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    Darksiders Genesis

    Game » consists of 15 releases. Released Dec 05, 2019

    A top-down style spin-off of the Darksiders series.

    This is a good Darksiders game

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    bakoomerang

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    I finally got around to putting some time into this and figured I would post some thoughts.

    For reference I'm playing the Steam version and am about a third of the way through. I've noticed one or two minor bugs, but nothing game breaking so far.

    First off - it's definitely a Darksiders game, despite the change in perspective. So, if anyone is a fan of the previous games but is on the fence about playing this one thinking they might have strayed too far from the formula, they haven't. I still prefer the full third person perspective of the other games, but it's cool that they were able to offer something different while staying true to the series with Genesis, and I think the shift to isometric was a smart move with shooting becoming a prominent combat mechanic. I don't think anyone thinks of Darksiders as a shooter even though there have been guns before, but they've made it fit surprisingly well for this game. I don't think it would have worked as well if they'd made another game in the same style as the others and tried to make a shooter out of it. I've been spending most of my time playing as Strife just for the different experience of playing a Darksiders game as a shooter, but it's neat being able to swap back and forth between characters at will and mix up melee and ranged combat, and they manage to keep the shooting interesting with the different ammo types that allows for a certain degree of customization so you can tailor your loadout to suit your tastes.

    Speaking of customization, I quite like the creature core system now that I've got a better handle on it, because I don't think they do the best job of explaining it initially. It might just have been me, but I found the blocks of text they present you with explaining how the system works on first use a bit confusing that made it sound way more complicated than it really is, but once you try it it's really not very complicated at all. It's essentially just a perk system with the added wrinkle of being able to get extra benefits if you pay attention to which type of core you put in which slots. It's neat and again allows you to tailor things to your own style.

    One thing I don't really like about it is the way Strife is written and voice acted. Jason mentioned it on the Bombcast a while back, but the way he talks just doesn't feel like it fits with everything else. He comes across as just being a regular dude who happens to be good at shooting, not one of the Four Horsemen who will bring about the apocalypse and should be feared by everyone. It's especially jarring when juxtaposed with War, who is his usual humourless, gravely serious self, and they even try to play it off for laughs at times, but it kinda just serves to highlight how out of place it feels.

    Another minor gripe I have is with the map. It doesn't have a current position indicator, it only highlights the general area you are in, so you end up having to figure out exactly where you are based on the shape of the landmass and the chests/collectibles that show up. I suppose that's more like how an actual map works, but this is a video game, so just make it work like a video game map!

    Overall, though, I’m really enjoying it and think it’s a worthy addition to the series. It mixes things up and provides something different, while still delivering a solid Darksiders experience.

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    Retris

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    #2  Edited By Retris

    One important question: How are the puzzles? For me the puzzles are a big part of Darksiders, and while I've heard there are puzzles in Genesis, I haven't heard anything about their quality.

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    bakoomerang

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    @retris: The ones I've seen so far have been pretty standard Darksiders stuff - lighting a torch using the crossblade by passing it through a fire source first, hitting switches in the right order, activating portals to access out of reach areas - that sort of thing. But I'm not too far in yet so hopefully they will get a bit more interesting as the game goes on.

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    BoOzak

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    #4  Edited By BoOzak

    I completed the game the other day and had a good time. I agree with your point about the map but I would go a step further and say it needed a mini-map or something. I feel like they didnt want to obstruct the screen with too many icons and yet by default the game has all of the controls laid out in the bottom right hand corner of the screen which looks tacky. (thankfully you can alter the hud)

    The classic Darksiders jank is also a thing where I found the battle music would occasionally be replaced with some jittery thumping that requires you to relaunch the game in order to resolve. (playing on XB1X)

    Thats really it though for complaints, the music in general (when it works) is really great especially in the boss fights which feel pretty climatic. I played through the game on hard and found that it was good challenge, it was also a lot longer than I thought it would be considering its a budget game made by a relatively small team. I was expecting something along the lines of Travis Strikes Again, which wasnt terrible by any means but felt very cheap. I feel like that could have done with some banter between the two protagonists and it would have been nice to switch between both of them since they have unique abilities but nope. One of the nice things in Genesis is early on you get the ability to recover the health of whichever character you arent playing as over time which had me swapping between the two fairly frequently. I also liked how health orbs would be converted into potions over time if your health is full when you pick them up. There are lot of smart design decisions in the game.

    I actually didnt mind Strife, not to get into spoilers but he isnt just a one-note quip machine and as the game goes on War gets less angsty and Strife gets less stupid, I felt as if they played off each other quite well.

    Oh one final complaint that I almost forgot about. Fuck isometric platforming. The climbing is fine but the literal jumping to platforms is frustrating as hell especially in some sequences.

    All in all though much like the OP I would recommend the game to Darksiders fans. I get the feeling this will come to gamepass or something eventually but I felt like supporting the devs. Hopefully we'll see another mainline Darksiders in the not too distant future. (either by Airship Syndicate or Gunfire Games both are fine with me)

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