After just over a six year hiatus from store shelves, Darksiders returned this week with a long-awaited third chapter, focusing on the Horseman Fury and her battle to contain the Seven Deadly Sins before they overtake Earth. Fans have been waiting for the game feverishly, although not everyone is on the same page when it comes to reviews.
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Though I enjoyed the game in my review, some critics have felt that it has left them with mixed feelings; while others enjoyed the old-school flavor that it had to offer. As a result, it sits at around 72 on Metacritic, with the PlayStation 4 faring the worst with a score of 66.
As a result, THQ Nordic CEO Lars Wingefors decided to respond to the reviews, speaking with GamesIndustry International. He noted, “The promise we made was to deliver a game to the fans of the franchise, and I’m really proud of it. “I’m really proud of what we’ve been able to show you, I think [developer] Gunfire has made an excellent game, and even my publishing team in Vienna has been working really hard to execute on this — all the marketing, all the behind-the-scenes things.
“Everything around publishing the Apocalypse Edition has been a logistics challenge. A lot of people have spent a lot of time over the past few months to make this happen.”
As for the reviews, he simply said, “There are always a few people not enjoying this kind of product, but there are also people really enjoying it. If we stick to our promise and deliver a product that the fans really enjoy, I think we’ll be [fine].”
And the timetable to bring back Darksiders was a lot more swift than he expected as well. “With Darksiders, we have been fairly quick,” he said. “It only took five years from acquisition to actually bringing out a sequel. That’s the time band we’re working with.
“Out of the more than 100 IPs we own, you shouldn’t expect sequels from all of them because not all IPs are relevant any more.”
That said, we can’t imagine that the team wouldn’t be working on a TimeSplitters 4, as that would be a slam dunk. But we’ll have to see what they have planned.
For the time being, Darksiders III is a good time, if you can put up with a few inconsistencies. I said in my review, “Gunfire still has a ways to go to catch up with Vigil’s fine-tuned legacy. But they’ve taken a strong step in the right direction, and with a few (much-needed) fixes, Fury should have no trouble holding her own with the big boys this holiday season. As it stands, Darksiders III is worth a look — and that’s not something you can usually say about an end-of-the-world game coming out at the same time as ‘Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer.’”
Darksiders III is available now for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.
(Hat tip to GamesIndustry International for the details!)
