Darksiders: Genesis Xbox One Review
| Game: | Darksiders: Genesis |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | THQ Nordic |
| Developer: |
As the title suggests, Darksiders Genesis is a prequel game, although it also refreshes the series by adding in co-op as well as taking us further away from the action with its new top-down camera angle. In spite of everything though, this still feels very much like a Darksiders game. As it was put together by a developer that is comprised of many people from the original Darksiders team, this isn’t a surprise.
With Death and Fury elsewhere, War and Strife are the stars of the show here. Summoned by The Charred Council, the two Horsemen are told that Lucifer and Samael are apparently attempting to upset the balance. The two leads are contrasting in their personalities, with returning character War being the more serious one, while brand new character Strife is more light-hearted. The story does the job, but it’s not going to be winning any awards. The attractive cut-scenes, on the other hand, present the eye with some pleasing art.
If you play Genesis in single player, you are able to switch between the two characters at any time. The game is definitely at its best if you have someone else to play with you, however, either locally or online. Even then you aren’t necessarily restricted to playing as a single character, as it’s possible to request a character swap, with the action being possible if the other player agrees to it.
I mentioned the contrasting personalities of the two Horsemen, and this definitely goes for how differently the two characters play as well. War is the physically stronger of the two and is equipped with his Soul Eater sword. Strife’s strength, on the other hand, lies in ranged combat as he is armed with a pair of pistols with swappable ammo.
Characters also have their own unique abilities. Strife can unleash a clone that fires at enemies for a short time, and another one of his abilities allows him to drop spikes from the sky. War, on the other hand, can rush forward with his Rampage ability, while his Blade Geyser attack has him striking the ground with his sword, causing a number of blades to pop up and damage enemies. Each character has three abilities, although some of them must be found in Epic chests, which are often tucked away in hidden areas.
War and Strife can also be upgraded with Creature Cores. Creature Cores are basically orbs which can be found or purchased, and slotting these orbs into the Creature Core tree can bring about various results. It’s definitely a feature that will have many players experimenting with it. There’s so many different possibilities, particularly as the number of your cores grow. You’ll also find that slotting in particular cores into certain sockets will result in a stronger character. There are purple minor cores as well as yellow Major cores, with less slots available for the latter. Creature Cores can also be upgraded by finding a certain number of the same Core or by purchasing them. Raising your character’s stats is definitely a satisfying thing once you know what you are doing.
Genesis’ new top-down perspective definitely feels fresh for a Darksiders game, and it’s nice to know that it looks really attractive as well. Level design is very well done and environments are well lit and beautifully detailed. Because of this, exploring each area for its hidden loot is all the better for it. Solving the lovely puzzles which often has the two characters working together and making use of their individual tools also feels extra worthwhile.
The game has a few issues, some of which greatly affected my enjoyment of the game. Firstly, when you die and respawn you aren’t given any chance of a breather, meaning that if you reappear in the game during an attack you’ll be instantly killed. This could have been remedied simply by making you invincible for a few seconds, but albeit some of my deaths felt completely unfair because of what would seem to be an oversight. Even worse are the game’s bugs. I had four or five crashes during the 20 hours I spent with the game, a boss disappeared when I respawned after being killed on one occasion, and the final boss somehow resulted in me being trapped outside the arena. Playing a 2019 game in 2021, I really would have expected these bugs to have been crushed by now.
The above issues are a real shame for what has otherwise turned out to be an impressive Darksiders spin-off. Despite the change in perspective and the addition of co-op play, Darksiders: Genesis is still unmistakably a Darksiders game. Its mixture of combat, puzzle solving, exploring and platforming assures this. The Creature Cores are also a wonderful addition and are part of a system that warrants experimentation. All in all, it’s definitely well worth playing then, but just don’t go into the game expecting it to be free from frustrating bugs and design decisions.
