First released in 2010, Darksiders became a cult favourite with its relentless hack and slash action and a gripping story based on the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, summoned to earth during the battle of Armageddon between the warring factions of Heaven and Hell. Having been released on most major platforms over the last nine years, Darksiders has now arrived on the Switch, becoming a very welcome addition to Nintendo’s catalogue of portable titles.
The Warmastered Edition is the exact same release as 2016’s PS4 / Xbox One version, although minus the 4K upgrade which just isn’t possible on the Switch. What the Switch can do though, is offer two performance modes – one that buffs up the graphics for docked / TV use, and another that sacrifices some of the more fancy textures and lighting effects for a higher framerate when playing handheld. It might not sound like much, but the opportunity to keep things running as smoothly as possible when in portable mode is an excellent and very welcome addition.
Satisfying sound effects, some great voice acting (genre favourite Mark Hamill plays a blinder as The Watcher, your ever-present guide throughout the game) and excellent combat that gets better and better as you earn new weapons and abilities throughout the game make Darksiders a must-have for action-adventure fans. If a cross between the original PS2 God of War games and early 3D Legend of Zelda, with a bit of Portal thrown in near the end, sounds like your sort of thing, you really should seriously think about picking this one up.
Darksiders still plays just as well as it did back in 2010, which is a testament to how good the original game really was. If you’ve never played it before, adding it to your collection should be a no-brainer. If you already own any of the previous editions though, this Switch version doesn’t really add anything that you won’t have seen before, so a potential purchase really depends on how much the portability factor appeals to you.
DARKSIDERS: WARMASTERED EDITION / DEVELOPER: KAIKO / PUBLISHER: THQ NORDIC / PLATFORM: SWITCH / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
