Darksiders III

Let me Start with the idea that, after everything was said and done and I had beaten the game, I liked it. I have many criticisms of the game, but let me start with what I really liked. I beat it in just under 18 hours and unlocked 70% of the trophies. What I liked: - Lore - I think the thing I liked the most was the continuation of the lore in the game. It was pretty compelling if you want to see the continuuation of the Darksiders Story. - Art Design - I also appreciated how they continued the art style of the game that was started by Joe Mad. - The Map - The map was really well done. It was packed with little nooks and crannies you could find things in, ways that circled back onto areas you have been to, and it was just abotu perfect for the type of game they were making. I actually liked it better than the previous games maps. What I'm critical of: - Leveling - I get what they were going for but I they didn't get there. There is only 3 stats which doesn't change much about how you play. You will likely throw the lions share into Strength, followed by Health, then as you get better at perfect dodging you are forced to drop points in Arcane. Also, by not putting a lot of points in Arcane makes the Chaos form useless. - Frustrating bosses - Some bosses just felt kind of cheap. Some were great and interesting though. It would also have you watch the cinematic each time for some bosses (but it was at least skippable) - Frustrating Enemy Encounters - Many times I ended up surrounded by enemies and you can easily get stuck in a stun locked state as the enemies take turns attacking. More than once I was killed without ever having the ability to do anything about it. - Combat - This is really hit or miss. Due to the leveling system, nothing really changes as you play. I found myself just relying on the whip unless I had to use an alternate weapon for something.

Let me start out by saying I was worried by the negative reception this game received. But I bought the game anyway and I'm glad I did. So right off the bat I noticed that the game looks really nice on medium/high on my old 670GTX running on i5 6600/16GB DDR4. Sure I don't make 60 fps, but the graphics are really nice and the fps is smooth as I haven't had any drops so far. Loading times are very fast, something like 4-5 seconds and I haven't had the game crash on me. Runs surprisingly nice! In terms of gameplay and Dark Souls comparisons, I'd say they took the good things from Dark Souls, like the awesome world design with many secrets and shortcuts you unlock as you progress. The core gameplay though is still very much Darksiders with heavier emphasis on dodging and counter attacking which I got used to really fast and is very satisfying to pull off. The progression system is simple, but good. You can upgrade the 3 main stats of Fury, her weapons and the enchantments you can socket within them. Along the way she obtains some new trinkets and upgrades to her healing powers too. I think this simplicity is a good choice as we can spend more time exploring and playing the game rather than look at menus. But the best part about Darksiders 3 is the story and characters. Fury is an awesome protagonist, just as War and Death were. Her design is amazing, her weapons are awesome and varied, and her forms are literally different stages of super saiyan! The voice acting is also great and her character grows throughout the game in a very satisfying way. The supporting characters are also amazing to look at and listen to, the bosses and monsters I've found to be some of the best in recent years and it's all put together with an awesome soundtrack and audio effects. Gunfire Games did a great job and I really hope this game sells enough so we can get another. The franchise is in good hands!

I really liked the game, especially considering the mixed reviews it got. The game is great, the world feels very much like it's a proper sequel in the Darksiders series. There are many beautiful dungeons and worlds to explore and, as with the previous Darksiders games, with lots of fun, Zelda-inspired puzzles. I want to emphasize how much fun I had doing all the puzzles and exploring the world. While Darksiders 1 had some levels/dungeons that I actually disliked and Darksiders 2 had fewer dislikable dungeons, I feel like Darksiders 3 did not have any dungeons or levels that I disliked. I really, really enjoyed it throughout. The combat itself is a bit different. There might be some relations to Dark Souls, but definitely not as much as claimed in other reviews, in my opinion. It feels harder and, at times, frustrating, especially early on. But once you get the hang of it, it quickly becomes fun, although quite challenging. The different forms of Fury also give her weapon variety, which helps in keeping the combat fun throughout the game. The story was pretty awesome. I did like Darksiders 2 a bit better in this regard, but it is nethertheless a worthy continuation of Darksiders. The storytelling, the cutscenes and the voice-acting overall was very well done, though, all matched with quite beautiful graphics. Some minor negative aspects I found: - Like said above, at the early stages, the combat actually was a bit frustrating. It grew on me later on, but I still want to mention it - While overall, voice-acting and storytelling was quite awesome, some dialogues felt weird, like maybe there was a line missing inbetween (?), can't put my finger on it really. Again though, I had this feeling maybe 2-3 times; overall it was very enjoyable and awesome.

After being dissapointed in how slow Darksiders 1 felt, and some other things, I ended up watching a single episode of playthroughs of Darksiders 2 and 3. Something about the fighting in D2 didn't feel satisfying compared to D3: it had amazing sound and great animations. That, and after being hooked to the story after watching D1, I just decided to get D3. It has been an amazing experience but I do have problems with the game: - The game is capped to 62FPS. - There is this horrible culling effect that lets you see the skybox behind a lot objects just from moving the mouse at a reasonable speed. - Some maps just drop your frames real hard (at this time, I stopped playing with a frame counter) - Collision detection can be janky (e.g. you can't always grab a ledge) - You can find yourself stuck even if nothing is blocking your way. - The UI is just not navigable with a keyboard/mouse. This is a big one: You are expected to use Enter and Backspace to go in and out of menus and the up/down arrow keys to select things in a list. You can't use W or S (though, up/down does move the character so maybe map W/S to up/down using AHK?). There is no way to navigate left/right, when dealing with tabs or moving across the upgrade tree for an amulet(?). Sometimes Space can function like Enter but only 40% of the time. Sometimes Escape can go back, other times it exits the menu entirely. Sometimes you have to hold Enter to apply upgrades, sometimes it is Y (even when the Enter key is doing nothing). Hovering the mouse over any button does nothing, forcing you to use the up/down arrow keys, or click it (which isn't a problem when the game expects you to hold L-Click/Enter to do something). If a prompt comes on screen telling you about an amulet(?) that you just earned, your mouse disappears until you completely exit from what menu you are in and come back in. Again, the 3D action is mostly good but it really isn't a finished product. (It's also abandoned.)

I was really looking forward to DS3, and was very concerned when I read the negative reviews from both the press and players. I was so hoping to play another great DS game that I took a gamble and purchased the game anyway. I was a little frustrated at first, mostly due to the difficulty and the focus on dodging. I got a little better at it as I played, which helped a little. Once I started to focus on exploring the world and upgrading my damage the game became a lot more enjoyable. I feel like once I had a little more power, it started to feel like a real DS game. The major different between the 3rd installment and the others is the focus on combat. This installment definitely does have exploration, but there aren't really any puzzels or the zelda style dungeons of the first game. There are regions that have their own visual style and enemies, but for the most part the gameplay in each is the same. I still think the first is my favourite by far, and although I enjoyed the second, this third installment really does feel more like the first than the second. If you're like me, and really want to revisit the DS world and gameplay, I can confidently recommend DS3.