![]() ![]() ![]() I never once found myself as staunched by the combat in Darksiders III as I have in any of the games it echoes. As with the original game, the imitation is admirable in its creative execution, and typically more forgiving than the source material. The sourcing is as bald here as when the first game included a freaking hookshot: your primary currency is literally souls, gathered to upgrade base stats or purchase items, and you can lose them upon death, which also causes all the enemies you’ve killed between deaths to respawn. Like with Dark Souls, Darksiders III’s combat heavily emphasizes careful timing, dodges, and swift punishment. Darksiders III lifts Dark Souls’ structure wholesale and applies it to the series’ unique brew of Escape From New York-style urban scenery, swords and sorcery high fantasy, and the comic book machismo-infused vision of the Rapture that went out of style with ‘90s movies like End of Days.ĭarksiders III aims to be David Lee Roth Souls, and save for some irksome performance issues, it hits that target.įury explores a deftly interconnected world full of secret paths, tangling with all kinds of slimy beasts between her big boss fights with the Sins. Darksiders borrowed the big map plus dungeons and puzzle-solving weapons of Zelda and Darksiders 2 leaned into the endless weapon and armor gathering of Diablo. While not developed by the same studio as the first two games - Gunfire is comprised of staff from Darksiders creator Vigil Games - Darksiders III does carry on its predecessors’ model for ambitious, imperfect, but ultimately effective imitation of other action role-playing greats. Darksiders III aims to be David Lee Roth Souls, and save for some irksome performance issues, it hits that target. Philistine.” The moment works because most of the 20 or so hours of the game, which moves across lava-covered catacombs and demon spider-infested subway systems plays it straight just like truly classic metal. When you’ve finished off Avarice and imprisoned him in a giant, glowing green skull, Fury says, “Who needs a museum when you carry a collection like this?” The Watcher responds: “Ugh. Fortunately for all the badass posturing, the game recognizes its inherent silliness. ![]() Like all great vintage heavy metal in the tradition of Slayer, Darksiders III is fueled by full fat theatrics, outsized Catholic iconography, and ridiculous pyrotechnics that make it very hard to take seriously. ![]() Gunfire Games’ sequel is, to put it lightly, metal as fuck. The whole thing is simultaneously absurd and self-serious, gaudy but aesthetically consistent, a little frustrating but also a hell of a lot of fun. This one is Avarice, who lives in a post-apocalyptic museum where she’s surrounded by heaps of gold and statues and traffic lights and all the flotsam left by a human race barely hanging on during the Miltonian equivalent of World War II. Its world, its point of view, its flair for the dramatic is all perfectly boiled down in Fury’s moment of reflection right before she has to lash a monster repeatedly with a whip made of fire. This scene tells you absolutely everything you need to know about Darksiders III. And just as the Watcher is about to respond, a hoarder that looks like a Juggalo cosplaying as the trash lady from Labyrinththrows a bathtub at Fury’s face. They’re on a mission to recapture the Seven Deadly Sins, physical manifestations of Old Testament Yahweh’s big universal No-Nos. “You’re talking about art? Now? Here?” Fury - horseman of the apocalypse, whip enthusiast, and ornery lead of Darksiders III - asks, incredulous that her companion the Watcher is admiring mankind’s ruined creative output after the end of the world. ![]()
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