DARKSIDERS 3 COMBAT MODE SERIES

That leaves you with dodging as your only defensive option, but its effectiveness is inconsistent at best. Kiting isn’t a defensive option in Darksiders III, because enemies will lock onto you no matter where you are, and there is no blocking mechanic. Unlike Dark Souls, however, the combat isn’t fair. Level design favors opening up shortcuts more than solving puzzles, and most significantly, combat can be punishingly difficult. Souls are spent on both leveling up Fury’s three main attributes and on items that will help you get through the game. If you die, and you will die, you’ll go back to the last Vulgarim shop you visited and drop the souls you farmed from enemies, forcing you to retrieve them.

DARKSIDERS 3 COMBAT MODE SERIES

It apes the Dark Souls series in pretty much every way it can, most notably when it comes to its version of currency. Instead of following the formula of the first two games, Darksiders III focuses way more on combat and less on puzzle-solving and world-exploring, at least if you’re playing on Balanced (i.e. Dedicated fans will notice some repeated story beats between the first game and the third, especially when it comes to Fury’s relationship to her Watcher, but I found myself surprisingly invested in the third Horseman’s journey-once I finally gave in and played in Story mode.Īnd that’s the trick to enjoying Darksiders III: just play it in Story mode, which is ostensibly “easy” mode. Starting off as an arrogant, entitled brat, Fury matures and changes over the course of her battles against the Seven Deadly Sins (not to mention demons, angels, and all types of bug-themed monsters). If you found War and Death likable, then chances are you’ll like Fury.

Where the first followed War, who was framed with starting the apocalypse too soon, and the second followed Death’s attempts at exonerating his brother, Darksiders III is all about the Horsesister of the Apocalypse, Fury, and her journey across the recently annihilated Earth after the Charred Council tasks her with hunting down and capturing the Seven Deadly Sins. One of the most interesting things about the Darksiders series is that each game follows one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in parallel storylines. Just like the recent Hitman 2, the fact that Darksiders III even exists is a small miracle, given that the series was on the edge of development oblivion, and it doesn’t miss a beat in picking up where the first two games left off. Even though it’s impossible to take its story seriously, there’s something incredibly charming about Joe Mad’s Todd-McFarlane-meets-Saturday-morning-cartoon art style and its epic, ever-evolving tale of Heaven versus Hell and the mystical beings trapped in the middle. Right off the bat, it’s important to note that fans of the series will be happy that Darksiders is back. Instead, Darksiders III seems obsessed with combat over everything else, which starts off stylish and intense before it becomes frustrating and, finally (and perhaps fittingly), soul-crushing. On the other hand, it isn’t as expansive and focused on adventure as the second game. It harkens back to the first game in the series with its more focused level design, but it doesn’t really capture that game’s Zelda-style puzzle-solving magic that helped kick off the franchise. Darksiders III is stuck halfway between so many different influences that it comes out not really knowing what it wants to be.

Darksiders 3 combat mode