The Darksiders franchise first launched in 2010, and over the last ten years it’s told an apocalyptic tale about the end of days across three interconnected games. Now, publisher THQ Nordic and developer Airship Syndicate have expanded the game’s world with a prequel, Darksiders Genesis, for the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.

Unlike the third-person camera found in the numbered entries in the series, Darksiders Genesis is an Action RPG with a top-down viewpoint that should conjure up comparisons to Diablo. But Genesis isn’t an exact copy of Blizzard’s franchise (which, coincidentally enough, also revolves around an apocalyptic battle between humans, angels, and demons), and players will instead find a game more focused on big brawls with various demons and some light environmental puzzle elements.

Will this spinoff receive the same warm welcome that Darksiders and Darksiders II got? Or does it track more closely with the muted response that critics gave Darksiders III? Would you believe that it’s both…

About Darksiders Genesis
From the dawn of creation, The Council has maintained the Balance across existence. Carrying out their orders are The Horsemen, Nephilim (powerful beings spawned from the unnatural union of angels and demons) who have pledged themselves to the Council and been granted immense power. However, this power came at a tragic cost: the Horsemen were ordered to use their newfound strength to wipe out the rest of their kind. What followed was a bloody battle on Eden where the Horsemen, obeying the will of the Council, annihilated the Nephilim.

Still reeling from the events on Eden, War and Strife have been given a new assignment — Lucifer, the enigmatic and deceptive demon king, has been plotting to upset the Balance by granting power to master demons throughout Hell. War and Strife must hunt down these masters, gather information, and ultimately fight their way through a tangled, demonic conspiracy that threatens to forever upset the Balance and unravel all of creation.

Darksiders Genesis is an action/adventure that tears its way through hordes of demons, angels, and everything in-between on its way to Hell and back with guns blazing and swords swinging. Genesis gives players their first look at the world of Darksiders before the events of the original game, as well as introduces the horseman Strife.

Platforms: PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One
Publisher: THQ Nordic
Developer: Airship Syndicate
Genre: Action RPG
Release Date: December 5, 2019 (PC), February 14, 2020 (Consoles)
ESRB Rating: Teen

Destructoid
Review – 8/10
“I came into Darksiders Genesis expecting nothing and got a fun little co-op dungeon crawler in return. Although the concept of a “Diablo spinoff for the Darksiders series” had the potential to just be a big bowl of wrong, the mad men and women at Airship Syndicate pulled it off. Long live Darksiders.”

Game Informer
Review – 6.5/10
“Overall, Darksiders Genesis fails to take advantage of the series’ strengths. Since Darksiders’ inception, fans have imagined what it might be like to team up as the different horsemen. Darksiders Genesis finally offers a co-op experience, but its offbeat design and forgettable story don’t deliver on the fantasy.”

IGN
Review – 8.7/10
“Darksiders Genesis may lack the polish and flair of its numbered brethren, but make no mistake: this is still a Darksiders game, and it’s one of the best. There’s a really strong balance of great combat, clever puzzles, rich exploration, and excellent progression mechanics that keep its momentum going strong through its entire 15-hour run time. I wouldn’t say I think this new style should be the new standard for the Darksiders series going forward, but I do hope this spinoff isn’t a one-off because there’s a ton of potential here to explore.”

Polygon
Review – Neutral
“The other thing I keep thinking about after finishing Darksiders Genesis is a line of dialogue near the end of the story:

“Do you ever get bored of endlessly slaughtering hordes and hordes of demons?”

I had some fun during my 15 hours of fighting through this many demons and solving a fair amount of environment puzzles, but I don’t feel the urge to take on any of the bonus content the game keeps urging me to go back and attempt.

My first playthrough ended with a rushed set of pictures and some exposition about the state of the world, followed by silent credits and a weird emptiness. To get the “real” ending, one has to play through the unlocked “Apocalyptic” difficulty level, and I’m not interested in doing that. The whole thing feels like yet another way the game was stretched out, and not for the better.

But to answer the question asked by a character in the game: Sure, I had some fun, but I was eventually bored by the constant combat and puzzles that felt like chores meant to break up the real action of the game. An updated view of the action makes Darksiders Genesis look fresh, but after looking under that new paint job I found a game that feels tired, despite a few bright spots.”

Rock Paper Shotgun
Review – Positive
“So yeah. Go on. Genesis is so unashamedly mid-tier (and I don’t mean this pejoratively, it’s great to see this sort of budget project surfacing again), and so overflowing with proud mid-decade nostalgia, that it’s easy to overlook its annoyances.”

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