Darksiders Genesis
PC, PS4, Swtch, Stadia, Xbox One
The story is a flimsy excuse for a whistle-stop journey through Hell that brings you into the orbit of its worst villains
Developer Airship Syndicate
Publisher THQ Nordic
Format PC (tested), PS4, Stadia, Switch, Xbox One
Release Out now (PC, Stadia), February 14 (PS4, Switch, Xbox One)
Well, it’s certainly an improvement on Darksiders III. Despite the admirable efforts of Cissy Jones as Fury, the dark fantasy series’ 2018 comeback suggested its best days were behind it. This time, having done passable impressions of Zelda and God Of War and some less impressive mimicry of Dark Souls, Darksiders turns its magpie eyes to the likes of Diablo and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. It’s not as single-minded as the former: it’s a top-down dungeon-crawler that largely focuses on combat, yes, but it throws in the odd bout of platforming, a dash of parkour and some environmental puzzles. Enemies still release cascades of goodies, but this isn’t about getting your hands on incrementally better loot. Rather, you’ll spend souls and enemy cores on upgrading your moves and boosting your stats. Derivative, then, but not quite the rip-off you might have been expecting.
The story is a flimsy excuse for a whistle-stop journey through Hell that brings you into the orbit of its worst villains, from the avaricious Mammon – the Wario of the underworld – to the amphibious Dagon. They’re here because Lucifer is scheming again, as is his wont, and so it’s up to these two Horsemen to “preserve The Balance” – which turns out to mean slaughtering pretty much everything that moves. Just two? It’s okay, Darksiders: Genesis is ahead of us, as War snarls, “Where are Death and Fury?” at the Charred Council. “It matters not,” comes the response (that classic high fantasy getout clause) though perhaps “If this sells, we might add them later as DLC” would be more honest. Nevertheless, it works as a delivery device for the central pairing’s odd-couple bickering. War is the straight man to fourth Horseman Strife’s wisecracking gunslinger, taking everything incredibly seriously and often literally. It’s quite obviously riffing on Drax from Guardians Of The Galaxy and his endearing obliviousness, but the exchanges between this mismatched twosome poke fun at the plot’s inherent silliness.
Yet Genesis – the irony – doesn’t get off to the best of starts. It begins with a disappointing opening level that climaxes with the Horsemen ambling over to a large door before a brief tutorial for a new bit of kit. The pacing seems off, with the lulls between encounters slightly too long. It also has you collecting lots of items without offering any context as to why you should care. What is the significance of Boatsman coins? It matters not, Airship Syndicate (a team comprising members of Vigil Games, which made the first two) says. Just collect all these brightly glowing objects, and have a good time.
In all fairness, for the most part we do, as the game settles into its stride. Demonic shopkeeper Vulgrim calls in a few favours, letting you come and go as you please from the void world he inhabits, which provides the opportunity to revisit earlier levels to grind for souls if you’re short of the recommended power level for the next stage. You might also want to grab a few more enemy cores. These can be placed into slots in a skill tree of sorts, conferring a range of bonuses that are more effective should the core and slot types match. But maxing them out involves more kills than you’ll manage in a typical run, so you’re arguably better off investing in extra health and boosting your wrath meter, which opens up more powerful attacks. Max this out and you can trigger either character’s Chaos form, for a brief spell of fantastically overpowered destruction. Save it up for a mini-boss, and you can slap it down within a matter of seconds.
As for the new top-down perspective, a bit of extra distance rather suits a ranged fighter like Strife, who you sense the developer enjoyed creating more than it did adapting a familiar one. He is, without question, the easier option if you’re playing solo. His melee moves are enough to fend off the odd grunt that makes it past his bullets, while a dash lets him maintain a gap from the others. He’s blessed with a range of secondary shot types, which have finite ammo, though you’ll recover plenty from your victims. His beam shot, for example, fires a continuous laser that’s almost absurdly efficient in most situations, though the way it steadily drains each enemy’s health bar rather than chewing chunks from it means it’s not as fun as the charge shot. This powerful bolt, when fully juiced, can take out smaller enemies with a single hit.
War isn’t quite so much fun, unless you prefer to mix it in close quarters, or your co-op partner got first pick. There aren’t enough instances in which he’s the better option than his nimbler brother, but there’s a crunching weight to his sword attacks, particularly the finishers, which you can trigger when you’ve softened an enemy up sufficiently. You can run them through and then contemptuously flick them off your blade, while if you’re near a cliff you’ll automatically punt them off the edge. Strife gets his own powerful close-quarters blast, though if you’ve allowed an enemy to get that close, you’re probably playing it wrong. Then again, these finishers do yield more health, so if you’re light on potions and need a top-up, it’s worth wading into the rank and file.
There are side missions and secrets besides, and almost nothing else you wouldn’t expect from this kind of game. Yet while you’re unlikely to remember much about it in six weeks’ time, let alone six months, those hoping for a return to form will find cause for optimism. There’s enough here to suggest that Airship Syndicate should be given another crack at the series it started. So while Genesis may already be fading from our memory, those looking for nothing more than 15 hours or so of punchy, demon-slaying action will no doubt have an appropriate response. It matters not.