Soundtrack Review: Darksiders II (2012)

Darksiders II Soundtrack Review: This is a review of the video game score Darksiders II by Jesper Kyd.

“Even though it’s different to the first score, it’s still a very good score.”

Darksiders II is an action-adventure and action role-playing video game developed by Vigil Games and published by THQ. It is the sequel to Darksiders and was released in August 2012 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, and was released for Wii U during launch day in all regions, except for Japan. The composer is Jesper Kyd.

Track List

1. The Makers Theme	80
2. Into Eternity	100
3. Makers in the Outlands	60
4. Story of the Makers	60
5. The Corruption	100
6. The Makers Overworld	80
7. The Makers Fight Back	60
8. The Floating City	80
9. Crystal Spire	80
10. Trouble in Eden	80
11. Stains of Heresy	80
12. The Abyssal Plains	80
13. The Rod of Arafel	80
14. The Crowfather	100
15. The Dead Plains	80
16. The Plains Await	80
17. Supernatural Desert	80
18. The Eternal Throne	80
19. City of the Dead	60
20. The Crypt	80
21. Death Brings Hope	80
22. Plains of Death	80
23. Demon Realm	100
24. Into the Shadows	80
25. Lord of the Black Stone	60
26. Dead Plains Reprise	80

I don’t trust myself. When I got Darksiders II, I went back to listen to the original Darksiders from 2010 by Cris Velasco and Scott Morton. For some reason I had decided to dislike that score back then. It’s crazy because it’s one of the best game scores of 2010 in my opinion. It’s bold, impressive and loud. It felt very similar to the God Of War scores, so violent and beautiful. For the sequel, they decided to use Jesper Kyd. After listening to the score, I fear that was a mistake.

Jesper Kyd is a great composer, but he has his style which rarely changes. If you listen to his Assassin’s Creed scores, they are beautiful but they don’t exactly explode in an all out action fest. It’s more laid back, very calm music for the most part. I feel the same is true for Darksiders II and that came as a disappointment to me after falling in love with the first score. I want more of the same. There is one cue that isn’t on the official score that you can hear on Jesper Kyd’s Soundcloud called ‘The Makers Guardian’ which is absolutely superb. Why isn’t it here?

Conclusion

So the review sounds too negative, but let’s not forget that even though it’s different to the first score, it’s still a very good score, it’s just a completely different mood. If you are looking for a new Jesper Kyd fix, this is brilliant, but if you are looking for more of the same like darksiders, then go get the God Of War scores instead. Then again, I don’t trust myself so in two years time I might end up loving this.

GEEK SCORE: 79.2