If you're a fan of Darksiders 2, then it's imperative that you go into this game with an open mind, willing to accept a new style of gameplay. You will get a nasty shock of disappointed if you expect this game to play like its prequels. I learned this the hard way. I recommend you read my experience so you can be better prepared. I'll provide a brief summary below, followed by a more in-depth analysis.


THE GOOD

• Huge leap in graphics from the last game.
  
• The more 'intimate' level design is full of detail.
  
• Sound design is great with a variety of contemporary effects.
  
• Chaining attacks together is very fluid.
  
• FYI, enemies aren't as overpowered as people are saying. The developers increased the strength of enemies because there are fewer of then now. It makes sense to balance the gameplay that way.

THE BAD

• There are no chests / loot. There are no weapon variations to be collected.
  
• Players can no longer customise their armour stats or appearance.
  
• The magnificently visceral world design from DS2 has been cut back.
  
• The game is plagued by awful auto saves to punish players in a pathetic attempt to replicate that cheap 'Darksouls' feel. You can no longer manually save your game.
  
• There is no map. It would be nice to see were you have travelled.
  
• The game is not well optimised. The graphics are nice, but not good enough to warrant sub-50 FPS with a GTX970 at 1440p resolution. THQ Nordic need to invest more resources into this.

Okay. I have retained EXTREMELY FOND memories of Darksiders 2 ever since my first playthrough on the Xbox 360, where I became a raving fan back in 2012 (in my top 5 Best Games list). I have been desperately anticipating Darksiders 3 for 7 years (that's 83 months or 2,555 days). So yes, I was very excited for a new Darksiders experience. However, I held Darksiders 2 in such high esteem, that I automatically rejected any differences between it and it's 2018 sequel. I didn't go into Darksiders 3 with an open mind and was sorely disappointed.

So disappointed in fact, that I dropped the game after a mere 5.5 hours and started a new campaign in Darksiders 2: Deathinitive Edition (which I've also reviewed). I decided to replay Darksiders 2 out of the need to justify my faith in THQ Nordic and hype for DS3.

I won't go into too much detail here in relation to my experience with replaying DS2 after 7 years, but I did in fact solidify my passion for DS2 and had my fill with another 25 hours play-though. My hunger for the Darksiders 2 experience was fulfilled and I was prepared to continue DS3. This time, I didn't mind the changes which THQ Nordic made, and I wasn't consistently frustrated. I actually enjoyed the game to a degree.

Though I can now accept Darksiders 3 for what it is, there’s still several qualities which are a huge disappointment and which I hope are revised in Darksiders 4.

Darksiders 3 has ditched the massive environments of DS2 in favour of much more linear level design. The new 'tighter' level design is more 'in your face' when it comes to surprise enemy encounters. As a result, THQ Nordic have sacrificed the massive, glorious and visceral vistas from Darksiders 2 which is a crying shame. An upside is that greater attention has been put on making the detail in the environments more intricate.

One of the best parts of Darksiders 2 was the endless loot. Opening the chests was satisfying, both visually and auditorily, and mixing and matching different weapons to boost your stats was great fun. Unfortunately, that's been totally removed in this game.

These changes were a bit too drastic/game-changing I feel that THQ Nordic failed to communicate this to their fans prior to release. I'll be approaching all their future games with caution and only with reviewer recommendation.


At the point of writing this review, I'm only 7 hours into the game, but with an open mind and a recently quenched thirst for the Darksiders 2 experience, I think there's quite a bit of enjoyment to be had with this entry into the series. I'll update once completed.