• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Darksiders 3 Review Thread

Fbh

Member
header.jpg


Metacritic: 72 (going with PC version because it currently has more reviews. Will switch if this changes)

OpenCritic: 70


fair-man.png



Some Quotes:


God is a Geek: 9/10
Darksiders III is a stunning achievement, bringing the once-dead series back to life with aplomb.

Game Informer: 8/10
The design of the world, the way Fury explores it, the few puzzles, and the combat are all well-designed, elevating it above the elements that make it feel like a game from the past.

Destructoid: 8/10
Most of my complaints are related to the RPG bits which are not the main focus of Darksiders III. It remains an action-fueled project and that's an angle it does well, reigning in some of the out-of-hand ideas from its predecessor. With all of the efforts to resurrect this once dead and buried series I hope there's a chance to wrap it all up with Strife: I want to see this story through until the end, blemishes and all.

IGN: 7/10
The straightforward simplicity of Darksiders III is a refreshing change of pace after exploring so many dense open-world games. That simplicity doesn’t refer to the combat or boss battles, though, which are complex and almost startlingly unforgiving. Its throwback philosophy is comfort food for action gamers of a certain age, but it would’ve been nice to see the third game in the series introduce some new concepts to relaunch Darksiders in the modern age.

Videogamers: 5/10
When combat is between you and one other, Darksiders 3 can provide some decent, button-mashy fun, but the real fight is with the baffling world design and some cheap deaths.

Gamespot: 4/10
Darksiders return is marred by bland environments and an unfocused design that can't help but frustrate and underwhelm.

Eurogamers: No score
Darksiders' schlocky action makes a welcome return, though it's not enough to shake the feeling you've played this before - and better.


Seems like it's being sent out to die. With so many high profile releases in recent months and coming just after a ton of black friday sales where I'm sure a lot of people picked up discounted games, this needed to more than a 7/10 to sell well.
I'd still be interest to play it after a price drop, based on reviews it does sound fun and maybe some of the complains will be addressed in a future patch.

And hey, it's still the better post apocalyptic earth game release this month!
 
Last edited:

Yoshi

Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
What's the consensus on puzzles in this game? Are they in or not? The gamescom demo featured no puzzles, and I do not need a pure action Darksiders.
 

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
Its throwback philosophy is comfort food for action gamers of a certain age, but it would’ve been nice to see the third game in the series introduce some new concepts to relaunch Darksiders in the modern age.

Action gamers of a certain age? OK. I'm sure if a game is good its "throwback philosophy" isn't such a big deal.
 

Fbh

Member
I've seen some reports that it is only 4 hours long, in that true?
From the reviews I read it seemed to be around 15-20 hours long

What's the consensus on puzzles in this game? Are they in or not? The gamescom demo featured no puzzles, and I do not need a pure action Darksiders.
One review I read said the game was like 90% action and fighting and 10% puzzle solving.
So they are still there but they seemed to have been scaled back. At least it sounded like the puzzles that are there are decent
 
Change the name of the release copy to "DarkSiders 3 Souls" then add "Most challenging game yet" on the back of the box, and watch the 9/10's come in.
 
Gamespot: 4/10
Darksiders return is marred by bland environments and an unfocused design that can't help but frustrate and underwhelm.

I don't take Gamespot's reviews seriously anymore
 

TacosNSalsa

Member
What's the consensus on puzzles in this game? Are they in or not? The gamescom demo featured no puzzles, and I do not need a pure action Darksiders.
From what I gathered from the ACG review there are quite a few "puzzles" but they are just time wasters . Like if you enter a room got get to the exit you have to do some weird bug throwing puzzle or get a sword that's 2 rooms over to put in a statue to open a door. I believe it because Darksiders 2 was full of things like that
 

Mr Hyde

Member
Didn´t even know this got released now. First one was okay, haven´t tried the second one and by the reviews it doesn´t seem likely I will try the third one either.
 

Helios

Member
Gamespot: 4/10
Darksiders return is marred by bland environments and an unfocused design that can't help but frustrate and underwhelm.

I don't take Gamespot's reviews seriously anymore
You mean you don't take seriously people that compare every single genre to Dark Souls?
Darksiders 3 has taken some clear inspiration from Dark Souls, so Fury's low survivability forces you to approach combat in a way that belies its exuberant combos. Enemies are fast and hit hard, and are regularly found in groups. With no stamina meter to speak of, there's an emphasis on dodging and keeping out of danger that does deviate from Dark Souls' stringent use of energy management.
It's like Dark Souls but not.
 

Ovek

7Member7
I surprised no review has complained about Fury's boob armor yet... might have to wait for the Verge hit piece for that though.
 

Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
Doesn't sound too good, that dev's live stream footage looked pretty decent to me, hope they can iron out some core problems with patches but if level design and overall progression really are half baked then it can't be saved.
 

Ivellios

Member
I may get it next year at a discount, whey they polish the perfomance via updates.

Gamespot: 4/10
Darksiders return is marred by bland environments and an unfocused design that can't help but frustrate and underwhelm.

I don't take Gamespot's reviews seriously anymore

Gamespot review was very harsh, i have not played the game yet but from what i saw from it its far from being a 4/10.

At the very least its a 6/10 game.
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
Everything about this game screams "Seven out of ten" to me, so I'm not too surprised to see the reviews.

I know this isn't the "controversial opinions thread" but I'll let loose here anyway: I felt like the first two Darksiders games weren't that great. Even if this manages to be on the same level as those (and from the sound of critics, it isn't) I'd have a hard time getting interested in this game.

Pretty cool for fans of the series though, getting a continuation after all this time...
 
You mean you don't take seriously people that compare every single genre to Dark Souls?

It's like Dark Souls but not.
From how it sounds Darksiders souls now work pretty much like DarkSouls souls, even the you lose them when you die but they'll be at the spot where you die stuff, where you trade them in to someone to level up and can even find crystals that instantly give you souls, and the game apparently dropped all of Zelda in its structure and world design. Given Darksiders has always been shameless in it's inspirations, probably the rare time a DS comparison isn't completely stupid.
 
Last edited:
I think I'm going to get and play this game just to see if reviewers really have lost the plot. If I'm being brutally honest the stories and animations in these games usually aren't top tier but the aesthetic and "chunkyness/weight" in combat usually make the series feel fresh enough to make up for it.
 

wipeout364

Member
I am on the fence with this one. I was hoping the reviews would help my decision but they seem to be all over the place.
 
hope it sells well. i dont want to live in a world with eiher dense AAA games or indies. we need stuff in between.

tho the game media is very harsh on games that are between triple A and indies these days
 

Observadorpt

Neo Member
Hi

I dont trust reviews from any magazine or site. I just watch gameplays in youtube and if i like i buy. I love darksiders 1 and 2 and this im gonna buy too but not day one.
 

Iaterain

Member
God is a Geek: 9/10
I don't know this channel, but I've noticed it because it gives all games 10/10 or 9/10 on metacritic. I think these paid shills should be banned from metacritic because it is way too obvious that they are taking money for perfect scores.
 

Fbh

Member
I don't know this channel, but I've noticed it because it gives all games 10/10 or 9/10 on metacritic. I think these paid shills should be banned from metacritic because it is way too obvious that they are taking money for perfect scores.

Can't say I know them either. I generally just like to put quotes from the more positive reviews to the more negative ones and their was just by far the most positive one.

Looking at their site they definitely like to hand out 90's but it's not THAT bad. They still gave Fallout 76 a 60, Battlefield V a 75 and Assassins Creed Odyssey an 80 so it's not like they are handing out highs cores to every big profile release
 
You mean you don't take seriously people that compare every single genre to Dark Souls?

It's like Dark Souls but not.
No where did you get that from? Even if the game is not stellar or a disappointment 4/10 belongs to broken games like Fallout 76. Most of their reviews I don't agree with, not like its rocket science.
 

bilderberg

Member
The 'fairness' of the Dark Souls games is greatly exaggerated. I like these games, but can we stop pretending they are totally fair? Not that they have to be, but I'm tired of hearing it.
 

Isa

Gold Member
I got this because I love the first two, with the second being very loved. The music in particular is a standout for me. The composer from the first is back though and from what little I've played its merely so-so. The combat is kind of a step-back, it reminds me of souls-esq and the first title, not bad but slightly challenging. I'm playing on a low difficulty setting and still getting slapped around occasionally. It looks pretty good, and I hope the title does well enough to warrant another entry, preferably more along the lines of the 2nd, maybe with co-op.
 

betrayal

Banned
Since the first trailers something in Darksiders 3 felt strange. I watched some reviews and it's probably the really bland and lifeless environments. ACG also mentioned it in his review. You often run around in an empty world looking for enemies. Paired together with a unsatisfying exploration makes a boring experience i think.

I absolutely loved the first title, with its small but great semi open world and its clearly well-defined dungeons. It very much felt like a Zelda for adults. Darksiders 2 on the other hand was meh. They tried to jump on the open world train and it just wasn't fun. Now, with Darksiders 3, it looks like they lost direction and just didn't care anymore to develop a good adventure game.
 

Makariel

Member
I never got on board with the visual design of the Darksiders series. Everything looks too busy to me. Played the first one a few hours, noticing it's like Zelda, and figured I could just play Zelda instead.
 

Agent_4Seven

Tears of Nintendo
Yeah, I think I'll pass. Jim's video was helpful cuz now I know that this game is not Darksiders game I wanted to play in terms of gameplay and world design, not to mention the lack of exploration, hidden chest etc.
 

Petrae

Member
One surefire way to turn me off from any game is to say that it takes any inspiration or similarity from the Soulsbourne games. Immediate NOPE. More money in my pocket, less frustration in my life.
 

Ovek

7Member7
One surefire way to turn me off from any game is to say that it takes any inspiration or similarity from the Soulsbourne games. Immediate NOPE. More money in my pocket, less frustration in my life.

It's nothing like Dark Souls, the only similarity is that you cache your collected souls to level up and you drop any that you're carrying if you die.
 

Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
Yeah, I think I'll pass. Jim's video was helpful cuz now I know that this game is not Darksiders game I wanted to play in terms of gameplay and world design, not to mention the lack of exploration, hidden chest etc.
There were lots of secrets and stuff in stream I watched from the Darksiders 2 combat designer. This one:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/341177930
Honestly the game looked really promising to me there. Not the most polished thing ever but neither were the first two.

But as I said if the overall level design and progression is bad outside the odd good section then it can't be saved, patches can't fix that, only remedy smaller issues.
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom