Gamescom 2011 Hands Off: Darksiders II (Xbox 360)

What it is: Darksiders 1 managed to really gain a cult following, largely because it borrowed elements from a lot of popular games, including God of War, The Legend of Zelda and even Portal, while adding its own post apocalyptic tone by actually allowing you to play as one of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, War.

Now, with Darksiders II, we find a new side to the story of War, this time from the perspective of his brother, Death, who is adventuring through the mythical Underground in order to find out the truth about his brother’s actions.

How it is: Right from the get go, Darksiders II impresses through its visual fidelity, as the world has a more greenish hue, largely because the color is also apparent in Death’s design. The world is much more over the top, as the Underground setting allowed the developers at Vigil Games to let their minds run wild and deliver unique environments, not like the ones from the first title, which had to be based on human buildings.

The actual game aims at retaining the mix between combat, exploration and platforming, but, according to Vigil, Darksiders II won’t throw at you endless waves of enemies, as quite a lot of feedback arrived because of the sometimes tedious fights in the first game.

Fighting is much more refined in the new game, as Death has a more artistic style of combat, as opposed to his simpler and tougher brother. He has more weapons to choose from, alternating between them on the fly, and there are a lot of combo moves that he can use.

When and on what: Darksiders II is currently at its halfway point in development, according to Vigil, so we might see it at the end of 2012 on platforms like the PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 or Nintendo Wii U.

We have a special page with all our Gamescom 2011 coverage.