When THQ went under and developer Vigil Games was shut down,
the fate of the Darksiders franchise seemed grim.
Now, six years after the release of Darksiders II,
members of the original team have helped to carry the series forward with their new studio Gunfire Games.
Darksiders III has some promising ideas,
but it’s ultimately held back by technical issues and underdeveloped design.
Just as the first game centered on War and the second followed Death,
the third chapter continues the story of the legendary Four Horsemen with Fury now being the focal point.
It’s takes place around the same time as Darksiders II,
during War’s false imprisonment for allegedly starting the apocalypse early.
This event has also freed The Seven Deadly Sins from their prisons,
letting them loose to roam the earth.
It’s up to Fury to stop them in order to keep the universe from falling into even more chaos.
While the first two Darksiders were known for their God of War and Legend of Zelda influences,
Darksiders III primarily looks to the Souls series for inspiration.
This can be found in many aspects like Nephilim’s Respite which is a healing item
with a certain number of charges that can be refilled by killing enemies.
Once killed, enemies drop souls that can be used to purchase items or level up,
and when you die, you leave souls behind and have to retrieve them.
The most interesting similarity between the two is how Darksiders III handles its world design.
Standard environments are present, like the catacombs, sewers, and city streets
which make up much of the early game,
but gone are the huge sprawling fields and large multi-layered dungeons.
Instead, it attempts to connect all of the world seamlessly while
also making each area more dense and compact.
This is an intriguing idea for the series, and the environments themselves are decent.
However, most of the areas don't connect in an interesting manner, nor are their layouts very intriguing.
They do open up a bit as you progress, but the exploration never feels exciting.
The game also rewards backtracking
as you can access new passages and items after you’ve unlocked certain abilities,
but without a map or stronger level design, it’s hard to remember where to return.
Darksiders III is much more action-focused compared to its siblings.
In an attempt to streamline things,
several of the RPG-esque elements like talent trees and side quests are gone,
and there’s a much smaller selection of weapons.
Instead of picking between two seperate talent trees when you level up,
you now choose between three different stats and improve one per level.
You also upgrade your existing weapons instead of acquiring new ones.
These two changes tie into the game’s design fairly well, but
without gaining new armor or exploring huge optional dungeons,
there’s a giant hole left behind that’s really felt.
The combat in the game revolves around the same hack-and-slash action
that was found in the previous entries.
Performing combos and dodging attacks at the last second is still fun
even though the camera and lock on can be a bit annoying.
The enemies also pose a much higher threat than the past games
keeping you on your toes and forcing you to pay attention during encounters.
Most of the bosses, however, are not that memorable or exciting.
The puzzles are disappointing as well, and for the first half of the game,
most of them revolve around throwing exploding bugs at things.
Thankfully, the puzzles get a bit more variety later on,
but they rarely leave you with a sense of satisfaction.
Along your journey, Fury will acquire several items and abilities to aid her like
Salvation, a crossblade that acts as a boomerang,
and enchantments for weapons that add new effects like stealing life from enemies
or providing more invincibility frames while dodging.
There are also consumable items called shards
that add buffs like extra damage or additional healing.
Fury’s most interesting upgrades are her Hollow forms,
which each add specific abilities and a new sub-weapon for her to wield.
For example, the Flame Hollow adds the Chains of Scorn, which are two blazing flails chained together
which can ignite objects like spider webs.
She also gets access to a double jump, an additional counter attack,
the ability to walk through lava, and a unique wraith attack that covers her with fire
and adds fire damage to her attacks.
There are four Hollows to unlock in total, and switching between them on the fly is easy and fluid.
Darksiders III is rough in terms of technical performance.
During the course of our review, we experienced game crashes
as well as areas not loading properly,
causing us to fall though the world and forcing us to reset the game.
The game is plagued by poor framerate that drops frequently,
and there are instances when it will freeze to load when traversing between locations,
sometimes lasting up to 30 seconds.
Along with these issues, the audio sporadically makes loud popping sounds throughout the entire game.
Darksiders III has a good framework, including the simple yet fun combat and interesting Hollow system.
Unfortunately, it’s held back by its weak puzzles,
uninteresting environments, and numerous technical issues.
If you’re already invested in the series and want to see it through to the end,
there’s enough to enjoy despite its flaws, but
it’s not the strongest return for the franchise.
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