Darksiders II: The Demon Lord Belial DLC Review

Darksiders 2 has received its third, and possibly final (at least the last for the Season Pass), DLC titled The Demon Lord Belial. As the name implies, the focus of this add-on content is the Demon Lord Belial as he roams a post-apocalyptic Earth. Death, having heard that the Third Kingdom may still have a presence, travels to Earth where the angels and demons are still using the planet as their battleground. Following the lacking DLCs that came before, Is Death’s (potentially) last downloadable outing finally the quality expansion we’ve all been waiting to play?

Let’s find out what’s HOT and what’s NOT in our review of Darksiders 2: The Demon Lord Belial DLC.

HOT

Extending the Narrative

The Demon Lord Belial easily has the most interesting story and that may be because it doesn’t feel as detached as the other two DLC packs. As mentioned above, Death travels back to the war-ravaged Earth in search of surviving humans. Uriel, a familiar face from the main campaign (and the first game), returns to briefly appear in the beginning before Death sets off on his journey. During his time back on Earth, he meets a new character called Hunter, who actually managed to pique my interest. Finding out the struggles of the Third Kingdom is a compelling plot point given that we hear or see very little of the humans that were caught in the middle of this end of the world war. This makes it feel like more of an extension of the main story, fleshing out an important part of the narrative, rather than creating a mini side story. Combine this with the disgusting Demon Lord Belial’s mischief and you have the foundation for greatness.

NOT

Wraps Up Quickly

Despite it’s intriguing concept, The Demon Lord Belial DLC ends way too quickly, thwarting the promising foundation laid by the extended narrative. Right when you start enjoying where the story is leading, it ends. The content was completed in 45 minutes, and it could very well be possible to finish it in less time (say, around 30 minutes). If this is, in fact, the conclusion to the game’s DLC lineup, it is not only underwhelming, it’s flat out disappointing. Fighting a few Pit Spawns and Defilers on a fairly linear path through a rehashed environment doesn’t exactly create a winning recipe. The DLC finale should have been teaming with epic moments, such as those found throughout the main campaign. But, instead, we are left with yet another half-baked piece of content that feels rushed, which is only backed by how quickly it comes to a close. Trust me, you won’t be replaying this content once it’s over.

Eliminates Puzzles

Darksiders 2’s puzzles help vary the experience by breaking up the hack ‘n slash encounters that have surely lost some of their luster by this point. For some reason, this once integral portion of the game has been eliminated in The Demon Lord Belial DLC. You’ll be running through small to medium environments battling it out with demons and little else. Don’t expect to find any intricate puzzle platforming like that found in Abyssal Forge. Death Grip and Redemption round out the tools at Death’s disposal, and their use isn’t emphasized much until partway through the final battle (even then, only one is utilized).

Verdict

It’s hard to say much else about The Demon Lord Belial because it fails in the exact same places as its predecessors and this hits even harder knowing that this may be the last piece of DLC. The only real draw here is grabbing the three new Legendary Weapons, but even that still may not appeal to those who have maxed out their level and already have excellent equipment. The Demon Lord Belial DLC starts out strong and raises hopes, showing that it may have more to offer than the previous downloadable installments. Those expectations are crushed by a sub-hour, mediocre experience. The lack of playtime and the combat-only design, leaving out an important mechanic of Darksiders 2, makes up what can only be described as the most inadequate offering presented to owners of the game, Season Pass purchasers especially. In short, both Death and you deserve better than this.

[Editor’s Note: The Demon Lord Belial was reviewed on the PlayStation 3 platform. The DLC was provided to us by the publisher for review purposes.]

8 thoughts on “Darksiders II: The Demon Lord Belial DLC Review

  1. hey i myself and others have darksiders 2, i have it on the pc and ps3 and both are broken. i think thq is hiding a nasty little fact about this game and its bugs. Most of us have not been able to complete the last dlc and the newest one complete freezes the game .. please look at this thread

    http://community.darksiders.com/go/thread/view/138731/29522997/Abyssal_Forge__Demon_Lord_Belial_Freezing_Issues?pg=13

    we have been asking for a fix and its going on deaf ears, some of us it freezes others doors become locked and you cant contiune, and because of the way this game saves you can reload and do the last checkpoint, its plain bad. and those of us that have paid for this and supported them are suffering. Please read that and see for yourself

  2. I too purchased DS2 with great hope of epicness.. I gotta tell you I was more disappointed then a horny teenager on prom night!

    What a disaster! If you were one of thelucky few that could actually play through this game then count your blessings. I was able to progress through most of the main storyline pretty easy, however glitches in he game, missing items (such as collectables not in the places their supposed to be) or game crashes/freezing! Make it just impossible to finish!

    The DLC’s are supposed to enhance and pro long the gaming experience, well I gotta tell you this experiece wasn’t all that nice. (would’ve had a better time getting a rectal exam) And I’m a BIG FAN of this franchise, cause next to the God Of War series I think it could be the next great franchise.

    Bottom line this company put more time and care into it’s precious WiiU version then any of the other platforms. So basically they used us all as game testers.

    As an old saying goes buyer beware!

  3. I totally agree with the above two poster, THis dlc has frozen and broken the game, i cant even finish the last dlc and the new one i go a few steps and it freezes. I purchased the collectors edition on the pc and the ps3. And i feel like i am a goddamn beta tester its so so sad. And thq does nothing to update us on fixes and the solutions they offer are also sad. DELETE some of my equipemnt ..what the hell. Empty the epic items i spend hours in the game to get is not a solution , and the save system sucks. IF i had know this game was gonna be this buggy i would not have purchased it day one. If the game is broken they should allow us to get a refund, and we are not the only ones either, just look at that thread and on their forums.

  4. I truly love this game. hacking, slashing. Free roam, the fun, the elements..everything.
    But just because of some tiny simple bugs I can’t progress in the game..

    JUST because Karn didn’t appear in the Foundry anymore, I can’t continue..
    THQ, I got respect for you guys making such great game, but if only it would be technically flawless..
    It’s a real, real bummer and disappointment. Goodthing I didn’t purchase the DLC’s yet..

    I feel sorry for the people who did. They deserve worthy for their money.

  5. I was on the Darksiders website and have been following it for month since the very first DLC released. There were problems getting it released. They sent out the codes 3 days early and some people got to play and some didn’t. Then the second with all the bugs and now the third and final with more bugs. I actually completed the second but only by accident. I do have to comment on Afroking01’s comments. He claims that ” this company put more time and care into it’s precious WiiU version then any of the other platforms.” That is total an utter untruth if you actually have played the Wii U version. It has all the same problems except they included pre-order stuff on the disk. You can’t use tomes to send equipment to other people. You only receive things on an accomplishment basis. The Wii U version won’t receive the last 2 DLC releases either. I’ve played the PS3 version and got the Wii U version just because I wanted to see how different it was. I actually played using the pro controller. The slow loading is the same on that console. The freezing up is the same as with my PS3 version. They didn’t make it any better. They just added the ability to look at the stuff you normally pause the game for on the second screen. They say nothing is going to change because of filing chapter 11 but I can’t see how things won’t change. They are selling the company. They haven’t been monitoring their game sites either. When I posed a question about the Wii U version not receiving the DLC my thread was archived and locked. Avoiding or ignoring a problem doesn’t fix it. It just makes people angry when they pay for something and then find out it’s not supported.

  6. In response to CM’s comments…

    I must say from all the hype and what was posted on fourms, that the Wii U version of hte game seemed to have these issues fixed. However from your eloquent statement you claim that is not so, well far be it from me to appear ignorant so I stand corrected fellow gamer.

    I have to say though this fills me with an even sicker feeling now, as to knowing the company blatantly released a great game too soon with so many errors/bugs. And worse off they did it on almost every platform out!

    I guess if you gotta go, you do so wit a bang! Such a shameful time

  7. sooooo you guys know THQ went bankrupt recently, right? might have a little to do with them not rushing to fix this dlc.

  8. @ Raist

    Keep in mind that THQ filed for bankruptcy roughly a month after this was published and even with this in mind, it certainly doesn’t excuse the game for the flaws. THQ went under because they didn’t satisfy their customers, which is a shame, but it will act as a cold reminder to other companies. Sure this is a real shame, but being able to justify it certainly doesn’t add value to the DLC either.

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