"Jack of all trades, master of none" is a phrase that is often used to describe the Darksiders series, usually in a dismissive form. However, I'd like to propose a different way to look at these games. You could just look at the combat in this game and say it's a terrible clone of God of War and DMC with mid as fuck combat, and I would forgive anyone for dropping the game in its first hour or so. It doesn't make a good first impression with that overly long combat tutorial. However, you keep playing and the game becomes more compelling when you reach the first dungeon. Yes, dungeon, this is a Zelda-like too. There are many games with better combat than Darksiders 1, but none of them have exploration and puzzles THIS good.
And on the other hand, sure, you could also say that Zelda has better dungeons and puzzles (if you ask me, they're on about the same level, Zelda's dungeons only having better aesthetics and "concepts"), but what Darksiders is as well, is if classic 3D Zelda had MUCH better combat and freer movement. Remember, it wasn't until BOTW, 7 years later that Link was allowed to manually jump in 3D, and even then, modern Zelda's level of freedom is controversial among fans that prefer to solve puzzles and dungeons that are more structured. Besides, how many 3D Zelda clones do you even know??? When you consider that this was Vigil's first game, and how inexperienced many of the devs were, it's surprising how well they pulled off these elements.
Here's what Darksiders actually is, it's an homage to gaming, more specifically to mechanics from completely different games. The pitch was "An old-school romp for new-school players" The developers are... I'm gonna say it, true gamers, like you and me, that genuinely love video games and simply wanted to put in all their favorite things from their favorite games, and it was something that we didn't see much back then, developers that showed their love for games IN the actual game. It makes Darksiders... The Gamers' Game...
One moment you're suddenly in a shmup segment, then, you're competing with the dude that was trying to kill you moments ago on who can kill the most angels, you pick up their huge guns and do a third-person shooter segment, and almost infamously, you get the Portal gun that even has the orange and blue colors and use it to solve a whole dungeon and fight a giant boss, don't act like that last thing doesn't sound appealing!
But the homages extend to other aspects as well, like the narrative tropes of these games. You have a Navi-type helper, but it has control over you and could kill you whenever. There's a Master Sword, but it's broken and needs to be reforged. The merchant is like a demonic version of RE4's and I love him. A few bosses are very transparently like some memorable encounters of some famous games, and even the final one takes on a form similar to a certain legendary video game villain.
It's not like they're trying to "improve" on the games that inspired them like so many arrogant Western indie devs nowadays making turn-based RPGs or ironic visual novels. They weren't like "oh we're gonna make Zelda but MATURE and with BLOOD", like some reviews here suggest, they were simply making a game with things they like, taking from wildly different influences, and you can tell from interviews how earnest they are. Even BattleChasers, Joe Madureira's old comic from the 90s had these influences from JRPGs and it also became a bit of a cult hit because of it, people hadn't seen things like it in an American comic book. I actually respect this way of making games, even if the end result is unfocused, as long as it has some original flair of its own because such passion always comes with it.
And what a flair Darksiders has. This series' character designs are some of my favorites in gaming, I particularly love the angels, turning them into a super technologically advanced species that uses giant holy machine guns and most of them fly with artificial wings, in contrast with the demons, that are like barbarians at best; and when you see an angel with ACTUAL wings, that's how you know they're important. The story is a pretty simple one, but it's elevated a lot by the excellent voicework and the surprisingly well-directed and stylish cutscenes. There aren't that many "famous" biblical characters in the first game, only War, Samael, and a few angels, but it's pretty inspired that they came up with the main villain, the Destroyer, from ONE line of the Book of the Apocalypse that mentions a Destroyer standing on the ruins of Earth. It all culminates in a genuinely really exciting cliffhanger that still hasn't been resolved! 3 games and 2 more studios later, they continue to just build up to it more and more.
One day, we might see that game with all Four Horsemen that they dreamed of at the start of their journey, and this series could become a small legend, at least in my eyes.
And on the other hand, sure, you could also say that Zelda has better dungeons and puzzles (if you ask me, they're on about the same level, Zelda's dungeons only having better aesthetics and "concepts"), but what Darksiders is as well, is if classic 3D Zelda had MUCH better combat and freer movement. Remember, it wasn't until BOTW, 7 years later that Link was allowed to manually jump in 3D, and even then, modern Zelda's level of freedom is controversial among fans that prefer to solve puzzles and dungeons that are more structured. Besides, how many 3D Zelda clones do you even know??? When you consider that this was Vigil's first game, and how inexperienced many of the devs were, it's surprising how well they pulled off these elements.
Here's what Darksiders actually is, it's an homage to gaming, more specifically to mechanics from completely different games. The pitch was "An old-school romp for new-school players" The developers are... I'm gonna say it, true gamers, like you and me, that genuinely love video games and simply wanted to put in all their favorite things from their favorite games, and it was something that we didn't see much back then, developers that showed their love for games IN the actual game. It makes Darksiders... The Gamers' Game...
One moment you're suddenly in a shmup segment, then, you're competing with the dude that was trying to kill you moments ago on who can kill the most angels, you pick up their huge guns and do a third-person shooter segment, and almost infamously, you get the Portal gun that even has the orange and blue colors and use it to solve a whole dungeon and fight a giant boss, don't act like that last thing doesn't sound appealing!
But the homages extend to other aspects as well, like the narrative tropes of these games. You have a Navi-type helper, but it has control over you and could kill you whenever. There's a Master Sword, but it's broken and needs to be reforged. The merchant is like a demonic version of RE4's and I love him. A few bosses are very transparently like some memorable encounters of some famous games, and even the final one takes on a form similar to a certain legendary video game villain.
It's not like they're trying to "improve" on the games that inspired them like so many arrogant Western indie devs nowadays making turn-based RPGs or ironic visual novels. They weren't like "oh we're gonna make Zelda but MATURE and with BLOOD", like some reviews here suggest, they were simply making a game with things they like, taking from wildly different influences, and you can tell from interviews how earnest they are. Even BattleChasers, Joe Madureira's old comic from the 90s had these influences from JRPGs and it also became a bit of a cult hit because of it, people hadn't seen things like it in an American comic book. I actually respect this way of making games, even if the end result is unfocused, as long as it has some original flair of its own because such passion always comes with it.
And what a flair Darksiders has. This series' character designs are some of my favorites in gaming, I particularly love the angels, turning them into a super technologically advanced species that uses giant holy machine guns and most of them fly with artificial wings, in contrast with the demons, that are like barbarians at best; and when you see an angel with ACTUAL wings, that's how you know they're important. The story is a pretty simple one, but it's elevated a lot by the excellent voicework and the surprisingly well-directed and stylish cutscenes. There aren't that many "famous" biblical characters in the first game, only War, Samael, and a few angels, but it's pretty inspired that they came up with the main villain, the Destroyer, from ONE line of the Book of the Apocalypse that mentions a Destroyer standing on the ruins of Earth. It all culminates in a genuinely really exciting cliffhanger that still hasn't been resolved! 3 games and 2 more studios later, they continue to just build up to it more and more.
One day, we might see that game with all Four Horsemen that they dreamed of at the start of their journey, and this series could become a small legend, at least in my eyes.