Darksiders (series)

Darksiders
The logo for the Darksiders series
Genres	Action role-playing, hack and slash
Developers	Vigil Games
Publishers	THQ (2010-3) Nordic Games (2013-)
Platforms	PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, Linux, Wii U
Platform of origin	PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
First release	Darksiders January 5, 2010
Latest release	Darksiders II August 14, 2012

Darksiders is an action role-playing hack and slash video game series based around the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse from the last book of the New Testament of the Bible, called the Book of Revelation.

Setting

The series is set in a universe where Heaven and Hell have waged war against one another. In time, a mediator group named "The Charred Council" arose to maintain order and balance; to this end, they created a brotherhood, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (War, Death, Strife and Fury) to intervene and enforce their laws where and when necessary.

Gameplay

The series is focusing mainly on hack and slash style, with Darksiders being an action-adventure game containing a series of linear and non-linear paths and Darksiders II using an action role-playing game style with explorable vast maps, quests and side quests. The games make frequent use of interactive puzzle elements, requiring the player to think their way through a series of levers, doors, elevators, portals, etc. in order to traverse areas and reach objectives.

Games

Darksiders (2010)

The protagonist of the game is War, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, in which War appears on Earth thinking that the Seventh Seal was broken and The Four Horsemen were summoned for the Apocalypse and they would ride into battle across Earth to punish the guilty, and the ultimate fate of the three Kingdoms decided, although, War finds out that he is the only Horseman present. Later on, The Charred Council accuses War of destroying the balance by bringing about the Apocalypse prematurely, aiding in the destruction of Mankind, and siding with the forces of Hell. War protests his innocence and demands a chance to find the real culprits and to restore balance. The Council agrees on two conditions; he lose his former power and he will be bound to one of their keepers, The Watcher, who has the power to kill him (War) if he strays from his mission.

Darksiders II (2012)

Darksiders II is parallel to the previous game taking place approximately in the same time as Darksiders but with different locations (most of them taking place out of Hell, Heaven and Earth). Darksiders II follows the quest of Death, one of the Four Horsemen, in which Death, sure that his brother (War) is innocent, sets out on a personal mission to erase his brother's 'crime' and resurrect humanity. The story of Darksiders II is in a parallel timeline with the first Darksiders game, where in the first game War tries to find the real culprit of the prematurely Apocalypse and restore the balance, and in the same time Death finding about his brother being accused, convinced that War is innocent, starts to help his brother (in his own personal mission) where he tries to prove that War is not guilty of the 'crimes' that The Charred Council accused him for, but also discovering an unknown threat to all creation itself. Darksiders II still remains to the original formula of an hack and slash video game with the perspective of the third-person game style but instead this time being an Action role-playing game where the maps of the game are vast and each contain open world "overworld" regions that can be explored freely on foot or by horse, along with numerous dungeons where quest objectives are generally carried out. There are main and side quests, with main and side boss fights. Worlds can be traversed via "fast-travel", whereby the player can teleport to certain map points instantly. While inside a Dungeon, the player is also allowed to fast-travel back to the overworld while saving their dungeon location for continuation later without losing progress.

References