izigame.me

the original darksiders was a strange but rewarding experience for me, a bit of a slow burn that grew on me wildly both over its runtime and in thinking back on the overall experience. these games are a type of AAA game that im not sure exists anymore, and was certainly on its last legs during this console generation...ambitions for sprawl and scope and Overall Experience rather then strict polish, pacing, or seamless systemic harmony. demons souls and dark souls are ofc the peak and most longlasting heralds from this period, and fittingly theyre clearly among the influences picked up between darksiders 1 and 2, perhaps the most prominent new flavor in the dizzying pastichy palate the games are infamous for (darksiders 3 from what ive seen is just a full-on soulslike, which is intriguing). the zelda elements remain and are perhaps even more pronounced with more dungeons and a more open world, the character action elements from dmc and god of war remain and are agumented by the souls flirations, theres now prince of persia inspired parkour, theres generic AAA "rpg elements" like xp and accompanying skill tree, and most bizarrely theres a diablo-esque randomized loot system which theoretically adds near infinite variety but in practice never seems to adjust numbers and effects wildly enough to feel like a proper strategic choice, except in the unique weapons usually dropped by bosses that are disappointingly easy to outclass with better raw damage numbers. and they kept the fucking portal gun lmao. at least theyre not blue and orange anymore!
none of this is very insightful, darksiders' recklessly derivative nature is just about the first thing mentioned in any discussion of it. its easy to pick at it for that, just as its easy (ESPECIALLY in this game) to pick at the weird frayed edges where the harmony of the systems is dissonant and spicy. theres probably a reason most people look back more fondly on the original game because once you get on its terms, it does make a kind of elegant sense. compared to the sequel it really wasnt working with that many elements, and they often covered for eachother in lovely ways: god of war never had puzzles and spatial navigation that satisfying, zelda never had combat that involved and thrilling. its downright tasteful compared to darksiders 2's seemingly never-ending maximalism, not just in the amount of systems but in everything: the overdesigned visuals, the bloated campaign with an unbelievably inert middle section, the story that swaps the pompus but still straightforwardly investable drama of the original for a deluge of proper nouns in purple text and self-seriousness that goes far beyond pompousness straight into the self-mythologizing. its a Video Game Sequel, Bigger and Badder, more dungeons, more bosses, more locations, more mechanics, scarcely any of it seemingly included with any consideration beyond the development team's affection for other video games.
i love it. god dude i fucking love it so much. its not often that i would describe any AAA games, even ones i love, as Passionate...obviously im sure ppl care a lot about the games theyre spending years of their lives on, but in terms of the translated feeling of "jesus christ this game was made by people who absolutely love the game theyre making" that i usually only get from indie projects, i can barely think of any game of this scale and budget that comes close. i can feel the ghost of the enthusiastic creatives over my shoulder the whole time, waiting giddily for my reaction to the Awesome Fucking Part thats coming up that theyre so proud of, and not only do i want to indulge them, i dont feel like im being dishonest while doing so. even in music, clean and pleasant harmonies arent the only way to do harmony, jazz rules thank u very much!!! perhaps the loot system is just an rng-addled series of extra menu usage that doesnt actually offer that much possibility, but the Audacity that its in the game at all, in even a semi-polished state, makes me not want to envision a version of the game without it.
it is one of many elements that perhaps arent much on their own, perhaps confusing or pointless next to the other elements, but from an overall view are still contributing to a piece that is not just admirably chaotic but genuinely dexterous and masterful when it wants to be...i rly enjoyed the puzzles and dungeon navigation in the original game, but both the median quality and especially peak points of those things here fucking clear it. its not often that i vividly remember individual puzzles in non-puzzle games after a single playthrough, but theres half a dozen or so here that still stick in my mind.
and the bosses!!!! obviously not every one is a winner but theyre consistent highlights and perhaps my biggest incentive to go through the game on a higher difficulty someday, i wanna get intimate with them the way i am with souls bosses, they highlight the general strength of the combat, again perhaps not the most harmonious mechanical symphony but i always found it stimulating, empowering, and just the right level of friction for a normal difficulty first playthrough.
i do genuinely admire much about the game systemically and mechanically even with its undeniable rough edges, but more then anything i love the game because it just has *texture.* it exists somewhere between the obvious passion in all the borrowed elements and reckless creativity, the stunning art direction that panders to so many of my proclivities of colorful melodramatic high fantasy, the somehow even more stunning score thats so eclectic and lush and atmospherically interesting enough that it would evoke strange and creative worlds even without any visuals, the feeling of riding around the open world areas, not exactly densely designed but wondrous and awe-inspiring simply to exist in. to call darksiders 2 more then the sum of its parts feels like stooping to a banality that the game itself never does, never content to sit still even in its most theoretically uninspired elements. just looking at death's design is a powerful summation of the feeling: all the elements of the traditional grim reaper look are there, but evoked with subtly surprising elements, the skull a mask, the hood a head of hair.
its a game, like the original, about multiple kingdoms and their worthless conflicts. but death, the great equalizer, brings a strange sense of harmony traversing through all of them...almost every world is an afterlife realm, death doesnt represent endings, he represents a fleeting, perfectly balanced transition point between two massive sprawls of existence, each attempting to conquer the other rather then coexist. its somehow spiritually stirring, a death stranding-esque plea to recognize that the end is never the end, that the end is only a matter of our own perception and that we can outlive the end, that the end may even pose an opportunity, one not to be wasted. it carries a mythic weight in my head, even surpassing the likes of god of war, and possibly, POSSIBLY, getting close to the likes of dark souls. the fact that it allows itself so much more traditional narrative drama is certainly something to consider...less unique certainly, but its using its tools so, so powerfully to me
darksiders 1 started as a weird offputting experience for me, but grew in my estimation to be a pretty great and enjoyable game. darksiders 2 started as a pretty great and enjoyable game, and only grew from there. even with all ive said, my 5 star rating is perhaps a bit shaky...even with my galaxy brain takes theres still a few things i wish were different, and if they were would likely make this one of my 10 or 15 favorite games ever made. but its hard to linger on them or fret over hypotheticals. im genuinely thankful for this thing.