Darksiders III - Thoughts

Released in 2018 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows PC, Darksiders III marked the long-awaited return of the apocalyptic action series after nearly six years of dormancy. Developed by Gunfire Games - a studio formed by many of the developers who previously worked at Vigil Games, the creators of the original titles - the game shifted the spotlight to Fury, the fiery and whip-wielding red headed Horsewoman of the Apocalypse. Sent to a ruined Earth by the Charred Council, Fury’s mission is to hunt down and capture the Seven Deadly Sins, each of whom has escaped and begun wreaking havoc across a shattered world.

Just like its predecessors, which experimented with various genre ideas such as large-scale action, RPG elements and dungeon design inspired by games like The Legend of Zelda and God of War, Darksiders III adopted a more methodical combat style, drawing comparisons to modern action-RPGs or even Soulslikes with its deliberate pacing, dodge-focused battles, and interconnected world structure. The game emphasized exploration and character progression while presenting Fury as a more volatile and evolving protagonist compared to the stoic War and Death.

At launch, Darksiders III received mixed to moderately positive reviews. Critics praised its atmosphere, environmental design, and challenging combat, while some players found the difficulty spikes and technical issues frustrating. Over time, patches and updates including a post-release “Classic Combat” mode that made the gameplay feel closer to earlier entries helped improve the experience. Commercially, the game performed solidly but modestly, selling around one million copies within its first year, enough to reaffirm interest in the franchise and pave the way for later projects like Darksiders Genesis.

What I Liked 😃

7 Deadly Sins

image: Nintendo

The timeline of the Darksiders games starts to get a little confusing at this point in the series. The first game in the series is actually Darksiders: Genesis from a storytelling perspective and we will get to that game soon. But the original Darksiders follows that. However, Darksiders III takes place while War is imprisoned at the beginning of the first game. Darksiders II and Darksiders III actually take place around the same time. And then after War serves his 100 year imprisonment, the rest of Darksiders I takes place. Confused yet? Right.

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I wanted to briefly explain the timeline just because I haven’t yet. But also, the Charred Council, the group of mysterious flaming rock-like entities, have been central to every game. That is no different in Darksiders III. The Charred Council charges Fury to seek out and capture the Seven Deadly Sins, who were once imprisoned by the Council but - due to the early apocalypse from the first game - have escaped.

I liked the idea of personifying the actual Seven Deadly Sins in antagonist form. For those who do not know, this is a religious grouping of some of the vices/sins discussed in the Bible and mainly used by Catholics. Those sins are: pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony and sloth.

What I was impressed by was how creative and appropriate each boss was as it related to their named sin. Sloth is a gigantic and grotesque creature who has continue to grow and grow due to inactivity and indulgence. He(it?) lounges on a throne which is carried by servants. Wrath is a demon who relies on brutality and rage. He exists to destroy whatever stands in front of him. Lust attempts to seduce Fury by playing on her emotions and doubts.

Each boss is not only a challenge regarding the gameplay. They also exist to challenge Fury’s character: her doubts, her rage, her greed, etc. After each encounter, she grows to understand humanity a little more.

Hollow Powers

image: Wccftech

There are various powerups that Fury can obtain by playing through the game. Given to Fury by the Lord of the Hollows, these powerups harken back to Darksiders’ Zelda style adventure. Just like the other games, traversal through the levels requires not only walking but leveraging Fury’s powers. The Fire Hollow power lets you swing across gaps, Force can break barriers and Stasis manipulates the environment.

The weapon that Fury uses is called the Barbs of Scorn, which is a very gnarly and sharp looking whip, maybe? Nevertheless it nearly rivals Death’s scythe as far as how cool it is. It starts as just a handle that Fury carries around and then when she wishes to use it, it extends out from the handle in full metal glory. When you add the various Hollow powers to it, things get real interesting. The combat almost feels like a Soulslike, or at least inspired by those types of games. Not necessarily surprising, seeing as how the entire Darksiders series seems to love to dabble in various video game tropes like the aforementioned Zelda to open world RPGs to games like Prince of Persia.

Level Design

image: YouTube

Something the entire Darksiders series has excelled at in my opinion is the level design. The levels go down smooth like a dry martini. I don’t ever feel lost, for the most part the layout of the levels fit their corresponding setting and everything is laid out in interesting ways such that no two rooms look or feel the same. Darksiders III is no exception. I thoroughly enjoyed places like the Bonelands, the Hollows and Haven. Filled with winding paths and hidden tunnels, these areas are a mishmash of modern human architecture combined with the recent apocalypse. Everything feels interconnected in one way or another, which was an aspect of this game I appreciated very much.

What I Didn’t Like ☹️

Rip and Tear

image: GameSpot

I ran into technical issues like screen tearing more often than I would have expected. I played the game on my Xbox Series X and so maybe it was a problem that was more prevalent on Microsoft’s platforms than Sony. I don’t know if the VSync implementation was not up to snuff or it there were inconsistent framerates, but it seemed like I noticed the issue a lot when moving the camera and when in combat.

No Map

image: Amazon.com

I think the level design was done well enough that the game isn’t completely broken without an in-game map, but at the same time I do not understand the decision to make a game like this that doesn’t have at least a rudimentary map. I can’t believe that this was a technical limitation, so it either had to be a deliberate choice or there were time and budget constraints that prevented a map from being implemented in the game. But, a map doesn’t seem like a high budget or time consuming element of a video game, especially over things like voice acting or additional animations.

So, my guess is the team chose not to add in a map. Again, I was able to complete the game and I don’t recall being super confused about where to go. It would have been a nice quality of life thing though to have a reference map. And for a game released in 2018, it feels like a huge omission.

Overall Thoughts 🤔

Darksiders III is in some ways a step back from Darksiders II. There are no intricate and involved RPG systems nor is there an open world to explore. It’s as if there possibly wasn’t time or a budget to implement these things. Or, knowing the track record of the other games, the team may have wanted to forge a new paths utilizing new game mechanics.

What is present in the game is pretty well done, however. The character designs just like the other games is top notch. Fury’s Hollow powers were enjoyable if simplistic. The level design was crafted well enough that even though there was no map, I was able to navigate the game fairly well. There are technical issues like screen tearing, at least on Xbox but it wasn’t game breaking. If you’re looking for an easy breezy 3D action-adventure game, you could do worse than Darksiders III.

Where Can I Play This? 🕹️

Darksiders III can easily be played on modern Xbox and PlayStation consoles as well as PC due to it being released in 2018 and the backward compatibility support from those systems.

I played Darksiders III on Xbox Series X. I rolled credits on the game and did as much side content as I could handle.

Up Next 📅

Up next, we are traveling all the way back to 1991 to play the very second Metroid game ever made, Metroid II: Return of Samus for the Nintendo Game Boy!