Developer: Gunfire Games
Publisher: THQ Nordic
Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, PC
Tested on: PS4
Darksiders III – Review
Darksiders was a franchise that went down with the ship when THQ went under. THQ is back under the moniker: THQ Nordic and they’ve revived the Darksiders series. So fans, rejoice as Darksiders III is the –probably- penultimate entry in the series. It takes a complete different take on the Darksiders’ usual concept. This wouldn’t be the first time as Darksiders II changed things up from the first by adding loot drops. You won’t be switching up armor and weapons as you go, as this one doesn’t do loot drops, so don’t worry about mismatching your armor and looking like a thrift-shopper.
Story
So the world has gone to shit. Nope, this time it isn’t the fault of Mankind. Someone broke the Seals unleashing the four Horsemen and thus starting the Apocalypse. Heaven and Hell wage war and humanity is stuck in-between. Lies and deceit are the names of the game and Fury is tasked with cleaning up the mess.
Mankind is known for being sinners. 7 Deadly Sins are running rampant on Earth, and the Charred Council send Fury, the third of the four Horsemen to end their reign and trap them. Don’t think that everything is as it seems, because everyone seems to warn Fury that she’s being used, and at every turn you are being told that you shouldn’t trust anyone. It’s a lot of telling and after a while you don’t know whose word is true. Darksiders III is all tell in that department, because you have to go by hearsay. You just go around killing demons and angels because you are being told to. It’s weird, but it works. That doesn’t mean that the game doesn’t do its fair share of showing with rather interesting cutscenes.
Graphics
When it comes to the graphics, Darksiders III is a bit off-kilter. The game has some very interesting level designs, and though it’s not as sprawling as the previous games in the series, the complete difference in the zones make the game have a distinct vibe, which is in line to Darksiders and Darksiders II. The enemies are varied enough and the sins themselves are very uniquely designed.
The problem with Darksiders III is the screen tearing, the framerate drops, the loading screens in the middle of combat and in weird parts of the map breaking the flow of the game. Darksiders II had loading screens too, but those were a fraction of the time these take to load and because of the vastness of the maps, the loading screens weren’t such an issue. It has to be said however that’s what updates are for and maybe in a patch or two this game will run better, not that it runs terribly, but it hitches sometimes, which is a shame.
Sound
The soundtrack to Darksiders III is just pure eargasm. The bombastic tunes turn the epic scenes even more epic. The voice acting is good. Fury has more emotional weight in her voice than her brothers have, with their gravely tones. Her rage and indignation at times is tangible. The only thing she doesn’t do well, is screaming convincingly, not screaming out lines, but screaming in rage, it just sounds comical. There is however one voice that will ring true in the ears of the fans, which is the voice of Vulgrimm, and even with THQ having gone under it’s cool to see that they’ve stuck to the true blue original voice actors of the series.
Gameplay
Darksiders III is an action/adventure hack n slash game. Darksiders was different from Darksiders II in a way that it made Death feel different from War on a basic level. Fury feels even more different from those two in the way that she’s a lot more agile than her bulky brothers. This makes it so Darksiders III plays more like Dark Souls than it does like Zelda which was the case with the previous iterations. Boss fights are also influenced by this design and they are all fun. It’s only when the game tries to return to the Zelda design during boss fights that the game shows that it doesn’t mesh well with said design.
The main focus of the combat, aside slashing away with your whip, is dodging, this makes fights very fluid and fun, but only in one on one bouts. Once more enemies join the fray the camera doesn’t play well with the auto aim, and this results in fights sometimes becoming quite big gankfests.
As you progress you’ll unlock new forms for you to toy around with, up to four. With every form comes a different weapon for you to upgrade with materials, much like Dark Souls or Bloodborne.
Killing enemies will rewards you with ‘lurchers’ which are basically the game’s version of ‘souls’ or ‘blood echoes’. There is one slight difference however, should you die before you get back to them, you don’t lose them forever, and that’s a wonderful addition, because you might die over and over again, and knowing you won’t lose precious currency to level up makes the gameplay a LOT less infuriating or frustrating.
The goal of the game is to take down every sin and free your brother and get rewarded for doing so, by becoming the leader of the Four Horsemen, it’s only a matter of time whether that’s such a cracked up job as it seems to be.
Conclusion
Darksiders III is a great game in the series, sure it does need quite a lot of polish to be anywhere near the level of finesse the previous ones were. It’s clear the team behind the game are quite obviously passionate about the series and it’s a good thing they are, because they tried something new and aren’t sticking to the old and tried formula to make a quick buck like many other AAA titles are doing these days. So raise your goblet to THQ Nordic, and if you are looking for something more unique than the average action/adventure game, then look into it. If you are a fan of the series, don’t let it pass you by. Definitely a statement that says: singleplayer games based around stories aren’t dead, let the apocalypse roll on!
Darksiders III - Review,
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