It’s been a while since we got Darksiders 2, but against all odds, the Darksiders series is coming back from the dead, rising from the ashes to deliver one more sequel. Built by a team that is comprised largely of the people that were responsible for the first two games, Darksiders 3 has got a lot of people quite excited. It may not be the biggest or the most high profile release of the season, but those who love Darksiders have good reason to be hyped. In this feature, we’re going to discuss fifteen of the game’s biggest talking points. Without further ado, let’s get right into it.
THE SETUP
Darksiders 3 will, like its predecessors, take place in a destroyed and half-ruined Earth that is crumbling under the weight of ongoing global war. It’s story will run parallel to Darksiders 2, and will see the protagonist, Fury, being tasked by The Charred Council with hunting down the Seven Deadly Sins. Fans can also expect to see familiar characters like Uthane make a return.
FURY
Darksiders 3 will continue the series’ tradition of having a different protagonist. After War in Darksiders and Death in Darksiders 2, in Darksiders 3, players take control of Fury, one of the last of the Nephilim, the sister Horseman of the Apocalypse. What exactly is Fury like, though? According to developers Gunfire Games, she is enigmatic, unpredictable, and interestingly, she is also supposedly the most powerful of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
LESS FOCUSED ON NARRATIVE
Story is very important in video games, and it’s becoming increasingly more important as time goes by, but there’s something undeniably charming about a game that places its focus first and foremost on being a good game. Apparently, that’s what Darksiders 3 is going to do as well. Said David Adams, co-founder of developers Gunfire Games, in an interview with OPM: “There’s still cool cutscenes and we have scenes around all of the Sins, and cool key story moments, but you’re not being bombarded by story – you’re running around fighting stuff and solving puzzles. That was a purposeful decision.”
COMBAT STYLE
Combat in Darksiders 3 is looking like it’s going to be a bit different in style and speed than what we remember from its predecessors. Unlike Darksiders’ War and Darksiders 2’s Death, who were primarily equipped with a two-handed sword and dual scythes respectively, Fury’s primary weapon is going to be a fiery whip. In combat, in addition to her whip, she will also be using daggers, flails, swords, as well as her magical abilities.
ELEMENTAL FORMS
To mix things up a bit, Fury will also have some unique special abilities, using which she will be able to take on multiple elemental forms. These elemental forms will enhance her abilities and attacks, giving her new moves for the purposes of combat, as well as for traversal. Of these these elemental forms, so far only her Flame form has been revealed, thanks to which, as the name suggests, she attains fire-induced special attacks and moves.
ENEMIES
The enemies we run into in Darksiders 3 are going to be a mix of old and new, with many of them being new and designed from scratch, and a few from previous games also returning. What’s interesting is that Gunfire Games plans on making combat a little harder and more intense while at the same time also giving player fewer enemies to fight against in any given scenario. According to the developers, this has been done to make the combat feel more personal.
PUZZLE SOLVING AND TRAVERSAL
Fury’s whip won’t just come in handy while fighting against minions of the Seven Deadly Sins- it’ll also be used for traversal and platforming sections, such as in situations where you need to swing across chasms or gaps, as well as for puzzle solving. Even Fury’s elemental forms will be used for similar purposes, such as using the Flame form to destroy obstacles in your path. Additionally, the developers have said that Darksiders 3 will also feature environmental puzzle solving similar to the previous two games, with a mix of new and returning mechanics.
LEVEL SCALING
Darksiders 3 will, of course, have a levelling system, just like its predecessors, but Gunfire Games have also made the interesting decision to not have any parts or sections of the game gated. They’ve done that by making it so that every time Fury defeats one of the Seven Deadly Sins, all enemies in the game automatically scale to her level and abilities, which means that no enemy in the game should ever be too weak or too strong- theoretically, at least.
COLLECTING SOULS
There’s some other returning mechanics in Darksiders 3 that fans of the series will recognize. Fury will be able to collect souls from her enemies and from objects in the environment, which she can then use as a currency and as an expendable resource. While this mechanic was not in Darksiders 2, it was in the first game in the series, and this seems to be one of many ways that Darksiders 3 tries to echo the original title.
WORLD DESIGN
Darksiders 3 takes place in an open world setting, which seem to be a dime a dozen in today’s day and age, but what’s interesting about this setting in particular is the way it’s going to be structured- as per the developers, at any rate. According to Gunfire, one of the main aims of the development team for this game has been to create a coherent world, where different environments are interconnected and organically blend into each other, and to make it seem less “game-y”, for the lack of a better word. The world has been described by the developers as a single continuous dungeon, with less demarcation between separate areas and each of them being more integrated and linked to each other.
CONTEXTUALIZATION
Gunfire Games have also said that they’ve attempted to build the world and the game’s mechanics around the series’ lore and story. As such, according to the developers, contextualization of the world and its environments has been a major focus during the game’s development, in order to make it seem more consistent with the story.
NO MINIMAP
The design and style of Darksiders 3’s world makes it pretty clear that there’s going to be a heavy emphasis on exploration, and Gunfire Games, it seems, are truly going all in on that. So much so that there’s going to be no minimap in the game. The aim is to have exploration that feels natural and organic, so that players naturally discover new things and environments without being guided or feeling like they have to go from point A to point B.
LENGTH
Gunfire Games have also confirmed that on average, Darksiders 3 will be roughly fifteen hours long, about as much as the first game. In a time when sixty hour behemoths are becoming increasingly common, it’s rare to see a game that chooses to remain concise and crisp. There’s nothing wrong with having more content, of course (quite the opposite, actually), but when a game chooses to be shorter, there’s less chance of filler content and needless fluff. Hopefully, that will be true in Darksiders 3’s case as well.
DLC
Two DLC packs for Darksiders 3 have also been announced. The Crucible will be a Horde-mode of sorts, and will see players battling against waves of enemies, while earning new items and rewards. The second expansion, Keepers of the Void, will be a story DLC, in which Fury will travel to the Serpent Holes to confront an “ancient threat”. Keepers of the Void will also come with the Abyssal Armour, as well as a new weapon.
PS4 PRO AND XBOX ONE X ENHANCED
As a pretty major AAA release (or AA at the very least), it should come as no surprise that Darksiders 3 will feature graphical enhancements on the PS4 Pro and the Xbox One X. While we don’t know exactly what the resolution and the frame-rate will be, Gunfire Games’ Business & Product Development Director Reinhard Pollice told us in an interview that it’s “definitely enhanced”, and that it would have dynamic resolution scaling. Pollice also told us that the differences between the Xbox One X and PS4 Pro versions will be “barely noticeable”. Additionally, it’s also been confirmed that the game will feature HDR support.
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