Vigil Games has been hard at work on their first major release: Darksiders. I was able to play through most of the demo today at Microsoft’s booth, although the game is being published by THQ. I’m still a bit sketchy on the details, but I do know that you play as War, as in War from the Four Horsemen. Basically, from what I gathered, the Apocalypse happened too soon, and you are to blame. You have no friends and no alliances. It was described to me as a mixture of God of War and Zelda (Twilight Princess). The game is played from a third person perspective and features primarily brutal, close range combat. There are ranged weapons too, but not in the demo.
Puzzle elements are part of the experience too, but these take a back seat to the combat. The demo had me battling several bird type enemies that I was able to defeat quickly by jumping up and pressing B when close; doing this made War grab the enemy and repeatedly stab it with his sword. The sword is upgraded as you play through the campaign, which is said to be about twenty hours.
Presentation-wise, Darksiders looks and sounds great; I wouldn’t consider it outstanding or on the level of something we haven’t quite seen before, but it will be impressive.
Ultimately, I’m very excited about Darksiders — the game is nearing completetion and should be out within a few months. Check back for our review once the game is released.
