Recent reviews by Princess Pete 触手

Oh boy, where to begin? Maybe I was a bit too hyped... But I was equally, if not more, hyped for Darksiders II Deathinitive Editionand that lived up to, and surpassed, expectations. I am fraggin' obsessed with Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition as a whole. Have been for a long time. As I did with 2016, I pre-ordered multiple copies of Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition the very day it was an option. Different boxed copies, and one on Steam to play at launch. Excessive? Perhaps, but I love Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition, and I have never played a (official) Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition game I didn't like. I also like Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition, it's a good game, it's just different.

And so too, is Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition. Like Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition, it's undoubtedly a worthy addition to the series, but, after beating it in a single marathon-run (don't let that fool you, it's a long game), I have to say, rather painfully, I liked 2016 better. Way better. Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition is... unique.

Let me be clear, this is a good game. A great game. I won't go into too much detail about what the new mechanics are, since anyone reading this has probably already seen the videos. It's fast, frantic, violent as all hell, very mobile, and ripping and tearing through demon guts certainly got my heart racing. Crushing hellspawn feels just as visceral and satisfying as it ever has.

It's all glorious... it just doesn't feel quite like Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition And I admit I have difficulty putting my finger on exactly why this is. 2016 felt like Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition. I loved 2016. I have over 500 hours in it for a reason. I've beaten it more times than I can remember on Nightmare. It's just a beautiful game. The circle-strafing and dodging skills that I learned on Ultimate Darksiders II Deathinitive Editionand Darksiders II Deathinitive EditionII felt equally useful in 2016, plus it forced me to learn and master jumping and ledge grappling/mantling in a way that felt very fluid, without slowing down the action at all.

Not so in Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition. Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition is less about classic FPS movement, and more about resource management. Where 2016 gives you a bunch of firepower and let you use it as you see fit, Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition gives you a bunch of tools and pushes you to use them in a specific way. When they said, "use the right tool for the job" they weren't kidding. You basically have to. Don't try to improvise. Make sure you take out the demons in the right order to keep your resources up, or you're going to die since item placement on the map is few and far between. It's all about chainsawing the right demon at the right time.

Don't get me wrong, this is really fun. It certainly makes you think more than 2016. I can see the idea here is to force the player into learning these mechanics so well that they become automatic and no longer require concious thought. It's like a gory FPS puzzle, with each encounter trying to guide you into taking out each demon in a certain pattern and with certain weapons. But, the flipside of that, arguably a downside, it feels less classic. I'm not annoyed that there's a dance to master here, but this dance sometimes requires a few too many steps.

To pick an example, I was under the impression that demon weak-points were going to be something you could attempt to exploit in the heat of battle to turn the tide, but no. You pretty much need to hit the weak points to keep the combat under control. This isn't entirely unlike 2016, which had certain weapon mods that were far better suited to certain enemies than others. This is a lot more focused though, and you will have to use all your tools to succeed. No more Plasma Stun + Super Shotgun as a cure-all.

It's a lot harder than 2016, too. I started on Nightmare and gave up about midway through before switching to UV. I have no complaints about the difficulty here. 2016 feels a little too easy after a lot of hours. Ultra Violence in Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition feels even harder than Nightmare in 2016. Length wise, it took me about 18 hours to marathon the campaign, so it is a liner FPS of epic proportions.

On to presentation, The destructable demons are fantastic. They really fit the game. Watching chunks of meat fly off as you dish out bullets is just plain cool. There is an overwhelming amount of customization and upgrade potential. A lot of options, and having that much customization in a linear FPS campaign is extraordinarily rare. I would have to say I've NEVER seen an FPS campaign (linear, not open world) with this many options for customizing, both cosmetic and otherwise.

Story wise, well, this is where my biggest disappointment is. I won't go into spoilers, but I can sum it up by saying I guess nobody remembers that old quote from John Romero, "there's no name for the Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition Marine because he's supposed to be you". Well, they ditched that idea. The Darksiders II Deathinitive EditionSlayer is now, truly, his own character. (Minor-ish spoiler, at your own risk: ) I'd imagine this is a concept they're going to push even more in the DLC. I hope they don't. In Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition, you'll see his past, and even see him wounded and dragged around by the Sentinels. That really bugged me. I liked it better when no one could touch him. 2016 implied that the Sentinels worshiped him as a leader. Now it seems like he's just their best knight. Sure, this is more believable I guess (as far as Darksiders II Deathinitive Editiongoes anyway) than a literally unstoppable demon-slaying death machine, but, meh, I felt more powerful in 2016 when you answered to no one.

I don't want it to sound all bad. There is a lot of cool stuff here, and those positive reviews are not without reason. I just kind of wish they'd reserved a lot of these new ideas for Quake and let Darksiders II Deathinitive Editionbe a bit more straightforward, as it's always been. I just want my guns and an army of demons to slay, I didn't need the cutscenes and backstory.

I still highly recommend it. It's worth every penny. It just doesn't pull at me quite the way Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition did, and still does. I like Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition in the same way I like Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition 3. It's Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition, it's just a different flavor of Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition. If Ultimate Darksiders II Deathinitive Editionis Coke, then Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition is adding a shot of rum, and Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition is dumping it all out and getting a Sprite. Tasty, but not quite what I expected.

**UPDATE
I'm replaying the campaign again, this time in the extra-life mode. Back at the super gore nest as of right now. I want to amend some of my statements about the combat as I feel I was a bit too harsh on it. The more I play it, the more I'm learning to love it. It's still different than the circle-strafing and dodging I'm so accustomed to from past Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition games and other classic FPS, but the more I do it, the more addicting it is. I stand by what I said regarding the story changes.

Also, I want to address something as I had no idea how this review could be so controversial. This game is fantastic. It just doesn't have quite the same vibe 2016 did, and it feels a little more hand-holdy (yes, even with the tutorials and pop-ups turned off). Apparently I'm far from the only person who feels that way. Even with that said, it is absolutely worth buying at full price.