Fans of the Diablo series sure to love this game

DON’T be deterred by the isometric view - Darksiders Genesis is as fully-fledged a game as any of its 3rd-person predecessors. Though evoking shades of Diablo or Path of Exile, Darksiders Genesis is still an action-adventure much in the same vein as the rest of the excellent Darksiders series, offering much by way of exploration, dungeon crawling and some of the most exciting, twitchy and hard-hitting combat around.

Indeed, the sheer depth of content goes a long way toward mitigating the ever so slight lack of polish - particularly compared to similar games by blockbuster AAA developers - but even better than the vast amount of exploration and character progression is Genesis’ two main characters and the charming dynamic that exists between the two apocalyptic horsemen.

Aside from the stellar voice acting, the writing for these two characters - War and Strife - is really the star of the show. There are moments of genuine hilarity between these two unlikely comedians, but also moments of genuine earnestness as they both battle with their collective and individual demons.

Even more exciting than vulnerable horsemen of the apocalypse is their not-so-vulnerable combat. Violence in Genesis just feels oh-so-right with attacks straddling that satisfying midway point between weighty and snappy.

War’s play style is peppered with simple button-mashing combinations, big area-of-effect attacks and a quick dash that gets him in and out of fights in an instant, while Strife’s combat is more calculated and distance-oriented, though no less fun for it.

Though slightly overwhelming at first, Genesis’ upgrade and progression system provides another layer of replayability to a game already teeming with it.

Progression is achieved by filling one of many slots with items known as Creature Cores, which are randomly dropped by enemies. Matching slots with their corresponding core type activates bonuses, also unlocking adjacent slots. There are a number of considerations to take in to account when filling slots, though the process demystifies itself quickly.

There are, of course, a wide array of annoying niggles and a small amount of potentially game-breaking bugs present in Genesis, but overall the positives far outweigh the negatives in this terrific release from Airship Syndicate. Fans of the Diablo series who hunger for a more exploration-oriented adventure will be sure to love this game. A strong recommendation.