Darksiders II

Players take control of Death, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The core gameplay is an action role-playing hack and slash style. The game makes frequent use of interactive puzzle elements, requiring the player to think their way through a series of levers, doors, elevators, portals, etc. in order to traverse areas and reach objectives. Which most of the time requires a key or a specific power to pass through.

Maps are vast and each contain open world regions that can be explored freely on foot or by his horse Despair, along with numerous dungeons where quest objectives are generally carried out. There are main and side quests, with main and side boss fights. Worlds can be traversed via fast travel, whereby the player can teleport to certain map points instantly. While inside a dungeon, the player is allowed to fast travel back to the overworld while saving their dungeon location for continuation later without losing progress.

Darksiders II is parallel to the previous game. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse - War, Strife, Fury, and Death, the player character - are the last of the Nephilim, cursed fusions of angels and demons who waged war on all Creation for a place to live. To preserve the balance of the universe, the Four received power from the Charred Council in exchange for slaughtering their kin. Death personally cut down the last of their brethren, Absalom, the first Nephilim, but he secretly preserved the souls of the Nephilim in an amulet, defying the Council, and gave it to the Keeper of Secrets, known as the Crowfather, for safekeeping.

While War is charged with his crimes of starting the Apocalypse early and dooming mankind to extinction, Death, sure of his brother's innocence, sets out to erase his brother's 'crime' and resurrect humanity. He first travels to the Icy Veil to seek the Crowfather for proof of War's innocence and a way to restore Earth. The Crowfather tells Death to go to the Tree of Life, and demands that Death take back the amulet. When Death refuses, the Crowfather attacks him in the shape of War. Death kills the Crowfather, who shatters the amulet and embeds the fragments in the Horseman's chest before sending him into a portal.

After its critical and commercial success of the original game, THQ's creative director Luis Gigliotti revealed in an interview with GameAxis that Darksiders would be a franchise and that they were contemplating a sequel.

An article on the Official Xbox Magazine website confirmed that Darksiders II was expected to be released in 2012. Darksiders II became the launch title for the then-upcoming Wii U with modifications necessary to fit the controls of the Nintendo console as well as some new features unique to the console.

Darksiders II received positive reviews. Aggregating review website Metacritic gave the Wii U version 85/100, the PlayStation 3 version 84/100, the Xbox 360 version 83/100, and the PC version 81/100. IGN gave it a score of 7.5, saying that despite its problems, Darksiders II is simply a "fun" game.

During the 16th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Darksiders II for "Adventure Game of the Year".