Darksiders is the obligatory god of war clone. Directly compared its an inferior version of the same game. I finally managed to get myself into finishing it, although I found myself entertained, I don’t think its a fantastic game due to barely standing out from its direct inspiration.

Gameplay
The game lacks a meaningful and challenging combat system. Not only does it feature 3 main weapons but also only two of them have any meaningful combos. You have a main sword which serves as the highest single target damage but also being the main weapon for almost every situation. There is a scythe that can act for crowd control and gauntlets which do the same except having less combos.

Every enemy has a finisher move those changes on the type of enemy. This also changes the type of souls they drop. You have green which fill health, yellow which fill magic abilities (whom are barely any, I used only one due to the high cost of purchasing the other ones that didn’t seem as useful) and blue ones which serve as cash.

The map pushes you through new areas, sometimes backtracking is necessary and having some minor metroidvania aspects by unlocking new moves that can get you to secret places in older areas. Most of the time this was barely necessary. While enemies hit hard on the highest difficulty, due to magic, rage which turns you into a demon form and the hard-hitting sword you barely face any challenges even on the highest difficulty. You never need to learn much of the games combat as there isn’t much to know. Don’t expect any DMC Dante must die level of challenge on trying to tackle this game.

The gradual push to new areas, filled with some puzzles whom are a fun change of pace turns into more portal, lever and block puzzles gradually on. Platforming itself is not even in any way challenging, therefore making puzzles itself about 30-45% of the gameplay in my estimate. This turns slightly into exhaustion, especially in the final dungeon of the game.
The combat is average but enjoyable as you can pick it up at any time and don’t have to study the games combos and mechanics, but might be boring for people who look for a great challenge. You mostly dodge enemies and use 1-2 of the same combos. The deepest mechanic is the use magic to cancel attacks you cannot dodge anymore or block enemy attacks in the right moment to do a counter attack. You can level your weapons, but after using only the sword and the gauntlets for the whole game, i still had to grind in a specific spot for multiple hours just so i can max all weapons. There is no point even to collect all these ability perks, shards to increase health or mana or secret armour as there is no endgame content. You can only defeat the last boss and thats it, there is though side bosses or dungeons to do. All this stuff is pointless as the bosses are for the most part rather easy.

Story
Just like God of war, religious aspects have been taken and twisted a story around these. The story of this game is pretty much okay, introducing a lore background, a direct strife and mystery after the opening sequence and ending in an open but rather satisfying conclusion. Nothing epic but just enjoyable.

Sound
Being vocalized in a few different languages stood out to me. Sound effects are fine, but the OST wasn’t anything memorable.

Graphics
Darksiders offers more a gritty cartoonish look. Despite releasing in the Xbox 360 and PS3 timeframe it luckily didn’t opt for that undersaturated grey and black or yellow look. Lots of blood and “edge” but more the teen type of edge rather the grotesque gore and topic of god of war.

Conclusion/TL;DR
If you liked the god of war games this one might either disappoint you being an inferior version of that game or quench your thirst slightly. I found it absolutely enjoyable, could recommend it even but barely. Its a very easy and casual game, but also a lot of puzzles that start out fun but become tedious in the end. Its okay, don’t expect a masterpiece though.

It's the first time playing DarkSiders, and while it wasn't groundbreaking, it offered a straightforward experience for those new to hack-and-slash games. Here's my breakdown:


This game is perfect for players unfamiliar with the genre. Its simplicity in combat and mechanics makes it accessible without overwhelming complexity.
Satisfying (if repetitive) Combat: There’s a certain charm in one-button mashing for casual gameplay sessions.
Atmosphere: The Heaven vs. Hell setting, while not original, had a decent aesthetic appeal.
Length: The game doesn’t overstay its welcome (though the second half felt like a drag).

~ Story: A basic Heaven-and-Hell revenge plot. Not great, but not terrible either. Think "God of War-lite with sequel bait."
~ Protagonist: War felt like a bulkier, slower Kratos. His lumbering movement made traversal feel like a chore.

Clunky Controls: Canceling moves to dodge? Forget it. You’re locked into animations, which can feel frustrating in tight situations.
Camera Mechanics: Getting stuck in a corner with the camera blocked by walls will test your patience.
Combat Depth: The lack of cross-weapon combos or movement variations makes the gameplay stale after a while.

The game really loses steam after the halfway point, becoming tedious rather than engaging.

⚠️ If you're playing on SteamDeck, brace yourself: Cutscenes don’t play by default.
This drove me up the wall, requiring me to manually fix it using a guide in the community. While the fix worked, SteamDeck's regular updates repeatedly broke the patch, forcing me to redo it, but didn't work in the end after several retries. It's an infuriating experience that seriously undercuts the enjoyment of playing on these platforms.

Darksiders isn’t the most polished or innovative game, but it’s decent enough for hack-and-slash newcomers. Just don’t expect depth or replayability—one playthrough on Easy was enough for me.

Would I replay? Probably not. Would I recommend? Yes, for beginners who want a casual hack-and-slash experience.

Very Nice and Underrated Game, puzzles, boss fights, nice combats.