its a good game. if you like dark souls and darksiders this is the best of both worlds for you its a 9/10 game

The Darksiders franchise has always been a love letter to gaming in a way, with each title emulating a different set of genres, subgenres and games (which also compliments the idea that each Horseman is unique). Darksiders III continues that tradition and takes parts of its inspiration from the Souls-like and Metroidvania subgenres, in addition to everything else, offering the most punishing and methodical combat so far and an elemental-/ weapon-upgrade-based progression.

• Combat:
  Like in the other entries, combat is one of the core gameplay elements. Fury feels a little squishy for a Horseman, especially early on, and the combat requires you to be patient and meticulous, waiting for openings, and dodging at the right times. The Perfect Dodge quickly becomes important, rewarding you with brief slow-motion and allowing for a powerful counter. You notice the Souls-like influences early on, with mistakes being punished swiftly and harshly. However, unlike most games in that subgenre, this one lacks a Stamina-system and has more options to help you out when in a pinch. On the flip-side, some less than fair situations can occur, with enemies attacking you while you're performing your Perfect Dodge Counter, which would be like getting hit during a backstab.
  
  As for things that you can do, there's your standard attack, using Fury's whip, the "Barbs of Scorn", which can be used for precision strikes and sweeping crowd control combos alike, as well as a secondary attack, using one of four elemental weapons that you unlock over the course of the game (each with a second variation in the Keepers of the Void-DLC). You can switch between these secondary weapons seamlessly, adding a lot of freedom to the way you play, and each of them comes with their own Wrath-Attack, Dodge Counter, Combos, Charged Attack, and Traversal abilities. Furthermore, you have a powerful transformation, the Havoc Form, that temporarily makes Fury invulnerable, grants her regeneration, while the form is active, and two whips, and lets all of her attacks deal Arcane damage. Initially, the form lasts very briefly and takes ages to fully charge up during regular combat, but using some of the various Weapon Enhancements, the duration can be increased, as can the rate at which it charges up, including a passive regeneration, making certain builds pretty powerful.
  
  Sadly, the Executions of weakened enemies, that the series had previously had, are missing. Only the first four bosses in the Keepers of the Void-DLC reintroduce them - too little, too late, as you could argue.
  https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2153887189
  
  
• World Progression:
  As I mentioned before, the world gradually unlocks based on the Hollows, the elemental secondary weapons, you unlock. Not rarely are you required to backtrack to a previously visited place and unlock a new path from there, but it also opens a multitude of optional, semi-hidden paths up for you that hide optional rewards like Weapon Enhancements, Soul Lurcher Clusters, et al.
  
  Traversal abilities that come with the Hollows include a fiery Triple Jump, a static Air Glide, Wall Jumping, walking on water and more, allowing for some unique environmental puzzles and some well-hidden secret areas.

The game offers two different Combat Modes, "Default" and "Classic", as well as five difficulty settings, that you can choose from when you start a new game. "Classic" mode is more similar to the first two games and more forgiving by allowing you to cancel your attacks with a dodge and skipping the animation when using an item. By combining the two modes with the five difficulty settings there is a lot of freedom for players and the game can be fairly easy as well as frustratingly difficult. For those that want to experience the plot and lore first and foremost, Classic + Story/Balanced would probably be ideal, while fans of the Souls-like subgenre might prefer Default + Apocalyptic. Since the game also offers the so-called "Armageddon" Mode (NG+), it makes sense to start out easier and save the harder experience for subsequent playthroughs.


The game is set after the prologue of the first Darksiders and before the rest of it, 100 years later, much like the second game. It is set before Darksiders II and sees the player tasked with recapturing the Seven Deadly Sins, that have escaped their prison when the Apocalypse happened and have now made Earth their domain. Fury starts out extremely uncharismatic and uncaring but has a big character arc over the course of the game, with many events prompting her to reconsider her stance on certain topics. The voice acting got mixed reactions but I think the voice actors all work really well with what they're given. Due to Fury's constant anger and early disregard of others, her performance probably feels the weakest but even she works well in the context of the story. The cutscenes are all very well made but I saw the "plot-twist" coming very early on.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2153874669

The graphics of the game are fine, nothing mind-blowing but definitely not bad. What really makes it shine is the art-style and the way it portrays the post-Apocalypse Earth.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2153872955

Cris Velasco, the composer of the first game's soundtrack, returns and delivers a score that is just as epic and also manages to be varied and have some very memorable tracks. It's not quite on the level of Jesper Kyd's work for the second game but it's great nonetheless.


While the game was very rough at launch, and still is on consoles, it now runs really well and only really rarely and briefly has the random loading that you may know from video reviews. Some containers lack a texture for some reason but other than that, I encountered no issues.

Tested with the following setup:

🔀 Supports [Alt]+[Tab]: Excellently

Add-ons only:
There are two paid Add-ons that expand the game, and the game's soundtrack, but no other paid DLCs, items, loot boxes.

Darksiders III has received very mixed feedback but quite frankly, it's a good game and a good continuation of the series. It does have its flaws, as we explored in this review, but it managed to captivate me for countless hours on several systems. I definitely recommend this as long as you know what to expect.

Don't commit the Deadly Sin of not following the Devils in the Detail.

After the latest patch that added "classic" combat setting I've made more progress in a single session than during past 2 days worth of playtime on "challenging" ("Hard") difficulty. The game is infinitely more enjoyable now, and plays just as expected from Darksiders title - fluid, fast and fun. I highly recommend buying this game If you were previously concerned about the difficulty or the technical issues. Most of them are fixed now, and developers truly deserve our support for listening to the community and reacting fast.

Every Darksiders game has different gameplay, but I've ended up enjoying all of them so far.
Darksiders 3 feels like a combination of Darksiders 1 and Dark Souls, it brings out a bit of a more serious combat, and the boss fights (On Apocalyptic) can get a bit intense, but once you learn the patterns of enemies and bosses, you'll manage to make your way forward.
The game doesn't hold your hand so you will have to navigate on your own and find the way to go. You'll end up exploring more and finding future portals which you have to return to later in the game.
The game has more of the same weapon feel as the first game where as you have a set of weapons that you can switch between and upgrade with materials you find in the wilderness. You can also make them better by putting on enchantments.
The graphics are good and they manage to keep the same art style as from the earlier games.

Pros:
+A game for Darksiders fans
+Incredibly fluid, fair combat
+Beautiful environments adhering to the DS style
+Well optimized

Cons:
-Poor navigation in a fairly linear world


+Story (Minimal Spoiler):
6, 6 long years since the sequel of Darksiders was released, and today we finally get to meet the third horseman, Fury. I’ll keep the main plot short as I’m sure most of those reading are aware, but with balance in disarray your task is to defeat the seven deadly sins who are on the loose on Earth. However, this section is not meant to reiterate information, the main question I want to answer is, “Do I need to have played the earlier games to play this one?” The answer, strictly speaking is no, but I would highly recommend at least knowing what occurred in the first two entries of the series (especially considering the ending of the game). While playing 3 on its own is certainly possible, you will definitely derive the most enjoyment understanding exactly what is going on in the world. With that said, I’m sure fellow fans of the franchise who know what’s going can be excited to see their long awaited continuation.

For those more curious on the story itself, it is serviceable to say the least, it’s not really until you reach towards the end of the game where you’ll have a few “whoa” moments.

+Gameplay (Controller used):
I’m just addressing this now, this is NOT a simple hack and slash game where all you need to do is mash attack (unless maybe on the easiest setting, but even then there is some dodging involved). This is an action RPG, like that of Dark Souls, in terms of its combat. If all you do is attack, you will die, not your kind of game? I suggest that this may not be the game for you then. The game plays very closely to others of its genre, focusing mostly on hitting and dodging anything that so much as breathes the wrong way. Darksiders 3 is the kind of game that’s “more of the same”. Truthfully, while the game is enjoyable, it also doesn’t do anything in particular to stand out from other titles. You have your attacks, dodging, and assortment of special abilities you obtain throughout the game that really only serve the main purpose of traversing new platforming challenges or obstacles meant to wall you off early, fairly standard.

I’ll also be making a point that this entry is much closer to the first Darksiders rather than the second, since depending on which side you lie you may not like the third game. I say this in the sense of how progression occurs because in Darksiders 2 there was an added in-depth loot system as well as shops to buy and equip different armors and weapons. That is no longer the case with the third entry, this could either mean something to you, or nothing, the decision is yours on what it means.

+Graphics/Visuals:
One of the things I’ve always liked about Darksiders is the way it looks. From the combat to the characters to the world itself, everything looks fantastic. Of course, with this being the third game, you’re looking at a significant upgrade from the second game. The only thing others could complain about in my mind is that maybe the game could’ve aimed higher aesthetically, but I would only agree to this if it is not at the expense of the game’s unique art style. Case and point, game looks and feels great.

+Optimization:
With some games these days releasing as less than well optimized, I’m proud to say that Darksiders 3 does very well in maintaining its FPS. Since this was over the Thanksgiving weekend I didn’t have my 1080 setup on me and played the game using a 970m laptop. While I did experience a few frame drops, I was playing at a very consistent high 40s - 50s frame rate on medium high settings. So even if you don’t have the greatest computer in the world, Darksiders 3 ought to be one you can enjoy without worry.

-Navigation:
The only real complaint is how the world, while beautiful, is laid out, and how you’re supposed to navigate through it. Let’s start with the fact that there is no map… yes, no map. I’m personally not too sure why this of all things would be changed when both previous entries used a map. In Darksiders 3 you only have a compass that will point you in the direction of the closest sin. This makes it very easy to look in the wrong places.

This coupled with the fact that the game is fairly linear makes for a somewhat frustrating combination to say the least. While the compass can lay out more than one sin to you, the natural paths you end up taking (one reason being because the other paths are closed off to you at that point in the game) almost naturally make it so that you beat specific ones at certain times (specific sins will award you with a new ability). Now I can hear you, “if it’s linear on a natural path then how are you complaining about navigation”? I found myself at multiple points held up thinking, maybe I simply don’t have the ability necessary to reach that location. But upon several backtracks it’s because I missed a very simple, though easy to miss, turn or room (that I otherwise believed had already been checked out). This is how the compass misled me, it will point “directly” at the sin, but with a general map I could see a tunnel or passage that I may have missed without having to look throughout an entire floor more than once. In addition to that point on sins, you can hypothetically intentionally skip a certain sin or two (it’s pretty obvious by the area that they are close by, or sometimes dialogue occurs) after about 4 hours as that's when you begin to have more freedom to explore, but that’s more trouble than it’s worth.

Plus, it’s not always a “natural path” as I stated earlier, you’re in a fairly vast environment, and me being the explorer that I am, end up going routes that aren’t even likely to take me to my destination. Adding a minor point with that, vast majority of other places you can go to are often just for resources meant to upgrade your arsenal (damage buffs and such). Very few “secrets” are really out there in the world.


If you’re a starving Darksiders fan, then this is the Darksiders game you’ve been waiting for. However, others who aren’t exactly diehards for the franchise may feel differently, and understandably so based on the information I’ve provided. If you’re, for example, only interested in the genre itself, there are many other titles to consider for less, and have their own little twists to it on gameplay. Or you could consider some of the earlier entries of the series to see if the lore, combat, or art are game changers for you. In the end, despite the game’s poor sense of direction and rather linear story, the game remains incredibly enjoyable with its fast-paced combat and continuation of the Darksiders saga.

This product was reviewed with a key provided by the Publisher(s).

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I'm never listening to reviews again. Look, if you think a game will interest you and be awesome, THEN TRY IT OUT. DO NOT LISTEN TO YOUTUBERS OR REVIEWS. This game is F***ing amazing.

I never buy games close to their released because I can't afford it but I did for this to support the devs and continue the series.

I understand why some people are upset about the game, since it differs from the previous games in some areas and utilizes some mechanics that are known for being "Souls-like". But I think people are being too harsh on the game beucase it still emphasizes on exploration, combat and metroidvania-like level design. The story and the writing is as good as ever and the environments look beautiful.

People should realize that this game was made after the original company went bankrupt, and THQ Nordic is not that big of a company right now, they're in the process so they shouldn't expect a top quality title with AAA features.

The combat is more focused on 1-1 fights and as soon as you are fighting with multiple enemies, you're in grave danger (I've played the game on the Apocalyptic diffiulty). Dodging is very important and I didn't really have problems with the dodge window, contrary to what people complain about.

Later in the game, I've experienced frame dips and stutters but nothing that made me want to stop playing.

In the end, I've highly enjoyed my time with Darksiders III, even more so than I did with the first one. I reccomend buying it not just to support the developers but also because the game is actually quite good.

If you’ve played Darksiders III then you most likely have played the first and second one as well. Like the second one Darksiders III opts to do things a little differently and in my opinion it succeeds, but not on all fronts.

While the first one was a great Zelda clone and the second one even bigger with an entire open world and a loot system, this third one scales things back a little, this time choosing to be a little more like a Dark Souls game instead.
You can tell that Darksiders didn’t do as well as a franchise and therefore the funding seems to have been decreased this time in comparison to the previous titles, but I commend them for trying something different with the obviously smaller budget they had.
Calling it a Dark Souls clone would do it injustice - and it would be disrespectful - because it is its own game, set in the Darksiders universe, complete with unlockable moves, hidden loot and well known traditional visual style (this time playing as Fury). It all feels like an actual Darksiders game, except with harder, sometimes even frustrating, combat. But gone are the dungeons of old, as is your mount from the second game and some other small stuff.

Traveling through the world feels responsive and all of the areas seem to be well connected, with a boss fight at the end of each area and plenty of items to be found. There’s a bit of (optional) backtracking involved so it still has a little bit of a Metroidvania blueprint in it.
Better equipment can be found and unlocked and you have a whip at your disposal when you first start the game. There’s nothing that helps you block damage, instead you have to rely on dodging and trying to finish the fights as quickly as possible (but it isn’t necessary if you don’t want to). Enemies will drop souls that help you level and power up and if you die there’s one more try to retrieve them; die again and they’re forever lost.
The boss fights can be difficult, but never as hard as Dark Souls’. With controls that can be changed (one of the first patches gave this option, because sometimes the original movement and layout didn’t quite work as good) and plenty of items that can help in combat it might take you a few tries to take one down, but generally speaking it shouldn’t take you over 5 tries or so.
Finishing the game should take you anywhere between 12 and 15 hours I’d say.

The visuals of the game aren’t brilliant, but they fit the style of the Darksiders games for sure. Fury seems be nicely animated.
The voice acting is also solid, with a few enemies here and there speaking in an over-the-top manner, but also making it seem more like a spectacle than it actually is in the process, which is a positive.
I didn’t really have any issues, except for a few issues where the camera didn’t do what it was told. And the controls which were a little weirder in comparison to 1 and 2, but that issue was quickly solved with a patch.

The big question is: would I recommend this third Darksiders game? Yes. The combat may be hard(er), but it’s also quite enjoyable once you get into the flow of the game. It’s a smaller, tighter game in comparison to the previous titles, but that doesn’t make it any worse. In fact, it was kind of refreshing to play something a little more direct, a little more linear, after all of these open world games the past couple of months and years.

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Let me just start by saying that I'm happy that another studio decided to continue the franchise than to let it die. I was a big fan of the First Darksider but I didn't like the second as much.

This 3rd one is different, yet very cool.

I really liked the gameplay. Like people say, it's more of a darksouls than a hack and slash but there's still some in it.

Yes you need to learn the enemies attack and dodge them to counter attack. I love this.

I will say that the cons that I have for this game is that by playing on Hard for the first time, it's really annoying to have random demons able to one shot you. Bosses I can understand that they can 1-2 shot you, but I got frustrated being killed at the end of a fight by an ability when I was full health...

The graphics are good. Not amazing, just good. I'd say it got a little big of fps issues sometimes, it's not always fluid, but not to a point to make you not want to play the game.

I finished the game and one DLC (The void) and played a bit the crucible on hard difficulties, in around 20-22h.

Is the game worth 80$? Not so much. But I got the game and DLC on special for 30$ so that was worth it!

Try it, I just hope the company made enough cash to move on to the fourth game, I love this series and I want it to go on!

Darksiders III is a hack-n-slash action game starring the devastating and dangerous Fury. Her ultimate task is to bring balance back to Earth by hunting down and eliminating the Seven Deadly Sins.

Pros:

+ Awesome graphics
+ Four different forms to play around with
+ Metroidvania elements, that makes the game richer
+ Varied locations
+ Captivating story to follow, especially for the fans of the series
+ Awesome representation of each Deadly Sin
+ Satisfying and fun combat mechanics
+ Puzzle elements that diversify the game

Cons:

- It feels pretty short compared to the previous game
- No side quests
- Exhaustive backtracking on some levels
- Powerful cliffhanger at the end of the game

Darksiders III is the long-anticipated title that tells us a story about Fury - one of the Four Horsemen. She has the ability to take on four different forms which help her to take down enemies, solve some easy puzzles with different weapons associated with each form and jump around platforms. The game features leveling and crafting systems, which requires the player to gather souls and crafting materials from the enemies and shatter crystals to level up and advance Fury.


Fury is the sister of War and Death. She is a powerful warrior that relies on whips, swords and magic in combat to take down her enemies. Chronologically, the story takes place parallel to the events of Darksiders II. According to the plot, Fury has to hunt down and destroy the Seven Deadly Sins as ordered by the Charred Council. During this journey, Fury meets the Lord of the Hollows, who is a mighty creature that helps Fury with her assignment, providing her with distinct forms and useful information regarding Charred Council.


At its core, Darksiders III is a typical hack-n-slash action game with tons of enemies to defeat on the way to the main goal. Fury is accompanied by the Watcher - a mysterious hollow creature that claims itself as her biggest fan. She gives a lot of advice to Fury all the time and comments at the most significant moments of the game. This can be very helpful when the player is stuck at some location for a long time and when they finally hear the Watcher’s comment, it is counted as a sign that the player is on the right way.

To help the player navigate through the world, Fury uses a Talisman of Sin. Basically, it’s a compass that helps her to locate every single Deadly Sin. The mini-map takes inspiration from Skyrim and is located at the top of the screen to show the player how far is the next boss. Sometimes this map can be confusing and doesn’t work properly, making Fury wander around locations for hours, trying to understand where the Talisman is leading her.

Fury has a rich arsenal to take down her enemies, including weapons and shards that make her life easier, with a spiked whip weapon called Barbs of Scorn as her main one. This arsenal expands after meeting the Lord of the Hollows - a mighty creature, that grants her with a new Hollow every time their paths cross. Every single Hollow has its own branded ability and weapon, that helps her to overcome certain obstacles and solve puzzles. These puzzles are pretty much easy and add some charm to the game expanding the gameplay. Puzzles are easy, it was only one of them that made me put my head together, all others were simple.

After progressing with the story a little bit, Fury meets a blacksmith, who helps her to upgrade these weapons after bringing him crafting materials. Every weapon has an enhancement slot, where the player can put a special item to make Fury’s weapon even stronger. Usually these enhancements have some special attributes, like health regeneration during the fight or a higher chance to find more crafting materials. These enhancements can be upgraded as well.

Alongside with the weapons, the player can also level up Fury by gathering souls and trading them with a local merchant called Vulgrim. These souls can be obtained from the enemies and from lurcher crystals. After shattering these crystals, player will get a certain amount of souls, which can be spent to level up Fury. To do this, the player has to feed souls to the merchant to get attribute points. These points can be spent to upgrade health or damage of Fury. These souls are lost upon Fury’s death. The Merchant appears at certain spots around the game world and performs the function of a checkpoint. Every time Fury dies, she appears next to the merchant.

It is worth mentioning that the representation of Seven Deadly Sins is simply gorgeous. I couldn’t get rid of the feeling that the developers concentrated all their resources on creating their design. The result is outstanding. My only remark was that the Seven Deadly Sins start to appear very soon after the beginning of the game. I defeated my first boss in the tenth minute of the game and it was a bit unexpected. Considering the fact Darksiders 3 has decided to focus on only the Seven Deadly Sins as bosses, and they only total seven it feels rather short and should take approximately 15-20 hours to complete.

The game requires player to come back to the old locations to get to the places he was not able to get earlier due to lack of needed weapons. Shortly speaking, Darksiders III has a lot of backtracking mechanics which can be annoying and even confusing at some points. I needed some time to understand how everything worked there, because some of the mechanics were not explained or were not so obvious at all.

Speaking of players rants regarding horse's absence in Darksiders III, there is a reasonable explanation for this. I know it's embarrassing that developers showed us that horse trailer three days before the game's release when there is actually no horse gameplay, but levels are designed in the way where there is simply no place for the horse: narrow subway tunnels, crowded deserts and even underwater world! So, that horse is fairly redundant in this game.


It would not really be fair to say that Darksiders III has gorgeous graphics, whilst they are decent, the graphics don't meet a very high standard. Sometimes it looks a bit outdated, at some places there are even low frame rates on the top notch computer. Actually not to nit-pick, in general Darksiders III has a good design of varied enemies, beautiful locations and graphic effects during fights.


Epic music crescendos during the fights make Darksider III unforgettable journey. Perfect voice acting with a good casting convinces us in game’s authenticity. Especially when you hear Fury’s rage screams and how confident she is in her speech. That tone of delivery is very important at certain emotional moments of the game and it works great here.


Darksiders III is a good hack-n-slash game for someone who loves the genre and the Darksiders series, in general. While having fun combat mechanics, great overall atmosphere and astonishing boss design, this game can also annoy player with lots of backtracking, complete absence of side quests and attempts to copy mechanics of other notable games. It was also a bit weird to release a horse trailer three days before the game’s release, when there is actually no horse in the game. Having a powerful cliffhanger makes player guess and wait for the DLCs or even releasing the next game.

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