If The Pit: Infinity is an example of how not to transfer a project to a new format, then Darksiders Genesis, a spin-off of the Darksiders series, is an example of how to correctly change the genre without depriving the game of recognizable attributes of the series and without sacrificing playability. Moreover, it seems to us that Darksiders Genesis is more Darksiders than Darksiders III , released at the end of last year. At least in terms of the gameplay and the fun you get from the game, we rate the spin-off higher than the last part of the main series.

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The recognizability of the attributes and style of the Darksiders series in Darksiders Genesis is primarily due to the fact that the Texas Airship Syndicate studio, created by people from Vigil Games, the authors of the original Darksiders, worked on the game. Not only that, the Airship Syndicate’s previous project, the jRPG Battle Chasers: Nightwar , was based on the comic book of the same name by Joe Madureira, the former creative director of Vigil Games and the artist who drew Darksiders. So Airship knows how and how to work in the style of Madureira, it is not surprising that Darksiders Genesis is perceived as a full-fledged fourth part of the series, and not as a spin-off, even given such a radical change in genre.

Despite the fact that many reviewers characterize Darksiders Genesis as nothing more than Diablo in the world of Darksiders, this is not entirely true, or rather, not at all. Genesis is in no way an action/RPG like Diablo, it’s a traditional two-stick shooter/slasher with some RPG elements. Yes, there is a full-fledged passive skill tree and a choice from a good arsenal of active skills, but almost the same set is found in all games of the Darksiders series, which, nevertheless, remain hack and slash action/adventure, and not action/RPG at all. Unlike Diablo, you won’t find tons of loot in Genesis, new armor and weapons with higher stats, except maybe a new type of ammo or hits and orb shards that slightly increase health and anger. Again, in Genesis, you don’t call the enemy, as in Diablo, but rush around the level like a madman, dodging attacks of opponents, blocking them and building chains of combo attacks. Action here is an order of magnitude larger than RPG. A gamepad is highly recommended.

The basic skill and chips of the main series have been carefully transferred to the game with the camera on top. The secret to survival in Darksiders Genesis is constant movement, a combination of dodges (cowards came up with the block) and a series of blows that will not let the enemy wake up. Here, as in the “big” Darksiders, throwing opponents into the air and colorful finishing moves, unique for each type of enemy, work. Finishing off should not be neglected in any case, because at this moment you are invulnerable to the attacks of other enemies, even bosses, moreover, when finishing off, some damage is inflicted on nearby creatures. Thus, having previously worn out several strong opponents, you can kill them one by one with a series of finishing moves. This is especially true for the Arena mode and battles with bosses that regularly call for reinforcements.

Two more features borrowed from the main series are the rage mode, which changes and strengthens your attacks, and the ability to transform into a demonic form, both of which are very useful in the same boss fights and in the Arena. But the novelty is Darksiders Genesis – synergy techniques that work either in a cooperative game or when changing characters in a solo adventure.

The fact is that this time under our control not one, but two horsemen of the Apocalypse at once, and if we already know the protagonist of the first part of the series, War, then Discord, the fourth horseman, is presented for the first time, and earlier than the main game, in which he will be the main character (by the way, nothing has been heard about Darksiders IV yet). In solo mode, the player can switch between War and Strife at any time by choosing the ranged combat style of Strife or the close combat of War. War, as in the original Darksiders, is armed with his favorite sword, the Chaos Eater, and Strife wields a pair of revolvers – Mercy and Redemption.

In general, Discord suddenly turned out to be the most interesting and charismatic of the four horsemen. He is ironic, sarcastic, constantly teasing his brother, but behind this mask of a joker and wit there is a creature with a deep wound in his soul, doubting himself and suffering from what happened in his past, what he was forced to do.

Darksiders Genesis is a prequel to the main series of games that takes place before the fateful decision of the War to break the Seals. War and Strife, still reeling from the destruction of their Nephilim brothers in Eden, are given a new assignment by the Charred Council. They must go to hell to Samael, who is up to something. But the fortress of Samael is suddenly under siege, he himself declares himself innocent and sends riders into the Abyss, where our old acquaintance demon Vulgrim will tell us about the conspiracy of Lucifer, who gathers and bribes demons, inciting them to do something unkind. Moreover, Lucifer seems to have found a way to get into Eden, sealed after the massacre that took place there. In addition to the characters already mentioned, you will meet other demons and angels familiar to you from the main Darksiders series, for example, with the same Abaddon.

The levels of Darksiders Genesis, thanks to the location of the camera and the structure, really resemble the levels in the same Diablo. They are quite large, except for boss levels, and contain many secrets and hidden treasures. But, unlike Diablo, in order to progress through the story and even more so to collect all the rewards, you, like in the main series of games, will have to do acrobatics and / or solve puzzles based on the abilities of the heroes. At the same time, acrobatics contains the same elements as in the “big” games – clinging to ledges and steps, jumping between poles, using a hook and hovering. Moreover, the acrobatic puzzles here are not easier, especially when it comes to collecting the Boatman’s Coins or the Trickster’s Keys, and sometimes even more difficult than in the games of the main series.

It is especially inconvenient to perform acrobatic tasks and solve puzzles (primarily tied to the last of the Discord skills) when controlled using the keyboard, where you need to hold down two buttons at once to move in a straight line and where there is some lag. When playing with a gamepad, such tasks are easier to complete, but, say, shooting while playing for Discord with a gamepad is inconvenient, the mouse is a priority here.

As for the role-playing system in Darksiders Genesis, because of which it is recorded as Daiblo-clones, here, in addition to the search or purchase of Health Stones, Wrath Stones, Abyssal Armor parts and weapon modifiers available in the main series, there really is a full-fledged passive skill tree . It is filled with Cores of defeated creatures dropped by some opponents. When collecting a certain number of cores, their level increases. In addition to knocking out the cores, they can be bought for souls (just like in the “big” game!) from Vulgrim or his assistant Dis, like combo tricks and fragments of stones.

Creature cores, as well as slots for them, differ in type, size, and allowable level, and in general, there are more types of opponents, and therefore cores, in the game than there are slots available for them. So you can choose a set of passive bonuses specifically for your play style and even separately for co-op or solo playthrough, as some cores give bonuses when reviving a partner or using synergy skills. Souls and additional cores can also be earned by replaying levels on a higher difficulty or in the Arena, where you must survive against ten waves of opponents, whose strength is wave after wave.

Darksiders Genesis has 17 main levels, three of which are small boss fight arenas, and 30 Arena levels. It is realistic to finish the story campaign in 10-12 hours, if you try to find all the secrets, collect all the rewards and go through all the levels of the Arena, you may need all 20-30 hours.

Darksiders Genesis, like Darksiders III, uses Unreal Engine 4 and looks like a two-stick shooter / slasher with a top-down view, very good. The style of the Darksiders series is respected, and the picture here may not be the most sophisticated, but it is quite high quality. At the same time, on a fairly average system by today’s standards, the game runs very quickly, without any slowdowns. Here, however, it wasn’t completely without glitches: three times during the passage, triggers did not work for me after the destruction of key opponents, twice in different places of the eleventh level, so to further advance in the plot, I had to restart the entire task.

Yes, special thanks to Gareth Cocker for the soundtrack. The composer, who has worked on the music for such hits as Ori and the Blind Forest (VERY!), ARK: Survival Evolved and Minecraft, has created truly epic, almost symphonic compositions, original, but echoing the music in the previous parts of Darksiders. The soundtrack can be purchased on Steam as part of the Digital Deluxe Edition of the game or separately .

So far, Darksiders Genesis has been released on Microsoft Windows and Google Stadia, with a release on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch scheduled for February 14, 2020. If you’re a PC gamer and love the Darksiders series, we recommend checking out this game, it’s worth it right now. on Steam 389 UAH. If you prefer consoles, bookmark this game as it really is a very worthy spin-off of Darksiders that surpasses the last game in the main series in quality.

Well, let’s hope that Airship Syndicate and THQ Nordic don’t stop there and continue the series of spin-offs with either new adventures of War and Strife, or transfer the stories of two other horsemen, Death and Fury, to this format. In general, the last four Nephilim can be combined in different ways, it should be interesting.