Darksiders 3 Review: 5 Ups & 4 Downs
Not even a closed studio and developer change can keep Darksiders down.
After a five year hiatus, it's good to have fresh Darksiders content available. Following the shutdown of THQ, many assumed all of their IPs would be abandoned and forgotten, including the Darksiders series. Thankfully, THQ Nordic didn't see fit to let the franchise die, purchasing the publishing rights and making Darksiders 3 a reality.
So, was the wait worth it? Short answer, yes. While the tri-quel doesn't redefine the series or bring it to new heights, it's a worthy, challenging venture that offers enough changes to the series formula to warrant a playthrough (even for non-fans, as the game doesn't rely on you having played previous entries).
Fury's story of eradicating the Seven Deadly Sins to provide a potential end to the building Ultimate War is an entertaining one, even if it ends up being a bit familiar.
Darksiders 3 benefits from utilizing the influences of both God of War and Dark Souls to provide a strong balance between the two. It does get held back by occasional technical issues, enemy imbalance and a low amount of new ideas, but it provides an authentic return to a series many presumed dead. What is Darksiders 3 like? Let's take a closer look.
9. Down: Visuals Are A Mixed Bag
Darksiders 3 doesn't have the same AAA budget as many of 2018's biggest titles, and it does show it with noticeably weaker visuals in comparison to other games from this year. The art design certainly props the visuals up considerably, but if you play the other Darksiders games (the remastered versions), the graphical prowess between them and D3 is a bit closer than it really should be.
The game gets off to a rocky start with easily its least visually-interesting area, serving as little more than slightly grassy set of streets and some broken down cars (that you can't destroy or damage, no matter what you do). Things improve as you progress, offering more varied landscapes and detailed environments, but the tech used here still feels slightly behind-the-times.
Blurry textures across the scenery hurt the immersion factor. Character models seem to be stylized in a way that compensates for missing details as well. Use of color is impressive (particularly on Xbox One X), but without that extra firepower in the resolution department, it ultimately underwhelms.