Blending combo-friendly combat with puzzles and formidable boss fights, Darksiders has always owed more than a touch to the Zelda games. And when you consider the metronomic excellence of Zelda games throughout the years, that’s definitely a good thing.



This time it’s Fury’s turn to step up into protagonist duties, following Death’s turn in Darksiders II six whole years ago. She’s empowered with a wide range of attack types and special abilities, such as Force Form. When this is unleashed, Fury harnesses her concussive and telekinetic powers to create an orbiting field of rocks around her and then hurl them towards her foes. The puzzle element kicks in with Force Form’s usefulness as a means of traversal: Fury can walk around and use the mass of matter to plug environmental gaps. Her primary weapon is a giant hammer called Scorn which, as giant hammers are prone to do, inflicts massive damage on anyone unlucky enough to be caught within range.



And that’s just when Fury’s in Force mode. She occupies a number of ‘Hollows’ which grant totally distinct powers. Fire, for example, turns her weapon hilt Scorn into two flaming flails which take on totally different combat properties than the hammer. That makes for a gleefully violent game of rock, paper, scissors when you’re experimenting with boss battles, and figuring out which weapons work best against certain enemies. Even when the game’s not serving up an explicit puzzle-platforming element, there’s some grey matter required. Also in Flame mode, Fury can pass over fire and lava without taking damage, opening up previously inaccessible routes, and jump huge distances.



Narratively, Darksiders III focuses on Fury’s quest to take down the seven deadly sins - we’re placing our bets early as to how many big bosses there’ll be to fight - with the help of The Lord of the Hollows. Agile, varied and forging its own vision of action-adventure gaming, Darksiders III may turn out to be one of 2018’s surprise smashes.