Riders in a (wrong) new edition – review of the game “Darksiders Genesis”

A little over a year after the third installment of Darksiders, the series returned, revealing the story of the fourth horseman of the apocalypse – Strife. Genesis is a big surprise for fans of the series. 

The June production announcement itself could have been a big surprise. The previous part of the series, Darksiders III , was not very warmly received by players and reviewers. As a result, the sales figures were rather unsatisfactory and there were reports that the brand went to the freezer. The new game, however, appeared with a catch, because while we finally got to know the fourth horseman of the apocalypse, it was not due to a fully-fledged sequel, but a prequel. Not only that, we are dealing with a kind of spin-off, with the action transferred to an isometric projection, probably made for much less money than the previous scenes. Paradoxically, despite the change of perspective, we can talk about going back to the roots …

Two of those who hunted a demon

One of the biggest innovations in Darksiders Genesis is the co-op mode. This forced the introduction of two playable characters – the hellishly agile and arrogant Strife, and the powerful and deadly War, which fans of the series know well from the first game. Unfortunately, the plot is not a strong point in the production, mainly due to its banal and pretext nature. The main characters simply travel through new lands and carry out the tasks entrusted to them, aimed at thwarting the expansive plans of a rebellious demon. I admit, however, that the creators managed to develop lore Darksiders enough to be treated with Genesis as an introduction to the first part, which after all begins with the apocalypse, without any further explanations. 

In fact, the narrative layer in the title is based primarily on the relationship between Waśnia and War, modeled on the so-called buddy movie . So we have two protagonists who seem to be opposites of each other. The riders do not like each other very much for this reason, but are forced to cooperate. Simple but proven scheme. But not. Such an important factor as character development has been forgotten. The heroes do not undergo any transformation, and the dialogues most often boil down to dry exposure or jokes (not necessarily the highest level) resulting from contrasting personalities. On the plus side, there are attractive comic cutscenes, of which, on the other hand, there are quite a few.

This is not another little devil!

After the first announcements of Darksiders Genesis, it seemed that the new installment would be completely different from the previous ones and this time we will get a hack ‘n’ slash. While on individual trailers or graphics, Genesis actually resembled Diablo , the devil is in the details. However, the similarities end in the isometric projection and the larger than usual hordes of enemies. Contrary to appearances, the gameplay has more to do with the roots of the series than the experimental second and third parts.

In fact, we are still dealing with a classic slasher, in which we unlock various combinations of moves, interspersed with platform sections and simple environmental puzzles. However, there are several novelties. The isometric perspective allowed for diversifying the gameplay with twin-stick shooter elements. Ranged weapons are more useful than ever because of the introduction of different types of ammunition. The most important novelty, however, are two playable characters. War and Strife have different abilities, which is why they are best played in co-op mode, where they have to complement each other. During solo play, we can switch between protagonists at almost any time. Most importantly, the gameplay with them is completely different. Strife is a type of agile character, but with a rather fragile life. So he often takes enemies from a distance and uses numerous dodges. War, on the other hand, is a powerful but slow fighter. Although it cannot jump away from enemies as efficiently as Strike, it has the unique ability to block and parry attacks. 

The variety of playable characters makes a great impression, which, unfortunately, cannot be said about the progression system. It was based on upgrades unlocked in the store for Souls (equivalent to experience points) and Creature Cores dropped by defeated opponents. The latter increase the heroes’ stats and unlock additional passive abilities. In theory, it sounds pretty good. In practice, however, it often comes down to grinding by repeating stages already completed, or fighting in the arena mode. It is possible to start the next stage with a character level that is too low, but it turns numerous bosses into deadly (and irritatingly) threatening sponges for projectiles. It looks like a game designed for potential micropayments …

Landscape before the end of the world

Darksiders Genesis artwork does not go crazy. The lower production budget is clearly noticeable. The setting was a neat but simple setting, which suffered from the amount of details and animations. However, the general style fails, which is somewhat explained in the plot. One of the greatest strengths of the series has always been fanciful visions of the world hit too early by the apocalypse. As Genesis takes place before this event, it was natural to deviate from this concept. It is a pity that it happened in favor of completely generic locations, not different from fantasy games.

It’s the same with music. You can even get the impression that we are dealing with songs that we have already heard in several different titles. Voice actors fare really well, especially those impersonating War, Strife and Vulgrim (demon trader supporting both of us). Surprisingly, this also applies to the Polish language version, as the game has been fully polonized. In the middle of the game, I switched to native dubbing to test it as a journalistic obligation, but I stayed with this version until the end of the game. The voices were chosen well enough not to knock out the atmosphere, and in the heat of the fight it is a pity to look at the inscriptions.

Nice springboard, but what next?

Darksiders Genesis successfully implements the assumptions of the side game. On the one hand, it has elements that will immediately attract fans of the series, but the refreshed formula and plot loosely related to other games can attract new players. Certain shortcomings and shortcomings mean that I would rather not speak of a very successful title, but it is still a satisfactory production, especially in the cooperation mode. However, the question remains: “what next?” If Genesis is to be a substitute for a full-fledged fourth installment of Darksiders , I will be deeply disappointed. The character of Strife has only been outlined and it deserves to be developed and set in the context of further events.