Much of this accomplishment owes to Darksiders 2's fluid world design. Huge fields blend naturally into ruins and caves. This urges exploration and makes dungeons seem like part of the environment instead of arbitrarily separated areas. The lack of artificial barriers between the outside world and puzzle-filled interior locations makes the sheer number of dungeons inDarksiders 2 easier to handle.

The main quest features around a dozen dungeons of varying sizes, and another half-dozen await curious players looking to sink even more hours into this giant game. And that's not counting occasional mini-dungeons that will challenge you to a single puzzle or platforming sequence while galloping between your primary goals.

What's truly impressive is the concentrated quality on display in all that dungeon design. Dungeons are layered and loop around on themselves in a way that pushes you in the right direction while maintaining a sense of scale and limiting downtime. Instead of endless hallways or a series of closed-off arena battles, virtually every room centers around one or two challenges - a puzzle to be solved with Death's expanding tool set or a Prince of Persia-style platforming segment that has Death scampering up the walls and showing off the game's beautiful animation work.

Even when dungeons don't hide a new tool for Death, they introduce one-off gimmicks such as lanterns that must be carried between statues to unlock doors or the ability to time travel to a past version of the dungeon. I wish Darksiders 2placed more new toys into Death's toolbox - only one isn't a repeat from the first game - but even with a familiar inventory, I was always challenged and satisfied with the brain-bending solutions.