I'm not going to go too in-depth since Darksiders is a very well known/reviewed game, but what I will say is this is essentially a God of War adaptation of Judeo-Christian mythologies, albeit far more respectful than those games (the pre-reboot ones anyway). You play as the embodiment of War seeking to restore his honor after he prematurely arrived on Earth before the Seventh Seal of Hell was broken.

Overall, I really enjoyed the story. It incorporates a lot of lore from the Abrahamic faiths, but dons its own take on them, keeping it all fresh, exciting, and epic. While characters are essentially archetypal, there's usually an adjacent layer to them that gives them a subtly interesting quality. War, for example, has a dry humor that comes out in many scenes, Azrael a sense of shame that gives him an honor quality, Uriel a sense of justice that makes her rise above her duties, etc...

Visually, Darksiders is definitely reminiscent of the Xbox 360 era, but that's far from a bad thing. You do have polygon modelling that is still blocky at times, but the color grading is top notch, really conveying a post-apocalyptic atmosphere to the whole world. Individual locales stand out thanks to this art style, which is adaptable to the different demands of the various ecosystems (amphibious vs desert vs lava caverns vs flora paradise). Cutscenes have surprisingly aged very well and contribute to that aforestated epic scope.

That being said, with the vanilla version I did have an inconsistent framerate that I was only able to alleviate via turning down the camera motion (didn't fix the problem, but helped make it tolerable). Unfortunately, the battle against the sandworms triggered a massive FPS drop when I pulled out the revolver, and Darksiders also crashed once on me courtesy of trying to tab out of the app to adjust the volume. But those were the only technical issues I experienced- game ran smooth otherwise, including the transition to and from cinematic cutscenes and in-game gameplay (looks consistent).

Gameplay was honestly mixed for me. Hack-and-slash button mashing is always fun, but the combo system was weak courtesy of the button combinations being awkward (having to hold a bumper down + Y/X button + direct with the joystick). Half the time my new attacks wouldn't register, and overall attacks that weren't mapped to a single button didn't flow well as part of a combo. Magic abilities could've also been better incorporated rather than making them two separate buttons that produce independent results not tied to War's attacks (the arrow wall around you for example, igniting enemies on fire).

Exploration is another mixed bag. Darksiders opts for the Metroidvania formula of returning to previous areas with new gear, but the problem is the map isn't designed well enough to find those secrets. You can't create markers, you can't even move from left-to-right between multiple areas (the "open world" is blockaded through doors that literally block visual access on the map unless you enter the place behind said door), and while you can tell if you've been to an area or not courtesy of it being lightened up, you cannot tell if you missed something back there because most of the environs don't provide a map showing all these places or keep a collectable icon visible after discovery. Darksiders also suffers from the Skyward Sword problem of most new gear being largely useless after completing the area you were meant to use it in, making me wonder why so much programming effort went into crafting tools like the portal gun or Mask of Darkness.

For all my whining though, the narrative will keep you hooked. The fallen hero is an overused storyline for a reason- it works, and hearkens back to ancient myths that Darksiders clearly draws from. The voice acting is terrific, featuring top actors like Liam O'Brien, Mark Hamill, Troy Baker, Keith Szarabajka, and Phil LaMarr, who evoke deity/supernatural vibes through their voice registry. That being said, one slight criticism here is that too many voices are on the deep end of the spectrum, meaning some character's lack distinction and blend together ala the Akatsuki in the Japanese version of Naruto.

Sound design is good, but could've been more extravagant. Enemies all die/sound the same, weapon hits are synced to material being struck over individuals (i.e. all flesh sounds the same, all stone sounds the same, all metal sounds the same). What you hear is solid, but when you're unleashing the same attacks multiple times you'll notice the repetitious din quickly. The OST does a solid job blending religious sounds with your typical video game motifs of good/bad guys, even though I did feel the latter overtook the game one too many times. I also didn't think any of the bosses had distinct themes minus the Bat in the beginning.

On that note, boss fights are pretty disappointing, particularly the final one that was being built up to. They're all tied to a repetitive gameplay loop that you'll have to repeat whilst avoiding letting your health drop low. In fact, that even extends to minibosses/tough enemies, where you often have to repeat the same tactic of attack, dodge enemy heavy swing, then attack again ad nauseam.

Part of me does wonder if the devs didn't have the budget to consistently fulfill their vision because the first area with the Bat is long, well-paced, and full of a surprising number of puzzle elements that are slowly dissipated as you go to other areas. I'm not saying it's abandoned completely as there still are a lot of puzzles to solve, but when you play the game you'll notice the simplification. The last act, in particular, is a giant fetch quest that drags and doesn't feature anything unique, despite you having all of your tools at your disposal by that point.

Overall though, I had a lot of fun with Darksiders. While I will not be 100 percenting it courtesy of the poor maps, it helps a lot that the core story (for the remastered version since vanilla isn't sold anymore) offers almost as many hours of gameplay as the $20.00 price tag.