I loved the first Darksiders. I mean I adored it. It had what very well may be for me one of the coolest endings ever. Ever since then the series has limped on, dragging its heels on doing anything to further the plot and continually jumping on whatever is hot in gaming at the time and copying it. This worked in the first Darksiders because the Zelda formula is a classic and everything felt like a homage with a more adult, comic book feel. Here it feels like a cheap copy.


Weapons upgrade in a near identical fashion to Darksouls. Level traversal is near identical to Darksouls. Unforgiving enemy attacks are near identical to Darksouls. Healing is near identical to Darksouls. So if the game seems such a copy of Darksouls why is it I can't even recommend it to fans of Darksouls? Well there are differences. Nearly all of them negative. As you use up your healing ability it can be restored through occasional drops from enemies or dying. However you can't just restore them all at a way point you have to buy them. This means its better just do die as quickly as possible by throwing yourself into an enemies blade. It's an utterly stupid design choice. Also Darksouls gained favour from a vast array of customation for how you are going to build your character and the weapons you will use whereas Fury gets to choose from 4 weapons and a very poor projectile weapon.


I do have to say that the weapon designs are great. In fact all the visual design and execution of Darksiders 3 looks great. For an aesthetic that leaps from the comic books of Joe Madureira (for good reason, he was the original creative director during the first darksiders) the game is overflowing with an apocalypse filled with colour and exquisite character design. Fury floats across gaps like X-mens storm with electricity cackling around here, wading through lava with the gorgeous lighting effects all really pull you in. I can't fault the look of the game, it's a big part of the reason why I am so enamoured with the series.

There is a difference between aesthetic and level design however. A big one. Here THQNoridc went for more verticality. No longer are there wide open plains to roam, instead there is a maze of caverns and warehouses looping and folding back in on themselves as you open up shortcuts. All this with no map. This may be the second most damning aspect of the game To have bewildering level design and not functional way to navigate it. So you blunder along killing enemies and exploring until you eventually die, then can't remember where the hell you were. In fact just figuring our where the hell I was supposed to go next at times became incredibly frustrating. Am I supposed to go to this area yet? These enemies seem stronger, is that a good sign or bad? Have I come to a dead end without the required tool or do I just not see the way forward?
If there's one thing I want drilled into peoples heads it is that linearity is not a bad thing. It's not to be shunned or dismissed.


As I said earlier Darksiders 3 had one of the best endings to a game I've ever seen. A satisfying conclusion to WAR's arc with the most glorious tease and hype up as Liam O'Brien concludes his characters script with No, Not Alone then credits. It was marvelous.
Darksiders 2 had a conclusion but it wasn't satisfying and the entire story felt like a giant side quest (If Death did 'Save' humanity does that mean all humans are alive again? Just what the hell happened?)
Darksiders 3 feels like it's back on the right track. The seven deadly sins are a colourful troop to do battle and have a clear juxtaposition against Fury embodying basically every sin. She realises this and grows in character during her journey. It feels jarring at times, but its not awful in the slightest. Then just when you think the game is going to kick it up a gear it ends. Not concludes. Ends. I'm writing this very review after finishing the story game and I'm deeply disappointed and frustrated. I felt like Charlie Brown going to kick the ball only for Lucy to once again pull it away and fall on my ass. In fact during the credits I noticed that the Story was by “Man of Action”. Curious I delved further into this topic and basically THQNordic outsourced the story a third party company to write. They didn't even write their own game. It shows.


This all leads to pointing out some very worrying traits Darksiders 3 has. For example combat was originally much like Darksouls in that you couldn't cancel attacks with dodges and using items took precious seconds while you went through the item use animation. This is a big deviation from the faced paced hack 'n' slash combat of the previous games. After some outcry the developers added a mode accessible upon staring a new game to make it more like the originals. They didn't change the game, but they did give you a choice. While on the surface a good thing (which, ultimately, it is) to me it does show that they didn't want to put it in because it wasn't the game they were making. Or to put it another way, the game fans wanted isn't the one THQNordic wanted to make. Throw in the fact that the third entry is now evidence to me they have no idea where to take their IP either narratively or gameplay wise and you have a combination that is deeply concerning.