When Darksiders originally released it became one of my favorite game series of all time. Not because it had amazing gameplay or even graphics, but because of the fantastic story wrapped around these apocalyptic characters, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. THQ Nordic (formerly known as Nordic games) now owns the rights to most THQ properties, after they shut down. Since then, THQ Nordic has tried to devise ways to return THQ titles to their former glory. The latest game from the THQ collection, THQ Nordic decided to bring back is from the once-legendary Darksiders franchise. Does Darksiders 3 have enough soul to live up to the greatness that was Darksiders 2? Find out now!
THE “LAG-POCALYPSE” IS UPON US
Darksiders 3 starts directly after the events of Darksiders 2, War is imprisoned by The Council, Death is missing, and Strife is on a secret mission. It is now Fury’s turn to carry out the bidding of The Council. From the get-go I was fanboying that Darksiders was back, but something was off about the game. The story is just as great as before, tales of deception, witty humor, and of course a bad-ass horseman to follow in this world.
You are tasked to take down the escaped Seven Deadly Sins. In the midst of doing so, you find out there is a bit more to the story of this early Apocalypse and more than just one group of enemies you have to face in the crazy, tradiours world we are in. The design of the sins is pretty awesome, each sin has their own look, somewhat themed around said sin. Sloth is an overweight bug that makes his minions carry him from point to point, Wrath is a huge Armor bound warrior, Pride is almost untouchable and dressed from head to toe in gold, and etc. I thought this was a pretty good concept for the sins and really helped me get into the story a bit more.
The bad thing about this world is that it has changed, not because of the apocalypse, but because of games direction. I have always felt Darksiders 1 was a great game but needed a bit more meat. Well, we got that with Darksiders 2 when the dev team decided to add an RPG element to the game.
The game had more open and sprawling levels, a customizable character, and the ability to check your map for waypoints and objectives. This is not the case with Darksiders 3. I know there may be some players that like the original gameplay style, but I am not one of those people. These changes make the game feel basic and made me beg for some sort of direction.
Not having a form of customization is not the end of the world because we do get different powers and weapons to choose from, but the fact that the only map I have for reference is a single line with a skull at the top of the screen is ridiculous and aggravating. Not only is the map non-existent, so is the in-game camera. Darksiders III features free camera controls, but those controls get extremely wonky in close-quarters.
When you’re in wide-open spaces, it’s tolerable, but when you are in chasm or up-close-and-personal with an enemy, it’s hard to know right from left. I knew that the previous titles had some issues with the camera controls, but I don’t remember them being this bad. Level after level I tried to push through and act like it was not a problem, but eventually, it started to wear on my experience.
The game also does not seem 100% finish, in a technical sense. As I got further in the game, there were many times I would walk into a level and have multiple screen tears or the level was completely missing. This happened a lot of times and really dampened my enjoyment. Moreover, there have even been glitches so bad, in Darksiders III, it’s caused gamers to tragically lose all of their progress.
JUST CAUSE ITS THE END TIMES, DOES NOT MEAN TO LOSE HOPE
The game has a lot of problems that need to be addressed and fixed before I can say I will really enjoy my time with it. Does that mean I hate the game? No. When you get passed all the technical issues, this is still a Darksiders game with a really great story behind it. One of the redeeming qualities that made this game great was the art direction and the voice acting.
I love finding great scenes in video games and snapping in-game screenshots. This is something pretty easy to do in Darksiders 3. The game is missing a picture mode (which I think all games should have), but I was still able to get some really great shots of the amazing levels. design in this game.
Crissy Jones, the voice behind Fury, also does a spectacular job at making you believe the story and character are real. It was nice to hear her because the other horsemen were pretty much not even in the game. In the case of Strife, for spoiler purposes, I won’t talk about, but I was pretty disappointed with some of the other horsemen in this game.
I really expected to hear more of Liam O’Brien, who plays as War…but his character was pretty much only in the game once or twice. (SPOILER)There is also a moment where Death is in the game and to hear that Michael Wincott was not voiced the reaper really ticked me off. Even if it was just for one scene it is very hard to hear someone else play this character.
Overall, I think this can still be a great game for fans to really enjoy. The art direction, story, and voice acting are some of the highlights in this game. What really holds this title back is the bad glitches, screen tears, camera controls, and game breaking bugs. With time and updates, I think these issues can be resolved and the game can be closer to the Darksiders we once knew.
