Darksiders Commentary 3: Soul-like fundamentals pave the way in this reincarnation of the Fury-led series



[ad_1]

The pitch

Regardless of the quality of the game itself, it's really exciting to live in the timeline where Darksiders 3 actually managed to do it on the shelves.

When this first title screen faded, I found myself struck by a feeling of improbability. Impossibility, even. The idea that this game I'm playing now should not exist. Even as an unconditional fan of the series, I had long since given up hope that a third game of Darksiders would see the light of day. And yet, we are there.

For the uninitiated, the first Darksiders Abandoned in 2010. Fantastically reinventing the Book of Revelations, the game incarnated you in the war – one of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse – who embarked on a quest for redemption after preparing for a crime Armageddon and put an end to all human life on earth ", he did not commit himself.

The developer Vigil Games quickly followed with a sequel – Darksiders 2 – in 2012, which focused on another member of the four riders: death. And with the two Darksider games that turned out to be critical and commercial hits, a third game seemed almost inevitable. The first two installments left many Chancellors in suspense and, besides that, there were still two horsemen of the Apocalypse to conquer.

Unfortunately, with the collapse of the THQ publisher – at the time, the owner of Vigil Games – plans to continue the series. Until now. Reborn under the banner of Gunfire Games, the core team of the original games came back to try to resurrect the franchise with Darksiders 3 – the sequel that has never been.

Lazarus Rising

The overall timeline of the Darksiders series is a bit strange, so leave me with me.

Darksiders 3 begins just after the beginning of the first game – when the Apocalypse is held – but takes well before the war returns to Earth a century later. The players take control of Fury – the franchise's leading female lead – and are responsible for cleaning up the chaos Armageddon has left behind. More specifically, Fury is responsible for stalking and destroying the Seven Deadly Sins – a group of powerful demons who play on a ruined and ravaged Earth.

As with previous games in the series, this initial mission structures the essence of the experience. Even if the motivations and goals of the people involved are not revealed until later, your goal is clear from the start. Despite all the melodrama and mythology that haunt the complicated timeline of the series, you have a good idea of ​​the goal you are working on at a given moment.

Darksiders 3 does not really feel like a rehash, but it seems really familiar – and, in some ways, maybe too much. If you were hoping that the third installment of the series would be the four-player cooperative adventure described by Joe Madureira, former artistic director of Vigil, that's not it. Like the previous games in the series, Darksiders 3 treats a hand composed of familiar game mechanics and dripping comics.

If we are going to enumerate the biggest sources and influences here, Darksiders 3 is a third-person action-adventure that plays both as a hybrid and a tribute to God of the war, THE legend of Zelda and Castlevania. If you've played any of the games above (or a previous Darksider game), you'll have an idea of ​​what to expect. You run in a 3D environment, fight enemies, solve puzzles, defeat bosses and advance in the story. However, this time, there is also a bit of Dark souls in the mix too.

As a result, the fight in Darksiders 3 is a little more difficult than previous payments. Spammer basic combos will only take you to this point. In the end, you will need to learn the enemy's attack patterns and know how to synchronize your dodge accordingly. Defeating enemies will bring you souls, which you can spend on consumables and character enhancements for Fury.

You lose all your souls to death. The pace of the game therefore depends a lot on your ability to fight from one point to another and to spend souls as you win them so that your power level will keep pace with your opponents. Fury is more fragile than the previous protagonists, and it does not take too much damage to fall.

Although inevitably derived, these soulsSimilar changes seem actually more than appropriate given the history of the series. L & # 39; original Darksiders'Slashy fight was directly inspired by the genre, touchstone of his era – games like God of the war and Devil can cry. The same type of trends and broader influences are found in the industry. Darksiders 2, which offered deeper RPG style gameplay, as it was what most AAA action games of the day did.

In this context, the fact that titles From Software such as Dark souls and Transmitted by blood have inspired some of the game choices in Darksiders 3 is perfectly logical. At this point, borrowing from the best is a tradition as much as a predisposition for the franchise.

Another difference to note here is that even though previous versions of the series relied on a more linear structure of wheels and spokes, Darksiders 3 takes place in what is essentially a large seamless dungeon. Each of the five regions of the game has a specific visual theme, but zones intersect and clash, giving them the impression of a unified and coherent world.

There are not too many games to model the Metroidvania formula at the 3D level, but Darksiders 3 makes a strong case for counting among them. Each new ability that Fury unlocks reveals new avenues to explore and gives you a reason to return to previous levels. That said, I deplored the fact that the game never really presents you with a map – which has sometimes made it difficult to delineate how it all worked out perfectly.

Something bad this way comes

This is a credit for the Gunfire Games team that has Darksiders 3 looks and feels like such a transparent and natural extension of its predecessor.

Yet part of me can not help but wish it's a little more than that. At the hour, Darksiders 3 plays like something from the same era as its predecessors in a way that gives it the impression of being dated. In movement, the game is quite elegant. However, when viewed in cinematics, the world lacks fidelity and detail, and character models can not help feeling uncomfortable in a world where AAA games (like the recent Assassin's Creed: Odyssey) striking as they do.

This stagnation is not at all helped by the rigorous test of the dialogue of the game. Although faithful to the tone of the previous games of Darksiders, Darksiders 3The sinister attitude has not aged well. It just does not play as well in 2018 as in 2010. Although it is not an exception, the overly exaggerated characterizations here feel overwhelmed and give the invitation to parody rather than enthusiasm. .

And it does not help that the story told during the game is as limited and realistic as it is. Of course, Fury's quest to hunt down the seven sins sees her also confronting her own inner demons – but each of these seven sins is introduced and shipped with such speed that few of these antagonists make the impression, any more than the way which they attack at the faults of Fury's own personality.

What's more, as with Darksiders 2, Darksiders 3 fails to advance the wider story of the series in a meaningful way. This serves to explain what Fury did during the events of the first two games, but not much more. I had the impression of having everything I expected from a basic continuation of the Darksiders franchise – and that's about it all. As a person who wants to see where this story is going, I left disappointed. There have not been any real surprises here, nor new character introductions, nor positive spin-offs for the big narrative leads of the show. Presumably, all of this can happen in Darksiders 4 – But as we do not know if this game will be really played, I'm irritated that Gunfire has not tried to provide a kind of closure or continuation here.

There are also more secondary aspects of the general experience in which things feel a little rushed and underdeveloped. Although designed to be more demanding than previous payments, I could not help thinking about Darksiders 3The camera system and the inconsistent locking feature sometimes make the job harder than it should be. The gaming weapon enchantment system gives the impression that it has been introduced so late that it is actually a useless mechanism.

Lastly, previous horse fighting games have also been set aside. Fury ends up being a horseman of the Apocalypse without riding – which is invariably a little disappointed.

The final result

Darksiders 3 is a continuation of the stripped down and fundamentally frank franchise, which will likely appease fans looking for another of these games – even if barely. It's fun and challenging in the right places, but it fails to modernize and advance the franchise in a meaningful way that leaves me excited to see where Darksiders will go next.

Darksiders 3 That's fine – and if you liked the previous games, you should probably play this one – but it's not the triumphant return, it's the way it should be. Looks like Gunfire has played the games safely where he should hit the flames of ambition and innovation.

Not that this approach does not resonate with some people. As a fan of the series, I will be the first to admit that I am delighted to have another of these games to play. However, beyond this nostalgia, Darksiders 3 did not let me desire more in the same way as the previous games. It was a pleasure to return to this world and these characters, but if the series will not ripen a little bit along the way, what is it for?

Darksiders 3 feels like a sequel that has never been both good and bad. In some ways, it's exactly the game I wanted: a third-person action game in which you play as a cool and fiery character, then run into a great world using weapons and cool abilities like a hell. Legion of cool enemies like hell. But it's so easy to see how it could have been so much more.

Darksiders 3 is now available on PS4, Xbox One and PC.

Join the newsletter!

<! – ->

Error: Please check your email address.

Tags darksidersDarksiders Games 3Gunfire

[ad_2]
Source link