Since Darksiders was released in 2010, I’ve been a fan of the dark fantasy action RPG franchise. I didn’t get time to play Darksiders III back when it was released on PlayStation 4, due to various time constraints and releases at the time. When I heard it was coming to Nintendo Switch, I knew I had to play it. Darksiders III is a familiar experience that offers up a different style of gameplay to mix things up a little bit.

Darksiders III puts you in the role of Fury, the only female Horseman. She is treated as the least formidable Horseman and believes herself to be the rightful leader. She is angry, brash, and definitely fits her name. The game takes place alongside the first Darksiders, as Fury is tasked to find and capture the Seven Deadly Sins after War is accused of starting the apocalypse early.

You begin with only Fury’s whip and her natural agility. She can double jump, dodge, and attack, along with performing Arcane attacks once she gets new abilities in the form of elemental “Hollows”. These elemental hollows give her unique elemental forms, which give her new weapons and abilities. Each one comes with its own set of combos, and on top of that, they can each be outfitted with enhancements.

Weapons and enhancements can be upgraded by Ulthane in Haven. If you’ve played the other games, you’ll remember Ulthane, a Maker who is able to reinforce weapons. Vulgrim also makes a return, serving as a checkpoint, fast-travel point, and shop in each of his locations. Vulgrim now takes Souls from you and will either sell you items or if you feed him souls directly, he will give you attribute points.

Attribute points are essentially level-up points that you use to increase health, physical damage, or arcane damage. Vulgrim also sells armor, though it is very expensive and will require you to decide whether you wish to save souls for upgrade points, or purchase armor and other upgrades. Vulgrim also sells a variety of items, some of which are very important.

Before we get too deep into that side of things though, I should mention that Darksiders 3 has a more slow-paced, methodical combat system. As much as I hate to say it since this comparison is made far too often, Darksiders III takes inspiration from the Souls series in several ways. First, Fury has something called the Nephilim’s Respite, which is a healing item that has a certain number of charges. This is your main source of healing, and you can either purchase more charges or get them from enemies as you kill them.

Combat feels great. The controls are smooth, there is actual weight to Fury’s attacks and with her having a whip, there is a tangible amount of distance you can take from your enemies. It feels different than playing as War or Death in the previous games, yet still feels familiar.

Also akin to the Souls series, if you die as Fury, you will drop your souls and have to reclaim them where you died. However, there are a variety of difficulty options for people who don’t have the skill or physical capability to succeed. Additionally, there is an option to reform the combat into the more classic Darksiders style, which is nice.

There are also a variety of harder difficulties for those who feel really masochistic and want to challenge themselves. I personally found that on the easier difficulties the game was still challenging, but my hands didn’t hurt after a play session. There are a variety of items you can pick up in the environment that will buff Fury, as well as extra healing items, though all items other than your Nephilim’s Respite have a cooldown.

Another aspect of the game is saving human survivors. By collecting human survivors and sending them back to Ulthane in Haven, he gives you a few special stat upgrades and things you won’t be able to get otherwise. Darksiders 3 has that strong Metroidvania feeling, though I do wish it had a map. The lack of a map makes it very difficult to figure out exactly where you’re trying to go when you backtrack. Several times I knew I missed something in a specific area, but I couldn’t figure out precisely where.

I should also mention that there are moments of lag, usually right before the game saves. There are very few loading screens, usually reserved for when you fast travel. However, since the nature of the game causes all the areas to be interconnected, sometimes passing between two areas leads to a loading segment where Fury will freeze and the game will autosave. I have had it crash on me twice during this, but the checkpoints/shops are close enough together that it isn’t much of a hardship.

Overall, despite the issues that I listed, I’ve been really enjoying Darksiders III on Switch. It has all the DLC of the other console releases, and it is a great game for action fans or fans of the franchise. There are enough difficulty-customization options that even people who aren’t fond of the Souls-like method can tailor their experience to something more similar to a standard Darksiders game.

Fury’s adventure is one of heart, fun, and intense action. If you haven’t checked out Darksiders III yet, now is a perfect time. Who knows, you might want to dress up as a Horseman for Halloween, or for your next cosplay event.

A Nintendo Switch review copy of Darksiders III was provided by THQ Nordic for this review.

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Darksiders III

$39.99 USD

8.5

Score

8.5/10

Pros

• Combat Feels Good
• Interesting Story
• Engaging Mechanics and Puzzles
• Lots of Difficulty Customization
• Great Atmosphere and Visual Design

Cons

• No Map
• Minor Lag and a few Crashes