--The Destroyer, Darksiders
Darksiders may quite obviously borrow mechanics from God of War and Legend of Zelda, but it removes them from their former contexts and instead cloaks them in an original video game narrative that is loosely connected with the book of Revelation in the Bible. The superb exploration, combat, and puzzles are placed in a world ravaged by a premature apocalypse that shatters a vital treaty between Heaven and Hell. References to Biblical concepts include dialogue about the Four Horsemen (a strange title given that one of them, Fury, is a woman), the seven seals, the Garden of Eden, the Tree of Knowledge, and the "Creator," but it quickly becomes clear that Darksiders is only set in a pseudo-Biblical cosmos--still, the defining features of the gameplay are excellent, regardless of how bothered some Christians might be by the themes.
Production Values
Darksiders is not a new game, as the original edition was released in 2010, but the visuals look great on the screen of the Switch Lite: the colors are vibrant, the animations are smooth, and the load times only periodically interrupt the gameplay. There is a level of environmental detail that is lacking by comparison to that of current generation console games, but this is a port from an earlier generation of consoles. Its age aside, the Warmastered edition does offer settings that allow players to favor aesthetic quality or performance respectively, so there is flexibility when it comes to choosing graphics over frame rate and vice versa.
While the story involves unique lore and characters, very few of the latter actually have significant roles in the game. Even the ones who are prominent are not developed beyond what is necessary to move the game from one major plot point to the next. The voice acting is still executed rather well, Mark Hamill being a standout: he voices a character called the Watcher who uses Hamill's iconic Joker voice. War, as well as secondary characters like Uriel, are acted competently enough, but they simply do not have the same fire that the Watcher does.
Gameplay
Anyone who loves the traditional God of War or Legend of Zelda games, and especially anyone who appreciates both franchises, will easily recognize the elements from each series embedded in the Darksiders formula. The Shadowflight ability is the equivalent of the wings in the second God of War, and War's sword Chaosspitter even has a name similar to that of the Blades of Chaos that were introduced in the first God of War game. Green chests yield health orbs, with the souls flying out like the chest contents in Kratos' adventures do. Some of these chests are located in dungeon-like areas filled with puzzles and collectibles, things that maps and "compasses" can help players locate. After major boss fights, War receives health extensions, even leaving the dungeons throuth a familiar blue portal!
I do not mean to belittle the game at all for these overt similarities to other franchises. After all, only one game can have a feature before all subsequent games that have the same feature are either directly imitating it or are unintentionally copying one of its aspects. I only repeat this comparison to help readers know what to expect if they have not viewed or played the game themselves. That the fighting and exploration are comparable to specific series beyond Darksiders does not detract from their quality! Darksiders still has great combat that allows for an evolving liat of moves and violent kill animations without the constant need to press specific buttons in the quick-time events of similar games. The majority of one's playthrough, though, will be spent solving puzzles, exploring the post-apocalyptic remains of the planet, and then revisiting old areas with new gear.
As one of my above screenshots evidences, War does eventually get the freedom to ride his horse Ruin in select locations, a thoughtful addition given that he is one of the franchise's Four Horsemen. Many of his other abilities are likewise useful in specific areas, but there is a fair amount of variety here. Each item has all been seen before in in other games in some incarnation, but the diversity will still be welcomed by anyone who likes to perform tasks like slowing the perceived passage of time and attacking enemies from afar with a massive throwing star. It is these items that bridge the combat and environmental navigation, as they are crucial to both pursuits.
Story
Spoilers!
War, the first of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, is summoned to the earth to partake in the Endwar, an eschatological event set to occur upon the breaking of the seventh seal. With angels and demons fighting around him, he quickly learns that, although he was called to battle, the seventh seal was not actually broken, meaning he has violated a peace treaty between the forces of Heaven and those of Hell. War is taken before entities called the Charred Council, but he is given the chance to clear his name, given that he is blamed for the apocalypse, and unravel what truly led to the battle. His investigation exposes a grand conspiracy against the will of the in-universe version of God.
Intellectual Content
Though it could have been explored far more thoroughly, the theological metaphysics in Darksiders is at the forefront of the entire basis for the story. In this mythological take on aspects of Revelation, three beings that comprise the Charred Council preside over the aforementioned cosmic treaty, upholding a coveted "Balance" between good and evil and between light and darkness. That God is absent from the events of the game despite being spoken of and that he has delegated such enormous authority to entities never even alluded to in the Bible are the largest deviations from the source material of Revelation, but honorable mentions include the fact that the angels of Darksiders can switch allegiances and outright sin even when still aligned with Heaven. The developers still managed to craft a unique extra-Biblical framework for several Biblical events despite some of the theological details of that framework.
The plot of Darksiders contains enough alterations to Biblical eschatology to potentially intrigue players who care about Christian theology and religious concepts in general, but it is the puzzles and exploration that provide much of the game's intellectual content. As you progress, you obtain new abilities and weapons that permit access to previously unreachable areas--which hide optional but helpful items like health extension pieces and pieces of Abyssal Armor--but you must often play through areas that resemble dungeons from Zelda games to get them. These dungeons house puzzles that are usually less complicated than those of some of the games Darksiders imitates, but the final one in particular is spectacular, forcing players to create sets of two portals at a time to transport themselves and other objects across the environment.
Conclusion
As far as games that appropriate Biblical imagery go, Darksiders is an excellent title not because of its theological accuracy (of which it has little), but because of its gameplay and level design. It does not utilize its Biblical themes and language as thoroughly as Dante's Inferno (although the descriptions of hell in the latter deviate blatantly from the Biblical doctrines of conditional immortality and anmihilationism), but it simply does not need to in order to provide a deep gaming experience. Christian and secular gamers alike can find much to admire about Darksiders and the series it spawned.
Content:
1. Violence: War can dismember smaller enemies and bosses alike using finishing moves, the attacks accompanied by spurts of blood.
2. Profanity: Infrequent profanity includes "damn" and "bastard."
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