Darksiders is an upcoming action adventure title developed by Vigil Games and will be published by THQ in January 2010. Here is a close look into the game and we’ll tell you why it is something you should really be keeping an eye on.
Darksiders takes place in a post apocalyptic world and has strong Biblical themes and references (mainly the Book of Revelation). The plot revolves around the end of the world, though it seems that the prophesized ‘Apocalypse’ has arrived much sooner than it should have, thus creating a conspiracy and war between Heaven and Hell. Now the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse were in charge of bringing the Apocalypse and have therefore been blamed for bringing it too early, which they apparently did not (well, somebody had to miss the memo).
Behold! I am...WAR!
Gamers will play the role of ‘War’ (one of the Horsemen), who has been stripped of his powers as a punishment. War now needs to embark on an epic and brutal quest to clear his name, find his fellow Horsemen, get some answers and basically survive in the demon ridden world that was destroyed by the premature Apocalypse. In terms of gameplay Darksiders looks like a cross between a 3D The Legend of Zelda game and a God of War game, and that alone is enough to get any gamer excited.
Darksiders provides an open-ended world for gamers to explore. It’s a destroyed, chaotic and broken world but nonetheless still a beautiful and varied locale. Gamers can even explore their surroundings on horseback much like in Zelda games but the horse here is none other than the fiery horse named Ruin. The combat system also looks to have some of Zelda’s simple yet highly effective ‘Z-Targeting’ mechanic being put to good use. Of course this isn’t the first time we’ve seen that mechanic put into play. Continuing with the Zelda similarities, players will have free exploration, puzzle solving and item collection at their disposal.
Darksiders will be a mix of adventuring and intense close quarters combat. The combat system here is quite similar to God of War and so far we have only seen War’s massive sword in action. Even with that one weapon, we saw some very brutal and diverse combos and fatalities. The gore and violence is there but at the moment it looks tame compared to the likes of God of War. The combat system itself looks pretty fun and visceral, and hopefully there will be enough weapons and special attacks to keep things consistently fresh and entertaining.
The game will feature some breathtaking battles.
From a few videos that have shown off boss battles, they don’t seem too straightforward, particularly the footage that showed War fighting a massive sand creature. War was on horseback during this interesting battle and used only a machine gun. So fire arms, as well as epic and (hopefully) clever boss battles, seem to be major elements in the game. The art style of this game looks phenomenal, the character designs are very detailed and have the same vibe as modern western comic books or even modern heavy metal album art (the non-commercial bands of course). The game certainly looks really dark and epic with the general feel of a post apocalyptic world being nicely captured in the way everything has been presented.
We haven’t heard much of the soundtrack yet but we can tell you that the talented Chris Velasco will be composing the music for this game. He is most well known for his work on the God of War soundtrack. Back in September 2009, we had the honour and pleasure of listening to an arrangement from Darksiders being performed live by the Eminence Orchestra at A Night in Fantasia 2009. The arrangement was very powerful and had a very dark and epic feel. If that arrangement was simply a hint of the final soundtrack then we simply cannot wait to hear the final score in its entirety.
Darksiders so far is shaping up nicely, we are certainly looking forward to it’s January 2010 release. Keep an eye on this game as this could be something quite epic.
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