The announcement of the new chapter of Darksiders has not convinced all fans of the saga due to the isometric view, which does not seem to be suitable for the saga. From what we were able to learn during our chat with the developers, THQ Nordic's intent was obviously not to create a spiritual sequel to the Darksiders series, but simply to create something different, which obviously would not have affected any parallel projects.
The events narrated in Darksiders: Genesis, as already mentioned, they do not follow the trend begun with the first three chapters, but rather follow a story prior to the events of the first chapter. According to what was declared by the team, their will was to create something as distant as possible from the facts narrated in the other chapters but at the same time try to provide fans of the main series with new details about the world of Darksiders.
Unlike what it may seem, Darksiders: Genesis is not a Diablo-like, is certainly very inspired, but nevertheless has completely different gameplay elements from the series just mentioned. At first glance, the gameplay is very reminiscent of that of the first chapter of Darksiders, with the difference of the isometric view that completely changes both the player's approach and level design.
The structure of the levels created in Darksiders: Genesis is generally very simple, it is characterized by some environmental puzzles, some explorable areas and classic Diablo-style corridors that allow us to follow a predetermined route that will take us either to the final boss of the dungeon or to the exit of the same. Certainly the most interesting feature of the game is the presence of the fourth horseman of the apocalypse: Conflict (Strife) extremely agile and with two guns that allow him to hit enemies from a distance.
During the adventure, however, we will not only use Conflict, in fact we will have the possibility to use Guerra too, changing the character at any time. This choice of gameplay certainly seemed appropriate to us, in fact in close encounters War is much more useful, while on the contrary for fights from a distance or to make faster attacks it is better to prefer Conflict.
As we progress in the game world we will acquire experience points that will allow us to level up, unlock skills and new weapons. The skill tree was unfortunately not shown to us due to its embryonic stage while we were able to analyze some of the skills that can be selected for Conflict and War. Taking Conflict as an example, you can choose what type of bullet to load inside the weapon, be it fiery or otherwise. This is nothing revolutionary, however, it seemed an interesting feature in a title that aims to be similar to Diablo, but without in our opinion succeeding.
During the demo that was presented to us, we saw a dungeon and a boss fight. The second was obviously the more interesting of the two, as it allowed us to see the rapid character change at work and the use of many different skills. Each boss, as stated by the team, will have its own move-set, its special abilities, its different phases and the respective mininons. At the end of the mission, be it a simple dungeon or a complex boss fight, you will receive your rewards and a grade rating (e.g. S as high rank).
There is also an indicator relating to the time of the mission, but it will not affect the final evaluation of the mission, this to avoid that there are speed runs where players think about completing the level quickly without dedicating themselves to exploring the beautiful levels created. specifically for the game.
From a technical point of view Darksiders: Genesis is certainly less interesting than we hoped, although the artistic side is still appreciable. The effort of the development team is certainly to be appreciated even if at the moment the title does not seem so stable in fact we have noticed more than one situation in which they were present noticeable frame drops and graphic glitches probably related to development not yet complete. The game will also allow you to play in co-op with a friend, and in that case there will be variations in the environmental puzzles, which will prompt players to cooperate to move forward in the dungeons.
Darksiders: Genesis is a project that wants to detach itself from the main series by proposing a title similar in some ways to Diablo but in others completely different. The possibility of using both War and the new Conflict make this chapter a title to keep an eye on, at least to expand the knowledge of the main plot of the Darksiders series. Even from a technical point of view we are on the quality standards of titles inspired by Diablo III, despite the fact that there is still a frame rate that is not at all stable.
