A more interesting game than you might think! Nothing groundbreaking, but solidly fun as an action game and as a dungeon exploration game. While the usual comparison is Diablo, for the isometric action rpg-ish style, but I feel the more obvious parallel is found in El Shaddai.

Two isometric hack & slash games with moveset switching and vivid color palettes? Not to mention both series are set in a kind of pop culturey Abrahamic mythology? I'm surprised I didn't see it more when researching the game honestly.

That's not to say there's no Diablo here. The levels are like individual floors from a Diablo dungeon, with a focus on exploration that El Shaddai doesn't broach at all. Somehow though, the levels seem to move past their inspirations and emerge as really wonderful little worlds, laid out in a kind of linear yet expansive (with a small bit of collectible hunting!) style that just lets the gameplay sing.

The story feels a little tired, literally being a series of like 13 fetch quests with the occasional boss battle, and that's like, in context, but I didn't find it to take much away from the game. The structure was nice, I guess. The writing is fairly cliched as well, very much drawing on the series' comic book inspirations, with a dash of MCU in Strife's dialogue, but it avoids the pitfalls those movies fall into so often by at least taking itself fairly seriously outside of that one character. Drama is never kneecapped by comedy, I guess. It works, it feels true, but it won't change your life.

But really I'm kinda surprised at how much fun I had with this game. The themeing and art design are fun backdrops for stellar, if not groundbreaking, combat and levels. If you're in the mood for a very Video Game video game, but wanna stay away from the poison in games as a service, I really highly recommend picking this one up. It's only 40 bucks full price too, which is a real boon.

Oh the switch version is a little unstable, if I left it on too long (like in sleep mode without closing the game) it would tend to crash, but otherwise felt and looked great (especially on that handheld OLED screen aha)

I… really don’t know what to make of Darksiders Genesis. I think its my favourite Darksiders game – I played the first game around seven years ago, enjoying it for what it was. The sequels, like the industry around them, packed on the numbers and I slid out of them quick. I’d guess I got maybe a quarter of the way through Darksiders II, if that (despite Death being my favourite horseman) and dropped III after only a few hours. I’ve always considered myself a fan, though, and Genesis had me considering going back to explore these entries. There’s something about the aesthetic and the world that does it for me. It might be that it’s only the allure of unfulfilled promises, but at least they’re alluring. The shift to 2D (technically not, but this entry is certainly showing off at least half a dimension less than its numbered forebears) simplifies things. Strife plays like a twin-stick shooter, while War returns with his big sword Chaoseater. They’re both fun to control, and the progression elements didn’t bother be quite as much as most do. The collecting of creature cores helped a little, I guess, even if their minor stat-boosting effects are the stuff of nightmares. There’s a lot to like here, and a lot to dislike.

The first time I played it, I got a few levels in, got stuck, and got out. Thankfully, I tried it again recently and powered through, enjoying most of the middle levels. Like many action games, the puzzles are of little interest, although the perspective shift helps both here and with platforming. There was less frustration with each than my time in I, II, and III. But ultimately a lot of these elements feel like filler, and while moving through the world is generally satisfying, puzzles are less so. Particularly finicky is the use of Strife’s tools in puzzles, which require reasonably precise aim and are activated with R3 (a side effect of giving him two ammo types at a time in combat, a welcome option but generally an unnecessary one). Such problems are exacerbated by 3D parts of the world which can get in the way. It’s enough to make one wonder why they didn’t just commit to 2D, smoothing out these issues alongside the game world. Even more of a problem is the balancing. Despite ostensibly being overlevelled, based on the blanket numbers given for War and Strife (it’s not levelling, it’s accumulation of various things, but you collect similar yet separate powerups so they’re levelled separately – yay)… what was I saying? Oh, yeah: despite ostensibly being overlevelled, I felt underpowered, engagements pointlessly long as I carved my way through bullet- and sword-sponge enemies. It stopped being fun, and was a disappointing way to end my time with the game.

Despite everything, I’d like to see Darksiders make a return. Of course, I’d want any comeback to be on my terms, not the terms it’s operated on – I’d want RPG elements stripped out entirely (fun merchants like Vulgrim and Dis can stay, don’t worry; we’ll find something for them to do) and a reduced puzzle presence. If I had to pick one to get done, it’d be the former. With God of War (alongside everything else) now an action-RPG, it would be great to see the series step into the limelight as a simplified throwback action game, with platforming spectacle to complement the violence. Perhaps a soft reboot, if necessary, with a single protagonist wielding the weapons of each horseman. I know though, as we all should, that if it returns it will be rife with industry trends and overstuffed with ideas, not a sleek challenge to an industry intent on barrelling down the wrong path. Ah, well, we can only dream.

(Whoops, broke my personal guidelines and got a little wistful there)

darksiders tiene una estetica edgy que es la vision de un pibe de 15 años de lo que es el infierno que me encanta pero este titulo son 17 capitulos de lo mismo, un gameplay repetitivo, una historia aburrida con cutscenes pobres, combate contra esponjas de daño sin ninguna mecanica interesante, plataformeo incomodo con un sistema de movimiento glitcheado y lo mas estupido de todo: la necesidad de rejugar los niveles para desarrollar un sistema interesante de habilidades pasivas intercambiables pero cuya unica funcion es basicamente hacer que baje mas rapido la vida de los malos y mas lento la tuya.
si estas interesado en jugarlo con otra persona (motivo por el que lo compre) vayan a jugar cualquier otra cosa, en serio, porque lo unico que rescató un poco el gameplay para mi fue poder cambiar entre personajes a gusto y extender un poco mas la excusa de combos que tienen ambos, el modo multijugador deshabilita esto asignandole a cada jugador un personaje.

I played this game because I'm a fan of the first two games of the series and boy it's a pile of garbage. The fighting is just hitting spongy enemies or dying in 3 hits and the leveling and upgrade system just makes you hit enemies harder or dying in 4 hits. Indeed, I played it alone and not in coop because I have no friends but still, it gets pretty boring pretty fast. Playing as War is just button mashing and playing as Strife is running around in circles while shooting at enemies, I guess in coop it words better because War can frontline while Strife gets them from the back but it's still button mashing and running in circles.
The other games had a servisable story and this is just boring.
The good thing this game has is that the levels are pretty big and open and exploration is encouraged a lot by giving you modifiers for the weapons and some upgrades and stuff so that's nice.
The art direction is still good as usual but it loses impact because everything is far away in case of the characters and because you can't move your camera to admire the set pieces for the scenarios.
Overall, not worth playing unless you are with your bro stoned and bored. Maybe that way it'll entertain you.

I like that this exists just to round out the Darksiders franchise. Now, all 4 horsemen have gotten a spotlight. So like, that's cool. I also liked the light collectathon elements and how they tie into the upgrade system. I'm pretty picky about both collectibles and rpg mechanics in the modern day and those two being okay here kept this from being too miserable. Still nothing great but I'll take gaining buffs from a variety of enemy soul drops and hidden collectibles over "Do a trash fetch quest and now u can unlock the next node on the skill tree" type slop.

Still can't say this left me feeling much of anything. Combat is mashy and unsatisfying. Not a lot of impact is felt when hitting most things. My eyes glaze over whenever I see a modern game that's heavily reliant on a dodge roll/dash button...But at least Strife and War's dodges are both slightly different. Being able to swap between the two at any time makes playing both feel a bit better than the sum of their parts. Some levels drag on, some of 'em open up a bit and are pretty alright. The different enemies aren't super well defined so most of the time it's just the same interaction every time a fight starts. Bosses are mostly just stat checks which is kinda dull but is the one time I was really forced to engage with the upgrades in any meaningful way. Otherwise it's press dodge button right before attack hits, spam attack, repeat until win. I'd slay for an action game a tad more creative, at this point I'm so bored by this kind of thing.

The story is uneventful - and this may be the most abrupt end to a game I've seen...ever. Was legitimately caught off guard when the credits started rolling.

The music and presentation is often pretty dry. Funny enough when the main characters are behind a wall, you see a bright outline of them so you're not blind. The action looks so much more interesting in this flat rendition than it does when you can clearly see. Not a lot of strong visual flairs otherwise.

Fortunately for this game despite a few levels dragging a bit, as a whole it doesn't overstay its welcome. The mercifully short length keeps me from really having any truly negative feelings towards it. A lot of games would have gone for three times the level count and I'd be mashing my head against my desk wondering why I'm still playing. This game stays in its place and for that I'm glad to say it's perfectly average.

We have Diablo at home. And that's ok.

All you need to know is that it's on the shorter side (like 15 hours max). Fully co-op that's playable offline. And that for a series that does it's best to rip off other games, this game comes closest to competing with it's inspiration (Diablo, though this much more in the vein of Torchlight).

It's worth a sale purchase to have as a game to play with a bud.

A prequel to the staggeringly lore-obsessed Darksiders series, Genesis puts us in the shoes of Strife, the moody gunslinger of the Apocalypse riders. Strife, alongside War, are kind of like celestial bounty hunters, sent out on contracts by their bosses. This time around they're tasked with investigating Lucifer because there's a suspicion that he might be up to no good (wonder what clued them in to that, maybe that he’s the literal Devil). Strife is a lot more prone to wisecracks than the other three, and that helps make him the most engaging character in the series thus far.

Genesis is yet another gameplay reinvention for the series as this game is a top-down twin-stick shooter. This actually works really well; Strife controls smoothly and you get a fair bit of customization to his abilities as you progress. War is always by your side and so you can freely switch between brothers during gameplay, leaning into some light puzzle solving that often splits the brothers up. Although it's smaller than the other Darksiders games, it's also a lot more tightly constructed and well-written, making it the best of the lot so far.

I just can't with darksiders, playing 1, 2 and genesis didn't change my mind.

A top-down slasher/TPS/RPG, the rpg elements are very light - just builds - fueled by collectibles. Gameplay itself is simple and mindless for the most part, setting is lowkey generic.

If you liked previous games then sure, give it a shot. Otherwise don't bother, this isn't the one to change your mind about the franchise.