War, as we’ve known him, is a very melee-focused character with a giant sword, capable of splitting open nearby threats with bloody ease. While Strife does have a few close-range attacks of his own, his purpose is better suited to that of a ranged-marksman, gunning down his prey from a distance with two large revolvers named Mercy and Redemption. Each character can feel fairly different from one another as War is slower, stronger, and able to take more hits, whereas Strife is quicker, a bit more fragile, but can maintain his distance from the more imposing threats, diving in and out of skirmishes with ease. If you play solo, then you’ll want to tag them in and out as each Horseman is better suited to certain encounters. In co-op, each player takes on the role of each character to assist in their own ways to tackle the vast hordes you’ll cut through to find Lucifer. Each character can also mount their horses in Ruin and Mayhem, for War and Strife, respectively, and while not many levels really suit the steeds in a gameplay sense, there is one battle that really offered up something I wanted from their inclusion, even if it was a bit brief.

While Darksiders: Genesis may look like your typical Diabloesque hack and slash adventure, it still plays very much like the previous games, just with a new high angled focal point. While that may be good news to those looking for another entry in the series, it does have its drawbacks as the new angle does contribute to not being able to line up several jumps, or causing the distance between you and where you’re wanting to be that much harder to judge, especially when your characters are incredibly tiny on the screen. This means that several platforming aspects the series is known for are made more difficult to achieve, solely because you’re not really going to know what you did wrong as the game’s jumping isn’t as forgiving as it should be. Had characters been able to grab the ledge at the last moment to mantle up, then nearly every problem I have with jumping would be solved in a big way. While dropping to your doom is only paid with a sliver of health lost, it still feels like it happens far too often for no good reason.