Darksiders 1 is most like the Zelda series.
Does it eventually open up from "brawl through enemies to a big boss, where you memorize patterns"? I killed the thing at the beginning that you throw cars at and then quit because that doesn't really interest me. While I've never played God of War, it struck me as more of a "wish-it-were-GoW".
The bosses are "find the weakness type" like in Zelda. From what I remember, most of the other bosses are fought in arenas rather than being static like the first one.
It works off a central hub, branching into the different zones that house each boss. Fire zone, desert zone and so on. So still brawling through enemies to get to a boss but with puzzles like pushing blocks, finding keys and so on like Teneb said.
Bosses work on the same style as Zelda in that you will find an item or weapon in that dungeon and have to use it on the following boss. As the game progresses you find new weapons, items and abilities that open up more variety in the brawling.
Darksiders 2, from what I vaguely remember, works similarly but more of a "hub with 2 paths with dungeons that unlock end dungeon. Move onto next hub with similar layout".