Darksiders III – probably one of the most controversial major games of this year. Its ratings vary from “A morally outdated piece of nonsense, suffering from an identity crisis” to “A great gift for all fans of the series” and “A great slasher with elements Dark Souls». Ratings on Metacritic (I’m talking about the PS4 version) – from 20 to 90 points, players there give from 3 to 10 points. Yes, you yourself know everything perfectly well – the Internet is already full of reviews.
Therefore, I see no point in repeating myself and pretending to be Captain Obvious, telling for a long time that this is the long-awaited revival of the deceased series of pathetic and brutal action adventures about how the horsemen of the Apocalypse fight for balance on the Earth incinerated by this very Apocalypse. That this is the same mixture of slasher, riddles, acrobatics and role-playing elements with a "Metroidvania" flavor. And so on and so forth. Instead, as the devil’s advocate, I will immediately make a speech in defense Darksiders III.
Physics or lyrics?
The main complaints about the game are known. Firstly, Darksiders III from a technical point of view it is really imperfect. Especially on the PlayStation 4, which in itself is already surprising – usually such complaints are made about the computer version, but here everything is more or less normal with it. On the “curling iron” there are “freezes”, for some the game crashes or the entire sound in the system hangs up, graphic artifacts are noticeable. Well, in general the picture is “not ice”.
After this, you may get the impression that here we have almost a horror film in the spirit of the launch PC version Batman: Arkham Knight. But in reality this is not so – Darksiders III Even on PS4 it’s more than playable. I just completed the game on this platform (on a regular one, not on Pro) and never once thought about quitting because of some technical problems. I didn’t have a single crash, and the sound didn’t interfere with anything.
Yes, in one place where there was a lot of fire and it was hot as hell, there was a “freeze”, there were also environmental loading. I noticed graphic artifacts, or rather exactly one, in the form of a bluish stripe when you run around a corner, only after I read about it in an article on one of the sites. That is, it is not visible in the dynamics, unless you are an employee of some Digital Foundry. All this, of course, does not justify the authors, who really should have polished the game better, but also to say that Darksiders III really suffers from technical problems and is unplayable, you can’t.
Post-apocalyptic beauty
Picture in Darksiders III, maybe not the best in the industry, but overall quite juicy and expressive. The videos are still full of gorgeous angles, the series’ signature pathos, brutality and gigantomania in the spirit of Warhammer (if there’s a sword, then it’s half the hero’s height). Some say that the locations turned out to be gray, monotonous and too modern – some dilapidated city streets, where there are a lot of runs through narrow rooms and corridors.
But I don’t agree here either. I played enough Darksiders III much more than two starting hours and saw completely different locations, and not just corridors and rooms of dilapidated buildings. These are huge underground tunnels, and caves entwined with greenery, and dead swamps shrouded in fog, lined with giant bones of some monster, and a huge (again) museum, in the middle of which stands the skeleton of a tyrannosaurus the size of a three-story house.
After running through the seemingly identical city streets filled with broken cars, you can come to a church shining with Gothic beauty, where, having destroyed the floor with a huge chandelier, you will find yourself in a gloomy crypt, and from there – into caves, tunnels and God knows where else. Or run out onto the soaring trunk of a huge tree, where you really want to stop, look down, feeling how breathtaking it is, and take another batch of screenshots that you already have nowhere to put. IN Darksiders III a large and diverse world that gradually opens up more and more new locations, and each of them has its own zest, its own design or architectural chic.
And again Dark Souls
While maintaining the gameplay basis of the series, the authors added Dark Souls. Battles have become more difficult, with a focus on dodging, and the souls collected from enemies (they are both currency and experience points) after death remain at the place where Fury died – until she, killing the same revived enemies, comes running to return them.
Here, it would seem, is that new (for the series) idea that is so lacking. But also for this Darksiders III immediately received a slap in the hat. Although no one is particularly indignant when authors do this Nioh, The Surge or every second 2D indie action game.
Too unusual for an "old school" slasher film? This can just be called a new look and trend. The fights are too hardcore for the series, where even at a low difficulty level they can kill you in a couple of hits? Yes, especially at first. The game administers shock therapy from the start and, just five minutes after the start, pits Fury against the first “boss,” Envy, one of the Seven Deadly Sins that she must overcome. It’s so difficult to get through this battle the first or second time – that’s when I had the idea to quit the passage to hell.
But in fact, as soon as you understand how and with what timings the “boss” attacks, and by what principles local acrobatics work, everything becomes much simpler. Yes, not everything is perfect in the combat system – the difficulty is largely increased due to the inability to cancel an already running animation and the too short “invulnerability time” when dodging an attack. Therefore, evasions must be carried out with precision, memorizing the timings.
About the benefits of properly growing hands
I agree, there are flaws in the “combat”. But look at how some streamers bravely and beautifully fight on hard (I played on “balanced” difficulty at first), and you will understand that this is not a game in which you constantly suffer and die. On the contrary, the fights look very impressive. You need to get used to it, act accurately and rely not only on evasions – there are plenty of tools besides them. Use shards wisely with various useful effects, perform combos (of which there are many), fly into the air, turn on the “form of chaos” and special skills when the anger indicator accumulates.
That is, a lot depends on the straightness of the hands. This is true for acrobatics as well. At first, I also suffered during the heroine’s difficult gymnastic exercises, not understanding, for example, how to do a double jump in the “fiery” form of Fury (and there are many such forms – they provide different abilities and weapons). But as soon as I understood, all the problems immediately disappeared, and acrobatics, the way Fury dashes on his whip across the abysses, even began to bring aesthetic pleasure. Except that the camera, both here and in battles, does not always behave adequately.
Others, without understanding, begin to blame the game for something that is not there. For example, they spend a long time describing how bad the acrobatics are here, using the example that, they say, we need to jump on the bones of a tyrannosaurus rex in the above-mentioned museum. In fact, you need to jump on it in a completely different way – soaring into the air on a whip. And this example is very indicative of “criticism” Darksiders III.
Overcome and win!
And to survive you need https://dynabet.co.uk/mobile-app/ to pump up your Fury. The fact that checkpoints are often too far apart (although this is not always the case, especially in later stages) is both a gift and a curse Darksiders III. Yes, running again and again through crowds of revived enemies to the place of your death or to a rendezvous with the “boss” is nervous. On the other hand, this allows you to accumulate even more souls and invest them in upgrading the characteristics of the main character – health, as well as the level of physical and magical attacks.
And don’t believe it if they say it’s useless. Plus 10-15% damage for one skill point – it’s useless, yes? I personally became convinced of the opposite after level 20 and I began to fight more calmly on hard.
They also say that pumping is primitive. Here it is possible to develop not only characteristics, but also weapons, and in two parameters – simply increase the amount of damage, as well as insert special stones, and then improve them with angelic or demonic artifacts, which symbolize alternative branches of development and give completely different effects. Considering that there are not one or two types of weapons in the game, and the number of slots, as well as artifacts for pumping, is limited, this is not at all primitive.
In fact, Darksiders III — the game is rough, complex, it forces you to level up, think about how and what to improve and use, accumulate souls (there is always something to spend them on), collect or buy fragments and artifacts, learn to fight effectively and efficiently, even forces you to think about some riddles. In a word, play and overcome, and not look for graphic artifacts or non-existent problems in acrobatics. To overcome, so that later you can receive sincere pleasure when you realize that you have really become stronger. Or when you get new weapons and new abilities to get into previously inaccessible places. After all, there are new epic locations, plot twists, funny bickering with the Observer, strong enemies and cool “bosses”.
As you already understand, I sincerely recommend Darksiders III. It’s just that it all depends on how, who and from what angle perceives it. If you are a fan of the series and a connoisseur of complex slasher films in general, then you will most likely love this action game and will be sincerely glad that the series has been revived after all. If you were expecting some kind of violent breakthrough, revolution, fashion trends or emphasis on a complex plot, then you were simply in the wrong game. Don’t tell me she’s having an identity crisis. Everything is fine with her orientation in the playing space: it’s still the same Darksiders, which has always been a collection of different ideas served with a corporate style sauce. Only this time they added it Dark Souls. And this is generally good. Although certain changes to the combat system and the layout of “checkpoints” would not hurt..
Pros: charismatic heroine; cool "bosses"; exciting, challenging battles; an interesting world that you want to explore; different weapons and forms of the main character, which are needed to solve puzzles and go to new places; a plot with its own intrigue; chic rollers; expressive music and voice acting.
Cons: there are technical flaws; the combat system and camera are imperfect; Checkpoints are often located too far apart.
Darksiders III
Best comments
I really liked the transition from the “Diablo-like gear-making” of the second part to the direct leveling of the character. And the “dark souls” component (loss/return of souls), in my opinion, fits harmoniously into the game. True, the first boss still tilted me ten times until I “stuffed” the form of chaos) It burned decently, and if I had quit on it (on her, Envy), then this really “commendable” game would have passed me by.
Yes, and in the second it was not necessary. Thanks to the gear (which I really liked, by the way), the second part made it possible to make quite an immortal Death. Or become a magician, summon zombies and crows and help them as much as possible. Damn, even Dark Souls allowed this. Take a bow, and timings start to worry you much less. I’m generally silent about those same magicians.
In Darksiders there is only timings. T.e. You obliged remember attack patterns of all enemies. There is no variety in the types of gameplay as a class – you only counterattack melee and period. It doesn’t matter how you do it: with a whip, nunchucks, a spear (I haven’t gone further yet – I don’t know what’s new there) – there are a minimum of fundamental differences.
Bosses are a whole separate issue. If ordinary enemies can somehow be interrupted with your blows, then bosses cannot be interrupted in any way and never. Therefore, you can forget about combinations of blows in a battle with them. The maximum is to carry out 2-3 attacks before the boss attack, and then pray that the evasion is successful.
In previous parts of the series, bosses were puzzles – you had to solve their vulnerability and implement it using game mechanics, and not always combat ones. I still remember how it was necessary to throw bombs at Tiamat. In Dark Souls, bosses were static – they had their own behavior and attacks, but how to use the first to your advantage and avoid the second is a personal choice of the player. If you want, dodge/roll and slash from the shoulder, if you want, be a tin can that even the boss’s attacks won’t take and drive him into the ground, if you want, attack from afar and use phantoms for cover.
Here is the gameplay of the bosses, at least the ones I saw – single-celled. The boss has his own behavior, you have about 1-2 options for reacting to him. This is not a puzzle from previous parts, and not a test of the strength of a build from Dark Souls.
As a result:
Compared to previous games in the series, a huge layer of gameplay has been uprooted – acrobatics and generally all platform elements. The puzzles that remain are nothing serious. The slasher mechanics remain, but there is almost no one to implement it on.
Compared to Dark Souls (because that’s where a whole bunch of gameplay elements were taken from): lack of variety in builds in general and weapons in particular. Technically, what is there is different, but in fact it is used the same. It is basically impossible to develop Fury into anything – there are minimal changes in the character when leveling up.
But on the whole, I agree with the assessment, because the visuals are beautiful, the effects are good, and the mechanics that the game has work successfully.
I haven’t familiarized myself with the game yet, but this is not the first time in reviews I’ve come across the thesis “In the game you need to dodge”. So I have a question, am I the only one who played the previous games in the series?? And if in the first part this element, in principle, could not be used in view of the tanky nature of the hero, then the second was completed only due to the mobility of the protagonist (in both cases, I judge by the maximum level of difficulty)
It’s so difficult to get through this battle the first or second time – that’s when I had the idea to quit the passage to hell.It’s so difficult to get through this battle the first or second time – that’s when I had the idea to quit the passage to hell.
It just pissed me off. I don’t like the souls image and the waste of time running from the checkpoint to the last point over and over again through a crowd of newly revived enemies. I came here for the history and surroundings, and not for the sake of bashing about the same monsters.
Not my genre (((
Now I’m playing it, at first it was difficult, as soon as the game started and I was already fighting the boss, I died for several hours, then I got used to it, I have to think when to attack and when to roll, otherwise I’ll get stuck in two pokes
I completely agree about the “crap” in the sequel. I recently replayed the second part with the character already pumped up and dressed, and I caught myself thinking how much more enjoyable it is to play when you don’t have to interrupt this fuss in your inventory. This is a completely rudimentary function for this series specifically.
As a fan of the first two parts, and as a non-Dark Souls fan, I don’t understand why they did this? I don’t see any organic interweaving of these mechanics. Here are a couple of examples (I saw Dark Souls and played a little in Nioh): here instead of bonfires there is Vulgrim (he is literally on every corner), and if in soulslice games it was possible to update healers and mobs in order to farm a little for leveling up, then this is not the case here. Mobs are updated only after death or transition, and healers drop from enemies, but filling them when there are 0 of them is a very bad idea. Secondly, it’s practically impossible to run through some places here, at the very beginning there is a place with 3 swords, you run out of the room with Vulgrim, you immediately meet a pack of mobs, but not the easiest ones, and you won’t be able to run past because in order to go to another room, you have to stand on the button and wait until the door turns, the mobs pin you in the corner. And this is just the beginning of the game. Oh yes, I forgot that from now on there is no map, it unsettled me a little, what, where and where to go, now find your way yourself. In general, it seemed to me that they shouldn’t have inserted mechanics here that were completely taken from another popular series, at least not in this form. It would be better if they looked towards DMC or Bayounetta, but leaving all these artifacts and weapons with pumping.
I also only found it on my second playthrough, it seems. Absolutely random. There was some kind of button, you press it, and War raises his left hand in a plate glove. For a long time I couldn’t understand what the hell, and then somehow accidentally in the middle of the battle I parried the attack with a misclick and wiped several demons with one blow. the game became even more monotonous, because almost all problems were solved in the same way
“The topic with the horse was never explored at all, although this is the main moral driver of the heroine."There’s an extended ending
Well, you’re wrong about the first game, however. There was no evasion as such. A rudimentary dash does not count. Voyna had a block instead of somersaults, and I took out some batches solely at the expense of it. Not only do you block all the damage, but the “perfect parry” window is very large, and the counter one-shots some opponents in batches at once.
Let’s just say that in the second part, while the enemy was swinging, you could make 2 rolls and you would rarely get hit. Then in the third part, if you didn’t dodge before the attack hit you, in 90% of cases you will get hit in the head, which is quite useful if you play on hard, for example. As for me, from a gameplay point of view, a partial transition towards a Souls-like game is only beneficial. If only because you have to “watch” each new enemy and get used to the timings, and not mindlessly chop everyone into mush.
Therefore, the Apocalypse organized by these horsemen can canonically be stopped by anyone passing by Bruce Willis. )
Excuse me, where is the direct character leveling??
The whole game you just increase stats. Absolutely nothing qualitatively changes. This is not pumping, this is some kind of surrogate.
Horrible ports of Darksiders on the console – this is a feature of the series, one might say. I’m on the pitch and haven’t encountered any more or less noticeable bugs.
>If you were expecting some kind of violent breakthrough, revolution, fashion trends or emphasis on a complex plot, then you were simply in the wrong game.
Why would anyone even do this??
The Darksiders series has always been about “stuffing elements from other games into the game and using a stapler to make it stick”.
And it, in general, worked throughout both parts.
As I understand it, the third one turned out to be quite playable.
Well, if it was more interesting for you to watch, you would probably go through it on Youtube with streamers, but you went through it yourself to the end and you’re even tormented by the extended ending. So, the game still got me hooked
Aaaaand… the fully pumped up War was just as quickly drained of his health bar. Yes, right at the very beginning there were a lot of stripes (the weakening was precisely this at the beginning of the game, the player was stupidly taken away. health bars). And then pumping up War consisted of the fact that the player was given a bunch of new devices and the like, War itself doesn’t pump up, since in the 1st part there is no pumping as such, well, except for those extra ones. health bars, but only pumping health in the 3rd part performs the same function. And yes, if in the first half of the 3rd part every missed blow is critical, then from the middle of the game the thickness of Fury’s skin increases greatly (pumping), and it withstands much more blows. And yes, according to the lore, the mighty Fury is the worst kind of idiot, so the fact that she has a much harder time than War or Death is something the lorchik decided.