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Review | Darksiders 3

"Fury and her embrace. Fury and her Horse. Fury and…She is dull as heck in this game, let's be honest. But past all that lies great game killed by technical performance. Do not get influenced by bad reviews, play the game."

by Foggy, 10-08-2019,

My first question was is this same game as Darksiders 2. That was my biggest fear. Although I still liked it, but open world diablo approach was not my type of balance in Darksiders franchise. Add millions of bugs in the game - that is your recipe for disaster. Maybe I’m too harsh because Darksiders 2 was decent game, but not close to first Darksiders which was/is the best in series.

Darksider 3 got released on November 27, 2018th. When I heard first impressions, I just had to postpone it, let them patch horrible bugs and enjoy the game later on. That moment came in this lovely summer of 35 degrees. What better way to play with Fury, visit heaven and hell than on hot sweaty summer. Fury is a sister of War and Death, famous protagonist from recent Darskiders games. I liked both, War being my favourite on top of that game being on throne in this franchise. I really expected much of Fury and latest instalment – some expectations fulfilled, some not.


Bad fortune awaits for little horsy. Let them enjoy while they can.

This time your adventure consists of tracking and killing seven deadly sins. How I love writing that, you don’t even know. Darksiders always had that fine suiting note in storytelling I liked so much. Unfortunately, Fury is the worst character I’ve yet met in this universe. I can’t explain, you have to play the game, Fury is simply lifeless (hehe, kind of ironic), uninteresting and poorly written Darksiders character. All dialogues and whole story is written shallow and bad, it just doesn’t hold up. I never cared about Fury and her missions simply because she has so shallow conversations, making me want to pull my hair out. How can you ruin such a great theme where story writes itself? There are limited choices you can make to follow different game paths, making game linear, which I never look as a bad thing if done right.


What good can happen when you slurp whole sin inside medalion and carry that around?

Maybe I went too far, even though shallow, I still enjoyed hunting sins down and killing those bastards. The general idea was good, but lacks that certain something to be great. You will also meet some character from previous games like Ulthane for example. There is not much to say about story itself, maybe you can find it enjoyable when playing the game, but don’t expect some breath-taking moments and turnovers that freezes hell. Since I started angry rant, let me get out of the way will all bad things and continue with good stuff – there is plenty what was done right.


Boss details, boss fights - highlight of fighting in the game.

Even more worse than boring storytelling and shallow character would be awful technical performance. The whole idea of the game is that whole worlds is one big map interconnected in certain areas. While running around, you will often encounter loading icon and game will freeze until it loads chunk of area into which you are going. Sometimes it took 2 minutes to load up, even though I went forward, a bit back and then again in the same place. I don’t know how after patch 1.09 that still resides inside the game. Frame rate drops are a constant and something that will laugh at you every second. Something went wrong here and they don’t know how to fix it in this stage. Game even crashed after last boss during last cutscene. I was so furious I just turned off the game and don’t care about ending. 5 times I was stuck inside some object where I was trying to land on, few times game just crashed like it was nothing, and few times I lost all my souls simply because game never bothered to spawn them where I died. Honestly dudes, get you shit together. Time passed but many issues still present.


Maybe not good looking, but Vulgrim is certainly handy.

With that out of the way, let’s start with good stuff. Basically, everything else is great. Not good, great. When I played Darskiders 2, I hated what they did with all the changes. First game was DMC meets platforming with dark theme and badass dudes. That is back, with a pinch of Dark Souls fighting style. I can’t explain how much I love battles in this game. They are much much more than button smash here. It’s all about dodging attacks in perfect moment which will slow down time and will open opportunity for counter attack with imbued arcane element. They are fast paced, interesting and never got boring during the game. Whip as a weapon – damn good weapon. Its reach is like having Bigfoot hands while playing the guitar; just convenient. 


Council this, council that...Why not grab some beers while the whole gang is together.

All of the moves you can check in the menu. There are certain combinations of moves that can be performed and they are all great. I love it. Period. Second best thing I liked was the damage numbers showing when you hit. Like playing some RPG. Of course, upgrading yourself or your weapons will add to that, but let’s explain more about this topic. There are several other weapons you will earn by killing sins. All of those comes with similar move sets – I mean same button combinations, but not the animations. Although I spent most of the time with Whip, I enjoyed hammer weapon and ice swords a lot. Everyone will find something for themselves, for sure.


Never worry about Arcane, just hit that Strength and Health.

They stole the other concepts from From Software, like Healing items. You have one that replenish when you die, acting same as Flasks in Soul games. Others are crystals that you can buy/find and can help you heal when you spend your main one. You can enhance number of heals or power of heal by collecting certain upgrades. I don’t mind it at all, I love that mechanic so much. If you fill like it’s time for beast mode, there is Havoc form which you can activate when that bar fills up. During that few seconds of pure rage you don’t have to worry about Health or anything, just mashing and doing best combos you can in given time. Killing mobs rewards you with their souls you can then use to level up or buy items from the shop. When you die, you lost those. Worry not, if you die when running towards them to pick them up, they will not be lost. I never checked the hardest mode and the one they added with latest patched if that can be modified. That would be punishing, like Souls games are.


I dare you to finish the game without entering a wall or obstacle.

When you collect enough souls, either by killing enemies or collecting soul holder items which you can convert to souls, it’s time to visit Vulgrim and convert some souls to level up and buy some items. Shops act also as a travel point which you will often use to teleport around. Leveling up means collecting points which you spend to improve Health, Strength or Arcane (special damage element – Havoc mode damage for example). Considering you can pick up everything you lose, you will never be short of desired level. Other items you can buy are ones you spend in battles, some armors and some crafting materials.


Carnage mode on. Havoc form is probably handy when you level up Arcane, which I had at level 2.

Another “shop” will be blacksmith which can upgrade weapons or enhancements you put on weapons. That would be like stones you imbue your weapon with. They are very important and it will help especially on higher difficulties. Some will be HP regeneration, faster Havoc mode fill, more damage of certain type etc. Equipping on each weapon gives all bonuses at all times. You can upgrade them using Angelic or Demonic Artifacts which can be found around the world or in shop (limited number there). Upgrading weapons add damage, not much else here. They also require different types of Adamantine for certain level up range.


Make them work, its not like they have something to do just waiting in their pit the whole game.

Now the most fun part aside from battles – platforming and exploring. When you put aside all that technical problems, you are in for a treat. Fury can learn 4 different powers: Fire – extends double jump with another powerful jump that can reach otherwise not reachable areas and ledges. Storm – glide like a pro, use whirlwinds to gain boost and reach even more distanced areas. Force – destroy otherwise not destroyable objects blocking patch and grip on designated walls. Water – walk and freeze water surfaces and do wall jumps to reach new areas. What is great is that you change Fury into one of these with easy button combination. Every area offers many hidden parts and changing into fitting power can get you to some good loot. I just loved this element of the game, it reminded me of the first game and partially second. Oh, and every power have different special skill that you can use when that bar fills (forgot to mention it). You will often visit old areas and find new paths with newly acquired powers. It never got dull for me. Downside is that camera can be stiff during fights and exploring.


What is your choice of meat?

Boss fights are brilliant. I loved every single one of them. Even though it all gets to same endpoint having dodge kick repeat, every fight was different and interesting. If you like the challenge, play on apocalyptic difficulty, it’s not much harder but it will make you learn fight mechanics and that will make you love the game even more. You can also find some mini-bosses in the game, but very limited in numbers. Shame, considering that is where game shines. Collectibles are narrowed down to collecting materials, healing items and rescuing humans that are stuck somewhere in the world. They can improve that a bit, add more variety of what can we find when exploring. 


Every area holds new puzzles. They are not complicated but fun.

The worlds itself is not bad. Some areas are a bit ugly, some really nice. It’s pure Darksiders world full of interaction points and enemies to kill. I’m a bit sad that game is not longer and world bigger. You will enjoy (or hate) the game for about 25-30 hours. Maybe even less, I platinumed the game in 30ish hours on apocalyptic difficulty. 

Music is decent, paints the atmosphere just right. As whole package, when you put aside all the hate and problems there is much to enjoy, especially if you are fan of the series. Hopefully they work on new title and hopefully that can combine best from all 3, expand RPG elements a bit and that can be really hot game to chase for.

 

"Give it a try when you see game on some discount, maybe full price is a bit too much to pay though. Decent game to play and enjoy, in the end."
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