I was really excited to play this, after enjoying the first 2 a lot.
- Fury takes damage through dodging
- Fury take damage while healing
- checkpoints at the start of the "level", a la Dark Souls,
- enemies respawn and at times have to be killed again after death
I don't mind the story, the meh performance (area load stutters), the graphics. All of this is fine.
What I do mind is the corruption of the core mechanics from the first 2 games and the cloning of dark Souls, at which the game does a very bad job.
The disappointment is so high, I wouldn;'t even give it a 1.
The hate is a little unfair. Some of the criticisms are downright wrong. It's more Souls than stylish action now, so the game is harder, but it's still a big game with a lot to find and do. It's actually more accurate to compare it to Nioh given the action is faster, you can switch weapon styles mid battle, and there are special moves.
It does have some issues with the finicky camera and inconsistent damage, but it doesn't take long to adjust to these things especially if you're familiar with the Souls franchise. The game runs fine and I haven't encountered any kind of crash or glitch. It might seem linear but there are a lot of little pathways that lead to big locations and optional bosses. It's not the best ARPG in the world but it's a perfectly solid game that's satisfying and well worth one playthrough if you're into Souls-likes or faster paced ARPGs in general. Not GOAT tier, but well above filler tier.
The developers did a great job with the combat system. The enemies are varied and well-rounded. Our moves are snappy, responsive, and satisfying. Combat is dodge-focused, and you can dodge-cancel from any standard attack. You need to constantly pay attention, because enemies are aggressive, and their attack timings seem to vary just enough to keep you on your toes. Their attacks are just fast enough to be challenging, but not too fast, so you can still react. They also don't become any less aggressive in packs, so you have to be careful how many you pull. The constant flow of dodging and counter-attacking kept me engaged the whole time.
I love Darksiders 1 and Darksiders 2 for their atmosphere and story, and in this department, Darksiders 3 let me down, then stomped on me for good measure. By the end, the cutscenes get exponentially more and more cringeworthy, hitting a new low every few minutes. I couldn't believe what I was watching. If you're in for the Darksiders story, throw that out of the window and forget it. Buy this for the gameplay, or don't buy it at all.
I like everything about this game except one thing, which I'll get to in a bit.
The environments are varied, and beautiful. A real treat. The character design is absolutely exceptional. Every character, good, bad, enemy, boss, they're all unique and appropriate in appearance. Voice acting is terrific, with each actor carrying their weight and every voice matching each face. The progression system is satisfying and what you would expect from the series. Now the issue.
The combat is very obviously inspired by Dark Souls -- no issue there. For the most part, it's fine. It's visceral, with bone crushing animations and sound effects, satisfying moves and weapons to play with. But then there's this one little mechanic: dodging.
See, in Dark Souls, you can dodge, parry or block. In Darksiders you can... dodge. That's it. You either tank hits, or you dodge hits. There is no other option.
It is extremely exhausting to rely on the same mechanic over and over, with no other alternative. At least for me.
Note that many people don't even notice this as an issue. You may not notice or care. I did not notice this issue until I was 20 hours in. I'm not even a fanboy of Dark Souls, as a matter of fact the only Soulsborne title I like is Dark Souls 2, which is universally the least liked of the series. My point is I don't care enough about Dark Souls to compare Darksiders 3 with Dark Souls. But this game's combat forced the thought into my mind because it is simply so dull to me in comparison.
Dodge, hit, dodge, hit, repeat.
