Darksiders Genesis

Genre: Top-Down Action-RPG / 2-Stick Shooter

Players: 1-2 Co-Op (Local, Local Wireless, Online)

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Review:

Darksiders Genesis is a spin-off title of the Darksiders franchise released on multiple platforms including the Nintendo Switch in 2020. And where all three numbered entries in the series are all a combination of Spectacle Fighter and Action-RPG focusing on a different one of the Four Horsemen and taking place during the same time period, Genesis is unique in that it focuses on not one, but two of the horsemen (the first game’s protagonist War and the newly-playable Strife), it’s a prequel that takes place many years before the other games in the franchise, and it is a Top-Down Action-RPG in the vein of the Diablo series.

Yeah, get ready for a lot of comparisons to Diablo.

Visually, this game uses a lot of the same sort of aesthetic as Diablo, even down to showing silhouettes of characters when they step behind scenery (though frustratingly, objects and pitfalls can often hide there without any way for the player to see them). It’s not quite as good as Diablo III’s visuals, but it’s sufficient, and even has a few nice flourishes like some good lighting in some areas. And while I’ve heard some people complain about the visuals of the Nintendo Switch version compared to other versions, I think the visuals here are fine, albeit not especially noteworthy.

This game acts as the introduction to the character of Strife, revealing him to be the sarcastic, wisecracking member of the group. This feels a bit odd at first, since he doesn’t fit in with the other horsemen that feel like they almost could have stepped out of a Shakespearean theater group, but it keeps things interesting as the game progresses, especially as you see the way his personality plays off of the stoic War. The characters are all voiced well, and the game’s music is appropriately epic for a massive battle involving these biblical figures facing down hordes of demons.

While Darksiders Genesis mostly succeeds with its presentation, in terms of its gameplay, I honestly found it to be something of a let-down, both compared to Diablo III as well as Darksiders II, This is because this game not only fails to capture the multitude of elements that made Darksiders II so great such as its big, explorable world, it most notably failed to do one of the things that Darksiders II borrowed from the Diablo games that helped to make it such an improvement over the original – Darksiders Genesis doesn’t have players collecting loot.

To be fair, that’s not absolutely necessary for a game like this. Children of Morta, for example, did away with loot and replaced it with Roguelike elements and multi-character cross-progression that gave the game plenty for players to build up without needing to collect a bazillion swords, bows, and pieces of armor. However, what Darksiders Genesis offers in place of loot is nowhere near that compelling. Likewise, players may be disappointed that only two characters are playable here (there are four Horsemen, wouldn’t it make more sense to have four playable characters?).

That’s not to say this game is lazy with its departures from the genre. Platforming plays a big part here, as does the use of mounts that can be summoned and dismissed at any time. For War, this game incorporates the same sort of combo-heavy Spectacle Fighter-style gameplay seen in the numbered Darksiders titles, while players opting to take the role of Strife will find the game plays more like a two-stick shooter.

To the game’s credit, regardless of which character you play, there are some excellent combat mechanics here, and the characters play differently enough that I suspect players will be fairly well split on which of the two is their favorite. However, even this good combat can get repetitive when you face down your hundredth horde of enemies and it doesn’t feel much different from your first. What’s more, the game actively encourages players to return to prior levels when they gain new abilities that let them access new areas, ensuring that feeling of repetition will be even stronger.

Darksiders Genesis is still a decent game, and fans of Diablo-style Top-Down Action-RPGs will still find a good amount to like here, especially if they’re fans of the Darksiders franchise, but for a game that invites direct comparisons to the Diablo series, it falls far short of that series, and players may find themselves having more fun with one of the numerous other games in this genre on the Nintendo Switch, including Diablo.

tl;dr – Darksiders Genesis is a Diablo-Style Top-Down Action-RPG that’s a prequel and spinoff of the main Darksiders game that focuses on the first game’s protagonist, War, along with new protagonist, Strife (the latter who plays like a Two-Stick Shooter). While it’s a decent game that brings a fair few original ideas to the genre, the lack of loot makes the whole thing feel a lot more repetitive and as a result it’s not quite as engaging as multiple other games in the genre on the Nintendo Switch.

Grade: B

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