{"id":153,"date":"2021-02-24T03:18:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-24T03:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/?p=153"},"modified":"2021-02-24T03:18:00","modified_gmt":"2021-02-24T03:18:00","slug":"savior-or-false-shephard-darksiders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/2021\/02\/24\/savior-or-false-shephard-darksiders\/","title":{"rendered":"Savior or False Shephard: Darksiders"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This article originally ran under a different banner\/website in October of 2018 and is now being here re-uploaded for purposes of convenience and consolidation. Please enjoy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HEAR YE!!!\u00a0 HEAR YE!!!\u00a0 MY FOLLOWERS, I STAND HERE A FRUSTRATED DOOMSAYER.\u00a0 We have reached that famous point of the year where all the big-budget games come out to demand our attention.\u00a0 With all the reports of these games being riddled with microtransactions, my desire to play them has completely evaporated.\u00a0 I DID NOT START STANDING ON THIS SOAPBOX TO ONLY DISCUSS NEW RELEASES.\u00a0 I do enjoy playing new games, but I have an overwhelming backlog that I have been meaning to chip away at.\u00a0 With that in mind, I have come to talk to you about the third-person action game, Darksiders.\u00a0 <\/em>With Darksiders 3<\/em> set for release at the end of November, it seems like the best time to dive headfirst into the series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The star of our show is War, the first of the Four Horsemen.\u00a0 In a world where Heaven and Hell are constantly at war, the Four Horsemen are tasked by the Charred Council to keep the peace between angels and demons.\u00a0 When a world-ending fight between Heaven and Hell kicks off, War is wrongly summoned to the battlefield.\u00a0 Just before War is able to take down a demon general, the Council whisks him away to punish him for jumping the gun.\u00a0 War claims he is innocent saying someone summoned him to the battlefield.\u00a0 He is able to barter for his freedom to prove his innocence.\u00a0 Agreeing to his terms, War must venture through the war-torn Earth to find who wrongly summoned him.\u00a0 Though the lore of Darksiders<\/em> can be indigestible at times, I found this to be a fresh take on the Four Horsemen since it is a story that you don\u2019t see many adaptations of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Equipped with his massive sword known as Chaoseater, War does the one thing he knows how to do: fight.\u00a0 War\u2019s fighting style seems to have taken a few cues from Kratos\u2019s old spartan days.\u00a0 One could almost accuse Darksiders<\/em> of being a God of War<\/em> clone, but I don\u2019t think that\u2019s accurate on the account of Darksiders\u2019s <\/em>combat being more a dumbed-down version of God of War\u2019s<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

For starters, you\u2019re going from Kratos iconic Blades of Chaos, which are two swords at the ends of chains to one gigantic sword.\u00a0 I can imagine a wider variety of attacks with the Blades of Chaos than I can with a basic sword.\u00a0 Also, all the attacks with the Chaoseater can be performed with one button with the other buttons controlling secondary weapons, again boiling down the combat; this didn\u2019t turn me away from Darksiders <\/em>though.\u00a0 I had great fun sending enemies flying into the air to have War summersault in front of them, a move a coined \u201cThe Buzz Saw\u201d.\u00a0 I could almost picture War being a professional wrestler with a massive crowd behind him chanting \u201cBUZZ SAW!!! BUZZ SAW!!! BUZZ SAW!!!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Throughout War\u2019s adventure, War must traverse through various dungeons connected within a big open world similar to Dark Souls <\/em>or Legend of Zelda <\/em>games.\u00a0 For me, I prefer this style of level design as it combines the massive, expansive, immersive world with the smart level design that comes with having specific stages.\u00a0 Each dungeon consists of various puzzles, enemies, sub-bosses, and a final boss.\u00a0 I found these dungeons appealing from an art direction; depicting post-apocalyptic citadel, subway system, and hospitals overrun by the bosses and their minions.\u00a0 I found a couple of these dungeons quite enjoyable; particularly the one where War with his horse, Ruin, are reunited and the two of them work together to take down the massive worm known as the Stygian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Some dungeons, unfortunately, dragged on too long.\u00a0 These dungeons without fail would ask you to do something three times.\u00a0 I understand the \u201cRule of Three\u201d\u00a0 is used to make sure a player is aware of the mechanics.\u00a0 But if you ask me to venture through a wing of the dungeon, defeat a sub-boss, and then venture back through the level guiding a beam of light back to the start of the level THREE TIMES, I will accuse you of padding out your dungeons.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t the level design that seemed to be used to pad out the game; numerous times the game locks you in a room and will send endless waves of enemies that only seem to test your endurance.\u00a0 The most arduous of levels were guilty of pulling this move way too many times, causing me to cry out in agony for the end of the dungeon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Usually, throughout the dungeons, you would be given a secondary weapon that could assist you in combat and puzzles similar to Legend of Zelda <\/em>games.\u00a0 Some of the weapons included a glaive that you can use to hit multiple enemies similar to Link\u2019s boomerang, a chain that you can use to pull enemies, or pull yourself onto walls similar to Link\u2019s hook-shot and mask that lets you see into a shadow realm.\u00a0 Wait, don\u2019t Zelda <\/em>games usually have something similar to that too?\u00a0 I do remember War having to fight a shadow version of himself similar to that one Zelda <\/em>dungeon.\u00a0 War does have a glove that can smash barriers, but that is similar to Link\u2019s bombs.\u00a0 Link also had a horse too.\u00a0 Darksiders,<\/em> is there anything that you didn\u2019t rip off from the Legend of Zelda<\/em>?\u00a0 A glove that opens orange and blue portals?\u00a0 That just makes it more apparent how much you ripped off from Zelda<\/em> because you’re trying to hide it behind this Portal <\/em>rip-off.\u00a0 Darksiders,<\/em> I am going to need to see you after class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The creativity of the characters, world, and story drew me in, but the unsubtle homages to other games along with the padding of the combat and puzzles snap me back out.\u00a0 Yes, Darksiders <\/em>is quite a confident Zelda <\/em>clone, but Darksiders <\/em>should be Darksiders, <\/em>not Zelda<\/em>.\u00a0 There is a distinct difference between paying homage and blatant copying.\u00a0 Shovel Knight <\/em>is a great example of paying homage to 8-bit games while never being guilty of being a clone.\u00a0 Dark Souls <\/em>is often described as being a more mature version of Legend of Zelda <\/em>but is never accused of being a clone.\u00a0 Even though Dark Souls<\/em> does use dungeons and interconnecting worlds similar to Legend of Zelda <\/em>games, they trade away gadgets for a stamina-based combat system based around methodical and precise moves.\u00a0 This leads to other games, known as Souls clones, copying this combat system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only thing Darksiders <\/em>adds is the Horsemen setting which while uncommon in games, isn\u2019t all that unique.\u00a0 Darksiders<\/em>, fortunately, doesn\u2019t diminish my excitement for Darksiders 3.\u00a0 <\/em>I am still interested in the saga of War and his siblings Death,\u00a0 Fury, and Strife; I just hope the developers were successful in a fresh game that could lead other games copying Darksiders 3<\/em> rather than the other way around.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article originally ran under a different banner\/website in October of 2018 and is now being here re-uploaded for purposes of convenience and consolidation. Please enjoy. HEAR YE!!!\u00a0 HEAR YE!!!\u00a0 MY FOLLOWERS, I STAND HERE A FRUSTRATED DOOMSAYER.\u00a0 We have reached that famous point of the year where all the big-budget games come out to… Continue reading Savior or False Shephard: Darksiders<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":155,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-reviews","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":164,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153\/revisions\/164"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}