The original Darksiders seemed to do what so few games achieve; it had an awesome fucking ending. So much so that it was a little disappointing when the news was initially broken that the exploits of Death on offer in the sequel would not follow directly from the events of the first game, but would instead take place concurrently. Even with this preparation I still managed to be a bit let down by the lack of integration with the first game's story.

As I was playing though, I was hoping that the end game for Darksiders 2 would make a lot more connections, and that they simply needed some more setup. What happened is that they basically gave us the exact same ending as the first game, while adding on some additional unfinished plot lines. The entire plot of the game is that Death is trying to absolve War of his punishment for the events at the beginning of the first game. But, War doesn't really need saving, does he? I mean, by playing the first game, aren't we already aware that War basically kind of took care of things on his own? Or, if absolving War has to do with what happens after the last seal is broken (at the end of Darksiders 1), that's just more story that was left on the table that we aren't aware of.

Also, it seemed strange that over the course of the game there were multiple times where attention was drawn to the fact that Death would have a choice of whether or not to save humanity or save the nephilim. At the end, there isn't much gravity put on it at all, and he just says "Im gonna do what I need to to save War" like it wasn't a big deal. Then we don't find out what happens to War (or humanity/nephilim) as a result of the sacrifice. Then to top it off, they basically just say "Don't worry about Death sacrificing himself, he'll come back", and we are left at the exact same scene that ended the first game.

Am I missing something? Do you think they will expound upon this further with their upcoming DLC releases?

When I think about it, the whole final act of Darksiders II was kind of rushed - especially the ending. I understand that they're trying to set up the next game, what with the stuff after the credits, but I too had a hard time understanding what happened.

They will expand on this in the next game. (not DLC most likely)

Also did you watch the scene after the credits? It very strongly hints at the plot progression.

War didn't take care of everything on his own, yes he killed a bunch of dudes and especially Abadon, but that's it. Abadon is a figurehead, he is brute force. There are still layers of shit above Abadon, the rest of Haven is still pissed at War, there is Charred Council, Samael, and even Lucifer. That's just the players we know.

Death not only completely undermined the reason to persecute War by saving humanity but also saved humanity which is kind of a big deal. And stopped the entropy of Corruption.

As far as to what happens with the human souls of course they would not explain yet, the series is nowhere near finished and neither are the set of events. Earth is still fucked up. So the logistics are still to be worked out. The important bit is that their souls are ready to be returned.

Death throughout the game has been shown to be one resolute motherfucker. Ofcourse he just said "yep i'll save War" in the end (plus he is way into the balance thing). It's kind of perfect for his character.

The game starts amazing but ends completely abruptly. It was as if the developers rushed through the final act of the game and took out a dungeon or two in order to wrap everything up. Even the final boss fight was underwhelming compared to the major boss of the first location. While I enjoyed the battle system the story left much to be desired. Overall a nice but forgettable experience.

@Tennmuerti said:

They will expand on this in the next game. (not DLC most likely)

Also did you watch the scene after the credits? It very strongly hints at the plot progression.

War didn't take care of everything on his own, yes he killed a bunch of dudes and especially Abadon, but that's it. Abadon is a figurehead, he is brute force. There are still layers of shit above Abadon, the rest of Haven is still pissed at War, there is Charred Council, Samael, and even Lucifer. That's just the players we know.

Death not only completely undermined the reason to persecute War by saving humanity but also saved humanity which is kind of a big deal. And stopped the entropy of Corruption.

As far as to what happens with the human souls of course they would not explain yet, the series is nowhere near finished and neither are the set of events. Earth is still fucked up. So the logistics are still to be worked out. The important bit is that their souls are ready to be returned.

Death throughout the game has been shown to be one resolute motherfucker. Ofcourse he just said "yep i'll save War" in the end (plus he is way into the balance thing). It's kind of perfect for his character.

Admittedly I didn't watch the scene after the credits, I'll have to go do that again.

But doesn't the ending of both games kind of set up a "Oh shit here come all the horsemen ready to fuck everyone up" kind of attitude? It doesn't really seem to fit to me that absolving War of the Council's ire would be the top priority there (or would even matter). But even still, I think it's still a bit disappointing because they just tacked on more stuff to address in the next game, without really resolving much in the current game or the previous one. Yeah, Corruption is gone, but that was never the interesting part of Darksiders 2, the connection to the first game is.

And I agree on Death just saying "yeah I'll save War", which is why i was confused that characters kept coming back and making a big deal out of saving the Nephilim, when it turned out to not even be a big decision in the story.

@bushpusherr:

That scene after the credits explains at least one main characters motivations for pushing so hard for Nephelim to be saved rather then humanity.

As far as riders fucking shit up at the end of both games. We know all this conspiracy stuff, and we also know that the seals will be broken anyway. But Death doesn't. Death isn't aware that War is also ploughting through enemies, but most importantly Death is not aware just how many people are mixed up in inciting the early Apocalypse (especially the Charred Council). All Death knows is that War has been set up, so he does what he believes is the most final solution (being death and all). Bring back humanity erase the crime completely.

It makes sense when you look at it from Deaths viewpoint not the players.

But I agree that overall Corruption is a crappy enemy/concept and overall Darksiders 2 story meanders too much.

@Tennmuerti said:

They will expand on this in the next game. (not DLC most likely)

Also did you watch the scene after the credits? It very strongly hints at the plot progression.

Huh? I just finished the game and got nothing after the credits. Did I need to do something to unlock it?

And yeah, the story just seem to kinda fade away. It had the same problem as the original Darksiders had; the first half is amazing while the second half is soooo rushed. Just compare the maps between the first two worlds and the last two; they go from sprawling masses of land to... a straight path.

@GunslingerPanda: You need to actually wait for the credits to end on their own.

Strangely enough, I think it would have made more sense for this to be the first game and Darksiders 1 to be the second game, leading up to badass final chapter. Death's "sacrifice" is meaningless since we know he comes back, and his entire journey seems pointless given we know that War is going to break free on his own and that humanity isn't back in DS1. The far more interesting progression would be for Death to sacrifice himself, War to go on a rampage to clear his name and avenge Death, and then the ending we got in DS1. As it is it just seems to be a meaningless sideplot that gets Death where we really want him to be.

And I'd agree that the entire last act seemed rush. The first world seemed well fleshed out, interesting, and had a great arc to it, the Land of the Dead was expansive but dragged on, and the last two worlds were goddamn empty with almost no exploration. The Angel realm had one straight path, the terrible Earth sequence, and the alright city dungeon leading to a couple good boss battle. The Demon realm (though looking awesome) had one straight path leading to ONE dungeon and an average boss battle. And then the ending comes with its terribly disappointing boss battle. I was in shock when the five achievements popped there, as I didn't think it was possible that was the last boss - he was basically no different than a miniboss and there was nothing even leading up to him inside the Well of Souls.

The game peaks in the first realm and the first boss battle, and then meanders and goes downhill towards the end.

Even with the scene after the credits, the ending sucked ass.  I was expecting a good movie that moved the plot along.  Really is the cherry on this cow pie.  I have barely any interest in the next game unless they cut out a lot of the bs puzzle gameplay.

I agree, the story in general seems lackluster because it is ridiculously simple and provides little to no insight into the reest of the universe.

The next game hopefully takes place after these events take place because I would like to see some progression in the story, since I agree there was very little in this game but I do think it sets up some cool stuff. Speaking of a next game who would be interested in a 2D metroidvania style game, I was thinking about it and I think that would be a cool direction for a sequel.

I just hope THQ lives long enough for a third game.

The ending was weak, and that last boss was one of the most underwhelming encounters I can think of. I had more trouble fighting groups of corrupted than I did the end boss. I couldn't believe that was actually it when achievements started poppi g up

yup, i feel the same way about the second part of the game. the story and content feel rushed and as for the ending i think it would have been better if it added to the ending of the first game. maybe seeing Death fall into the well, and then cut to the scene at the end of D1, have all the horsemen land, meet up with war and then either end it there or maybe have them discuss whats happened and where its gonna go from there.

I'll post here what I said in my thread (which I probably shouldn't have made):

So I just finished the game and while I really like the game play, I feel like the developers really fucked up with the story.

I had just replayed Darksiders before this came out and I really enjoyed the story, but Darksiders 2 does not have anywhere near as good a story.

To be honest I can't think of a single thing this adds to the story of the first game. I suppose it fleshes out the universe a bit and Death is a cool character but it's such a letdown after the first game. The last boss is pretty pathetic as well.

Totally agree with TC, it felt so unnatural how Death goes into the well and then it suddenly goes to the ending of DS 1.

@Heltom92 said:

To be honest I can't think of a single thing this adds to the story of the first game.

Lilith's intentions for framing War in Darksiders are revealed to be attempting manipulate Death into resurrecting the Nephilim so they may serve in the Dark Lords army.

Just beat it and I'd say I fall in the same boat as you. In the end it really felt less like Darksiders 2 and more like Darksiders: Death's Been Busy. 2 basically ends with the same end as 1.

Yeah, the story is disappoting... I've played Darksiders 2 for 82 hours since 21th and I have to say that Darksiders 2's biggest strength is the hugely improved combat system but Darksiders is a better package overall. Darksiders 2 has cool looking and potentially interesting characters but they don't do anything with them. It is always 5 min conversation and that's it. Oh, you meet you freakin' mother she gives you time portal and that's it. See you in the sequel. You meet Uriel... same thing. Samael - same thing.

Loved the game but Darksiders1 is the better game in my book.

So I finally just finished this game. Man, it is underwhelming in so many ways, including the pathetic pussy they called a final boss, but the ending sucked the big one. Actually, the entire story was poorly paced and completely uninteresting, and the fact that the first game left so many opportunities for it to be awesome makes it even worse. I kept waiting for some kind of payoff, as the story finally started to pick up in the last act, but it never came. Death's journey feels totally pointless by the end. I really hate to say it, since Darksiders 1 is one of my favorite games of this generation, but DS2 is one of the most disappointing games I've played in a long time. It's definitely not a bad game by any means, but the whole thing left a sour taste in my mouth simply because what could - and SHOULD - have been was not, for whatever reason.

My main annoyance in the game was how baddass they made death feel and talk half the time but then the other half he just accepts shit without any form of protest or even thought on the matter. I know it's that type of game but it'd have been cool if it was a little less obvious. Although I'm starting to think it was on purpose and just a part of his character considering his line towards the end of the game and finally being at the well of souls and having no idea what to do next.

After the first game as the story unfolded and you had little snippets here and there of what was going to happen at the end it was pretty shit to have the ending just handed to you at the end of the Forge Lands. That is corruption+ absalom = bad guy and the idea of Death giving up the souls of the Nephelim is a given throughout the game since all Death seems to do is look at his chest then back up and say something like "For War. For my brother." I think what the story really needed was at least some kind of a twist at the end to shake things up and give you a new perspective on the DS1 ending instead of just being the same.

Also I dunno about you guys but I usually play games on normal and if anything turn the difficulty down if I get bored of the mechanics and just want to beat the game for its story. To me DS2 on normal was really really easy... (I haven't tried the Crucible because to put it simply: 100 waves? fuck that.). By the end of the game I had an armblade with +230% crit dmg (30% chance) and something like 10% wrath steal along with my reaper blades with 240% crit dmg and like 40% chance and that practically meant each hit was around >1k with the teleport slash to regen health and unlimited wrath from my armblades. Couple that with a fully fleshed out unstoppable talent and you just mow down bosses and mobs... I guess I could have turned the difficulty up or something but after that earth level I was kinda fed up with the game and all of its fetch quests. The loot lust also dies out once you realise that your possessed weapons are better than everything else since you tailor it to your style (at least for normal anyway) and you have millions of gilt for any armour.

I just finished it and as per my former posts about Darksiders II I had a huge rough spot at the start of Act II where I wasn't feeling the game but I thought it really picked up steam for me. While its true that they didn't push forward the overhanging story of what is going on with War it does show that Death resurrects humanity and also shows motivations of a lot of the other players in the story.

I think its cool how it called back to the ending of the first game. Someday we'll actually get to PLAY that moment and it will be fantastic. Until then I think this is a suitible game. I do think it starts pretty slow and the padding of some section can be a bit much especially if your heart isnt in it. I've got everything done myself now all I have left to do is the Crucible which shouldn't be too bad. Hopefully the DLC will be more rich than just a few side dungeons to play in. I mean the reward for beating the crucible is the Abbysinal Armor which is neat but... seeing as the crucible is the hardest challenge in the game you really have nothing to use the armor for by the time you get it. =\

@caska: Death lashes out at everyone plenty of times for making him do shit, he still does it granted but most of the time he does give people shit for it and does plenty of backtalking. In one instance he murders a dude who made him run around needlessly, (which made that one boss fight so much sweeter for me)

@Demoskinos: Glad it turned around for you.

@Tennmuerti: It's probably a bad thing that I don't remember any of that... I only remember Death keeping the Arbiter Maze reward. Oh well, I retract my statement then! (Oh are you talking about the bit with the Rod?)

One bit I do remember though is that fetch quest of the three souls within the fetch quest that was finding the three lords and just made it feel like extra padding especially considering the ending of that quest. Doing dungeons using the dudes was a neat mechanic though!

After just completing Darksiders II, I'm unfortunately inclined to agree, the game kinda simpers down right about the time you have to head to the Demon Realm. I've still really enjoyed my time with Darksiders II--the combat and exploration is just so fun--however the story is a notable weak spot that threatens to pull so much else of the game down with it.

Pacing issues were a little off as I felt like I spent far too much time in the Kingdom of the Dead realm, and both the Angel/Demon realms were only pit stops in the grand scheme of things. Even though it's a pretty beefy game, I just wish it was longer, or rather there was just more story to it all. Which was also incredibly slow and outright boring during the Forge Land and, kinda similar to the original Darksiders, it all starts to get good just as it's ending. But unlike the original, they felt rushed like they wanted to push all of this outta the way just to close the book. The encounters with Lilith, Samael, Death pondering over choosing the Nephilim or Humanity, the pathetic end boss, the pointless 'sacrifice'. The story felt like it served as something you'd find in the encompassing novel, there to help expand upon the game's fiction and more otherwordly stuff they've got going on rather than to further the actual plot the first game finished on.

Though I say again, I still really enjoyed my time with Darksiders II and I was surprised at how many neat side-stuff they got, like the Arbitar's maze and so forth. Definitely a bit too much on the easy side, however; so much so that it eventually extinguished the appeal of new loot almost completely, and it made such rewards after besting a boss or solving a puzzle or completing a dungeon kinda hollow and meaningless. I wouldn't have minded a little more cosmetic variety with the loot at that. Fortunately the combat is just that much fun that the actual trek through a dungeon you could say was sort of a reward in of itself...

Still, fuck the collectibles. As if there aren't enough, now I need to try and find bloody gnomes now?!

@Demoskinos said:

@Yummylee All the collectibles actually serve a decent purpose though. The stonebites can be traded for stat boosts, the relics for stat boosts and even extra skill points. Also, you want to find the gnomes. The weapon you get for finding them all is ridiculous.

Yeah, I know, which I quite like! I like it when developers incentivise you with collectible rewards other than, well, the fact that they're finally out of your hair. But as I say again, fuck the collectibles...

i agree with everyone else that the story did take a hit and in my opinion it was alittle drawn out and lost focus after u left the kingdom of the dead and i was a little disappointing as to how after traversing the huge worlds of both the forge lands and the land of the dead that the other two worlds were kinda just one area and thats it .lostlight was pretty much just a tower and 2 dungeons , and black rock was even less which makes me wonder if they were kinda getting forced to rush the game before it was completely finished since its when u unlock lost light that the game suddenly dashes to the end the end boss was sort of a disappointment and didint really feel like "the big boss" as the achievement said it was , and they could have at least let you have a little dungeon or area within the well of souls since hell it was the one area death was trying to get to the entire game , would have been nice to explore and look around in it then just walking straight into a boss fight . with the cutscene included the ending wasent horrible , it wasnt the best ending ive ever seen in a game but it was descent enough to make me interested on whats going to happen in the next game.in my opinion it was still a great and awesome game the game play was fun and i loved the fast secondary weapon. i wouldn't be saprized though if they left that ending as a cliff hanger and continued the series by having the last 2 horesman have each of there own game before climaxing in the end with all 4 together since they made a couple references that strife was in the forge lands in the early part of the game

It was a bit unfortunate how it ended. The final boss was exceedingly lackluster, especially with how awesome The Guardian battle was.

That being said, since the game takes place nearly immediately after the opening of Darksiders 1 (Where the apocalypse happens and War is condemned), which means it takes place about 99 years before the majority of Darksiders 1(which happens 100 years after that opening), has anyone considered that the events of Darksiders 2 may be what makes the Charred Council let War out of his prison to begin with?

That makes the most sense to me, but I may be grasping at stuff. That would also mean Death is "Dead" for those 99 years until the final seal is broken.

The final quest/fight was a big let down, it was interesting to see the twist at the end with the events of War during the first game fitting in with what Death did, yet it was still go to to the well, fight, end, credits. It was like a 17hr buildup that ended in less than 5min, still liked the game overall.

The sacrifice was the Nephalim, not Death. No one during the story gave a good reason to resurrect them. Founders kept implying the Nephalim would have destroyed the Trees had they not been stopped. Others mentioned it probably to try to mess with Death's head.

Sadly boss fights suck these days, need to probably get rid of them. At least they barley used QTEs.

I just finished the story and although at first it appears that the plot of the game is to clear Wars name. I think that both Death and War find out along the way that the conspiracy is much deeper than that. Clearing War's name does not ultimately stop the dark prince's plan, it only brings to light what must really be done. The four horseman must ride together to put a stop to the dark prince himself. Thats why even after Death seemingly sacrifices himeself the Crowmaster says it is not the end of Deaths journey. So, although Death chose to give his life to restore humanity and Wars name.....War has also broken the seal to summon the riders which "Shall Ever be Four" So I think this will play out one of two ways. There will either be one more sequel that will involve the Four horseman riding together against the Dark Prince because when you plot against one horseman you will have to answer to all four. OR there will be two sequals with one being another concurrent ( or maybe even a prequel) involving Strife..... Then will come the story with all Four horsman picking up where War and Deaths stories left off.

So like, the ending was really weird for me. So i played like, all of the game 4 months ago and stopped playing when school got busy and forgot to come back. Than I did tonight and I beat the game in an hour. All I did was solve the final puzzle before samael and beat him and Absolon. Samael fight was really cool but Absolon was REALLY boring and easy. Maybe because the RPG mechanic made the game super easy. But the final boss fight was really boring mechanically. I think the issue with the game was it was just filler and added some plot threads they wanted for the next game and kinda solve the whole humanity thing. I think most people are disappointed because the final fight is so underwhelming and the game is more of a transition and set up for whats to come, and no real conclusions to anything.

How long does Death's journey last, anyway? The only problem I have with the story is kind of a disconnect between what Death did and what War did in the ending. It looked to me like Death saved humanity while War was still imprisoned or fucking shit up on Earth. I find it hard to believe that Death's quest took 100+ years to accomplish.

@valrog:

Death's quest lasts only a short time. Not known how long exactly but an inconsequential amount (a few days, weeks, months tops).

Keep in mind, Death didn't fully "save" humanity per se, he just freed their souls, everyone is still dead, now they just have a chance to return at some point in the future (if we ever get a Darksiders 3 now ...)

And at the end Death is well, kinda dead. So he probably spends the rest of those 100 years that War is imprisoned dead or in limbo or whatever it is dead souls do. Until the seal summons all 4 riders.

@Tennmuerti: Ah, that makes much more sense. For some reason I thought everything would/should go back to normal (The undoing the crime and so on). So this only leaves one question. What the hell were Fury and Strife doing all that time?