend of Zelda. It's a best of both worlds approach, but it looks like it could work wonders.

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