Darksiders II

Darksiders II is an action adventure role-playing video game developed by Vigil Games and published by THQ. It is the sequel to Darksiders and was released in August 2012 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, with a Wii U port scheduled later in the year.

Darksiders II's story take place during the 100-year imprisonment of War following the Darksiders prologue, following the premature End War.
After War is captured and charged for his crimes, the Charred Council inform the other three Horsemen of his fate. The Horseman Death, knowing that his brother War is the most honorable and incorruptible of the four, and would never have started the Apocalypse early, flies into a rage. Believing his brother is victim of a conspiracy, Death defies the Council's orders and sets out on a personal mission to find proof of his brother's innocence.
Death travels to the Nether Realms, a place between Heaven and Hell, to call in favors from powerful beings that rule the realm.
Players take control of Death, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Like the first game, the core gameplay mechanics remain the same. Player have two types of weapons: a primary set of weapons is a pair of scythes and secondary weapons such as axes, hammers, and claws. The addition of various secondary weapons expand upon combat strategy and styles, tailoring them more to the player's preference. Similar to the first game, player will find essential abilities in various areas as well as solve puzzles in order to complete dungeons. Once the player has beaten the game the character items and level can be retained in a new game plus mode. The monsters and bosses in turn will also be leveled to accommodate the player.

Unlike the first game, "Darksiders II" features an role-playing game style of gameplay in a vastly expanded world. The game world is separated into several realms, each complete with side quests and plot driving main quest. As the player completes quests and engage in combat, the player gains experience. When the experience meter is full, the player will level up and be awarded skill points to be spent on Wrath skills. In addition, Darksiders II features a new loot system and replaces Darksiders soul currency with the more traditional gold. The player can acquire loot from various chests in the environment or purchase them from shops with in game gold.

THQ's creative director Luis Gigliotti revealed in an interview with GameAxis that Darksiders will be a franchise and that they are contemplating a sequel. Joystiq has stated that a Darksiders sequel was planned for the fiscal year of 2012.
An article on the Official Xbox Magazine website confirmed that Darksiders II was expected to be released in 2012. It was announced at E3 2011 that Darksiders II would be a launch title for the upcoming Wii U with modifications necessary to fit the controls of the Nintendo console as well as some new features unique to the console.
The game will take Death across multiple dungeons and city hubs. City hubs feature NPCs who can give out side quests etc. One city hub will connect to a number of dungeons and that one city area will feature more dungeons than the whole of the original Darksiders. Loot will also be included, dropping from encounters as rewards ranging from 12 different armor piece categories, which can have different enchantments and may power up Death's Wrath Powers.
At the San Diego Comic Con, it was revealed that Michael Wincott would provide the voice of Death. On June 19, 2012, James Cosmo (who appeared as a priest in "The Last Sermon," a live-action trailer for the game) was announced as the voice of Maker Elder Eideard, Death's guide throughout the story.

On February 14, THQ has announced that Darksiders II would hit stores on June 26, 2012. Pre-order DLC bonuses for the game were also announced, for GameStop, Best Buy and Amazon. On April 18, 2012, THQ announced on their website that Darksiders II will be delayed until August 2012. The PC requirements were released on July 19, 2012.

Darksiders II has been met with mostly positive review. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the Xbox 360 version 86.83% and 85/100, the PlayStation 3 version 85.57% and 84/100 and the PC version 85.00% and 83/100.