Darksiders 3

[sullynathan]

Darksiders 2 is quite literally the only western action game that get's the feel of combat right, crunchy, fast chains of absolute mayhem you can stylize. Loved it.

DmC devil may cry did. Combat in Darksiders 2 just feels like wailing on random enemies with weapons that do little damage until a loot drop

 

[deama]

Does anyone know of a good thorough review of darksiders 1 and 2? I keep hearing that dk 1 is better than 2, but sometimes someone says dk 2 is best.

 

[Dedicated_Dark]

DmC devil may cry did.

Nope. It still fell into the general visceral-ness and animation weight of western combat. The momentum and speed were severely lacking, and not to mention you cannot dodge out of attacks in DmC Devil May Cry. The claws and scythe really brought up Darksiders 2 up a few notches. And later on the moves, weapons and everything came together.

The game is paced poorly and at times boring. But don't mistake the pure mechanics of combat, while a lot of stuff were thrown together hoping it sticks, and the enemies were meh. They really nailed the mechanical feel. Not saying it's a great game, but it sure as hell felt good and could've become the first western action game with true combat depth. Darksiders 3 is that dream dead.

 

[sullynathan]

The momentum and speed were severely lacking, and not to mention you cannot dodge out of attacks in DmC Devil May Cry

You can, there's animation canceling in DmC. DmC's combat is ridiculously faster than darksiders 2

 

[Dedicated_Dark]

You can, there's animation canceling in DmC

The 4th or 5th move in the basic chain, cancel out of that in DmC. You can't. Yes, there is animation canceling, for some reason it has animation canceling for jump cancels. But not on the basic attack chains since the first few attacks are fast it's fine and people seem to think the animation is being canceled. Try canceling out of the end of the chain moves, it doesn't allow that. Because it doesn't.

Darksiders 2 the attack speed is faster, not the overall combat speed. But the attack speeds. The enemies are somewhat slow(Arguable as DmC enemies are slow as well), but the pace of the combat is dictated by you.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Darksiders 2 combat is OK. It feels OK, but the enemy design is iffy and it lacks depth. I agree that DmC is a lot better at action gameplay. The first Lords of Shadow as well. The combat cross feels and plays really nicely in that game.

 

[J1M]

Does anyone know of a good thorough review of darksiders 1 and 2? I keep hearing that dk 1 is better than 2, but sometimes someone says dk 2 is best.

My posts on the subject are definitive.

https://rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?search/75149366/&page=2&q=darksiders&o=date&c[user][0]=9471

 

[J1M]

i will just wait for someone on codex tried it and share their opinion.

I don't waste time with professional reviews either. They are incompetent, unqualified, and paid off.

I will post a 2 hour "refund or continue" review later tonight.

Disclaimer: I loved Darksiders 1 and was very unhappy when they made Darksiders 2 a Prince of Persia/Borderlands mashup instead of a Zelda/God of War one.

Okay here is my "refund or continue" review.

Bottom line: I refunded it because Darksiders 3 does not allow you to invert the x-axis for the camera. (First game let you do this.) This option is also missing from the Xbox Accessories app to override the input. But don't worry, both allow you to invert the y-axis, so leaving it out was apparently a really stupid decision, and not a lack of technical ability.

From the little I did see they have taken a number of inspirations from the Dark Souls franchise. Combat feels slower (odd, considering your character is called Fury and is impatient and reckless in cutscenes) and you are intended to either wait for a telegraphed opening or a counter-attack opportunity. Some of the environmental things I saw suggest the other inspiration for this game is Metroid. The first Darksiders felt more like God of War, where you make your own opportunities with combos, etc. I only saw the first of 7(?) bosses, and it was jarring the way trying to put in a little extra chip damage was punished.

It ran smoothly on my 1070GTX with max settings. Not a surprise for a console game that is ported properly.

Some of the English terms used odd word choices, like maybe there's an apt Swedish word that was directly translated. Only seems to affect the 'game' part, not the 'cinematic' part.

Main character comes across as petulant and impatient instead of personified fury.

Will give it another shot if they fix the x-axis problem, but it's hard to recommend to anyone at full price. The camera and stilted combat pacing make it feel slightly off, even though it's probably intentional because the creators view this franchise as "mash up two popular action games" instead of "zelda with god of war combat is awesome".

Using a program called https://www.rewasd.com I was able to invert the camera's x-axis to compensate for the Darksiders 3 removing that option. I'm about halfway through now and the game is better than I was expecting it to be. Things could change, but currently I rank it above Darksiders 2 in terms of enjoyment.

The biggest thing the game is missing is a map, to better communicate to the player that it is not as linear as people have been saying. The first two upgrades enable you to access several areas to obtain various rewards that are often pretty dangerous to go after. Maybe one is intended to return later with more combat upgrades, but there's nothing stopping people from pushing their luck.

So far, the way the elemental powers are utilized and the way upgrades/crafting is designed is the best in the series. You care about them but you aren't constantly in your inventory sifting items.

For my personal taste I would prefer if there were more 'dungeons' and 'puzzles', but the 'Metroid instead of Zelda' inspiration means that you could defeat the bosses in a different order because there is no item required to beat their pattern. (Although I found the lightning storm ability very effective against Sloth.)

Once you accept that Fury is not War, and she must fight in a way that is less about making your own combos and more about waiting for an opening, the combat feels better. It's also a shame that most people complaining about the combat probably didn't make it to the point where you get a secondary weapon, which can be a good complement to the slower reach attacks of the whip.

TLDR: Game is better than expected. Leans a little too heavily on trying to incorporate characters from the previous games. Has me considering if I should give Darksiders 2 a second play-through, which is something that I did not consider possible.

 

[typical user]

TLDR: Game is better than expected. Leans a little too heavily on trying to incorporate characters from the previous games. Has me considering if I should give Darksiders 2 a second play-through, which is something that I did not consider possible.

I've read / heard that Darksiders 3 takes huge chunk of info from the first game. The only thing you need from second one is to watch the beginning cinematic and the ending one.

 

[J1M]

Oh btw, I recommend making the Demonic Leviathan weapon enchantment before upgrading the others. It's fun to get currency for smashing things in the environment.

 

[Metro]

It's been so long since I played Darksiders 2 I really don't remember much about it... other than the fact that I think I only go halfway or so through.

 

[J1M]

It's been so long since I played Darksiders 2 I really don't remember much about it... other than the fact that I think I only go halfway or so through.

The plot is entirely "this is what happened behind the scenes during Darksiders 1" so you didn't miss much.

PSA: If you are playing Darksiders 3, you might want to make a backup of your save file every couple of hours. Just had the merchant offer me an enchantment I already had and when I bought it I was unable to upgrade that type anymore because the game assumes you can only have one.

Fortunately, I had a save file so I just had to choose between having a broken enchantment and losing 2 hours of progress.

 

[typical user]

I have finished the game and I have to say it was a pleasant experience - definately plays like Soulsborne game and overall story is not obfuscated, I also like the art-style, cartoonish but has it's charm.

It was a good break from typical AAA blockbusters with fetch-quests, checklists, microtransactions, safe approaches and bland stories. Unfortunately Darksiders 3 shows it had modest budget as the game is small, weapon selection is limited, some voices were used for different characters and there were not that many enemies - like 3 variants for a location at the worst. I played on 2nd highest difficulty and it took me 25 hours to beat - I had backtracked a lot plus the spider caves were hard for me to navigate through because I like to explore every nook and cranny, that location was pretty chaotic. I have seen that on the easiest mode the game can be finished in 7 hours.

What is great is that every location in the world except for the last one are all connected to each other - there are numerous passages that interconnect all of them together. The game sometimes also shows signs that you can take bosses at different order - I have skipped Sloth for some reason and when I finally met him I was overleveled. The game also encourages backtracking and careful exploration, great loot is often hidden in locations previously visited and it can make endgame easier.

The best boss battle has to be with Lust - I don't know if there are different consequences for the final outcome but the character as well as boss moveset was great which was fitting for the sin's theme. More details in spoiler.

Spoiler

I have managed to kill Lust while keeping Archangel Usiel alive. I don't know if there is a different cutscene if you kill him first and Lust second but I expect so. The second phase screamed with the same idea like with Ornestein&Smough from original Dark Souls because in that game you could get different armor depending on the order which one is first slain. In Darksiders 3 you gain a pretty powerful enchantment from Usiel - it pairs great with Salvation because it has a passive reflecting portion of damage back to enemies which has saved me from harder foes.

On the downside what I disliked (and which was presumably lessend with a new patch) is the lack of telegraphing powerful attacks and combos from some enemies - even bosses. Certain attacks like from fire golem can stun-lock you and even kill you in two hits and they are often so fast that you can't prepare to dodge them (and the dodge itself has pretty small invincibility time-frame, mostly it is used to reposition yourself). Sometimes I was swearing that Fury is unable to use a shield to block certain strikes because enemies are infamous at taking huge chunks of your health with some bullshit moves. Dark Souls is mostly fair because if you roll then you get enough i-frames to actually dodge a powerful attack - or you can use a shield if these are delayed. In Darksiders 3 you do not have that luxury which often is frustrating. I do not mind enemies that can one-shot me, I mind if there is little feedback and no warnings for these types of situations.

Wish there were more platforming and puzzles - many were great, the game didn't treat me like an idiot and did not give me hints unless at the beginning - like to use Flame Hollow to open a gate by burning some spider webs or to strike glowing swords in underworld catacombs. Mostly it just points out how you can use new abilities or how certain things work before throwing you something more serious.

The story and previously mentioned puzzles are light and simple - which even more suited me as the game was relaxing to play after work. But for some of you it might be too simple. There is also a secret ending, I felt great that I got it on my first playthrough with all the cryptic messages and no solid info to process.

I give it 7/10, it's small and fights are sometimes annoying but it is a miracle considering how the publisher and the original studio were resurrected. The game stays true to it's predecessors and has great small details in example with Sins symbollism and their unique design.

EDIT: I wish there was a New Game+ or an arena because the game is one of those which you put on a shelf after you beat it. There is no build diversity aswell which further makes it one-way experience.

 

[J1M]

I think it would have been better if all of the sins were female villains. Avarice could have been a gold-digger with an overflowing purse instead of a random gremlin thing. Sloth could have been a take on Rosie O'Donnell. Gluttony would be one of those 800 lb women that haven't moved in so long that their skin has grown into the fabric of the couch.

They could still be animal-like, I suppose. Envy at the start of the game as a bird/old woman was a pretty great design.

typical user

Spoiler

Killing Lust first is definitely the easier way to handle that fight. I did it both ways due to a corrupted save file. The cutscene was the same. I don't recall a thorns weapon enhancement though.

Main (not only) problem with the story is that you never discover who killed the horse.

 

[Valky]

Are you saying women are the source of all evil.

 

[J1M]

Are you saying women are the source of all evil.

No, I'm saying it would have been a more interesting design. In fact, all of the sins that are female have more interesting designs than the ones that aren't. Also, having a female protagonist shields you from current year problems regarding male pixels hitting female pixels.

 

[HoboForEternity]

seems worth trying but at a discount

 

[typical user]

Spoiler

Killing Lust first is definitely the easier way to handle that fight. I did it both ways due to a corrupted save file. The cutscene was the same. I don't recall a thorns weapon enhancement though.

Main (not only) problem with the story is that you never discover who killed the horse.

Spoiler

You have to backtrack to Usiel where you first met him and speak. The enchantment has two pathnodes: 50% damage reflected through thorns and increased damage by 1.5% for every 2000 souls you carry. (Pretty obvious which one you should upgrade). The whole game is enigmatic like the choice between Abraxis and Lord of Hollows and the amulet. Lucifer scorns Lilith for some reason and Charred Council is afraid of destroying it. The horse was killed by Angels but it is made clear they were only tools guided by someone's hand who is plotting against Horsemen.

It also isn't explained who is able to raise undead Angels and Demons who are by nature immortal. Actually it is indeed Lust but she decides to die rather than tell straight away who has granted her the ability and for what purpose.

 

[vortex]

https://www.thqnordic.com/article/darksiders-iii-crucible-dlc-out-now-all-platforms

 

[LESS T_T]

 

[J1M]

Rexxar!

 

[Abu Antar]

New game reveal in a not too distant future.

 

[vortex]

 

[sullynathan]

This game isn't good. Combat is still terrible and not good as a souls clone

 

[Abu Antar]

I'll try this soon thanks to PS+.