Death’s fate could hang in the balance: Darksiders II ‘Deathinitive Edition’ is out Tuesday

It will be facing some stiff release-day competition in Halo 5: Guardians when it launches next Tuesday, but Nordic Games’ Darksiders II: Deathinitive Edition might be the most important remaster we’ve seen in a generation. After sales were below expectations for former publisher THQ, the possibility of a third game will likely be based on how well Death’s jump to current-gen resonates with consumers. While the original game’s comic book-inspired art style somewhat limited its ability to “wow” in the fidelity department, Deathinitive Edition looks damn pretty, as you can see from its official launch trailer. “Yes … you have overcome many obstacles to stand here before me,” the menacing Samael states. “But sometimes the hero dies in the end. Ask your brother.” Unfortunately, we can’t really do that in the Deathinitive Edition, as it doesn’t include the original Darksiders, which featured Death’s brother War, but for only $30, that would be asking quite a lot. Darksiders II: Deathinitive Edition was developed by Gunfire Games, made up of many former employees of Vigil Games, the original studio behind the Darksiders series. The rights to the series were acquired by publisher Nordic Games in an auction following THQ’s closure, and Nordic eventually gained ownership over the THQ name itself, telling Polygon last year that the purchase would allow for easier brand recognition. Darksiders II ended up being one of my favorite games of last generation, with its fast combat system and awesome protagonist — you’re literally Death — setting it apart from other action-RPGs. The original plan for the third game was to include a four-player cooperative mode, and while that’s unlikely to happen with the smaller size of Nordic Games, Darksiders II: Deathinitive Edition‘s sales will give the company all the information it needs on whether or not to invest in a third game. “Interesting. Perhaps you’ll succeed after all. Either way, it will be quite a show.” Darksiders II: Deathinitive Edition releases on Oct. 27 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. You’ve taken the plunge and picked up a fresh Nintendo Switch 2 console, ready to explore the latest and greatest games the system has to offer, but where do you start? There are more than the initial launch games to pick from now, but the library is still growing and most of the high-profile games like Pokémon Legends: Z-A and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond aren’t out just yet. Whether it is just to help justify the purchase of a new console to yourself, or if you want to show off your fancy new hardware to friends and family, these are the most impressive games you can get right now on the Switch 2. The September Nintendo Direct was, generally speaking, considered one of the best presentations Nintendo has had in years. The show opened with Shigeru Miyamoto detailing all the plans for how the company would be celebrating Mario’s 450th birthday. This included a look at the upcoming Super Mario Galaxy movie, Switch 2 Edition of Mario Wonder, and the return of the two Galaxy games. That last reveal was especially exciting for a few reasons. First is that the only way to play the first Galaxy game is to either own a copy for the Wii or to have purchased the 3D All-Stars bundle during its unnecessarily limited availability window. Galaxy 2, on the other hand, wasn’t part of that bundle and has never been available on modern consoles until now.