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Darksiders feels like the product of a company that wanted to do a lot of different things but couldn’t make up its mind on which would be best. Vigil Entertainment’s debut title will remind you of everything from God of War to Zelda to even a certain well-received Valve game. But unlike many clones, it doesn’t come off as the result of uninspired developers. On the contrary, the game feels like the product of those who love the games that they drew from.
The game unfortunately starts off very slowly. As the game teaches you how to play, it deliberately places a strong focus on combat which isn’t the highlight of the game at all. With only one weapon in your arsenal and few real combos, it can be quite dull as you mash away at enemies with no real motive. As time moves on, War – the protagonist of the tale – earns additional items to switch up his attacks with and it becomes a little less mindless. It doesn’t reach the complexity of a real action-brawler like Bayonetta, but it’s a big step up from the super simple combat in a Legend of Zelda title. This would be the perfect balance if it weren’t for the game’s tendency to frequently trap you in combat rooms in which you must defeat every last enemy to progress. These rooms place a larger emphasis on battles than the game’s fighting mechanics deserve and unnecessarily pad out the game’s length.
Although the trailers and promotional material seem to emphasize the combat, the more alluring part of the game to many – including myself – will be the five dungeons. The structure of the game is very similar to games in the Legend of Zelda series with progression based on switching between an overworld and various dungeons. It’s quite a bit more streamlined than Zelda, however, and doesn’t leave much room for exploring. The paths are narrow and very one-sided. If you are looking for an open world experience like Grand Theft Auto, you might not be too happy, but if you don’t like wasting your time wandering because you’re lost, this will be a welcome change from the dozens of open-world games flooding the market.
The dungeons themselves are structured in a very familiar way. Each has its own new item and its own dungeon boss battle. The puzzles vary from simply moving crates to extravagant multi-room brain-twisters. Sadly, not all of them are at the same level of quality. The first and final dungeon in particular seem much better designed than the second and third which centre on frustrating swimming and fighting mechanics respectively.
The third component of the game is consistently strong throughout the game. The boss battles you have are memorable, exciting, and most of all, satisfying. The huge monstrosities you fight require you to think quickly about what weak spots may exist while dodging attack after brutal attack. As superficial as it may be, the ending animation for each boss is incredibly rewarding as well and I often felt myself breathing a sigh of relief as War transitioned from my control into his scripted finishing blow indicating that I had won. The cutscenes through the rest of the game, however, I had a bit more issue with.
Darksiders takes itself very seriously. A little too seriously. The odd bit of humour is here and there, but the protagonist is so dark and brooding that he overpowers the tone of the game. He definitely has good reason to be this way, but the growling voice of the very one-dimensional War can really wear thin as you play through the 15 hour adventure. The plot is fairly straightforward and, although a bit confusing at first, is easy enough to understand as the game. The cutscenes are paced a little awkwardly near the beginning as it feels like the game stops you after every area, but that too stops as you play through the game.
With a story based on the apocalypse, the visual style of the game is understandably very drab and depressing as well. Interestingly, War himself is very colourfully clothed making him stand out very well from the environment. There are a few beautiful areas in the game filled with greenery that I wish was more used as the rest of the game is so downtrodden it’s feels a little same-ish even though the environments are at the same time very distinct.
All in all, Darksiders is an impressive first effort by Vigil Entertainment that is much better than the sum of its parts. It may not quite be God of War in the action department or Zelda with regards to puzzles, but it’s how the game marries the two that lets it stand out in the current gaming landscape. It is more than enough to scratch that Zelda itch and lays a solid foundation for a sequel which it seems the developer may already be working on.