Reviews are coming in. So far they are very positive, with scores in the 80s.
BUY!
When does Tom play this?
Not soon enough!
Also the finest in game reviews, behold the Gamespew 8/10 review!
Games Pew? Huh, sounds like the sermons would be a lot more fun to sit through than the traditional fire, brimstone, and damnation idiocy.
This sounds great. Keeping an eye on it for the next big sale.
Bought a copy of GOG yesterday, after all the reviews hit the street and showed the game to be a good one, but before the 15%-off pre-order discount went away. Game feels great. The combat and skill system is right at home in this perspective.
If there’s anything it feels like it’s missing, it’s the rating screen that shows up at the end of all the encounters in the Bayonetta games, but that’s not so much an oversight in this game as it is a trained Pavlovian expectation on my end at the end of certain encounters like ones that show up often here.
I bet this game is great in co-op.
So is this an Action RPG ala-Diablo and the like? Are you finding different loot/equipment and stuff like that?
How is this when played not-co-op? Does it still work, or are you sort of forced to cycle between the two characters a lot? Are you managing equipment for both characters?
I’ve only played the first 45 minutes or so, but this is what it’s been like so far:
It’s more like Darksiders 1 in a 3rd-person isometric perspective, combat-wise. As for the openish world maps from the DS1, this game is more linear (so far, I am real early on). No idea if it opens up later like certain Diablo 3 maps or something. And it’s not open at all like Darksiders 2, at least nothing in the first hour indicates it ever will be.
Are you finding different loot/equipment and stuff like that?
No loot that I’ve seen. There’s various orbs and other things you gather for experience (to unlock skills and movesets), energy meters, and health and such. There’s also some collectibles which I’m guessing are for completionists to find (but I can’t say for sure because I only found half of them on my first go-through of that map).
How is this when played not-co-op?
No idea. :~(
I bought this on impulse (Not the app, mind you) and its pretty fun. I’ve only played a few hours but so far, its very fun, and looks and sounds gorgerous. Its a bit difficult, and you play it a bit like a twin-stick shooter, which was never my favorite, but the setting is great, and the controls are pretty good.
Only thing is I am wondering whether I should play Darksiders 3 first, which recently cropped up on Gamepass.
Storywise, this game is a prequel. You don’t need to have played 2 or 3 first (playing Darksiders 1 first might help more relate to War though since he’s the protagonist there and a sidetagonist in this game).
And the combat and gameplay of Darksiders 3 is closer to Dark Souls than any of the Darksiders games. I like Darksiders 3 quite a lot, but I enjoy the combat in 1, 2, and Genesis more.
This thing makes a really good early impression! It seems like it was made by people who know how to give their gameplay some “oomph” and also how to tie together a handful of systems into a tight package. Which is why it made perfect sense when I saw it was made by the folks who made Battle Chasers: Night War. And it’s super polished. Basically, the polar opposite of that janky Warhammer 40k action-RPG that came out earlier this year.
-Tom
Looking forward to checking this out over the weekend. Wanted to go for it yesterday already, but then I also saw that Hades had received an update and went to playing that instead…
It’s really great so far, but then I’ve loved all of the Darksiders games.
Works perfectly fine as a single-player experience, too. The game tailors the experience (if you switch from co-op to solo, there’s a message that pops up to that effect). You’ll be able to switch between War and Strife whenever you like, and you need to sometimes in order to complete certain puzzles, Lost Vikings style.
Also, the banter between War (grimly serious) and Strife (the opposite) is really enjoyable.
One of the drawbacks to Darksiders: Genesis is that now I want a mount in every action RPG.
-Tom
Oh yes, I completely forgot. The mount is great, especially since some maps get quite big. And you can fight from horseback, too.
This got added to Game Pass on console today.
Do I need to have played Darksiders 2 or 3 to know what’s going on in the story in this one?
I think it’s a prequel, so probably not?
I played for about an hour. I really like the mechanics so far, it’s very satisfying. For one thing, it’s been a long time since I played a game where every time you explore even a little bit off the main path, you’re always rewarded with a chest or a collectable. I can’t even remember the last time a game was that generous in this regard. And then, when you get the charged shot for Strife? So satisfying! I didn’t realize my ammo was limited, or I wouldn’t have wasted half my charged shots shooting at barrels!
Only downside: playing an hour and not even earning a single achievement. That means either the game is really stingy with achievements, or it’s really massive. Either one is a turnoff.