Update: One of the achievements in the game was broken at launch which involved upgrading all weapons and combat techniques. It’s now been fixed. However, our review score will remain the same because we aren’t the ones to fret over achievements.
It’s the end of the world and you’ve been framed. You’ve got to clear your name, but you have to fight off Hell’s strongest to do so. Are you up to the challenge?
The game follows the adventures of War, one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. You’ve been blamed for ushering in the end times early and throwing the entire universe into peril. You are given a second chance and are tasked with bringing those responsible for the crimes to justice. Stripped of your powers, you are cast back to the Earth a mere 100 years after the intro segment. Fighting your way through the apocalyptic wasteland, you meet a humble merchant, a deal-making demon fiend, and a plethora of terrifying enemies from both Heaven and Hell. War slowly earns back his powers and you become an unstoppable killing machine towards the end of the roughly twelve-hour story.
The first half of the story was interesting, but ultimately it fell flat due to the plot details being thin and I felt disengaged from the game. Around three-fifths of the way through the story, things get very interesting. New details are revealed and I found myself pulled back in. Over the course of the story you travel through varied and unique environments, warding off setting boredom. One area was super interesting, but I won’t tell you which, due to it being a massive spoiler, but you’ll know it when you get to it!
The gameplay in Darksiders is that of a third person hack-n-slash platforming puzzle solving game. The fighting mechanics are tight and responsive. The only time I found myself frustrated was during some platforming sections. Little nuances like falling off platforms and not being able to jump to rectify the mistake were frustrating, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s a small detail and rather easy to ignore. In combat, you have several weapons at your disposal along with special abilities and the all-powerful ‘Chaos’ form. In this form, you are nearly invincible and can destroy hordes of demons in mere seconds.
One core aspect of the game are boss fights. Every boss fight is different mechanically and features a unique character that serves the Destroyer, the main villain in the game. My personal favorite was a fight against a giant teleporting spider. By the boss fights being varied, it prevents boredom and adds to the overall appeal of the game. I wish more games had similar bosses in them.
Darksiders: Warmastered Edition is a remaster of the original game from 2010. With the resolution bumped to 1080p with 60 frames per second, Darksiders has never looked better. The cutscenes look amazing and have tons of detail. Some gameplay mechanics do feel dated, like the fast travel system. It is cumbersome and could have been made easier to use. This was a big inconvenience because several areas in the beginning of the game were inaccessible due to missing the gear required to enter that part of the map. The game depends heavily on the chests found in those areas to get more health and chaos bars. The frustrating fast travel system made going back to old sections a hassle and I found myself doing very little backtracking.
Summary
Overall, I really enjoyed my time with Darksiders: Warmastered Edition and for $20, I definitely recommend you pick it up and give it a shot. The story is interesting despite its early shortcomings and the gameplay is top notch.
Jonathan was a regular ICXM contributor between 2015–2017, publishing 57 articles across opinion pieces, game reviews, Windows and PC, and Xbox news. Their work focused on hands-on reviews, platform commentary, and breaking-news reporting during the Xbox One X launch year and Microsoft’s wider Play Anywhere / UWP gaming initiative. They post on X as @jtainsworth13.