Darksiders 2 elicits forgiveness in its weakest moments. There's a lingering sting to every stumble, and a constant yearning for just a bit more polish here and there, but the game's tremendous vision and heartening sense of adventure give it an unbreakable foundation.
The tone of Darksiders 2 is captured best in its opening shot, of a lone horseman carving through snow and inhospitable cliffs toward an immense fortress. His destination seems to teeter impossibly on a sliver of mountain, and the elegant score (care of Assassin's Creed composer Jesper Kyd) suggests this peak is but the beginning of a long, taxing ascent. Darksiders 2 is utterly devoted to the quest.

Astride the horse is capital-D Death, depicted here as a pale bruiser rocking raven hair, a spooky mask, and other skull-based attire that should guarantee him a secondary career in someone's theatrical heavy metal band. Death vows to dabble in irony and resurrect humanity, thereby aiding brother (and fellow equine enthusiast) War, who is unjustly blamed for triggering the apocalypse just a wee bit early. And like War did in Darksiders, Death completes his task by invading dungeons, slaying beasts, solving puzzles and running epic errands.