IGN Rating : 7.5 / 10
Players take control of Death, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Core gameplay is a third-person hack and slash action-adventure game with role-playing elements. The game makes frequent use of interactive puzzle elements, requiring the player to think their way through a series of levers, doors, elevators, portals, etc. in order to traverse areas and reach objectives.
Maps are vast and each contain open world "overworld" regions that can be explored freely on foot or by horse, along with numerous dungeons where quest objectives are generally carried out. There are main and side quests, with main and side boss fights. Worlds can be traversed via "fast-travel", whereby the player can teleport to certain map points instantly. While inside a Dungeon, the player is also allowed to fast-travel back to the overworld while saving their dungeon location for continuation later without losing progress.
Death is aided by Despair, a horse that is available for use in open areas of the overworld for faster travel, and Dust, a raven that guides him to his objectives. Each is accessed with a key/button stroke. Death's primary weapons are two scythes, one wielded in each hand. Secondary weapons include typical melee weapons like hammers, axes, and maces as "slow" options; "fast" options are generally gauntlet-style weapons that provide the player with claws and other bladed arm extensions, at the expense of less range and power than the slow weapons.
There are several different movement mechanics, including swimming, running along walls, and several different climbing mechanisms that are utilized on specially placed wooden elements, such as wall pegs and beams (players learn to recognize wood as climbing elements, in contrast to the stone that dominates most of the world's structures). In the course of quests, Death also acquires "Death Grip", which operates as a grappling hook on certain objects; and "Voidwalker", which operates similarly to the Portal Gun from the Portal video game series, though it only works at certain designated locations. Other abilities like "Soul Splitter" and "Interdiction" are also acquired, which allow the player to control multiple characters to traverse puzzle areas.
Health, Wrath, and Reaper resource meters display on-screen whenever they change, along with an experience meter that shows how close the player is to the next character class level. Wrath is the game's mana-type system, being a resource used for special abilities. Reaper is a separate resource used only for the Reaper ability, and when full, Death can transform briefly into his grim reaper form, which is more resilient and deals more damage (graphically it is the more typical depiction of Death as a spectral figure, rather than the flesh form normally used in the game).
