Knight Leon

[knightleon64]

Deadfall Adventures | A Retrospective & Deep Dive:

When Indiana Jones Meets The Mummy

A Note from the Author

I‘m a fan of Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider. I enjoy games and films filled with tomb exploration, traps and puzzles, fight against evil armies or fantasy monsters. Last month I introduced a tomb exploration game called ‘The First Templar’. Today I want to introduce another tomb exploration game to you: Deadfall Adventures.

When I was a kid, I watched many tomb exploration adventure movies like: the Indiana Jones series, The Mummy series, the National Treasure series and The Charlemagne Code. I love them very much. That is one of the reasons why I like adventure games, it’s also why I want to introduce Deadfall Adventures to you.

Deadfall Adventures is a game that make you feel like you are watching a typical tomb exploration adventure movie, it just like Indiana Jones adventure in The Mummy movies.

1. Introduction

Deadfall Adventures is an FPS game features Indiana Jones-style tomb exploration set in the WW2 period. You play as the American adventurer James Lee Quatermain (great-grandson of Allan Quatermain), he and his former colleague Jennifer Goodwin adventure in WW2 Egypt, Arctic, Maya jungle, stop the Nazis and Soviets from getting an ancient powerful artifact - The Heart of Atlantis.

Deadfall Adventures is like a video game version of Indiana Jones films mixed with The Mummy films. You will adventure in Egypt Pyramid, Arctic temples, Maya temples, use WW2 weapons to gunfight against Nazi army and Soviet army, fight against undead Mummy, pass through traps, solve puzzles, and finally get the hidden treasures.

2. Gameplay Mechanics

WW2 FPS with Mummy Fights

In Deadfall Adventures, the gunplay experience is very similar to other WW2 FPS games. You can use typical WW2 guns like MP-38, k98, Thompson or Russian guns, to shoot against Nazi Army, Soviet Army and Arab mercenaries.

The combat mechanic is very similar to COD 1&2, the enemies will use rifles, submachine guns, shotguns to shoot you or hide behind covers. This game doesn’t have HP Bar, if you are getting hit, the screen will be bloody and shaking. If you don’t get hit and wait for few seconds, the screen will be normal. If you hide behind covers, the enemies will throw a grenade. Therefore, every time I shot several enemies, I moved to a new position to avoid the blasts.

To be honest, this game’s gunfight experience is decent, it has good shoot feedback, good haptic response, decent shoot sounds. But there are so many WW2 FPS games on Steam, most of WW2 FPS games are better than it, this game’s guns are too few, and the enemies’ AI is not very good.

Beyond the typical WW2 gunfight, there also have many Mummies fight in every level. The Mummies will walk forward to you like zombies, use sword and shield, some of them will use 17th century muskets.

The Mummies fight is a little similar to Alan Wake, but less fun than it. You must wield a flashlight and light on the Mummies’ faces, and then you can shoot them.

Normal gun bullets can only deal very little damage to the Mummies, but the Mummies fear light. You can use flash light to light on the Mummies; the light will burn the Mummies. If the Mummies are burned, they will be very weak, you can kill them by one shot.

Level-based Indiana Jones like Tomb Exploration

This game’s game through is very similar to uncharted series. There are 10 levels belong to three regions: Egypt, Arctic, Maya in this game. Every level come with gunfight, traps, puzzles, Mummies fight and hidden treasures.

For example, when I played the first level Egypt, at first, I explored the inside rooms of the Pyramid, I meted many traps (like spire trap, poison gas trap, rolling stone trap…), solved some little puzzles to get hidden treasures.

And then, when I solved a large light ray puzzle, the mummies appeared. I use flashlight to light on the mummies and shoot them. After I finish the mummies, I saw Nazi army is fighting against the mummies at the next rooms, so I pick up MP-38 to shoot both Nazi and mummies.

After the gunfight part, there are many new traps and puzzles in the next rooms. When I finally finish all the gunfight and puzzles, I found the exit of the Pyramid, and there are a little group of Nazi at the outside of the Pyramid, it meant a new gunfight to me.

So, the game through of every level is a circle: explore ancient ruins or ancient tombs -> pass traps -> solve puzzles & get treasures -> gunfight against Nazis -> fight against mummies -> new rooms can explore -> new traps and puzzles -> new gunfights -> new mummy fights -> reach the exit.

The levels design is strictly linear; there is only a few rooms I can explore. If I reach a milestone of the level, I cannot return to previous places to search the hidden treasures that I missed.

The puzzles design is more like classic puzzle games: at most of time, I don’t need to search some key items and plot them to some holes or just pull a lever in somewhere, I need to watch the pages of great-grandfather’s note and guess the solution of the puzzle.

For example, there is a totem pole puzzle room with three totem poles in one of levels, I need to turn totem poles to the correct directions. I watched one of the pages of great-grandfather’s note, it notices me to watch the reliefs around the walls. So, I watch the reliefs and turn totem poles’ directions to match the reliefs. And then, the puzzle is solved and the treasure is appearing in.

In my opinion, Deadfall Adventures is cannot be compared to AAA-Tier tomb exploration games like Uncharted or Tomb Raider, but it’s not a bad game. It offers you a first-person tomb exploration experience (Indiana Jones and The Great Circle brings better first-person tomb exploration experience, but it published in 2024, and Deadfall Adventures published in 2013) and you can fight against Nazis (like Indiana Jones) and Mummies (like The Mummy films).

3. Progression and Upgrade

Treasures and Skill Upgrades

There are three types of treasures corresponding to three paths of skills that hidden in every level of this game. Every time you get a new treasure, it means you get a new skill point. You can cost treasures to unlock new skills.

These are the three paths of skills:

Path of Life: 8 skills that can increase your max health, max stamina, health recovery speed, stamina recovery speed.

Path of Light: 4 skills that can increase your flashlight damage, flashlight recharge speed.

Path of Warrior: 8 skills that can increase your weapon reload speed, rate of fire, or decrease your aiming spread, recoil.

So, you cannot build your own character customization in this game, all the skills are increase your character’s base stats like health or rate of fire.

Killing an enemy will not grant you any XP points or coins, so explore the tomb and search for the treasures as your best is the only way you can increase your stats.

4. Unique Flavor

Unlike Uncharted and Indiana Jone, where the main enemies are human, Deadfall Adventures has many Mummies. It’s also the only first-person Indiana Jones like adventure game based on WW2 period that published before Indiana Jones and The Great Circle.

The tomb exploration games features with monster or undead are Tomb Raider series. But if you played the old Tomb Raider series that published before Tomb Raider (2013), you will know they are third person action games with many traps and puzzles, they don’t have so many gunfights and their gunfight experience is bad.

So, this game is so unique on Steam, it’s a WW2 period FPS game but you need to explore ancient tomb and fight against Mummies. It picks up some elements from Uncharted, Indiana Jones, Tomb Raider, and combines them into one game. If you like Uncharted, Indiana Jones, Tomb Raider, maybe you will like Deadfall Adventures too.

5. Storytelling and World-Building

Main Plot and Narrative Quality (Spoiler!)

The story of Deadfall Adventures is a typical Indiana Jones type adventure story, a story about two American adventurers’ travels between Egypt, Arctic, Maya to stop the Nazi doctor getting the Heart of Atlantis.

At the beginning of story, AD 1938, the adventurer James Lee Quatermain is hired to escort Jennifer Goodwin to Egypt to search for the Heart of Atlantis.

When they arrive in Egypt, they meet the Nazi Army, the Nazis want to get the relic too. They also meet a Nazi Doctor Hagen in Pyramid, after James solves a puzzle in the Pyramid, James finds the first part of the Heart of Atlantis, and then Hagen takes the piece of the Heart of Atlantis and tells James he’s a spy of the Allied power, he gives James a flashlight with magic power.

After finding the part of the Heart of Atlantis, the Mummies are awaked, James watch a fight between Nazi army and the Mummies. After gunfight against Nazis and Mummies, traps and puzzles, James and Jennifer finally leave the Pyramid and trave to Arctic to find another part of the Heart of Atlantis.

Nazi had built a base in Arctic, after gunfight against Nazis, James finds an ancient tomb with maya style architect and Ice Mummies hide in Arctic. James finds the second part of the Heart of Atlantis, but Doctor Hagen betrays James and taken the piece of the Heart of Atlantis.

After Doctor Hagen’s betrayal James meet Soviet Army and get arrest by them. Soviet Army officer gets the treasure information about the Heart of Atlantis. After run out of the Soviet’s dungeon, James and Jennifer travel to South America to find the final part of the Heart of Atlantis.

They meet Soviet Army in South America Jungle and find a hidden Maya temple city in the jungle. James finds 17th century Spanish army also found the hidden Maya temple and the secret about the Heart of Atlantis but the Spanish had turned to undead Mummies. James finds the final part of the Heart of Atlantis, but Doctor Hagen taken it again.

Doctor Hagen catches Jennifer and threat James help him to open the gate of Xibalba (the underworld of Maya mythology). Doctor Hagen wants to became immortal in Xibalba, but finally, James stops Doctor Hagen.

This is the story of Deadfall Adventures, in my opinion, it’s a typical popcorn movie style tomb exploration adventure story. This story is not good but decent, it cannot bring you some memorable characters or villains, but it’s enough for a level-based action game.

Characterization Quality

The Characterization of Deadfall Adventures is bad; be honest I feel the character I play is a knock-off of Indiana Jones. The heroine Jennifer is insignificant in this game, and the villain Hagen make me feel him like a thief than a Nazi Doctor.

World-Building Quality

After I finish this game, I have too many questions about its background. When I first know the word Heart of Atlantis, I expect to meet an ancient Greek tomb and some Greek mythology monsters. But this game tells me the Maya is the Atlantis, and there is a Maya tomb hide in Arctic, I feel ridiculous.

And the Soviet Army appear in South America is a plot hole of the story, why atheists believe Maya mythology and want to find the Heart of Atlantis. USA will not allow Soviet Army appear in South America.

So, this game’s World-Building is failure.

6. Visual Experience

Art Style

The art style of Deadfall Adventures is realistic WW2 style mix the stereotypical Egyptian and Mayan tomb styles found in adventure films.

The human enemies are all realistic WW2 soldiers use WW2 weapons, there isn’t any human enemy use Sci-Fi or Fantasy weapons or armor. The buildings of Nazi are typical WW2 building too. So, if you walk into Nazi building and shoot against Nazis, you will feel you’re playing other WW2 FPS games.

But the tombs are all typical adventure film style but not real history Egypt or Maya tomb style. For example, the Egypt tomb has many fantasy elements like gems that can fire a strong light or mechanically triggered complex traps.

And the walking Mummies and Maya City in this game are all typical maya tomb adventure films & games stereotype style, not real history too. For example, when I play Maya levels, I see many flaming stone skulls (I had searched images about Maya ruins on Google, they don’t like that), and the Maya Mummies are wielding metal saber & shield (I remember Maya peoples use clubs and wooden shield in true history, they can’t make iron weapon or armor).  

Visual Consistency

As I mentioned, this game’s art style like a WW2 FPS game mix a Hollywood adventure movie. So, these visuals split this game to two parts, the WW2 gunfight part’s visuals are history style, but the tomb part’s visuals are fantasy style.

Every time I use WW2 guns to shoot against Nazis, soon I will enter the tombs and fight against Mummies, it often makes me feel confused, I couldn’t certain which type of game I’m playing, a history WW2 game or a fantasy tomb adventure game?

Visual Details

Even though this game was published over 10 years ago, its models and textures are a little rough, but the whole visuals are not outdated for nowadays.

There are many visual detail in this game like: Egypt or Maya icon on walls & floors of tombs, various of stone sculptures in tombs, flaming stone skulls, maya style cloths on mummies. All the things make this game’s visuals are full of details, they build a strong atmosphere.

7. Controls and UI

Controls

This game’s control set is typical FPS style, only a little different: if you meet mummies, you need press LB to turn on strong flashlight.

UI

The combat UI is typical FPS UI too, but the tomb puzzle UI is creative and immersive.

There is a handwriting note from James’ great grandfather, it records the solution of the tombs’ puzzles, it’s the puzzle solution UI. Yes, it doesn’t look like a typical game UI, it just like a normal handwriting note, you need to read the note, watch the picture from the note, guess the solution.

The treasure seeker UI is immersion too, if you want to find the hidden treasures, you need to open a 19th century style handcraft compass, the compass’ arrow will guide you the direction of treasures.

8. Difficulty

Combat Difficulty

The combat against human enemies is not hard, there isn’t any special types of human army in this game, you can kill all kinds of soldiers by one shot (if you hit their head), you also can kill enemies by only several shot if you hit their body. IF you get hurt, hide behind covers and wait for several seconds, your HP will get recovered.

The combat against mummies is harder than human enemies. The mummies have high HP and high melee damage, but if you turn on flashlight’s strong mode and focus the light on the mummies’ face, they will be frightened and get stunned, they will be easy to kill.

Tomb Exploration & Puzzles Difficulty

Every level has a map; you can find the map at somewhere of the beginning of the level. If you get the map, you will know the locations of the treasures. If you arrive the location near the treasures, it will be a compass icon notice you there is a treasure hidden somewhere nearby, and then you can open the compass, it will guide you to the treasures.

The traps of tombs are not hard. Be honest, this game’s tomb traps’ difficulty is one of the easiest traps that I played. I just need to jump to the destination and avoid the blades on walls or floors.

Most of puzzles in this game are simple, the difficulty of puzzles is not come from themselves but come from the puzzle solution note that I mentioned. The difficulty of puzzles is how to understand the meaning of the picture about the puzzles.

9. Side Content

Treasures

Every level has about 5-10 treasures hide in somewhere, as I mentioned you can pick up it to upgrade your skills. That’s all the side content in this game.

10. Conclusion and Score

Overall Impression

Deadfall Adventures is a cinematic WW2 FPS game features Indiana Jones like tomb exploration.  Its characters and background similar to Indiana Jones, but its mummy enemies similar to the film The Mummy. It’s a decent WW2 FPS game, good tomb exploration game.

It isn’t a cheap version of Indiana Jones and The Great Circle; it’s rare WW2 FPS that can explore the tombs and shoot the mummy. If you like the tomb exploration films like me, maybe you will like this game too.

Pros:

Cinematic tomb exploration experience.

Set in WW2 period but explore the tombs.

Shoot against Nazis and Mummies.

Cons:

Outdated visuals.

Bad Story

Ahistorical enemy set like Nazi use Thompson.

Target Audience:

Fan of Indiana Jones films, fan of tomb exploration, fan of The Mummy films.

Rating:

Gameplay: 6/10

Story: 5/10

Visuals: 7/10

Controls: 7/10

Overall: 6/10

[knightleon64]

The First Templar| A Deep Dive

A Medieval 'Last Crusade' Across Europe and Middle East

A Note from the Author

I‘m a fan of Indiana Jones. I like the stories filled with tomb exploration, traps and puzzles, fight against evil armies or fantasy monsters. Did you know that over a decade ago, two tomb exploration games were released that are reminiscent of the Indiana Jones films? Today I want to introduce one of the two tomb exploration games to you: The First Templar.

My favorite Indiana Jones film is Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. I was drawn to it because of its Crusades setting. When I was a kid, my uncle sent me a lot of history books, so I love history and the games that are about history. That is why I like The First Templar; it’s a game similar to Indiana Jones films and based on the Crusade period.

When I read the chronicles of the First Crusade, I feel a profound sense of gratitude toward those warriors of God; it was their sacrifice that paved the way for our modern world. Yet, when I reach the chapters detailing the fall of Jerusalem and the eventual loss of Acre—where Christians were sold into slavery by the Mamluks—I am overcome with a deep sense of sorrow and regret.

I am reminded of the legends about the knights’ quest for the Holy Grail. I cannot help but wonder: If the Almighty and the Virgin Mary had bestowed true divine power upon the soldiers of Christ, and if the Templar Order had never met its tragic end, perhaps the Holy Land would never have fallen. You will find the answer in The First Templar.

1. Introduction

The First Templar is a third person, partner-based history action-adventure game. You play as the French templar Celian and the female noble rogue Marie. Their quest is to find the Holy Grail, leading them on an epic journey between France and the Holy Land.

The First Templar’s game experience is like a video game version of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade but set in medieval period. Sometimes you need to fight against Europe soldiers or Middle East soldiers by your sword (no magic or monsters in The First Templar), sometimes you need to use stealth and avoid triggering enemies’ alert, sometimes you need to explore the lost temples, solve traps and puzzles. So, it’s a game feature three mechanics: partner-based hack & slash, stealth, cinematic tomb exploration.

2. Gameplay Mechanics

Third Person Partner-Based Hack & Slash

In The First Templar, there are three playable characters you can choose: a balanced temple knight Celian, an agile female rogue Marie, and a heavy temple knight Roland (only playable in several levels), each with unique abilities and skill trees.

Here are the three characters and what they can do during combat in In The First Templar:

Celian: A knight who uses a longsword and a shield, medium attack power and speed, he can grab an enemy, charge to enemies, challenge enemies (attract enemies to attack him and ignore another character), heal himself and teammate.

Marie: A rogue who uses dual-knives, low attack power but high attack speed, she can throw daggers, dash, backstab, refill zeal orbs without hitting any enemy.

Roland: A knight who uses a great sword, high attack power but low attack speed, his abilities are very similar to Celian.

Although there are three playable characters in The First Templar, you can only play two of them to play as in the levels. You can play as one character and AI will control anther character; you can switch the character you controlled whenever you want. The AI controlled teammate is very helpful in combat, he/she will not only deal normal attacks but also deal charged attack or execute.

The combat mechanic is typical third person hack & slash but it feels more cinematic, each character can do normal attack, charged attack, sweeping attack, block, counter-attack and execution.

Every time you hit enemy you will get some zeal (like rage mechanic in other games) power, when the rage power is full you will get a zeal orb, you can cost a zeal orb to deal charged attack or do some special moves.

Similar to zeal orbs mechanic, there is also a health orbs mechanic. Every character has 2-5 health orbs, if your health bar is zero you will not die but just cost one health orb. And you can refill health orbs by eating food or drinking water; they are very common in The First Templar.

The First Templar doesn’t have any magic or fantasy monster, so all the enemies are medieval soldiers who use swords, shields, spears or bows. The combat experience in The First Templar is a little like Assassin's Creed II but better than that: you can deal various of combos; some enemies have unique combat mechanics.

You will fight against various medieval types enemies: light footman, spearman, heavy footman, bowman, crossbowman, halberdier, knight, brawny man, giant brawny man (like Ogre in fantasy games) and you will fight against assassin in some levels of Holy Land.

Each type of enemy has his combat style; you need to use some special moves to defeat enemies. For example, heavy footmen and knights come with shield, you need to deal charged attack to break their shield, or you cannot deal any damage on them.

In my opinion, the combat experience is good enough for a cinematic history adventure video game. Its combat mechanics are not complicated or hardcore, but it feels like combat against the real medieval soldiers. And its hit feedback, haptic response, hit sounds are all good, it feels like a real sword hit on a real shield.

Level-based Cinematic History Action-Adventure with Tomb Exploration

If you finish The First Templar, you will feel like watching a long-hours history action-adventure Indiana Jones like film.

You will travel between many places in medieval Europe and Middle East, visit Forests in France, French Inquisition, Acre (the last bastion of Crusader Kingdom), Templar Secret Tunnels in Middle East, Ascalon (an important city of Crusader Kingdom), Mansion of Ibelin(one of the most important families in Kingdom of Jerusalem), La Rochelle, Swamp in France, Desert Town in Middle East, Lost Templar Temple in Middle East, Montségur Castle(a place where the Holy Grail hidden here in some tales).

There are 20 levels in The First Templar, each level brings you a new story background based on a new place in Europe or Middle East. Every level has its own main quests, side quests, chests, mission-specific mechanics, zone-specific enemies (like bandit in the forests or Muslim knight in Middle East).

These levels are distinct from one another:

In Middle East Battlefield levels, it feels like the film Kingdom of Heaven. You will travel to the Holy Land, fight with crusader soldiers against Muslim armies, help Christian army defend the last bastion of Crusader Kingdom.

In Tomb Exploration levels, it feels like the film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. You will travel between Europe and Middle East to find the Templar’s lost temple. You must pass traps, look for the hidden paths, solve puzzles and find the truth hidden in history in these tombs. Finally, you will find the secret of the founder of the Templar, and in the end, you will find the Holy Grail.

In France levels, you will face the tragic end of Templar Order, it feels like the video game Assassin's Creed.  French army will patrol in routines, they will seek you, you can choose stealth or fight. If they see you, they will raise an alert to call reinforcements. In some levels, you must avoid triggering any alert or the mission will fail.

In my opinion, this game’s entire level design is good for a linear action-adventure game. You will not feel bored and repetitive in this game, if your current level is a combat level, the next level will be a stealth level or a tomb exploration level.

3. Progression and Upgrade

Skill Trees

Every time you kill enemies, open some chests, finish some side quests, you will earn XP. You can spend XP to learn new skills; some skills will increase the maximum limit of your health or zeal orbs; some skill can unlock new moves or upgrade your moves.

Each character has his own skill tree, so you can feel the difference between characters. For example, Roland can upgrade his health orb maximum limit to 4 in early levels, but Celian cannot. But if you learned most of the skills, you will feel every character is similar to each other.

Outfits

You cannot change equipment in this game, but you can change your character’s outfit, it will change your character’s appearance but will not increase any character stats.

4. Unique Flavor

Unlike Tomb Raider, Uncharted set in modern day, or Indiana Jones set in WW II, The First Templar is set in Crusader period. It’s the only one It’s the only historical action-adventure game I have played that features tomb exploration and without magic elements.

It’s so unique on Steam, I cannot find any other action-adventure games like that: fight at Crusader battlefield, visit medieval Europe and Middle East places, explore tombs and look for treasures.

5. Storytelling and World-Building

Main Plot and Narrative Quality

The story of The First Templar is a quest of a French templar knight looking for the Holy Grail, it’s also a tragedy about the fall of the Templar, you will see the Bloody Friday in October 13th 1307.

At the beginning of story, templar knight Celian and Roland accept a quest from grand master to find the Holy Grail. And then they see the French Inquisition’s Plot against the Templar Order. After they rescue a female noble Marie, Roland is arrested by the French Inquisition, Celian and Marie travel to Holy Land to find the Holy Grail.

When Celian and Marie arrive in Holy Land, the last bastion of Crusader Kingdom Acre is being sieged. So, they help the army of Acre to defend this city. And then, they travel to Ascalon to find the secret of Ibelin family, this secret may reveal the location of the Holy Grail.

When they arrive Ascalon, this place once belonged to Ibelin family now has been occupied by the Assassin Order. So, they infiltrate Ascalon to enter the Mansion of Ibelin, through many danger traps, they finally find the Ibelin family has known the location of the Holy Grail, but they hid this secret before Muslim army invade.

Celian and Marie return Europe to decipher the Ibelin family’s manuscript, but when they arrive in La Rochelle, they find all the templars have disappeared and French army is arresting templars.

After the Ibelin family’s manuscript has been deciphered, Celian and Marie travel to Holy Land again. They want to find the lost nine temples that were built by the founder of the Templar Order. Finally, they found the templar founders’ secret: they had been immortal by the power of Holy Grail.

So, they return to France and face the grandmaster, grandmaster tell them Celian was Hugues de Payens, who was the founder of Templar Order, Celian was the first templar. And then, grandmaster betrays Celian, grandmaster also want to find and occupy the Holy Grail.

Celian and Marie return to Celian’s homeland Montségur, when they arrive in, this castle is being sieged by French army. So, they infiltrate Montségur castle, find the entrance of the Sanctuary, and finally find the Holy Grail.

After defeat the grandmaster, you can choose the fate of the Holy Grail:  destroy it or keep it, your choice will determine the ending.

In my opinion, the story of The First Templar is a typical partner road-movie like adventure story. Although this game can’t bring you some deep thoughts, but it can make you like sit in a seat of theater and watch a Hollywood action-adventure movie.

Characterization Quality

The story of The First Templar is always focus on Celian and Marie, so you will know the two characters’ personality. But the villains’ characterization is weak, I can’t remember the villains’ name and personality. And there is no other narrative-rich NPCs in this game.

World-Building Quality

This game is an action game, not an RPG game, so you cannot get more background story from NPCs. There is also have many Templar Chronicles, it can tell you some history text of Crusader period, it can help you learn more about the history about the Templar and Crusader.

6. Visual Experience

Art Style

The art style of The First Templar is realistic history medieval style. You can see many medieval Europe and Middle East buildings in this game.  The characters and enemies’ equipment are also real medieval style.

So, even its visuals are a little outdated, but it still can make you feel like taking a grand tour in medieval Europe and Middle East.

Visual Consistency

Because its real history medieval style, there’s nothing make me feel inharmonious.

Visual Details

This game’s models are a little poor to modern players, but the textures are very detailed for a 10 years old games. So, maybe its visuals are outdated for somebody, but it’s enough to me.

7. Controls and UI

Controls

Although Steam tells you this game does not support controllers, but it supports controllers actually. The gamepad experience is decent, and the move lists is simple for most users: just press XXX or XAA or X + A.

UI

The combat UI is clean and simple, but the skill trees UI is not clear to users. Unlike other games’ skill trees UI that can show you all the skills’ detail information, you can only see the skills’ information that you have unlocked and the next ones, others are locked, you cannot see the whole skills’ information. So, I can’t decide which skill to unlock first to build my character.

8. Difficulty

Combat Difficulty

The combat is not hard in this game. If I learn some skills, every time I hit an enemy, I will get some zeal power to fill a zeal orb. If my health is low, Celian has a heal skill can heal himself. If I lose all health, another character can cost a zeal orb to revive him.

Stealth Difficulty

This game has a typical stealth mechanic: the enemies will patrol in routines, enemies have their own field of view, so if you do stealth behind them, they cannot see you.

So, you can stealth behind an enemy and backstab him, one by one, until you finish most enemies. If enemies see you, it’s not a matter. In most of levels, if an enemy raise an alert, he just calls for more enemies, you can handle these enemies.

Tomb Exploration & Puzzles Difficulty

There are a lot of spire traps, blade traps, flame traps in these tombs, I always get hurt. The tombs’ puzzles are not hard, but there are a lot of traps between puzzles. So, the tomb levels more like an adventure than a puzzle level.

9. Side Content

Side areas, quests and chests

Every level has some side areas; there are some side quests and chests in these areas.

The side quests are very simple, like: burn enemies’ supplies, rescue some villagers. If you finish them, you will get some XP or find a hidden chest.

Open a chest in this game will not give you any gold or equipment like other RPGs. You can only get a temporary positive buff from most of chests, these temporary positive buffs only active in current level.

Some of chests will give XP or a piece of outfits, if you collect all pieces of outfits, you can get a new outfit.

Templar Chronicles

There are 50 Templar Chronicles hidden somewhere of every level. You can find them and listen to a speech about Crusader period history.

10. Conclusion and Score

Overall Impression

The First Templar is a third person, partner-based history action-adventure game. Its visuals are a little outdated but not bad for nowadays. It can bring you an Indiana Jones like medieval adventure experience.

Pros:

Realistic Medieval art styles.

Crusader period history background.

Indiana Jones like tomb exploration levels.

Cons:

Outdated visuals.

Levels cannot replay

Poorly designed stealth levels

Target Audience:

Fan of Medieval history, fan of tomb exploration.

Rating:

Gameplay: 7/10

Story: 7/10

Visuals: 7/10

Controls: 6/10

Overall: 7/10

[knightleon64]

Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone| A Deep Dive

An Average Cinematic Fantasy Action-Adventure, But one of the Best D&D Action Games.

A Note from the Author

I was born in the late 80s. When I was a kid, I saw a cartoon He-Man, that was the time I first encountered fantasy stories. Since then, I have been a fan of fantasy stores, like D&D, Middle Earth, Warhammer, Conan the Barbarian, Warcraft, Record of Lodoss War, Ys series.

My favorite fantasy game story background is always based on D&D, the most attractive story for me is an epic fantasy odyssey that a team with 3-4 peoples travel to many epic places and save the world, so I always look for video games like that.

 Every time a new single-player D&D game is announced, I will always add it to my Wishlist. But I found there are a few modern D&D games on Steam, especially D&D (or other fantasy like it) squad-based action-adventure games are fewer.

 Either Demon Stone or Dark Alliance 1 & 2 are old games; Gold Box series are too old to me. So, the remastered version of Demon Stone was released on Steam, I buy it immediately and write a deep dive for it.

1. Introduction

Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone is a third person, squad-based fantasy hack & slash game set in Forgotten Realms of the D&D universe. You play as a three-man adventuring party traveling the places of Faerûn to stop the evils they released by their mistake.

Unlike other typical D&D games such as Baldur Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Icewind Dale, which are real-time with pause type games or turn-based tactics games, Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone is a third person hack & slash game.

In Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone, you don't just control one man like other third person hack & slash games, but you control a team with 3 D&D classes to fight against typical D&D monsters, you can even fight with the typical D&D character Drizzt Do'Urden in a level.

2. Gameplay Mechanics

Third Person Squad-Based Hack & Slash

In Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone, there are three playable characters you can choose: a fighter Rannek, a rogue Zhai, and a sorcerer Illius, each with unique abilities and combat styles.

The combat mechanic is typical third person hack & slash, each character can do melee attack, ranged attack, class based special moves, power attack (costs rage), unique ability, block and execution.

Every time you hit enemy you will get some rage power, when the rage power is full, you can use it to deal power attack, each character has his unique power attack. Every character has his own rage bar, if all the three characters’ rage bar are full, you can deal a team attack. Team attack can make all the three characters deal power attack at the same time; it can kill a group of enemies.

Each character also has his own combo list and unique ability, some base moves are common to each other, but every character has his unique advance moves.

Here are the three characters and what they can do during combat in In Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone:

Rannek: A melee fighter, can deal charged attacks and use gauntlet to hit the ground.

Zhai: A stealth rogue, can enter stealth in shadows, can backstab an enemy (execute him).

Illius: A sorcerer, can cast typical D&D spells like fire ball or Protection from evil.

The fighter Rannek is a typical D&D human fighter, who uses a longsword and wears a heavy armor.  He has the longest health bar and the highest melee attack power of the team, his role in team is Tank. He can also throw axes for ranged attack, but it’s useless for majority of enemies.

Rannek can deal charged attack and knock down enemies, if enemies have been knocked down, they can be executed. Rannek’s unique ability is use his gauntlet to heavy hit the ground and make a AOE attack. His power attack is typical D&D fighter’s ability: whirlwind attack, it’s a very powerful attack that can clear the enemies around him.

The rogue Zhai is a half-elf rogue, she is a typical D&D rogue, who use dual-knives and wear leather armor. Her health bar and melee attack power are medium, but she can hide in shadows and backstab enemy. She can also throw daggers ranged attack, its ranged attack power as weak as Rannek’s throw axes, but she can carry more daggers ammo.

There are many shadow zones in some levels, if Zhai enters the shadow zones, she will auto enter stealth mode. When Zhai enters the shadow zones, she can keep stealth mode for several seconds. In the stealth mode, Zhai become invisible and monsters will not attack her. If Zhai keep stealth mode and walk to the back of a monster, she can deal a backstab, it can ignore the remaining HP of this monster and kill him directly.

The backstab can be used on all not Boss type enemies, so you can control Zhai to deal elite enemies that other characters hard to defeat. This auto enters stealth mode and easy to backstab make me feel this is what a true D&D rogue should do.

Unlike play as a rogue class character in other fantasy action games, that make me feel I play as a high speed but low health version warrior, Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone is a game that make me the first time I feel a play as a true rogue in action games. That is one of the reasons why I want to introduce this game to you.

The sorcerer Illius is a human sorcerer, but he doesn’t feel like a typical D&D sorcerer or mage class in other ARPG games. He doesn’t have any mana bar mechanic or spell slots mechanic; he can cast spells in several seconds and no spell slots limit.

That’s the reason why I said he doesn’t like a typical D&D sorcerer, he’s powerful than other sorcerer class or mage class in other D&D games, even stronger than mage class with mana bar mechanic in other fantasy game.

Illius can cast three types of spells, each type can only cast one magic spell, but you can upgrade it to higher tiers:

Ranged Attack Magics: cast a magic missile to hit an enemy from a distance, it can be charged, its attack power is stronger than Rannek and Zhai’s attack power, if you upgraded it to max tier, it can even kill an elite enemy by 2 hits.

Protection Magics: cast a magic protection spell that can increase your team’s defense.

Hold Monsters Magics: cast a hold monster spell that can hold an enemy for several seconds, if you upgraded it to max tier, you can hold a group of enemies at the same time.

Unlike play as a mage in other fantasy ARPG games that I need to hit and run, my AI controlled teammates will attract enemies, so I can cast a spell from a distance and am not afraid of enemies are too close to me in most of time.

Illius is a powerful character especially you upgraded all types of spells to max tier, I controlled him to defeat the final boss.

In my opinion, Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone offers good D&D role-playing immersion, but its combat experience is bad.

The hit feedback is bad, if I control a melee character like Rannek or Zhai to clash an enemy, I feel I chopping wood. The enemies have their hit react animations, but the hit react animations feel incredibly stiff and mechanical.

The gamepad input feels unresponsive and sluggish. Even though the combo list is quite simple, I struggle to execute them as easily as I do in other games. It feels like there’s a delay between my inputs and the character’s actions, leading to many dropped combos.

 Beyond the input delay, the combat is incredibly frustrating because my actions—whether attacking or casting a spell—are constantly interrupted by enemies. I often find my character locked in hit stun or knocked down for seconds at a time, unable to react.

The boss fights are boring; I can’t focus on the boss because it will summons many enemies to interrupt me, if I clean these enemies, it will summons many enemies repeatedly. I can’t ignore the enemies because their numbers are too many, and they will interrupt me attacking to the boss.

That’s the reason why I said this game combat experience is bad, I like its D&D role-playing immersion, but I don’t like the react animations and controls.

Level-based Cinematic Fantasy Action-Adventure

Beyond the combats, Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone make me feel like watching a typical fantasy action-adventure movie like the Hobbit.

Unlike other fantasy ARPG games, I can’t walk through a town, meet NPCs, receive missions from NPCs, buy and sell items in Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone. It’s a typical early level-based action-adventure game.

There are 10 levels in Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone, each level’s contents only about 0.5 to 1 hour, but they are packed with unique story backgrounds and mission objectives.

The game keeps things fresh by introducing mission-specific mechanics and not just combats: in the Elf Village, you focus on a rescue mission; in the Wizard's Tower, you get a chance to control a classic D&D Iron Golem; in the Forest Temple, the gameplay shifts to stealth and assassinations as Zhai; and finally, you face the epic thrill of slashing a Red Dragon in its lair.

Because the environments and visual elements change so rapidly, the stage ends just before any feeling of repetitiveness. The entire experience of Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone feels like a fantasy road movie.

So, if you like road movies or fantasy action-adventure movies, maybe you will like this game.

BTW, I’m a fan of fantasy action-adventure movies, I also like road movies, but I haven’t seen a good fantasy action-adventure movie (like The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit,The Chronicles of Narnia) these years, maybe you can introduce me some new movies.

3. Progression and Upgrade

Characters level up and skills learning

Every time you finish a level, your team will earn XP and Gold, and you will enter a preparation menu that can learn new skills or upgrade equipment. If the XP reach the XP threshold when you enter to preparation menu, your character will level up. Level up a character will not increase his stats, but every 2,4,6,8,10 level will unlock new skills you can spend XP to learn.

You can only learn new skills or upgrade equipment during preparation for the next level; you can’t learn skills or change equipment during your level playthrough.

Each character has his own XP; he can spend XP to learn a new skill or upgrade skills before you prepare to the next level. Some skills can unlock a new combat move to your combo lists, some skills can passively increase your character stats: health, attack power, stealth mode keep time.

Illius has his unique skill learning mechanic: he has few of combat moves, but he can upgrade his magic spell to a new powerful magic spell. For example, these are each tier attack spell:

Tier I: Magic Missile

Tier II: Flame Arrow

Tier III: Melf’s Acid Arrow

Tier IV: Fireball

Tier V: Lightning Bolt

Tier VI: Cone of Cold

Tier VII: Otiluke's Freezing Sphere

Tier VIII: Power Word Kill

Tier IX: Meteor Swarm

So, Illius is very strong in high levels, control a sorcerer cast spell Meteor Swarm and no spell slots limit, image how strong he will be in other D&D games.

Equipment Upgrade

You can spend gold to upgrade every character’s weapon, armor, enchantments, magic rings. The weapon, armor, armor’s enchantment and magic jewelry can upgrade to tier V, and the weapon’s enchantments can upgrade to tier III.

If you upgrade your weapon tier, it can increase your character’s attack power. If you upgrade your armor tier, it can increase your character’s defense. But upgrade weapon and armor aren’t the only way to increase your character’s stats, you can buy and upgrade magic jewelry to increase your character’s health, defense, magic attack power (only Illius).

Every character can choose one of three enchantments to enhance his weapon; each character’s weapon enchantments is different.

Here’s the three character’s weapon enchantments:

Rannek: Fire, Ice, Lightning

Zhai: Bleed, Poison, Dark

Illius: Sonic, Pain, Lightning

These weapon enchantments can increase weapon’s attack power, but I had tried all enchantments, I couldn't tell the true difference between them during combat.

The economy system in Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone is quite unique. Instead of a shared party treasury, each character manages their own individual gold pool, meaning upgrading one character's equipment won't drain resources from the others.

More importantly, the upgrade system is incredibly forgiving. Unlike most other RPGs where spending gold is a permanent commitment, this game offers a full refund whenever you choose to downgrade an item.

Since you get 100% of your gold back, you can freely customize your equipment tiers and enchantments to suit your needs. It’s a risk-free system that encourages experimentation without the fear of wasting hard-earned currency.

4. Unique Flavor

Before writing this essay, I had searched all the D&D games on Steam or GOG, I want to find other D&D 3D action game like Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone, but I failed to find any. To be honest, new video games based in D&D are too few on Steam, this game is the only one D&D 3D action game I can find on Steam.

The story happened in Forgotten Realms, the typical D&D classes, the cinematic fantasy action-adventure, all these things made Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone is so unique.

If you’re a fan of D&D like me, and you prefer to 3D action game over real-time with pause type games or turn-based tactics games, this game maybe your only choice, although it’s not a good action game.

5. Storytelling and World-Building

Main Plot and Narrative Quality

The story of Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone is typical D&D adventure story written by R. A. Salvatore, it happened in Faerûn, and the time is around 1373 DR.

At the beginning, two armies of Orcs are battling in town Damara, and there is a red dragon breathing fire on this town. Rannek, Zhai, Illius fight against the Orcs. To avoid the dragon’s flame our three characters enter to Gemspark Mine. In this mine, our characters kill the leader of Orcs, broke a magic seal by their mistake.

When the seal breaks, two ancient evil leaders: Cireka and Ygorl are released. To fix the mistake they made, Rannek, Zhai, Illius build a team and start an epic odyssey through Faerûn to find Demon Stone, use this stone to seal Cireka and Ygorl again.

Unfortunately, even our team had gotten the Demon Stone, but one of ancient evil leaders: Cireka is killed by red dragon Caminus. Rannek pick up Cireka’s Silver Sword of Gith and our team slash red dragon Caminus.

Finally, with Silver Sword of Gith and Red Dragon Armor our team can kill the last two ancient evil leader Ygorl without using the Demon Stone. They saved Faerûn and be the lords of Vaasa.

In my opinion, the story of Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone is not a long adventure story. The goal and villains had all revealed at early period of the story, the story is very similar to the adventure road movies:  travel to many places, fight against the monster, stop the villains’ plot, but the feel is not bad.

Characterization Quality

Unlike other D&D CRPG games only have many conversations, there are only a few of conversations in Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone. So, when I finish this game, I can’t remember the three characters’ personality. But it’s an action game, not a ARPG game, so I think it’s good enough.

World-Building Quality

Even this game offers me 10 places in Faerûn to visit, but there are no NPCs tell me the history, culture, society of these places. I just walk through these places, fight against monsters, finish levels and never go back.

For a D&D game, its world-building is a failure.

6. Visual Experience

Art Style

There’s no special art style in this game, all the visuals are normal, like a normal fantasy 3d game in 2000s should be. I can’t remember any beautiful place that I want to introduce it to you.

Visual Consistency

There’s nothing make me feel inharmonious.

Visual Details

The models and textures are very poor to modern players, only the faces of three character have some details. Sometimes I am not certain the monster I slashed is which monster of D&D.

7. Controls and UI

Controls

As I mentioned, the controls are the worst part of this game. My gamepad input always feels unresponsive and sluggish.

UI

The combat UI is clean, but the fonts are blurry, I often need to guess which letter this is.

8. Difficulty

Normal and Elite Enemies Combat Difficulty

The combat against normal and elite enemies’ difficulty is low in early levels but high in later levels because their number. I often need to face groups of enemies in later levels, even I killed all the enemies, there will be more and more enemies are summoned to the field.

The elites’ hp is very high, even I am wielding the max tier weapon, I still hit them many times can kill them. And there are at least 3-4 elites arrive in field at the same time in lately levels.

The Boss Fight Difficulty

The bosses are not strong, but the boss fight is not easy. Each boss always summons many enemies to interrupt me. I can’t ignore the enemies because their numbers are too many, and they will interrupt me attacking to the boss.

So, I need to avoid all the boss’ hit, kill the monsters who interrupt me, hit the boss before he summons new enemies. If my teammate is dead, it will game over, so I also need to help my teammate.

9. Conclusion and Score

Overall Impression

Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone is a third person, squad-based fantasy hack & slash game. Its gameplay is not good and outdated, but you can play as typical D&D classes by action game mechanics.

AI controlled teammate will use his special abilities to help, it feels like a typical fantasy adventurers’ team should be, but these mechanics are rare in modern RPG games.

The visuals are very poor for today, but if you can accept the bad visuals, it’s a good D&D action game, and its story is based in Faerûn.

Pros:

D&D type squad-based hack & slash.

Story happened in Faerûn.

Typical D&D monsters.

Cons:

Poor and outdated visuals.

Bad controls.

Target Audience:

Fan of D&D.

Rating:

Gameplay: 6/10

Story: 7/10

Visuals: 6/10

Controls: 4/10

Overall: 6/10

[knightleon64]

Darksiders: Genesis | A Deep Dive: Amazing Twin-Stick Shooter, Good Dungeon Exploration, Decent Hack and Slash

A Note from the Author

I’m a fan of Darksiders series, I love their puzzles and combats. When I heard that Darksiders IV was announced, I decided to play the whole Darksiders series and write deep-dive game review for them. I like Darksiders I and II, but I felt disappointed after Darksiders III released because it became a Souls-Like game. Now I felt a surprise when I play Darksiders: Genesis, the DMC-like combat, Zelda-like dungeon exploration and puzzles, 90s American comic style visuals, all the classic Darksiders mechanics have returned.

It's also an amazing twin-stick shooter, its shooting feedback is awesome, I think it’s one of the best twin-stick shooter games I played, maybe you will like it. I can’t wait for Darksiders IV’s release.

1. Introduction

Darksiders: Genesis is a top-down hack and slash game blended with action-adventure and puzzles. You play as a powerful swordsman War or an agile gunner Strife, use a great sword or various guns to fight against undead and demon creatures.

Unlike Darksiders III, which abandoned the series’ classic mechanics, Darksiders series’ typical mechanics had all return to Darksiders: Genesis.  The hack and slash similar to DMC again, Zelda-like type dungeon exploration has returned, and finally you can ride a horse again (the horse-riding is canceled in Darksiders III).

2. Gameplay Mechanics

Top-Down Hack and Slash

In Darksiders: Genesis, there are two playable characters you can choose: a powerful swordsman War or an agile gunner Strife. If you play alone, you can switch the character you controlled whenever you want. If you play with your friend, you can play two players Co-op Mode, you choose a character, your friend controls other one.

The powerful swordsman War is the protagonist of Darksiders I, and his gameplay experience is also same as Darksiders I but a top-down version. The agile gunner Strife is a new playable character of Darksiders, he first appeared in Darksiders III but only playable in Darksiders: Genesis.

The character War is a typical melee warrior, his health bar is high, his melee attack is medium damage but slow, his movement speed is medium. So, War’s role is tank in Darksiders: Genesis.

If you play as War, your play experience is like a typical hack and slash game: you control a warrior charge to waves of enemies, clash all the enemies nearby, make combos on enemies.

War’s main weapon is a great sword, and his secondary weapon is a ranged cross blade. He has three attack patterns light attack, heavy attack, charged attack, each pattern come with various combos.

The weapon enhancements mechanic has also returned; if you play War, you can choose one of enhancements slot in your weapon. When you slot an enhancement, your every attack will with elemental damage, and your charged attack also change to elemental version. You can switch enhancements whenever you want even in Boss fight.

Here are the six elemental enhancements in Darksiders: Genesis:

Earth Splitter: Earth element, the charged attack will create an earth splitter.

Flame Brand: Fire element, the charged attack is a whirlwind attack with fire.

Death touch: Death element, the charged attack will release a death shock wave, if the death shock wave hit enemy, it will mark enemy a death curse, when the enemy who be cursed is killed, his body will explode, and the dead body explosion will also mark a new death curse. So, you can use this enhancement to make a combo explosion.

Thunder Clap: Lightning element, the charged attack will create a lightning bolt.

Vampiric Rune: Vampire element, every hit on enemy will steal his life and heal yourself, the charged attack will spin and release a bloody shock wave

Vortex: Wind element, the charged attack will create a vortex.

The most useful enhancement is Vampiric Rune; I can use it to fill my health bar. Flame brand and Death touch is useful for waves of enemies, but other enhancements I felt useless.

Darksiders series’ typical transform mechanic is also included in Darksiders: Genesis. Every time you hit enemy you will get some chaos power, when the chaos power is full, War can transform to a blade demon (Strife can transform to a machine alien) form in a short time. You can do high damage and become invincible during the demon form; it can reduce the combat difficulty.

The block and execution mechanics had also back and same as Darksiders I, if you block enemy hit in right time, you can launch a counter-attack. And you can execute an enemy if his health is low.

The Wrath skill mechanic come back too and a little like to Darksiders I, each character has his own three Wrath skills, you can cost Wrath (like mana in other games) to use Wrath skills, these Wrath skills’ effect will change if you slot some Creature Core.

The War’s Wrath skills are come from Darksiders I:

Blade Geyser: An area-damage skill, War will summon many swords form earth around him.

Rampage: Charge to enemies like a rocket, left a lava tails.

Stoneskin: Make War’s skin become stone and his defense improve in short time.

In my opinion, Darksiders: Genesis’s hack and slash gameplay experience is not good. It has good hit feedback and haptic response, the execution animation is awesome, all the good things that a good hack and slash game should be it also be. But War’s attack damage is too low for elite enemies and bosses, and even with a fully upgraded health bar, War still dies easily in Boss fight. when I play War, I often die in Boss fight and I fell his Wrath skills are useless for elite enemies and boss fight.

I think it’s the game stats design problem, maybe Darksiders: Genesis is design for two player Co-op mode, so all the enemies’ stats and two characters’ stats must be. So, if War is too strong, Strife will be useless to another player.

Twin-Stick Shooter

When you play the character Strife, the gameplay experience is more like a typical Twin-Stick Shooter game.

Unlike War, the character Strife is a gunner, his health bar is low, but his ranged attack is high damage and quick, his movement speed is quick too. So, Strife’s role is DPS ranger in Darksiders: Genesis.

Strife’s main weapon are dual-pistols, and his secondary weapon are dual-knives. If you use pistols shoot enemy many times in a limited time, Strife’s will enter Hot Streak mode. The Hot Streak mode will turbo Strife’s pistols, his every shoot will become a super version in a short time, every ammo has an enhanced version in Hot Streak mode.

Strife can’t slot enhancements like War, but instead, his gun can shoot 7 types of ammo, every ammo makes his pistols like a new type of gun.

Here are the 7 ammos:

Standard Shot: The default ammo, it has unlimited ammo. Its shoot gameplay is like a typical dual pistol fast gunner; the shoot is very fast but low damage. Its Hot Streak is normal shoot but very fast, the bullets like a bullet storm.

Charge Shot: A powerful piercing shot. Its shoot gameplay is like a revolver or Desert Eagle; the shoot is strong but low fire speed. It also can be charged up to three levels. Its Hot Streak is every shoot become a full level charged shot.

Beam Shot: Fire a beam of energy relentlessly until your beam ammo is empty. Its shoot gameplay is like a beam gun than can fire a beam relentlessly. Its Hot Streak is firing a more powerful beam.

Lava Shot: Fire elemental pistol shoot, hold fire button longer fire speed faster, so if you hold fire button and don’t release, your fire speed will be very fast. Its shoot gameplay is like a grenade launcher, if you shoot hit the enemy, it will explode. Unlike other ammos’ Hot Streak is a super version normal shoot, its Hot Streak shoots out a large amount of flame instead of fire a pistol shoot.

Static Shot: Electric bolt that arcs and connects to nearby enemies, dealing damage and reducing movement speed, most useful against waves of zombies.  Its shoot gameplay is like a mage cast a chain lightning in fantasy games. Its Hot Streak is firing a more powerful electric bolt.

Shot: Fire a gravity field that pulls enemies into it. It can be charged up to three levels. Its shoot gameplay is like a black hole gun in Sci-Fi FPS games. Its Hot Streak is every shoot become a full level charged Gravity shot.

Nature Shot: Fire a multiple shot with green bullets, if your bullets hit enemies, it will have a chance to spawn health orbs (that can heal your health). Its shoot gameplay is like a ranger fire a multiple shot in fantasy games. Its Hot Streak is firing a more powerful multiple shot, if your powerful multiple shot hit enemies, they will be poisoned.

Unlike War’s Wrath skills, Strife’s Wrath skills are more useful for solo game mode:

Shadow Clone: Create a shadow clone of Strife that can attract enemies. If you play Strife in solo mode, this is the most useful skill.

Caltrops: Throw a lot of mines on the field, you can use it to deal waves of enemies. If you slot a Creature Core that enhance this skill, you can use this skill to stun enemies, that’s more useful.

World Ender: Fire a large wide blast beam that deals massive damage, but you can’t move while firing.

In my opinion, Darksiders: Genesis’s twin-stick shooter gameplay experience is awesome. It has good shooting feedback and haptic response; the shoot sounds are good too. Strife’s shoot damage is high; I can eliminate many enemies in a few times, even the bosses are easy for me. Strife can move quick, and he can dash twice to avoid most of enemies’ hit. So, I always play as Strife. If you like twin-stick shooter games, you can try it.

Zelda-like Level-based Dungeon Exploration

Unlike the other Darksiders, you can’t freely explore the whole world in Darksiders: Genesis. Darksiders: Genesis’s world is split to 16 levels (called” Chapter” in Darksiders: Genesis), there are 12 dungeon levels and 4 levels in Darksiders: Genesis.

Every dungeon level has its own unique visual theme, zone-specific enemies, mini-bosses, puzzles, hidden chests and level boss. The dungeon design is similar to early 2D Zelda, there are many rooms in dungeons, you need to solve puzzles to open the door of boss room in some dungeons.

The puzzle-solver items (called “Abilities” in Darksiders: Genesis) had also return, you will get new abilities from treasure room during your dungeon exploration. You need to use these abilities solve puzzles to reach new rooms or get hidden chests.

Here are the abilities:

Cross Blade (War): A ranged weapon, you can use it to light candles or turn on switch from a distance.

Tremor Gauntlet (War): A heavy gauntlet, you can use it to break the crystals that block your way or rocket jump to a new area.

Void Bomb (Strife): A bomb, you can use it create a portal connect two portal sites.

Aether Spark (Strife): An angelic artifact, you can use it to solve electrical mazes (play a mini-game)

There also have many collectibles (Wrath skills, War’s enhancements, Strife’s ammo and more) and side contents hidden somewhere of every dungeon. You can upgrade your character by collect collectibles; I will introduce these collectibles later.

3. Progression and Upgrade

Combos Learning and Upgrade

At beginning you only have the basic combos; you can spend souls (drop from enemy) and boatman’s coins (one of collectibles) to learn new combos or upgrade combos. Every time you defeat a new milestone boss (the boss in the boss levels), the merchant will unlock new combos that you can buy.

Health Recovery Item Upgrade

The health recovery item mechanic is very familiar to Darksiders III, the health potion has several use charges and you can’t refill the use limit in levels at beginning. But you can also souls and boatman coins to upgrade the health potions.

You can upgrade the health potions’ use limit, health amount, passive regen, refillable in levels.

Health Bar and Wrath Bar Upgrade

You can collect Heath Stone Shards, mix these shards to a whole Heath Stone, every time you get a new Heath Stone, your chapter’s hearth bar will increase.

If you want to increase your Wrath bar, same as the health bar, you need to collect Wrath Stone Shards.

Creature Cores

Creature Core is the most creative gameplay mechanic of Darksiders: Genesis and the whole Darksiders series. Every monster in Darksiders: Genesis has its own unique creature core, every time you kill an enemy, it will have a chance to spawn a creature core.

Every creature core is unique; they will bring you some special buffs. You can choose some creature cores to slot and get their buffs.

Each creature core has 3 levels, when you get a creature core first, you will get a lv1 version creature core, if you kill the monster and get its creature core again, you will gain 1 XP of the creature core, when exp of the creature core is full, it will level up to lv2 version creature core and its buffs upgraded too.

Some Darksiders series’ classic monsters aren’t appear in Darksiders: Genesis, so if you want get their creature core you can only buy them from the merchant.

There are 67 unique creature cores and slots (30 minor cores slots, 8 major cores) in Darksiders: Genesis. So, you can only choose half of them to build you own customization.

There are 2 tiers of creature cores: minor cores (drop from normal and elite enemies) and major cores (drop from mini-bosses and level boss) in Darksiders: Genesis, major cores are more powerful.

Some of cores can increase your character stats (health, wrath, attack damage), some of cores can change your Wrath skills’ effect or enhance them, some of cores can summon a monster that fight for you.

Here are some of the creature cores:

Armored Flea: Attack power increase.

Molten Hound: Stoneskin (War’s Wrath skill) deals damage in an area, Caltrops (Strife’s Wrath skill) suck enemies into the bombs. Drops two bonus Caltrops at level three.

Stinger: Stoneskin (War’s Wrath skill) returns damage to attacks, Caltrops (Strife’s Wrath skill) drop health orbs.

Legion: Shadow Clone (Strife’s Wrath skill) taunts enemies, Blade Geyser (War’s Wrath skill) grants war bonus attack damage for a few seconds.

Trauma: Rampage (War’s Wrath skill) creates a blast when it hits an enemy, World Ender (Strife’s Wrath skill) is wider.

Phantom Guard: Shadow Clone’s (Strife’s Wrath skill) bullets ricochet, Blade Geyser’s (War’s Wrath skill) radius increases.

So, the Creature Core mechanic make Darksiders: Genesis more fun and replayable. There aren’t any skill tree or equipment mechanics in Darksiders: Genesis, but you still build your own customization.

4. Unique Flavor

Twin-Stick Shooter, Top-Down Hack & Slash, Zelda-like Dungeon Exploration, three gameplay mechanics mix in one game plus 90s American comic visuals, these are the unique flavor of Darksiders: Genesis.

There are many top-down action-adventure games in Steam, but Darksiders: Genesis’ combat and boss fight experience is better than majority of other top-down action-adventure games, and the American comic art style games are few in Steam.

5. Storytelling and World-Building

Main Plot and Narrative Quality

The story of Darksiders: Genesis is a prequel of Darksiders series, it happened in the age of Genesis, a long time before Darksiders I.

At the beginning, two of apocalypse horsemen:  War and Strife accept a mission from their master the Charred Council (Ruler of the Darksiders Universe): foil a plot by Lucifer to bring about the downfall of Humankind.

So, they start an epic odyssey across from many demon worlds and Eden. They meet the classic characters of Darksiders series: Samael (important character of Darksiders), Vulgrim (Demon merchant, appear in all games of Darksiders) and Abaddon (Leader of Angel, the final boss of Darksiders I) and a new demon merchant Dis (who sells combos).

They travel to defeat Demon Lords who follow Lucifer or his allies. After fall of Demon Lords, the two horsemen found their homeland Eden had corruption cause Lucifer’s plot, and the horsemen’s kin Nephilim also be raised as undead army.

At the end, after the last one of Demon Lord Moloch has fallen, War and Strife found their epic odyssey is one part of Lucifer’s plot. Lucifer use them to kill these Demon Lords, and he collect the Demon Lords’ souls to create a corruption tool Animus to corrupt the humankind.

Finally, Lucifer’s plot was succeeded, human beings were corrupted, the horsemen come the Earth but they can’t do anything. Thus, Earth is cut from the realms, and a pact forged with Seven Seals locking away the angels, the demons.

In my opinion, the story of Darksiders: Genesis is the best and longest one of Darksiders series. War and Strife travel 12 areas where have various visuals, each area will bring an event that tell you what happened in this area or the things that Demon Lords want to do.

There have many conversations between War and Strife during dungeon exploration, and every time you finished a level, there also has a new conversation between two horsemen and Samael or Vulgrim. Before every important boss fight, there also has a detailed speech to show us the boss’ personality.

So, these things are the reason why I thought the story of Darksiders: Genesis is the best and longest one of Darksiders series. I will not tell you the details of the story in this essay, the fun of this story needs you to discovery.

Characterization Quality

Unlike other Darksiders game only have a few of conversations, as I mentioned Darksiders: Genesis has many conversations, and there only a new character appears in Darksiders: Genesis, other characters are old characters of Darksiders series.

So, these conversations make the characters’ personality feel more depth and life. Especially War and Strife, these two guys are the team like Buddy-Cop.

World-Building Quality

As a prequel of Darksiders series, Darksiders: Genesis expand on the world-building of Darksiders series. It tells us more details about the demon world and Eden, that was only a background in other Darksiders games.

6. Visual Experience

Art Style

One of Darksiders series’ features is its classic 90s American comic art style, it was removed from Darksiders III, but it had return to Darksiders: Genesis.

When I first play Darksiders: Genesis, I was glad for its American comic art style, I felt the old things that I like finally return. The art style of Darksiders: Genesis is very similar to Darksiders I.  

The visuals of buildings and environments are all comic style like Darksiders I but more epic and colorful, and the character are comic style same as Darksiders I, it like an enhanced version of Darksiders I.

Unlike Darksiders I, which only featured 5 main dungeons with unique themes, Darksiders: Genesis features 12 exploration-heavy dungeons and 4 dedicated boss arenas, each with a distinct visual environment.

Every dungeon of Darksiders: Genesis is a microcosm of its own, these dungeons split into sub-zones that even have their own style. Even in 2026, an action-adventure game that offers 16 hand-crafted, visually unique locations is not common on Steam.

Visual Consistency

Even there have Darksiders: Genesis features 16 locations with unique themes, all environments and characters are unified by the same comic style. There’s nothing make me feel inharmonious.

Visual Details

For a Top-Down comic style game, Darksiders: Genesis’s environment and monsters’ models are simple, but their textures are full of details. Even the character look small in top-down view, the characters’ models and textures are more complicated to show us the details of the clothing and equipment.

All of these things made Darksiders: Genesis made look beautiful and epic, it has some of the best visuals in the top-down games that I played.

7. Controls and UI

Controls

The classic control of Darksiders series had return, but something has changed.

The Parkour elements have returned too, so we need to jump between pillars or run along with walls, but there only a few Parkour area in dungeons.

The Combat controls is more like Darksiders I’s DMC-Like control, but the usage of button Y is used for heavy attack instead of used for secondary weapon. Now, button X for light attack, button Y for heavy attack, just like other hack & slash games.

The combo’s list is more complicated than other Darksiders games, but for a hack & slash game, it still easier than other hack & slash games on Steam.

UI

The combat UI is simple, clean and useful.

The collection UI will tell you how many things you have collected, and the things that you don’t collect.

The creature cores UI will tell you if the effects of creature core if you slot it.

The map UI also return and more useful now, dungeon map UI will tell you how many collectibles in the whole dungeon and the number of collectibles that you have got. If you have visited some area of dungeon, the location of collectibles in these areas will mark in dungeon map UI, it’s very helpful to me to find collectibles.

8. Difficulty

Normal and Elite Enemies Combat Difficulty

The combat against normal and elite enemies’ difficulty is more like Darksiders I, our attack damage is high and enemies’ damage is low, you can easy handle majorly of enemies, especially you play as Strife you can kill enemies form far and don’t get hurt.

The Boss Fight Difficulty

Darksiders: Genesis’s boss fight is the most challenging one of Darksiders series. Unlike Darksiders I and II’s boss fight, which need to use some special mechanics deal damage on bosses, you can use any weapon or skills to deal damage on bosses in Darksiders: Genesis.

The bosses’ attack damage is high, and many bosses like to use AOE damage skills, so if you’re not a hardcore player and didn’t upgrade your stats (by collect creature cores, health stone and wrath stone), you will feel hard when you fight against bosses.

Explore and Puzzles Difficulty

The main quest puzzles are very easy to all players; most of time you just need to use a bomb to break a block or use a Crossblade to light candles.

But if you want collect some hidden items, you need to solve hidden puzzles that hidden somewhere of dungeons. There hidden puzzles are not very hard if you find them, the true difficulty of hidden puzzles is to guess which one is a puzzle and how to solve it.

There is not any iconic sign that can notice these candles (or anything that you feel one of environment) are part of a puzzle and you need to light all of them. So, I often missed puzzles during my first playthrough, and then I revisited every location of dungeons to find collectibles, so I found these hidden puzzles.

9. Side Content

Side areas, quests and bosses

If you just want to defeat the dungeon boss and finish the level, you may only visit about 60% - 70% areas of dungeons.

The side areas of dungeons have many collectibles, chests, hidden puzzles and side-bosses, some entrance of side areas hidden somewhere you don’t think it’s an entrance (for example, an entrance is a pipeline hole, if you jump in and you will arrive in a new area.)

There also have several side quests in every dungeon, most of side quests are easy: the quest asks you to kill 10 demons hidden somewhere of the dungeon, if you spend time to search them, you will finish this quest and get reward (souls or creature core)

If you kill the side-bosses, they maybe drop a boss tier creature core, that is the reason why I replay these levels I finished.

Collectibles

There are many collectibles in Darksiders: Genesis, each dungeon has at least 7-8 collectibles, all the collectibles are not just a thing show your collection but also can increase your character’s stats:

Shards of Health Stone: increase your character’s max health bar

Shards: of Wrath Stone: increase your character’s max wrath bar and wrath power

Shards of Abyssal Armor: increase your character’s max health bar, if you collect all the shards, you will get Darksiders series’ iconic armor: the Abyssal Armor.

War and Strife’s Wrath skills: at beginning, War and Strife didn’t learn any skills, every skill learning item is hidden somewhere of dungeons.

War’s enhancement and Strife’s ammo: As Wrath skills, you need to explore the dungeons to get War’s enhancement and Strife’s ammo, every enhancement will increase War’s attack damage, and every ammo will increase Strife’s attack damage.

Boatman’s coin: use to buy combos upgrades or some rare creature core.

Trickster Key: every dungeon has a hidden treasury with collectibles locked by Trickster Door, you can use the key to open the Trickster Door, if you open all the doors, you will meet a hidden boss.

In my opinion, Darksiders: Genesis’ collectibles mechanic is the most useful of the games with collectibles mechanic I played. If I want to increase my characters’ stats I don’t need to slash enemies again and again to get XP and new equipment in Darksiders: Genesis, I just need to explore the whole dungeon and search for collectibles as my best.

These collectibles mechanic make my dungeon exploration time more meaningful; I mentioned I dislike the equipment random loot mechanic of Darksiders II cause it broken my dungeon exploration reward, so I feel funny every time I solve a puzzle and find a new hidden chest.

The Crucible

The Crucible is an arena challenge, it’s one of Darksiders series’ iconic gameplay feature, you need to beat numerous enemies by 10 waves every level, each wave come with different types and numbers of enemies.

There are 20 arena challenge levels with 10 waves of enemies, if you defeat all waves of enemies of a level, you will finish this level and get a score. If you finished all 20 arena challenge levels, you can enter an endless waves arena challenge level, you can get higher score as your best.

If you get a new highest score record and reach a milestone, you will get a reward: souls, boatman’s coin or creature core. But if you just finish an arena challenge level and don’t get a new highest score, you will not get any reward.

The Labyrinths of Void

There are three labyrinths hidden somewhere the Void (a safe base where every time you finish a level you will return to) , there is no any sign notice you it’s an entrance of a labyrinth, and if you enter one of the labyrinths, you will not get a dungeon map like your exploration in dungeon levels, so everything need you to discovery by yourself.

There also have several puzzle and parkour areas in the labyrinths, so finish all labyrinths are difficulty, but if you want to meet the hidden boss, you need to finish the last labyrinth and open the Trickster Door in it.

10. Conclusion and Score

Overall Impression

Darksiders: Genesis is a Co-op top-down hack & slash game blend with twin-stick shooter and dungeon exploration.

Its shooter part is awesome, but the hack & slash part is decent. If you play with your friend, you and your friend maybe get a good adventure experience.

The puzzles are not hard, and you can increase your characters’ stats by dungeon exploration instead of kill enemies.

The visuals are beautiful and comic style, if you are looking for some unique art style game or dungeon exploration games with puzzles & boss fight, it maybe for you.

Pros:

Awesome twin-stick shooter experience.

15+ hours dungeon exploration with puzzles content.

Beautiful comic style visuals.

Cons:

Unbalanced characters stats for solo mode.

Unbalanced skill design, some useful, other useless.

Target Audience:

Darksiders fans, fans of action dungeon exploration game.

Rating:

Gameplay: 8/10

Story: 7/10

Visuals: 8/10

Controls: 8/10

Overall: 8/10

[knightleon64]

Darksiders III Personal Review:

A Disappointing Sequel, But a Solid Soulslike

1. Introduction

Darksiders III is a third-person hack-and-slash game that blends elements similar to Dark Souls with 3D Metroidvania exploration.

You play as a female warrior named "Fury," wielding a whip and four types of elemental weapons to combat undead and demonic creatures.

Unlike Darksiders I and II, the series’ signature gameplay loop has vanished. The God of War (2005) style combat, Zelda-esque dungeon puzzles, and horseback exploration of a semi-open world are gone. Instead, Darksiders III abandons the old formula to adopt the typical Dark Souls gameplay method.

2. Gameplay Mechanics

Typical Soulslike Gameplay

The game features hack-and-slash combat, epic boss fights, the mechanic of earning souls (and losing them upon death), and leveling up/respawning at plinths (similar to Bonfires in Dark Souls).

As I mentioned, almost all of the classic Darksiders mechanics have been removed. However, Gunfire Games introduces many new mechanics inspired by Dark Souls.

If you are a fan of Dark Souls like me, you will find plenty of similarities. You play as a female warrior using a chain whip as your primary weapon, alongside four elemental weapons to fight monsters, the undead, demons, and fallen angels.

The main weapon, the chain whip, is the most useful tool in the game. It is fast, covers a wide area, deals medium damage, and offers good range. Consequently, I relied on it for the majority of my playtime.

If I want to use other weapons, I need to shift my form to one of the four elements (Fire, Lightning, Force, Ice). When I change my form, my secondary weapon transforms to match the current element: Dual-Knives (Fire), Spear (Lightning), Warhammer (Force), or Broadsword (Ice).

If you beat the DLC bosses, you can unlock variations of these elemental weapons—switching Dual-Knives to Dual Claws, the Spear to a Polearm, the Warhammer to a Battle Axe, and the Broadsword to Scythes. However, the attack patterns and combos for these variants are identical to the original weapons, so I didn't spend much time using them.

Every weapon has its own combos, charged attacks, and special attacks (which consume mana). There are two main ways to use weapons: combos using the X button are use main weapon to make attacks (dealing Physical Damage), while combos using the Y button are use secondary weapons to make attacks (dealing Physical Damage too, but some attacks  can deal Arcane Damage). I can also hold Y to perform a charged attack(dealing Arcane Damage). Some elemental magic attacks are effective against specific enemies that fear certain elements, but most enemies in this game don't have specific elemental weaknesses.

The series' classic transformation mechanic is also included. Every time you hit an enemy, you generate Chaos energy. When the Chaos meter is full, you can transform into a Demon form for a short time. This deals massive damage and makes you invincible, which is great for reducing combat difficulty.

The combat rhythm is very similar to Dark Souls but much faster. Enemies deal high damage and will attack you like rabid dogs the moment they spot you. However, your attack speed and damage are also high, allowing you to defeat most enemies in about 5 seconds.

The combat experience feels like a mix of Dark Souls and Bayonetta. Since both the enemies and I deal high damage, I need to avoid getting hit as much as possible. I have to attack at the right moment and avoid committing to long combos if an enemy is about to strike.

However, unlike Dark Souls, I move and attack much more quickly. If my combo isn't interrupted by an enemy attack, I can execute high-speed combos to kill most foes without taking damage.

I can’t parry attacks, but I can dodge easily. If I dodge right before an enemy hits me, I trigger a "perfect dodge" and can launch a counter-attack that deals huge damage.

The usage of souls is identical to Dark Souls. I earn souls by killing enemies or using consumable items. I can then use these souls to buy items and upgrades from the merchant (who always appears at the plinths). I can also "feed" souls to the merchant to level up. Upon leveling up, I get an attribute point to increase three types of stats: Health, Strength (Physical Damage), and Arcane (Arcane Damage).

If I die, I respawn at the plinth and lose all my carried souls, and all enemies (except bosses and some special foes) respawn, just like in Dark Souls.

However, unlike Dark Souls, if I just use the plinth to rest without dying, the enemies do not respawn.

The death penalty is simply losing the souls you were carrying. If you return to the spot where you died, you will see a floating ghostly spirit holding your lost souls. Smashing it returns your souls to you. Even if you die again before retrieving them, the ghost will not disappear, which is forgiving.

The health recovery mechanics are similar to Dark Souls with a slight twist. If I lose health, I use a recovery item called "Nephilim's Respite" (similar to the Estus Flask). It has a limited number of uses. However, unlike Dark Souls, I don't need to rest at a bonfire to refill it. Every time I kill an enemy, there is a high chance to spawn a green lurcher (soul). Collecting this green soul refills a charge of my Nephilim's Respite. Since the drop rate is high, I usually keep my healing charges full during gameplay.

The boss fights also mimic the Dark Souls style. It is a pity, though, that there are only 8 main bosses (including one tutorial boss) and 7 side bosses, along with several elite enemies acting as mini-bosses in the early dungeons.

In my opinion, the "Soulslike" aspect of this game is not bad. If you compare it to other Soulslike clones, I think it’s actually quite good.

The game offers a solid combat experience; the hit feedback and haptic response are satisfying. Every time I land a hit, it feels cool.

Interconnected Dungeon World and 3D Metroidvania Exploration

This game features an awesome 3D Metroidvania world. The setting is based on the ruins of a modern city mixed with fantasy elements. There are several zones (one outdoor zone, while the others are dungeons). Every zone has its own theme and 5-7 sub-zones, and each sub-zone contains countless specific locations.

The game map acts like a traffic hub. There are many paths and hidden routes appearing in various places. Most paths act as shortcuts leading from one part of a sub-zone to another, saving you from having to traverse the entire area again.

Some paths are blocked by barriers that require specific elemental weapons to break.

Hidden paths are abundant in this game. They appear in blind spots you might easily skip—perhaps a crawlspace behind a cave or a hole in a broken ceiling that lets you jump to another zone.

These hidden paths aren't just normal shortcuts within a sub-zone; they can lead you from one sub-zone to another, or even connect entirely different major zones.

There are also many places—especially critical ones—that require elemental powers to reach. Every time you beat a major boss, you unlock a new element (Hollow), allowing you to access areas you couldn't reach before.

This part is typical Metroidvania gameplay, but applied to a large 3D world.

In some dungeon areas, there are a few puzzles that require elemental powers to solve. Solving these may unlock a new path or reveal treasures. However, the number of puzzles is the lowest in the entire Darksiders series; they serve merely as a "dessert" between combat and exploration.

Unlike other Metroidvania games, this game does not have a map menu. I often got lost during exploration, forcing me to memorize the entire layout. If you don't play through it in one go, the interruption can be punishing—you'll have to re-orient yourself and regain your sense of direction when you return.

I know this is typical game design for Soulslikes, but I don’t like it here. Dark Souls doesn't have nearly as many paths and places requiring magic powers to backtrack and reach. I don't usually need to revisit old areas with new powers to solve puzzles for chests in Dark Souls. Therefore, the lack of an on-screen map doesn't fit the Darksiders formula. Luckily, the map menu and treasure map returned in Darksiders: Genesis.

3. Progression and Upgrade

Character Customization

As I mentioned, every time I level up, I get an attribute point. I can use this to upgrade Health, Strength (Physical Damage), or Arcane (Arcane Damage). The game lacks skill points or a skill tree, meaning I can't create a unique "build" like in other ARPGs. I think this feels more like a pure action game than an ARPG.

Weapon and Armor Upgrade

You will find various weapon upgrade materials (called "Adamantine") during your exploration. These are placed as rewards in every zone. You also get them by defeating elite enemies or mini-bosses, and you can buy them from the merchant after defeating certain major bosses.

These materials come in 5 tiers, with each tier corresponding to specific weapon levels (e.g., +1 to +3). You use them to upgrade your weapons at the blacksmith.

Weapon levels range from 0 to +13. Higher levels require higher numbers of high-tier materials. On your first playthrough, you can only upgrade to +10; the Tier 5 materials unlock in New Game+ mode.

There are several armor sets in the game, each bringing a unique buff. In the first playthrough, you can only get a few armors and cannot upgrade them. However, you can acquire new armors and armor upgrade materials in New Game+ mode.

Enchantment and its Upgrade

Weapon enchantments (which first appeared in Darksiders 1) return in this game, and they are more useful than before. There are 15 enchantments (12 in the main game and 3 in the DLC). Each enchantment provides two types of passive buffs (for example, one buff adds weapon damage, while the other increases max health). Each weapon can slot one enchantment.

Enchantments can also be upgraded. There are two types of materials: Angelic artifacts and Demonic artifacts. Consequently, you have two paths for upgrading: Angelic or Demonic.

As mentioned, each enchantment has two passive buffs. The Angelic path upgrades one specific buff, while the Demonic path upgrades the other. Each path has three levels, with higher levels costing more materials. If you have already upgraded an enchantment to level 3 on one path (e.g., Angelic), you can spend the opposite materials (Demonic) plus a unique upgrade essence to push the enchantment to "Balanced" (Level 4). This maximizes both buffs, making them very strong and useful.

4. Unique Flavor

Unlike most Soulslike games that focus purely on combat, this game retains the Darksiders series' unique flavor: dungeon exploration, puzzles, Angel and Demon themes, and modern city ruins mixed with fantasy elements. These aspects are the big difference between Darksiders III and other Soulslike titles.

5. Storytelling and World-Building

Main Plot and Narrative Quality

The story is the simplest in the Darksiders series. You play as Fury, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. She receives a mission from the Charred Council: travel to Earth and defeat the Seven Deadly Sins. Once she eliminates all seven, she uncovers a scheme revealing that the true reason for Earth's ruin stems from the Charred Council's fear of humanity.

The only shining gem in the story is our protagonist, Fury. At the beginning, Fury acts like a spoiled, arrogant brat. But every time she meets one of the Seven Deadly Sins, the encounter forces her to reflect on herself. By the end, she becomes a better person.

In my opinion, the story is a simple straight line. I just go from one dungeon to another, meet a boss, listen to a short speech, and kill them. There isn't much more narrative depth than that.

Characterization Quality

There are only a few characters: the demon merchant Vulgrim, the blacksmith Ulthane, the Lord of Hollows, and the Seven Deadly Sins.

Vulgrim and Ulthane are returning characters from Darksiders I, but here they are just functional NPCs. Vulgrim sells me items and handles leveling, while Ulthane upgrades weapons and gives a side quest to rescue human survivors.

The Lord of Hollows is a new character appearing only in Darksiders III. Throughout the story, every time Fury defeats specific Sins, he grants her a new Hollow (unlocking new elemental power) without explaining why. Before the final boss fight, he reveals he was once part of the Charred Council and explains the truth about humanity's demise. You can choose to fight him or let him go.

It's a shame there isn't more story regarding the Seven Deadly Sins. Unlike bosses in Dark Souls or Elden Ring, who come with deep lore, here we only get a pre-fight speech to show their personality. There are no item descriptions explaining the boss's background story like in Dark Souls.

World-Building Quality

World-building is the weakest part of this game compared to the rest of the series. It fails to meaningfully expand on the lore. The story takes place entirely on Earth, and it doesn't really flesh out the wider Darksiders universe.

6. Visual Experience

Visual Art Style

One of the series' strengths is its classic 90s American comic book art style (Joe Madureira's style). However, this game feels different. When I first played it, I couldn't tell it was a Darksiders game; I felt like I was playing a generic Unreal Engine store demo. It looks too realistic for a comic-style game. Only the protagonist and NPCs look like comic characters; the monsters and buildings look like assets from a different game entirely.

Visual Consistency

The main characters, bosses, and weapons retain the comic style of typical Darksiders games, just with more detail. However, the buildings, enemies, and environments look like generic assets from any other UE4 game. It feels like two visually different games mixed into one. Only the "Keepers of the Void" DLC enemies and architecture resemble the old Darksiders style.

Visual Details

The environment and monster models are simple, but the textures are detailed, making them look realistic. Conversely, the character models are more complicated (to show details of cloth and equipment), but their textures are simpler to maintain the comic book look. This creates a visual clash.

7. Controls and UI

Controls

Unlike the controls in Darksiders I and II, Darksiders III changes many things. The parkour elements have been deleted, so I don't need to jump between pillars or run along walls. Most of the time, I just press X or Y to combat enemies and press RB to dodge attacks.

The combat controls are very similar to most Soulslike games. X for main weapon attacks, Y for secondary weapon attacks, LB+RB for special attacks. The combo list is simple, catering to non-hardcore players. Combos are just "XXX" or "YYY"—you don't need to memorize complicated inputs.

UI

The UI is simple, which isn't bad for a Soulslike.

The combat HUD is clean: health bar, Wrath (mana) bar, Chaos bar, and the healing item counter. Besides that, there is only a compass direction and the soul counter.

The menu UI is also clean. In my opinion, this game has the best UI in the series. The only thing I dislike is the lack of a map menu.

8. Difficulty

Normal and Elite Enemy Combat Difficulty

In the early game, I had to be careful in every fight with normal enemies. If I was careless, I could die from a single combo by a standard foe (enemy damage is high, and they are aggressive). Elite enemies dealt massive damage when my level was low; one hit could take 30% of my health, killing me in 10 seconds.

However, as I leveled up my Health and Strength and upgraded my weapons, the enemy health and damage didn't scale up. By the late game, I could finish most enemies in 2-3 seconds without taking damage.

The Boss Fight Difficulty

Unlike other Soulslike games, the boss fights here are actually easier than fighting groups of elite enemies. The bosses have simple, repetitive attack patterns. While their damage is high, their attacks are easy to dodge, and they lack wide-range area-of-effect attacks.

Exploration and Puzzle Difficulty

The sheer number of dungeon areas is massive. I use the word "area" because these spaces are much bigger than the rooms in previous Darksiders games. Every area is large, filled with monsters, and has at least 3 entrances leading to new locations or hidden items. You can freely choose your direction. There is only a compass arrow UI pointing to the next main boss; if you don't want to fight the boss immediately, you won't know which direction is safe to explore.

If you just want to beat the main boss, follow the arrow—it’s easy.

But if you want to fully explore the dungeons, you need to map the whole area in your mind. I usually forgot which path I hadn't taken yet and ended up revisiting places I had already cleared.

The puzzles are easy. Most of the time, I just use elemental powers to reach a new ledge or pull a switch.

9. Side Content

Side Dungeons and Bosses

If you only follow the arrow to fight the main bosses, you might only visit about 30% - 40% of the dungeon areas. The side areas are packed with collectibles (upgrade materials and enchantments) and 5 optional bosses. These side bosses don't have a story, but beating them grants unique upgrade materials.

In my opinion, the side content is a pleasant surprise. I’ve played many action-adventure games where 80% of the content is in the main quest, and side content is just a "dessert." In this game, the side content feels like a main course.

Rescue Human Survivors

There are 20 human survivors hide in somewhere of dungeons waiting you to rescue, if you recuse 5 of survivors, the blacksmith with you a unique item with strong buffs, and then every time you recuse 5 of survivors the blacksmith will upgrade the item.

10. Conclusion and Score

Overall Impression

Darksiders III is a typical Soulslike game mixed with 3D Metroidvania exploration. The combat is solid, and the exploration is substantial. However, it doesn't feel like a Darksiders game. The series’ typical Zelda-like puzzles and American comic book visual style are missing, and the boss count is a bit low for a Soulslike.

If you are a hardcore Darksiders fan, you might feel disappointed. But if you enjoy Soulslike games, this might be a great pick for you.

Pros:

Good combat experience with satisfying hit feedback.

10+ hours of dungeon exploration content.

Interconnected world (3D Metroidvania).

Cons:

Boss fights are too easy for a Soulslike.

Feels disconnected from previous Darksiders games.

No map menu (This feature really should be in a Darksiders game).

Target Audience:

Fans of Darksiders, fans of Soulslike games.

Rating:

Gameplay: 7/10

Story: 6/10

Visuals: 6/10

Controls: 7/10

Overall: 6/10

[knightleon64]

Darksiders II Personal Review:

A Symphony of Slashes, Loot, Puzzles, and Parkour

1. Introduction

Darksiders II is a 3D action-adventure game that mashes up gameplay features from four legendary video game franchises. In this game, you travel across four fantasy-themed worlds, exploring dungeons that blend 3D Zelda-style puzzles with Prince of Persia platforming, all while fighting undead and demons in combat that feels just like God of War (2005).

Unlike the original Darksiders, which was a straight-up action game, Darksiders II throws in a bunch of ARPG elements like random loot, a skill tree, and main and side quests. However, it isn't a full-blown ARPG; these elements lack real depth.

2. Gameplay Mechanics

Zelda-Like Semi-Open World Exploration and Dungeon Puzzles

The game features four worlds, each with its own unique theme. Two of them are semi-open worlds, featuring several outdoor areas and dungeons where you can explore and solve puzzles. The other two are much more linear, consisting of just one path and one dungeon. Every outdoor area is packed with collectibles and chests, and some spots hide entrances to dungeons or secret items.

Each dungeon is huge, with at least a dozen rooms and just as many puzzles. You can easily spend 1-2 hours exploring a single dungeon and solving its puzzles. If you want to find every collectible, expect to spend at least another hour.

The dungeon puzzles are the best part of this game and the entire series. They aren't impossibly hard, but they force you to use your brain. Every world has its own unique puzzle mechanics, so the dungeons don't feel like copy-paste jobs. You won't find many boring "plug item A into slot B" tasks here. Most puzzles require logic rather than just using a specific item you found in that dungeon. This is the biggest difference between the first game and this one, and it kept me surprised throughout my playtime.

There are 13 main dungeons and 9 side dungeons, all full of puzzles and traps. If you’re a fan of Tomb Raider, this game is definitely for you. It’s a shame Darksiders III turned into a "Soulslike" game and cut a lot of the puzzles, making Darksiders II the last true third-person puzzle-adventure in the series. I really hope Darksiders IV brings this style back. In my opinion, the puzzle gameplay here is better than most other action-adventure games on Steam.

Prince of Persia-Like Parkour and Platform Jumping

You can split the game's playtime into four parts: half is exploration and puzzles, a quarter is hack-and-slash combat, and the rest is parkour.

This part of the game is very similar to Prince of Persia. You have to wall-run, jump between pillars, climb cliff edges, and dodge traps. However, it isn't as hard as Prince of Persia. If you fall into a spike trap, you just respawn right where you were standing without losing any health.

Honestly, this part feels like a cheap copy of Prince of Persia. It’s just repetitive running and jumping that doesn't offer any real challenge or excitement.

God of War (2005)-Like Hack and Slash

The combat system is inherited from Darksiders 1, so it feels very similar to God of War (2005). But unlike the first game where you play as a heavy warrior, the protagonist here is more like a thief or assassin. His main weapon is a dual-wielded scythe, and his attacks are super fast. The block move from the first game is gone; instead, we dodge like a monkey. If you dodge right before an enemy hits you, you trigger a "perfect dodge" and can launch a counter-attack.

Since the main scythes are dual-wielded, the combat feels a lot like playing a ninja. There are two categories of secondary weapons: Heavy and Melee.

Heavy weapons are slow, two-handed tools like Maces, Hammers, Glaives, and Axes. They all share a move list but have unique charged attacks. These are great for breaking enemy defense and dealing big damage.

Melee weapons are fast, dual-wielded items like Claws, Gauntlets, Bucklers, and Armblades. They share a move list but also have unique charged attacks. These are good for high DPS, but because they feel too similar to the main scythes, I didn't use them much.

The boss fights are better than in Darksiders 1. In the first game, you almost always had to use a puzzle item to beat a boss. Here, you can beat most bosses with just your weapons, though a few still require a specific item to break their defense. The pistol returns as the only ranged weapon, and just like in the first game, it’s pretty useless—I only used it to shoot flying enemies.

Overall, the combat is a slight improvement over the first game, but if you compare it to heavy hitters from the same era (2009-2012) like Dark Souls or Bayonetta, it falls a bit short.

Diablo-Like ARPG Quest, Loot, and Skill Trees

The ARPG system is like a "lite" version of Diablo, featuring quests, random loot, skill points, and skill trees.

There are dozens of main and side quests, but they are all linear—there is only one way to finish them. You get quests from NPCs, beat a boss or collect items, and get rewards like XP, cash, and gear. Most side quests are pretty boring; there’s no story, just "collect this and bring it back." Some give you a side dungeon and a boss, but still no real story.

The equipment system is a light copy of early Diablo. Gear comes in tiers: Common (white), Elite (purple), Possessed (yellow), and Legendary (unique yellow). You can find everything except Legendary gear in chests, as drops, or in shops. Legendary items only drop from bosses or hidden chests.

Everything you get from chests or enemies is totally random. If you want specific stats, you have to grind, and there are no elite enemies with better drop rates to help with that. Common gear is blank, while Elite gear has random buffs like health steal or fire damage. Possessed weapons are blank items that you can level up by sacrificing other gear to them; if you sacrifice an Elite item, its stats transfer to the Possessed weapon.

You get a skill point every time you level up, and some quests or chests give them too. The skill tree has two sides: Warrior (left) and Necromancer/Summoner (right). Each side has four active skills and several passives. You don't need prerequisites to learn active skills, so you can pick whatever you want. Plus, respecting your points is cheap, so you can change your build easily.

In my opinion, the loot system totally conflicts with the exploration gameplay. You spend time and brainpower solving a cool puzzle, open the chest at the end, and... it's just random loot you could have gotten from a basic enemy. It makes the puzzle-solving feel like a waste of time. If this is a loot game, remove the puzzles. If it’s a puzzle game, give us unique, guaranteed rewards.

Third-Person Zombie Shooter

(Only in certain parts of the main story and DLC)

There are two sections in the game that turn into a third-person shooter. You use an angelic assault rifle or a demon grenade launcher to mow down zombies running at you. This lasts about 1-2 hours and actually feels pretty good, with several mini-bosses and boss fights. It plays like a typical zombie shooter (think Left 4 Dead) and serves as a nice "dessert" to break up the main gameplay.

3. Progression and Upgrade

Character Customization and Equipment

The game uses standard ARPG stats like Health, Attack, Defense, and Arcane. The level cap is 30, and your stats go up automatically when you level up. As I mentioned, Elite gear gives you buffs to these stats or adds elemental damage like fire or ice. This lets you build your character how you want—either a tanky warrior or a spell-casting wizard.

Abilities

During the main story, you unlock abilities needed to solve puzzles and reach new areas, such as:

Death Grip: Basically the Hookshot from Zelda.

Soul Splitter: Splits you into two clones to solve two parts of a puzzle at once.

Voidwalker: A portal gun, just like in the game Portal.

Phasewalker: Lets you travel between past and present (only in the last dungeon).

Almost every dungeon has spots that require these abilities to find hidden chests, so they remain useful throughout the game.

4. Unique Flavor

As I said, this game mixes four different gameplay styles. The dungeon puzzles are excellent and offer at least 20 hours of content. The exploration is solid for an ARPG.

Right now, most modern ARPGs feel the same—especially Ubisoft games where you just repeat the same loop of slash, quest, loot, level up. Darksiders II feels unique because the mix of God of War combat and Zelda exploration is still rare, even in 2025.

5. Storytelling and World-Building

Main Plot and Narrative Quality

The story is set in the Darksiders universe, where demons have ruined Earth. You play as "Death," another Horseman of the Apocalypse. He wants to save his brother, "War," who has been arrested and accused of causing humanity's extinction. Death travels between four worlds to find the key to the Well of Souls to sacrifice himself and resurrect humanity.

Honestly, the story is simple and forgettable. The four worlds are disconnected, so the NPCs and plots in each one are very short. If you're looking for a deep narrative, this isn't it.

Characterization Quality

There are more NPCs here than in the first game, but none are memorable. The content is unbalanced: the first two worlds have tons of dungeons, quests, and NPCs, while the last two have barely anything. Most NPCs just give you fetch quests. Only one actually adventures with you in a dungeon. Some characters from the first game, like Vulgrim or Uriel, show up, but they don't do much.

World-Building Quality

Unlike the first game which was set on Earth, this one takes place in four fantasy worlds: the Forge Lands, the Kingdom of the Dead, Heaven, and Hell. Each has its own theme and enemies.

The Forge Lands: Inspired by Nordic mythology. It’s all about nature, stone, and the Makers (tall Dwarves). The game does a good job explaining their society through dialogue.

The Kingdom of the Dead: Inspired by medieval catacombs. Think skeletons, tombs, and candles. This world also feels fleshed out.

However, the Angel and Demon worlds are disappointing. They each have only one dungeon and very few quests, so we don't learn much about their societies.

Despite that, the world-building is a success. Darksiders 1 just built the framework, but Darksiders II actually expands the universe. It shows us what exists beyond Earth.

6. Visual Experience

Visual Art Style

The art style is a classic 90s American comic book style, inherited from the first game. But while the first game mixed modern ruins with fantasy, this one is pure medieval fantasy.

Forge Lands: Bright, colorful forests and ruins.

Kingdom of the Dead: Dark, filled with green fire, skeletons, and tombs.

Angel World: A mix of gothic cathedrals and autumn colors.

Demon World: A ruined gothic castle with lava and gargoyles.

In my opinion, this is the best-looking game in the series. The mix of American comic style with medieval fantasy is super unique. Most fantasy games on Steam are either realistic or anime-style, so this stands out.

Visual Consistency

Even though the four worlds look different, the "comic book" art style ties them all together perfectly. The dungeons in the Forge Lands look distinct but still fit the overall vibe of the game.

Visual Details

The textures and models are better than in the first game. The world is full of details—like demonic totems or sci-fi angels—that make the setting feel believable.

7. Controls and UI

Controls

The controls are a smooth mix of God of War and Prince of Persia. Combat is simple (X for main weapon, Y for secondary). Parkour is easy too: A to jump, double A to double-jump, hold A to wall run. It all feels responsive.

UI

The UI is a pain. For an ARPG, it lacks detail. Unique weapons have special skills, but the game doesn't tell you what they do—you just have to guess based on the description.

Also, there is no separate menu for collectibles; they are just lumped in with side quests. You can't track them on the map. There are tons of collectibles, but no treasure maps, so you never know how many are left in a dungeon or where they are. Unless you use a guide online, 100% completion is basically impossible.

8. Difficulty and Side Content

Gameplay Difficulty

The difficulty curve is weird—it goes from hard to easy. At the start, without good gear, elite enemies killed me a lot. But once I got good equipment and summoning skills (ghouls and ravens), I didn't die for the rest of the game.

Main bosses are like Darksiders 1: use a puzzle item to break their defense, then attack, then QTE. Side bosses are just strong normal enemies that you can beat with any weapon.

The puzzles, however, are harder and more complicated than in the first game, relying on your brain rather than just items.

Side Content

There are 9 side dungeons and plenty of side bosses. These dungeons have puzzles, hidden items, and unique loot. Also, main dungeons have optional rooms you can explore for extra loot. However, many of these require abilities you unlock later in the game, so you have to backtrack.

Collectibles

There are several types of collectibles:

Book of the Dead Pages (40): Sell 10 to Vulgrim for a key to a tomb with chests.

Mystic Stones: Shoot these with your pistol. Combine 3 (Red, Blue, or Yellow) for permanent stat buffs.

Relics: Give you extra health or skill points.

Boatman Coins (100): Buy random gear boxes from a merchant.

9. Conclusion and Score

Overall Impression

Darksiders II is a game that mixes God of War combat, Prince of Persia parkour, Zelda puzzles, and Diablo loot, all wrapped in a cool 90s comic book style. The combat and puzzles are fun, but the random loot system kind of ruins the feeling of exploring dungeons. If you like dungeon diving and puzzles, this is for you.

Pros:

Great mix of dungeon exploration, puzzles, hack-and-slash, and parkour.

Unique 90s comic-style visuals.

Cool mix of Apocalypse, Nordic, and Death themes.

Cons:

Random loot makes dungeon rewards feel unsatisfying.

Unbalanced pacing: too much content early on, too little at the end.

Weak story and forgettable characters.

Frustrating UI for collectibles.

Target Audience:

Fans of Zelda, hack-and-slash games, parkour, loot grinders, and anyone looking for a mix of different genres.

Rating:

Gameplay: 7/10

Story: 6/10

Visuals: 8/10

Controls: 7/10

Overall: 7/10

[knightleon64]

Darksiders Game Review: A Hybrid of Zelda-Style Adventure and God of War-Style Combat

1. Introduction

Game Name: Darksiders

Release Date: November 30, 2016 (PC Remastered)

Genre: Action-adventure, Exploration & Puzzle, Hack and Slash

Length: 18-28 hours

Darksiders is a 3D action-adventure game that blends different features from the famous video games The Legend of Zelda and God of War. Its visuals are presented in a 90s comic book style, designed by the renowned artist Joe Madureira. In this game, you play as a mighty warrior named War, who fights against both demons and angels. The combat experience is much like that of God of War (2005). You will explore the ruins of many modern city buildings, now infused with fantasy elements, and acquire special items that can solve puzzles and open hidden paths. This exploration and puzzle-solving experience is very much like Zelda.

2. Gameplay Mechanics

Zelda-Like Exploration and Puzzles

Players control the protagonist to explore a semi-open world that was once a modern city but is now ruined by demons. The game’s map is divided into a dozen interconnected areas, including zones where you can explore and find hidden items, and dungeons where you can solve puzzles or fight bosses.

There are nine areas with distinct visual styles to explore. Each area has an entrance to another area, and some of them have entrances to the dungeons. Every area contains several unique collectibles to discover, and some of these collectibles require the use of puzzle items to acquire them. In the early game, you can’t reach all places; some areas or entrances are blocked, and you need a specific puzzle item to unlock them.

There are four dungeons, each with its own unique visual theme. Each dungeon contains a special item that you can use to solve puzzles or fight enemies. Every dungeon has many puzzles; some must be solved to reach the boss room, while others lead to collectibles. Each dungeon also has several keys that you need to unlock locked doors or the boss room door. If you get lost in a dungeon, don’t worry—there’s a map item in every dungeon that you can acquire to reveal the rest of its layout. If you want to find every collectible, there is also an item that can reveal all collectibles' locations within the dungeon.

To be honest, the exploration part of the game feels like a copycat of a typical Zelda game. This is especially true of several puzzle items, such as the Crossblade (which is the same as the boomerang from Zelda) or the Abyssal Chain (which is the same as the Clawshot from Zelda). One puzzle item called the Voidwalker is even identical to the portal gun from the video game Portal. It’s a shame that this game didn’t create any of its own unique puzzle-solving experiences; it feels like a mere copycat.

Even if I ignore the copied puzzles, the usefulness of the puzzle-solving items is imbalanced. Some items, like the Crossblade and the Abyssal Chain, are extremely useful, while the rest are nearly useless, as I couldn’t find enough puzzles to use them on.

Zelda-Like Boss Fights

This game’s boss fights are not like those in other hack-and-slash games; players cannot damage a boss without first using puzzle-solving items. Every boss and mini-boss has a weakness, and you need to use the right puzzle-solving item to exploit it and stun the boss. Only then can you use your normal weapons to deal damage during a limited time. You repeat this process—using a puzzle-solving item to stun the boss, then doing damage in a limited time—until the boss is finally defeated.

Therefore, unlike in other games, unlocking new moves or upgrading weapons is not useful for making boss fights easier. I found the game's boss fights to be simple and boring.

God of War (2005)-Like Hack and Slash

The combat system is very familiar to fans of God of War (2005). Players can use three melee weapons and two ranged weapons. The main weapon is a huge broadsword called the Chaoseater, which is useful for most enemies. There are two secondary melee weapons: a scythe, which is useful for multiple enemies, and a gauntlet called the Tremor Gauntlet, which is useful for knocking back nearby enemies. The ranged weapons are a pistol called Mercy and a boomerang called the Crossblade. Both are mostly useless in combat as they do minimal damage to enemies, but they can be used to attack flying foes.

If you deal enough damage to an enemy, it will be stunned for a limited time, and you can press the “B” button to execute it. By pressing the “RB” button, you can defend or dash. If you press and hold “RB” while an enemy is attacking, it will trigger a counter-attack that deals huge damage.

If you find the combat too difficult, the game offers four wrath skills to help you win. You can spend Wrath to unleash these skills, which can summon swords from the earth to damage enemies or make you harder to hit.

Every time you hit an enemy with your main weapon, you will gain chaos energy. When the chaos energy is full, you can press “LB+RT” to transform the protagonist into a large demon form called Chaosform for a limited time. In this state, the protagonist becomes invincible and deals massive damage, allowing you to defeat most enemies with ease.

Every melee weapon has its own moves list. The moves list isn't too complex, and players can trigger every weapon's moves easily. However, only a few of these moves are useful for most combat situations, making the rest feel useless. This made the combat experience in the late game feel boring and repetitive.

While the combat experience is decent, it’s not good enough. However, the hit feedback and controller rumble feedback are excellent, making every hit feel satisfying.

Panzer Dragoon-Like On-Rails Shooter and Doom-Like Third-Person Shooter

(Only in certain phases of the main story)

There is one on-rails shooter phase and three third-person shooter phases in the main story. In the on-rails shooter phase, you ride a griffin and use a lance that fires beams to shoot at angels. In the third-person shooter phases, you use a beam cannon or a nail gun to shoot at angels and demons.

In these phases, you encounter masses of enemies and must shoot them from all directions. When using the nail gun to shoot so many demons, I felt like I was playing as "Doomguy" rather than a warrior. It was a cool and crazy feeling.

The shooter sections were a pleasant surprise. I didn't expect the shooting and hit feedback to be as good as in a real third-person shooter game. However, these parts of the game are too short, and there are too few shooter weapons.

3. Upgrades and Collectibles

Weapon Upgrades

Every time you hit an enemy with a melee weapon, you gain that weapon's XP. When the XP is full, the weapon levels up. Each melee weapon has five levels, from 0 to 4. Some weapon moves require a high weapon level to unlock.

For ranged weapons, you need to spend souls to buy upgrades from the merchant. For example, you can spend 5,000 souls to double your pistol’s damage or make your boomerang hit multiple enemies with one shot. In my opinion, these ranged weapon upgrades are too expensive and not worth it.

Moves and Skill Upgrades

You can spend souls to buy new moves and wrath skills from the merchant. If you already have some moves or wrath skills, you can still buy an upgraded version of them. So you need to earn more and more souls to unlock and upgrade your weapon moves and wrath skills.

In my opinion, the skill upgrade prices are very high. I needed to spend 8,000 souls to upgrade one skill, but an elite enemy only offered me a little over 100 souls. I wanted to upgrade all skills to the highest level but eventually gave up. This pricing design feels boring to me.

If you don’t want to waste your time farming souls, the skill “Stoneskin” is the only one you need to upgrade. It significantly improves your defense for a limited time, making combat much easier.

Lifestone and Wrath Shards

There are many Lifestone Shards and Wrath Shards placed in every area and dungeon. You can collect these shards, and every four shards form a core. Each core you gain upgrades your health bar or your mana bar (called “Wrath” in this game). So, if you want a fully upgraded health bar or Wrath bar, you need to collect all of these shards.

Abyssal Armor Pieces

There are 10 pieces of the Abyssal Armor hidden somewhere in the game. If you collect all 10 pieces, you will receive the Abyssal Armor, an upgraded version of the protagonist's armor that significantly improves your defense.

Legion Artifacts

There are 27 Legion Artifacts hidden somewhere in the game. Each artifact can be traded to the merchant for souls. If you collect all the artifacts and trade them to the merchant, he will give you the final Lifestone Shard.

Enhancements

There are 20 unique Enhancements hidden somewhere in the game: 16 normal and 4 legendary. You can equip an Enhancement to one of your melee weapons, which will give it certain buffs, such as improving its attack damage or adding fire damage. Each weapon has one slot for an Enhancement, so you can have a total of three equipped at the same time.

These Enhancements are very helpful in combat, especially in the early game. If you want to have fun playing this game, collecting these Enhancements is the way to go.

4. Unique Flavor

In my opinion, this game is a copycat of Zelda mixed with God of War, all wrapped in the great comic art style of Joe Madureira. However, the combination of these mixed gameplay elements and its strong visual style is what makes it so appealing to me.

Even in 2025, Zelda-like action-adventure games are not common to see on Steam, and a game that blends Zelda-like exploration with a God of War-like combat system is extremely rare.

5. Storytelling and World-Building

Main Plot and Narrative Quality

The game’s story is based on the Book of Revelation, the final book of the Bible. It follows one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, War. In this story, the Four Horsemen are only supposed to be summoned to Earth when the Seven Seals are broken. However, our protagonist is summoned when the seals are still unbroken. He finds demons fighting with angels in a modern city where humans once lived. He meets the angels’ leader, Abaddon, who says the Seven Seals are not broken and War shouldn't be here. Abaddon is then killed by a large demon. War fights the demon and almost kills him, but a horn sound suddenly makes War lose his power. He is then killed by the demon and accused of causing humanity’s extinction. He is imprisoned and then released a hundred years later and sent to Earth to find the truth.

On Earth, the protagonist finds that a hundred years have passed since his imprisonment and all humans are dead. The demon merchant Vulgrim suggests that War find the demon lord called "the Destroyer," who now rules the ruined world. War then meets a demon lord named Samael, who is imprisoned by the Destroyer. Samael asks War to slay four of the Destroyer's Chosen and bring their hearts to him. If War does this, Samael will open a portal to the Destroyer's stronghold, the Black Tower. So, War begins his journey across the ruined world to slay the four Chosen. Along the way, he meets an angel named Uriel, a colleague of the former angel leader Abaddon, and a powerful blacksmith named Ulthane.

After War brings the four Chosen’s hearts to Samael, he regains his power and opens a portal to the Black Tower, which is called “the Black Throne.” Inside, War meets an imprisoned angel named Azrael, the Archangel of Death. Azrael tells War that six of the Seven Seals were broken by him and Abaddon because the angels wanted to start a war with the demons, and the last seal was hidden by Abaddon. Azrael then takes War to Eden, where War touches the Tree of Knowledge and discovers the truth: the demon lord "the Destroyer" is actually the former angel leader, Abaddon. A female voice tempted him to betray Heaven when he died, saying, “Serve in Heaven, or rule in Hell?” Abaddon then transformed into a dragon demon.

Finally, War needs to collect seven pieces of the Armageddon Blade, the only weapon that can kill the Destroyer. These pieces are placed in the areas we have already been to. (This phase of the game is the most boring part for me because there are no new areas, items, or enemies). Once we have all the pieces, Ulthane helps War reforge the Armageddon Blade. War then uses this sword to kill the Destroyer and break the final seal. When the seal is broken, the rest of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are summoned.

In my opinion, this game’s story is decent but not great. While playing, I just moved from one area to another, solved some puzzles, and fought a boss. The game has very little dialogue, and nothing is worth remembering. From the beginning, I could easily predict the game's progression: find one of the four Chosen’s dungeons, solve its puzzles, beat the boss, repeat the process, and then fight the final boss. So, if you're looking for a memorable story, this game is not for you.

Characterization Quality

Even though I said the story isn’t great, the characterization is decent. Although every character has very little dialogue, their few words made me remember some of them, like Azrael and Uriel. However, compared to other games, especially RPGs, the characterization is not good enough. I don’t know these characters' pasts or their thoughts; they felt more like icons than living characters.

World-Building Quality

As the first entry in the Darksiders series, this game successfully builds a framework for a fantasy world about Heaven and Hell. I remember words like “Charred Council,” “Hell Guard,” “the White City,” and “the Third Kingdom.” But since this game’s story is focused on the ruined Earth, there is no story about what happened in Heaven or Hell. The world-building in this game is just a framework.

Actually, the world-building of the Darksiders series is based on other works in the series, like the comics and other games. The entire series tells what happened between the apocalypses, so I can’t wait for Darksiders IV.

6. Visual Experience

Visual Art Style

This game’s art style is a typical 90s American comic style, mixed with fantasy and wasteland visual elements. The main characters, in particular, look like they came from Marvel comic books or World of Warcraft.

Unlike the characters’ comic style, the rest of the game is not as cartoony. The environments look more like a ruined, fantasy-infused version of the real world.

The dungeons' visuals are typical medieval fantasy, such as cathedrals and castles. To be honest, the dungeon visuals didn't leave a strong impression on me; they are no different from those in other medieval fantasy games.

The surprising part of the game’s art style is its enemy visual design. They blend sci-fi and medieval fantasy styles. The angels, in particular, wear sci-fi-style armor and hold sci-fi spears that can fire beams, while the demons have a more medieval look but also use railguns or huge robots.

Visual Consistency

During most of my playtime, I played as a comic-style warrior adventuring in a ruined modern city, fighting with demons or the undead. The visual experience of this part of the game is consistent and unified.

However, the two dungeons "Twilight Cathedral" and "Black Throne" are not visually consistent with the rest of the game. They look like typical medieval fantasy buildings that shouldn't appear in modern city ruins.

Visual Details

This game’s models are simple, and the textures are rough. But that doesn’t matter, because the game’s comic art style doesn’t need complex models or high-quality textures; these details are enough to make it look like a comic book.

7. Controls and UI

Controls

The game’s gamepad control configuration is a little outdated. I needed to press and hold the “LT” button to keep locking on to an enemy. If I released the button, the lock-on would be canceled, which is not like modern action games that auto-lock on.

Some puzzles require me to use the boomerang to hit multiple objects at the same time. I had to hold the “LT” button and the right joystick at the same time without releasing, move the right joystick to lock on to the objects I needed to hit, and then press the “RT” button to fire the boomerang.

The game’s field of view is also a small problem. When I’m crawling on a wall, my field of view is low, and I usually can’t tell the protagonist's position in the area. This often caused me to jump to the wrong place.

UI

This game’s UI is simple and helpful. The menu fully displays your weapons, enhancements, XP, skills, recovery items, and collectibles. The local map of every area or dungeon is detailed, showing how many floors and rooms are in a dungeon. If you get a special item, the map also reveals the position of the collectibles.

But there is a small problem with the map: it doesn’t display how many collectibles are in each area or dungeon or the number of uncollected ones. So, while I was trying to collect all of the collectibles, I had to revisit all areas repeatedly until I was certain there were no more uncollected items.

8. Difficulty and Challenge

Difficulty

This game's combat is not hard if you use skills and recovery items. The skill called “Stoneskin” is especially useful, as it significantly improves your defense, causing enemies to do very little damage to you.

The boss fights are also easy because you just need to use a puzzle-solving item to stun the boss and then attack it. The bosses' attack damage is not high, and their attack patterns are few. You just need to avoid their attacks and use the puzzle-solving item.

The puzzles are easy, too. Most of them just require me to lock on to the puzzle object and use the puzzle-solving item.

Challenge

As I said, this game is not hard, so the real challenge is collecting all the collectibles.

9. Conclusion and Score

Overall Impression

Darksiders is a game that mixes two famous games: Zelda and God of War. Even though its combat and puzzle sections are not perfect, the idea of mixing various gameplay styles was creative in 2010, and its 90s comic-style character design is awesome.

Pros:

Zelda-style gameplay mixed with God of War-style combat.

90s comic-style characters and visuals.

Apocalypse theme, including Angel and Demon.

Cons:

Secondary and ranged weapons are useless.

Boring boss fights.

Unbalanced skill store pricing.

Target Audience:

Fans of Zelda, fans of hack-and-slash games, and anyone looking for a game that mixes various gameplay styles.

Rating:

Gameplay: 8/10

Story: 6/10

Visuals: 8/10

Controls: 7/10

Overall: 7/10

[knightleon64]

A Dreamful Fairy Tale Mixed with Mad Darkness - An Alice: Madness Returns Game Review

1. Introduction

Alice: Madness Returns is a dark fairy tale video game based on the classic Alice in Wonderland, created by American McGee. The game features an amazing dark fairy tale aesthetic and level design that remains deeply memorable even today, over a decade after its release. However, it's unfortunate that the game feels like an unfinished product. The narrative, in particular, seems to have been heavily cut, resulting in a disjointed plot, and a noticeable lack of boss battles until the final chapter. Furthermore, the mid-to-late game mechanics become repetitive. Despite these flaws, Alice: Madness Returns stands out as one of the most unforgettable games of 2011.

2. Gameplay Mechanics

3D Platforming and Puzzles:

 Players control Alice on an adventure through various locations in Wonderland. Each level is filled with extensive platforming sections, requiring Alice to leap from one platform to another. Different platforms necessitate different types of jumps; some require bouncing off mushrooms to reach higher ground, while others appear only after solving simple puzzles. Certain platforms are invisible and can only be seen when Alice is in a "Shrink" state. Players must navigate countless platforms to reach their destination.

The in-game puzzles are quite straightforward, typically involving finding a switch or lever at location A to unlock a barrier at location B. Even in later levels, the puzzles are simply upgraded with a time-limit mechanism.

Shrink and Find Secrets:

The game is filled with hidden platforms and small doors. By pressing the LB button, Alice can shrink, revealing invisible platforms, secret entrances, and hints. This mechanic allows players to access secret areas and collectibles.

Third-Person Hack and Slash:

The combat system functions like a light third-person action game. It lacks a complex combo list, offering only basic attack patterns. Despite this simplicity, the feedback from enemy hits and the controller's haptic vibration are exceptionally well-implemented.

Alice wields four primary weapons: the Vorpal Blade (a sword), the Pepper Grinder (a machine gun), the Hobby Horse (a hammer), and the Teapot Cannon (a grenade launcher). Each weapon is effective against specific types of enemies, and there are no superfluous weapons.

Each level introduces new enemies that align with the specific environment. Different enemy types have unique attack patterns and weaknesses, demanding different weapon choices. Throughout the 10+ hour campaign, the introduction of new enemies in each chapter provides a fresh combat experience.

The most disappointing aspect of the gameplay is the lack of boss battles. There is only one significant boss fight at the very end of the game, and even that boss has a simple attack pattern.

Mini-Games:

The developers integrated a variety of mini-games throughout the experience, including a side-scrolling shooter where you steer a sailboat, a puzzle game, a side-scrolling platformer, a slide game, a pinball game, and a rhythm game. However, I personally feel these mini-games don't fit well with the core gameplay of Alice: Madness Returns, and their repeated appearance became a bit tedious.

3. Progression and Collectibles

Weapon Upgrades and Health Boosts:

Scattered throughout the game are collectible "Teeth" that players can gather from the environment or by defeating enemies. These Teeth can be used to upgrade Alice's weapons, each with four distinct levels.

Starting from Chapter 2, each chapter contains four secret areas. By completing challenges within these areas (such as answering a question, defeating all enemies, or surviving for a certain amount of time), players earn a Rose fragment. Collecting four Rose fragments grants Alice a new Rose, permanently increasing her health.

Collectibles:

The levels are filled with various collectibles, including Bottles and Memories. Collecting Memories is crucial for understanding the game's background story. Since the main plot is incomplete, players must gather most of the Memories to fully grasp the events that befell Alice's family.

4. Unique Flavor

What makes Alice: Madness Returns so memorable is its distinctive dark fairy tale art style. The game brilliantly re-imagines Wonderland with a darker twist. The environments are often a mix of the beautiful, dreamlike landscapes from the movie Alice in Wonderland, and a much more sinister, dark aesthetic. Each chapter has a completely different and unforgettable art style, with multiple unique sub-levels that still maintain a consistent thematic feel. Many of these sub-levels have a dark, bizarre, or even Lovecraftian feel to them.

For example, Chapter One’s theme is Victorian industrial pollution. The first sub-level begins with a dreamy, fairy tale Wonderland, but the second sub-level shifts to a polluted version of Wonderland. The environment continues to worsen in subsequent sub-levels, with Alice venturing into a scorching, oppressive steampunk factory. All these sub-levels are tied together by the Victorian Industrial Revolution theme.

Chapter Two is themed around the seabed, Chapter Three around East Asian artwork (porcelain, ink paintings, jade sculptures), Chapter Four around the Queen's Realm from Alice in Wonderland (Poker Castle, Card Soldiers, the Red Queen), and Chapter Five around a child's room (toys, dolls, candy).

5. Plot and World-Building

Main Plot:

The game's story is an adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, but it follows the narrative of the previous game, American McGee's Alice, rather than the original novel. In Alice: Madness Returns, protagonist Alice Liddell is no longer a child but a teenager who lost her family in a fire, an event that drove her into madness and a psychiatric clinic.

Unlike the child-like fantasy of the novel and movie, this game's story is dark and unsettling. Alice returns to a Wonderland that has been corrupted by an unknown force. Classic characters like the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, the White Rabbit, and the Dormouse all appear, but their appearances have been altered. They have all gone mad, and some, like the Mad Hatter, March Hare, and Dormouse, have been transformed into steampunk cyborg animals.

To uncover the source of Wonderland's corruption and save her own mind, Alice embarks on an adventure through various locations. She encounters many characters from the novels, who either help her or become her enemies. Ultimately, Alice recalls her lost memories about the fire that killed her family and discovers the true murderer. In the final scene, she pushes the murderer onto a moving train and then travels to a surreal, beautiful place that is a mixture of London and Wonderland.

At the beginning of each chapter, Alice has a conversation in London, often about her past, before abruptly traveling to Wonderland. This makes the London sections of the story feel confusing and disconnected. At the end of each chapter, Alice recovers some lost memories and returns to the real world, but the London plotline always ends abruptly, feeling incomplete.

To be honest, I believe the game's storytelling is poorly executed. I had to collect in-game Memories and read the game's wiki to fully understand what was happening.

Character Development and Narrative Depth:

Although the main plot is confusing, I think the character development is well-done. The characters that appear have vivid personalities that you can grasp from just a few lines of dialogue. The characters from the Alice novel are portrayed in a way that respects their original traits. However, it's a shame that the story in each chapter feels cut short. As a result, while I could quickly understand the characters, I never developed a deep emotional connection with them.

Regarding narrative depth, I initially noticed a potential for it. For example, the contrast between the London and Wonderland sections in Chapter One seemed promising. The game opens with a London full of oppression and industrial pollution, and then Alice enters a steampunk factory filled with high temperatures, molten iron, and broadcasts brainwashing the workers. This made me think the game was trying to prompt a reflection on the miserable working conditions of the 19th century and the harm caused by industrialization. But, as I mentioned with the plot, the game's storytelling feels incomplete. This means these elements with potential metaphorical depth ultimately become nothing more than visual details.

World-building:

In my opinion, the world-building in this game is a success. It creates a dark fairy tale version of Wonderland that is half beautiful and half terrifying. I saw many things that seemed to come straight from a childhood dream, but now they appeared in this game's Wonderland.

Each chapter successfully builds its own beautiful little world with a unique theme, and the details within these worlds make them more believable. For example, in the early levels of Chapter One, there are beautiful, gigantic trees and mushrooms that perfectly fit the theme. Then, later, I saw dark, monstrous creatures and scary buildings that showed me the dark, nightmarish side of Wonderland.

These completely contrasting visual elements reflect Alice's mind transforming from peace to madness. Her Wonderland is a mirror of her mental state. By the end of the story, I realized that Alice's Wonderland isn't just a figment of her imagination, but a real world that exists somewhere between a delusion and the earth we live on.

The fusion of dreamlike beauty and mad, nightmarish darkness is what defines Alice: Madness Returns and what deeply attracted me to it. I can only imagine what the developers could have achieved with a bigger budget and more time, perhaps with more story-driven boss fights and side quests, and a more believable world.

6. Visual Experience

Visual Art Style:

The game's art style is awesome and chaotic. It blends dreamlike fairy tale visuals with dark, nightmarish elements. In each chapter, the visuals follow a distinct progression: the early levels look beautiful and fantastical, like a children's book. The mid-levels start to become strange and grotesque. By the late levels, everything is scary and nightmarish, reminiscent of a horror film.

If you enjoy films with a strong, dark aesthetic—especially ones that are bloody and unsettling but still contain elements of beauty—this game might be one of the best you'll ever play.

Visual Consistency:

As I mentioned, the game mixes a variety of art styles within a single chapter, so the visuals are not stylistically uniform. This can be a bit confusing. In particular, the visual elements in Chapters Four and Five feel out of place. The late levels of Chapter Four have a Cthulhu-like style, filled with bloody, mutated organs and tentacles, while the late levels of Chapter Five resemble a horror movie, with skulls and old, dark wooden rooms. These styles feel completely disconnected from the rest of the chapters, as if they were pulled from other horror games.

Visual Details:

The character models are simple, and the textures are rough. Many visual elements are repeated within the same level. If you compare this game to a modern AAA title from 2025, it definitely feels like it lacks visual detail. However, despite these shortcomings, the game's stunning visual presentation and unique style are impressive enough to make you overlook its flaws.

7. Controls and UI

Controls:

As a hack and slash game, its combat mechanics are very simple. With only four weapons and no combos, just a basic attack type, it’s easy to get the hang of. The platforming also only has three special moves: double jump, air gliding, and shrinking. For most of the game, I only needed to double jump and glide to get through the platforming sections.

UI:

The game's UI is very minimal. The number of roses represents your health bar, and a filling teapot indicates your remaining ammunition. Aside from these, there are no other UI elements, such as a skill tree or an item inventory.

8. Difficulty and Challenge

Difficulty: Hack and Slash:

The combat is not particularly difficult, but some enemy mechanics can be frustrating. For example, a teapot-shaped robot enemy needs to be shot in its big eye with the Pepper Grinder to be stunned before you can use the blade to cut it. You can't just attack it directly. This wasn't the only enemy that bothered me; many different enemy types require a special method to defeat.

So when multiple of these specialized enemies appear on the screen, it can become stressful. You need to defeat them as quickly as possible, otherwise you risk getting overwhelmed since you can't deal enough damage to them directly.

Platforming:

The jumping sections are easy and have no penalty for failure. If you fall into lava or a pit, you simply respawn at the last safe platform without losing any health. This makes it easier to explore and find secret areas.

Challenge:

The main challenge of this game lies in finding all the secret areas and collecting all the collectibles, which is not an easy task. Many secret areas are located in your blind spots, so you have to repeatedly try different routes to discover them. During my playthrough, I tried to find all of them but failed. I missed two important secret areas that prevented me from maxing out my health bar.

9. Conclusion and Score

Overall Impression:

Alice: Madness Returns is a game with such a strong, unique identity that it manages to overshadow its flaws as an unfinished product. Like a cult film, it's undeniably incomplete, with abrupt chapter endings and a lack of boss fights. But its stunning visual experience captivated me. It may not be a game for everyone, but its dark fairy tale art style will deeply appeal to those who love the genre.

Pros:

Dreamlike, beautiful visuals that look straight out of a children's fairy tale book.

The blend of beautiful and horrifying elements.

Excellent hit feedback and controller vibration.

Cons:

Poor and incomplete storytelling.

Lack of boss fights.

Terrible modern PC compatibility, with frequent crashes and freezes.

Target Audience:

Alice in Wonderland fans, people who appreciate unique art styles, and fans of dark fairy tales.

Rating:

Gameplay: 7/10

Story: 6/10

Visual Art: 9/10

Controls: 8/10

Overall: 8/10

[knightleon64]

A Duo's Odyssey Through the Wasteland:  ENSLAVED™: Odyssey to the West™ Review

1. Introduction

Game Title: ENSLAVED™: Odyssey to the West™

Release Date: October 25, 2013 (PC)

Genre: Action-adventure, Hack and Slash

Playtime: 8-12 hours

Overview:  ENSLAVED™: Odyssey to the West™  is a linear action-adventure game developed by the acclaimed Ninja Theory, set against a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Drawing inspiration from the classic Chinese novel "Journey to the West," the game reimagines its iconic characters within a sci-fi, ravaged world. Players assume the role of Monkey, a strong and agile survivor, who finds himself reluctantly allied with Trip, a resourceful young hacker. Together, they embark on a perilous journey across a desolate, war-torn America, navigating cinematic set-piece levels filled with intense combat against both humanoid and animalistic Mechs. Their ultimate destination is the mysterious "Pyramid," where they uncover the unsettling truth behind humanity's enslavement.

2. Gameplay Mechanics

Fight Like a Monk:

As the protagonist Monkey, players wield a versatile Staff, reminiscent of Chirrut Îmwe from the film Rogue One. This weapon serves not only for close-quarters combat but also as a shield to deflect incoming projectiles from Mechs. The third-person combat system features fluid parries and counter-attacks, adding a layer of satisfying engagement.

Combat encounters in the game generally fall into a few distinct categories, each offering a different experience:

Melee Encounters: Players are enclosed in semi-restricted arenas, facing various types of Mechs—light, heavy, and shielded. The key to success often lies in utilizing skills like the "Stun Attack" to break enemy defenses, followed by combinations of light and heavy attacks. Upon dealing sufficient damage to certain special enemies, players can execute them, turning the defeated Mech into either a bomb for area-of-effect damage or an EMP device to incapacitate surrounding foes. While the melee combat boasts satisfying impact, its simplicity can lead to a lack of depth and challenge; often, a well-timed "Stun Attack" is all it takes to neutralize most enemy types before unleashing combos.

Gunplay Encounters: In specific levels, players encounter ranged Mechs, shifting the gameplay to a cover-based third-person shooter. When using the Machine Gun, the experience is akin to classic turret shooters like Beachhead 2000, limiting player movement to a stationary 360-degree rotation. The Staff Gun, an alternative mode for Monkey's primary weapon, functions like a recoilless rifle, mounted on his shoulder. Ammunition for this weapon is scarce, and resupply points are rare, making its use primarily limited to forced gun-centric sequences. Candidly, the gunplay sections feel underdeveloped and clunky, lacking the core mechanics expected of a typical TPS and coming across as a clumsy imitation of the genre.

Mech Minefield Scenarios: Numerous areas feature dormant Mechs, each with a defined detection radius. Players must carefully navigate around these areas to avoid waking them. Triggering even one Mech alerts all others in the vicinity, transforming the area into a "minefield." However, if players can easily dispatch the awakened Mechs, these "minefields" lose much of their intended threat.

Jumping Like a Monkey:

Beyond combat, platforming constitutes a significant portion of the gameplay. Many segments require players to nimbly leap between platforms, pillars, and walls, mirroring the agility of a true Monkey. This design capitalizes on the protagonist's acrobatic nature, adding an enjoyable element of exploration and traversal.

Adventure with a Teenager Girl:

Throughout their adventure, Monkey is accompanied by Trip, a clever teenage hacker. Monkey can carry Trip on his back through dangerous zones or even throw her to inaccessible ledges. In return, Trip provides invaluable support, using her Dragonfly camera to scan for Mechs, supplying Monkey with health packs, or deploying decoys to distract enemies. In puzzle-oriented scenarios, Monkey often relies on Trip to manipulate levers and activate mechanisms.

DLC: Stealth Like a Sniper:

The game's DLC offers a completely distinct gameplay experience from the main campaign's third-person hack-and-slash. Players take on the role of Pigsy, a fragile sniper incapable of direct melee combat. Instead, he must utilize stealth to bypass enemies or deliver lethal headshots with his sniper rifle. Pigsy also has access to tools such as decoys, EMPs, and mines. Despite its relatively short duration of a few hours, this DLC delivers a satisfying stealth-action "dessert."

3. Progression and Collectibles

Skill Unlocks and Health Upgrades:

Scattered throughout the game environments are Tech Orbs, also obtainable by defeating Mechs. Players can spend these Orbs through Trip to acquire new skills like "Stun Attack" or "Wide Attack," and to enhance Monkey's health and shield capacities. This progression system encourages both exploration and active combat.

Mask Collection:

Aside from Tech Orbs, the sole collectible in the game is the Mask. Each time Monkey touches a Mask, a short cinematic clip plays, offering a glimpse into pre-war modern human life. Frankly, this collectible feels somewhat uninspired and failed to motivate me to actively seek them out.

4. Unique Flavor

The most striking characteristic of ENSLAVED™: Odyssey to the West™ is undoubtedly its innovative reimagining of characters from the classic Chinese novel "Journey to the West" within a post-apocalyptic setting, unfolding an action-adventure narrative centered around battling Mechs. This unique blend evokes the feeling of a "Human VS Mech" version of Mad Max, brimming with raw, untamed energy.

5. Story and World-Building

Main Plot:

The story unfolds in a post-apocalyptic world where human civilization has been shattered by nuclear war. The desolate wilderness is overrun with hostile Mechs, and humans are continuously abducted by a mysterious force known as the "Pyramid." The protagonist, Monkey, while escaping a "Pyramid" transport ship, encounters Trip. After Monkey rescues Trip, she unexpectedly places a slave headband on him, forcing his compliance. Trip compels Monkey to escort her across the wasteland to her home, where she hopes to find her father. However, upon their arrival, they discover Trip's father has fallen victim to a "Pyramid" attack. Trip and Monkey then seek out Trip's father's friend, Pigsy. The trio manages to gain control of a powerful Titan Mech within a factory ruin. Piloting this colossal machine, they journey to the "Pyramid" headquarters for a climactic battle against other Titan Mechs, finally uncovering the truth about the "Pyramid"—a vast VR network designed to recreate the idyllic pre-war world.

Character Development and Narrative Depth:

The game's narrative primarily focuses on the development of three central characters: Monkey, Trip, and Pigsy. Their archetypes are clearly derived from Sun Wukong, Tripitaka, and Zhu Bajie of "Journey to the West." Throughout the game's story, players can distinctly observe how these characters embody traits from their original inspirations, such as Monkey's controlled subservience to Trip and his inclination towards brute force solutions. While the distinct personalities of the three characters are effectively conveyed through their in-game performances, leaving a memorable impression, the plot itself doesn't delve into serious social issues or deeply explore complex emotional relationships like familial bonds or romance.

World-Building:

ENSLAVED™: Odyssey to the West™  crafts a quintessential post-apocalyptic wasteland: modern human civilization has been annihilated by nuclear war, and post-war society has regressed into a state akin to primitive tribal anarchy, rather than rebuilding. Humanoid and animalistic Mechs roam the wilderness, posing a constant threat to human life—a setting that might bring to mind a "lite" version of Horizon Zero Dawn. However, in comparison to larger-scale post-apocalyptic titles like Horizon Zero Dawn, Fallout, or Wasteland,  ENSLAVED™ , constrained by its scope, doesn't fully explore the intricacies of human survival or societal structures within its ruined world.

6. Visual Experience

Art Style:

The game's art style is distinctive, combining post-apocalyptic urban ruins modeled after real-world cities, colossal Mech graveyards, and character models based on realistic facial capture of human actors. Many in-game environments are clearly inspired by real-world landmarks; for instance, the early game's bridge level is unmistakably a derelict Golden Gate Bridge, while the final battle takes place at a ruined Hoover Dam. The sequential level design cleverly evokes a journey from the East Coast to the West Coast of the United States. The enemies, meanwhile, are near-future sci-fi-inspired humanoid and animalistic Mechs. Overall, the game presents a unique experience of confronting Mechs, seemingly plucked from Japanese sci-fi, within the decayed landscapes of American cities.

Design Cohesion:

The early and late game environments showcase markedly different styles; the former features realistic outdoor urban ruins, while the latter heavily incorporates futuristic, giant Mech graveyards and sci-fi factories. Despite their contrasting aesthetics, these two styles achieve a clever visual unity and seamless transition, primarily due to the consistent sci-fi Mechs and underlying world-building.

Detail and Impact:

Judging by the standards of its Xbox release in 2010, the game's graphics were remarkably good. The three main character models were realistic and natural, with facial expressions and movements that felt genuinely performed by human actors. However, viewed from the perspective of 2025, the game's environmental models and texture details now appear dated and somewhat crude.

7. Controls and UI

Control Accessibility:

As an action game, ENSLAVED™  doesn't feature the complex move lists found in titles like Devil May Cry. Its controls are straightforward, involving simple X+Y combinations or holding X and releasing. This intuitive design allows players to quickly grasp the mechanics and easily master the gameplay without a steep learning curve.

UI Interface:

The game's UI is exceptionally clean and devoid of superfluous elements. This minimalist approach, coupled with the relatively simple game mechanics, ensures that players can quickly and effortlessly navigate and understand all interface functions.

8. Difficulty and Challenge

Difficulty Setting:

The game's overall difficulty is not particularly high, and the developers have provided players with multiple ways to mitigate challenge. Firstly, the "Stun Attack" can effectively bypass enemy defenses, paralyzing and holding enemies in place for several seconds. Secondly, against ranged attacks, the protagonist automatically deploys a shield, ensuring immunity to damage until the shield gauge is depleted. Melee enemies can also be blocked with the shield, allowing for defensive counters. Furthermore, the female protagonist Trip can carry healing items, which can be deployed to restore Monkey's health when critically low. Lastly, an upgraded Staff Gun boasts extremely high damage with no reload time; players can use its remote "Stun Attack" to paralyze even bosses, then switch to regular ranged attacks. With maximum ranged damage upgrades, some bosses can be defeated in just a few shots, significantly lowering the combat barrier.

Challenge:

The true challenge in ENSLAVED™  doesn't lie in its combat, but rather in the specific actions required to unlock certain achievements. For example, one achievement demands completing a boss chase sequence within a strict time limit, testing players' ability to choose the correct path while moving at high speeds.

9. Conclusion and Rating

Overall Assessment:

ENSLAVED™: Odyssey to the West™  represents Ninja Theory's earlier foray into action games, preceding their more renowned titles like DmC: Devil May Cry and Hellblade. In this game, one can clearly discern the hallmarks of Ninja Theory's distinctive style: simple yet well-executed melee combat with excellent hit feedback, and cutting-edge (for 2010) facial capture technology that resulted in remarkably realistic character expressions. However, the game's scope is somewhat limited, its systems lack deep replayability, and the narrative, while engaging, doesn't offer many stand-out moments.

Pros:

Easy-to-learn yet excellent combat experience with strong hit feedback.

Relatively refined character models and realistic expressions for its era.

A cinematic post-apocalyptic wasteland adventure.

Cons:

Lackluster plot with an abrupt ending.

Game mechanics lack significant depth.

Overall low difficulty and limited challenge.

Recommended For:

Fans of Ninja Theory, enthusiasts of post-apocalyptic wasteland settings.

Ratings:

Gameplay: 6/10

Story: 6/10

Art Direction: 7/10

Controls: 8/10

Overall: 7/10

[knightleon64]

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Series Review - The Final Chapter of Castlevania

Introduction: The Dawn of Fate and a Series Reimagined

My first encounter with the Castlevania series dates back 24 years, to Castlevania: Circle of the Moon. It was my very first Castlevania game, and my introduction to the Metroidvania genre. From that moment, I fell in love with this unique blend of ability progression and exploration, all set within a dark, gothic ancient castle. I completed all three Castlevania titles on the GBA, striving for 100% completion whenever possible. Later, I delved into Castlevania: Symphony of the Night via a PC emulator. Even in 2025, this game's art style, character design, map size, and monster designs still surpass 90% of the Metroidvania-tag games on Steam. It's a shame that Konami's Castlevania PC collection doesn't include it. I highly recommend that any Metroidvania fan give Symphony of the Night a try; it's a testament to how classic games can truly stand the test of time.

As the gaming industry entered the 3D era, the Castlevania series, renowned for its 2D side-scrolling gameplay, faced an inevitable transformation. Konami had previously released several 3D Castlevania games, but none garnered player approval or commercial success. Convinced that the series needed a radical overhaul to appeal to Western markets, Konami decided to outsource the new Castlevania title to a Western game studio. They found MercurySteam, the developers behind the surprisingly impressive horror FPS, Clive Barker's Jericho.

Initially, MercurySteam didn't pitch a Castlevania game to Konami. Instead, they proposed an entirely new IP called "Highlander." Konami was impressed by the project's potential and quality, believing its dark fantasy aesthetic and fluid action design resonated with the essence of Castlevania. At the time, Konami was hesitant about how to handle the important Castlevania IP. It was David Cox (a producer at Konami Europe, who was a key driving force behind the Lords of Shadow series) who showcased MercurySteam's early work to Konami's Japanese executives. Legendary game creator Hideo Kojima saw the project's potential and proactively offered his assistance.

With Kojima's endorsement and involvement, Konami ultimately decided to transform MercurySteam's original project into a complete reboot of the Castlevania series: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. This decision meant the game would entirely break away from the original Belmont family lore and timeline, telling a brand new story. This unexpected transformation proved to be a massive success, with Castlevania: Lords of Shadow selling 1.75 million copies, making it the best-selling title in Castlevania history. Encouraged by this, Konami commissioned MercurySteam to develop two sequels: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2. Unfortunately, neither of these sequels met Konami's sales or critical expectations, leading to the unfortunate end of major new entries in the renowned Castlevania series. Today, let's take a look back at the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow series – the "final chapter" of Castlevania.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow: God of War Gameplay Meets Dark Gothic Art

Game Development Background: Series Reboot and 3D Transition

The development period for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (roughly 2007-2010) was a pivotal era for the seventh generation of consoles (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii). During that time, once-dominant 2D games were becoming niche, while now-famous titles like God of War, Devil May Cry, Assassin's Creed, and Mass Effect were making their debut. Japanese game developers' exquisite 2D art no longer held the same prominence in this new age, and their often clunky and outdated 3D game presentations struggled against Western counterparts. It was during this period that Konami began outsourcing new entries for its renowned IPs like Castlevania and Silent Hill to Western game studios, aiming to combine Western game development techniques with Japanese creative understanding to craft AAA titles suitable for the Western market.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow didn't use a popular third-party engine like Unreal Engine 3. Instead, MercurySteam developed its own "Mercury Engine" specifically for the game. This proprietary engine showcased impressive visual fidelity, easily matching or even surpassing Unreal Engine 3. Given the previous 3D Castlevania games' failures in both critical reception and sales, producer David Cox emphasized that unlike those attempts to shoehorn 2D gameplay into 3D, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow was designed from the ground up as a 3D action game. This meant the core mechanics, level design, and combat system were tailor-made for a 3D environment, rather than simply replicating 2D jumping and platforming elements.

In terms of gameplay, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow clearly drew inspiration from popular 3D action-adventure games of the time, especially Sony's God of War series and Capcom's Devil May Cry series. It featured a fixed camera perspective, QTEs (Quick Time Events), epic boss battles, and a combat system emphasizing whip-based combos, delivering a strong God of War-esque adventure and combat experience. Despite its significant departure from traditional 2D Castlevania gameplay, the game diligently preserved the series' classic dark gothic horror aesthetic in its art style. The vast, eerie castles, unique monster designs, and grand musical scores all strived to create an authentic Castlevania atmosphere. This approach proved successful: even though it abandoned Castlevania's traditional 2D Metroidvania gameplay, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow resonated with mainstream players of the time, becoming the best-selling title in the Castlevania series.

3D Platforming: Climbing, Swinging, and Jumping

Just like typical 3D action-adventure games of that era, such as Prince of Persia and God of War, players often had to scale cliffs, leap across chasms, or swing between various points like Tarzan. Many times, players also faced harsh environmental hazards, like crumbling cliffs, traps spewing fire or electricity, or rapidly rising lava. Players needed to quickly complete climbing, jumping, and swinging actions within limited timeframes. These 3D platforming sections made up about a quarter of the game's levels.

3D Combat: The Combat Cross and Epic Boss Fights

This game clearly had a strong God of War vibe. Players primarily used a weapon called the "Combat Cross," which was a whip. While the main weapon in Castlevania has always been a whip, unlike the linear horizontal attacks in 2D Castlevania games, the Combat Cross's attack styles and moves in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow felt more akin to God of War's Blades of Chaos. The combat's impact and feel also strongly resembled classic God of War. By the way, Lords of Shadow 2's combat style was more like Devil May Cry.

In the game, players faced three monumental Titan Boss battles. These encounters clearly drew inspiration from Shadow of the Colossus, requiring players to climb the immense bosses and attack their weak points, like their heads. Besides the Titans, players also fought various other bosses such as a Raven Witch, Lycan, Vampire, Dark Knight, and Satan. Each boss had its own unique combat style and specific mechanics for defeating them. For example, to beat the Lycan boss, you had to destroy pillars in the arena, while defeating Satan required cleverly switching between Light and Shadow Magic. Coupled with the medieval hymn-style background music, these boss battles delivered a powerful, epic feeling. While they might not have reached the same breathtaking heights as Shadow of the Colossus, they were still excellent for a game released in 2010.

3D Puzzles: Item Collection and Mini-Games

Like Resident Evil and God of War, this game featured several puzzle-oriented levels. Players needed to freely explore the level to find key puzzle items, place them in the correct spots, and then play mini-games to solve the puzzles. This was a common element in action-adventure games of that era, but it's relatively less common in current-generation titles. Some of the puzzles in this game were decently designed, but personally, I found most of them a bit boring. As with other typical action-adventure games, the levels contained numerous collectibles, such as Life Gems (which increase maximum health) or Knight Diaries (which expand on the game's lore). However, the game lacked truly unique items to further incentivize exploration.

Art & Music: Dark Gothic Aesthetics and Religious Hymn OST

The most memorable aspects of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow are undoubtedly its art style and background music. The game adopted the classic dark gothic aesthetic of the Castlevania series, blended with the grand-scale environments reminiscent of God of War and Shadow of the Colossus. Early levels featured numerous ruins, evoking the feeling of Angkor Wat but with their own distinct and consistent ancient civilization art style. The vampire castle levels in the latter half of the game were a 3D rendition of classic 2D Castlevania settings – opulent castles, intricate reliefs, delicate chandeliers, and even preternaturally advanced electrical technology. The game's background music, with its ethereal female vocals, resembled medieval Catholic hymns. Whenever I heard these sacred melodies, I felt as if I were a knight of God, bravely confronting evil.

Narrative and World-Building: A Reimagining of the Castlevania Lore and Dracula's Origin

This game didn't simply inherit the Castlevania series' established lore and timeline. Instead, it ingeniously utilized classic Castlevania elements to construct an entirely new world. This reimagined universe begins in medieval Europe and introduces an organization previously unseen in the series: the Brotherhood of Light, with protagonist Gabriel Belmont as one of its members. This marked the first significant expansion of the Castlevania series' world, shifting the narrative beyond the millennium-long conflict between the Belmonts and Dracula to encompass a grand expedition by the Brotherhood of Light knights against the forces of darkness. The collectible "Knight Diaries" within the game recounted the stories of various Brotherhood of Light knights. These narrative elements ensured Lords of Shadow's world was cohesive and logically consistent, possessing substantial potential for future plot extensions.

Overall Impression

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is essentially a new action-adventure game that borrows some elements from the Castlevania series, rather than being a direct sequel to the 2D Castlevania games. As a 2010 title, its excellent dark gothic art direction and religiously-inspired background music ensure it doesn't feel dated even in 2025. Its God of War-like gameplay, compared to traditional 2D Castlevania, resonated more with mainstream players of the time. The only regret about the first Lords of Shadow game is that it didn't retain the Metroidvania gameplay.

Pros:

Gorgeous dark fantasy medieval gothic art style

Hybrid gameplay mechanics blending various genres

Numerous unique and varied level environments and monsters

Cons:

Tedious and easily failed QTEs

Challenging and unforgiving trap sections

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate: 2.5D Metroidvania and Missing RPG Elements

Game Development Background: The Return of Metroidvania and 3DS Adaptation

After Castlevania: Lords of Shadow achieved the highest sales in Castlevania history, Konami continued to entrust MercurySteam with developing a sequel. Given that many of the popular Metroidvania entries in the Castlevania series were primarily on Nintendo handhelds like the GBA and NDS, Konami decided to launch a Metroidvania-style Castlevania: Lords of Shadow sequel on the Nintendo 3DS. This also marked MercurySteam's first foray into 3DS development, laying the groundwork for their future work on two Metroid games.

For Mirror of Fate, MercurySteam continued to use the "Mercury Engine" from the previous game, adapting it specifically for the 3DS platform. Producer Enric Alvarez noted that porting the engine to the 3DS was a "considerable challenge," as the 3DS is a "very special, very powerful" platform with both stereoscopic display and dual cameras. He even stated that they almost "built an engine from scratch for the 3DS," which clearly indicates the immense effort they put into ensuring performance and visual fidelity on the handheld.

As a 3DS exclusive, the game fully leveraged the 3DS's glasses-free 3D functionality, using depth of field effects to enhance the sense of space and visual impact of the environments. The producer once mentioned that the 3DS's stereoscopic display was perfect for "layered" 3D effects, making the 2.5D environment feel more vibrant. MercurySteam explicitly stated in news reports that the choice of 2.5D was a tribute to classic 2D Castlevania games. Mirror of Fate offered some Metroidvania-style exploration and platforming. Despite the camera shift, Mirror of Fate's combat system largely inherited the core of Lords of Shadow 1, including whip combos, blocking, dodging, light and dark magic, and sub-weapons. This made the combat experience feel deeper and more action-oriented than traditional 2D Castlevania. Game producer David Cox said, "We wanted to integrate more classic exploration elements and combine them with a more modern, combat-focused approach."

2.5D Metroidvania: Multi-Character Linear Maps and Missing Classic Castlevania RPG Elements

The gameplay experience of Mirror of Fate is similar to most 2D Metroidvania games: players explore various areas within a vampire castle, engaging in platforming, solving puzzles, navigating traps, acquiring key items, reaching hidden areas, and battling dark creatures and bosses. However, unlike typical 2D Metroidvania titles, Mirror of Fate allows players to assume the roles of three different characters, each with their own special abilities and corresponding unique maps. Furthermore, the map environments and monsters encountered by each character differ, which is a major distinction from other 2D Metroidvania games.

Nevertheless, as a successor to 2D Castlevania, while Mirror of Fate incorporates 2D Metroidvania exploration elements, its map exploration experience feels relatively linear. Players must advance through areas in a predetermined order, lacking the freedom to choose which region to explore first. More disappointingly, this title lacks the RPG elements found in Castlevania games on the GBA and NDS, such as equipment customization or direct character stat increases through leveling. This results in less gameplay depth compared to traditional 2D Castlevania. It's truly regrettable that the last 2D Castlevania game lacks RPG elements.

2D Platforming Action & Combat: Inherited and Improved Lords of Shadow Combat with Underwhelming Boss Battles

The combat in Mirror of Fate inherited the fighting style of its predecessor, Lords of Shadow, adapting it for a 2D platforming environment. Players continued to use the whip as their primary weapon, with most of the moves from the first game carried over and simplified in terms of button inputs. The game's sense of impact, evident in enemy hit reactions and force feedback, was significantly improved, making it one of the better combat experiences in 2D Metroidvania games.

However, Mirror of Fate featured a limited number of bosses, and each boss's attack patterns were fixed and repetitive, with lackluster combat animations. The uninspired boss battles squandered the game's otherwise excellent combat feel and its unique God of War-like combat experience within a 2D Metroidvania framework.

Art & Music: Simplistic 3D Models, Lacking Environmental Detail, and Stunning Comic Book Cutscenes

Likely due to the 3DS's hardware limitations, the character and monster models in Mirror of Fate during actual gameplay felt quite simplistic. The intricate environmental details of Castlevania's iconic dark gothic art style were also notably absent. Had it not been for the 3DS's glasses-free 3D effect, I believe the game might have benefited more from exquisite 2D graphics.

In stark contrast to the simplistic in-game models, Mirror of Fate utilized comic book-style cutscenes for its narrative. While the story sequences were infrequent, each one was meticulously crafted and left a lasting impression on me.

Narrative and World-Building: The Crucial Link Between Lords of Shadow 1 and 2

The narrative of Mirror of Fate reimagines the very "origin point" of the Castlevania series – the story of Simon battling Dracula in the first Castlevania game. It recontextualizes the classic Castlevania protagonists Simon and Alucard: Dracula is established as the progenitor of the Belmont family, and Simon is his grandson. This family relationship subverts the traditional Castlevania lore of the Belmont clan's millennium-long conflict with Dracula, transforming it into a fated confrontation between Dracula and his own descendants. I can't definitively say whether this new character dynamic is superior to the traditional Castlevania series, but this particular setup firmly establishes the Lords of Shadow series as a complete parallel universe to the traditional Castlevania narrative.

Mirror of Fate served as a critical narrative bridge between Lords of Shadow 1 and 2. It introduced the character of Alucard and the pivotal item, the "Mirror of Fate," preventing a jarring jump in the narrative to the modern era in Lords of Shadow 2. As I mentioned in my previous review of Mirror of Fate, the game seamlessly incorporated many elements from both Lords of Shadow 1 and 2, such as the Combat Cross and Light Magic from the first game, and the Void Sword and Toy Maker concepts from the second.

Overall Impression:

Mirror of Fate is a Metroidvania game that returned to the traditional roots of the Castlevania series, bringing back classic vampire castles and iconic Castlevania monsters. However, compared to the classic 2D Castlevania games on GBA and NDS, this title featured a smaller map with less exploration potential, and crucially, it lacked RPG elements. As MercurySteam's first foray into 2.5D Metroidvania, the game performed decently. Unfortunately, Konami did not commission MercurySteam to develop a sequel to Mirror of Fate, making this 2.5D Castlevania the last Castlevania game with 2D Metroidvania gameplay, thereby failing to continue the series' classic legacy.

Pros:

Return of classic Castlevania series environments and monsters

Relatively good combat experience and hit feedback for a Metroidvania game

Varied level environments and monsters (though some were simplistic)

Impressive comic book-style cutscenes

Cons:

Small map size, limited exploration space

Lacks the iconic RPG mechanics of 2D Castlevania series

Simplistic visuals and lacking environmental detail

Boss attack patterns are repetitive and lack challenge

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2: 3D Metroidvania, Abrupt Modern Setting, and Frustrating Stealth

Game Development Background: Konami's Ambition, Kojima's Absence, and Puzzling Development Decisions

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 (hereafter LoS2), unveiled alongside Mirror of Fate at E3 2012, immediately captured the attention of Castlevania fans. Konami, in particular, harbored great ambitions for this title, as the previous game's sales offered hope for revitalizing the Castlevania series.

However, what should have been a new milestone for the Castlevania series instead faced continuous challenges and setbacks during development. Firstly, the game transitioned from the linear levels of its predecessor to a 3D Metroidvania sandbox map that allowed for free exploration. This presented an enormous challenge for the MercurySteam team and their "Mercury Engine." With resources also being pulled to simultaneously develop Mirror of Fate, the MercurySteam team was forced to complete a project far more complex than its predecessor within a limited timeframe and with insufficient personnel. This led to online rumors of MercurySteam employees suffering from crunch time and mismanagement issues.

Adding to the woes, Hideo Kojima, who had provided guidance and support for the previous game, was by then largely focused on Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Consequently, he reportedly had minimal involvement in LoS2's development, which may have contributed to the final product's perceived lack of cohesion.

Beyond the significant development hurdles, LoS2's game development decisions also caused unease among Castlevania fans: the game's setting abruptly shifted from the medieval period of Lords of Shadow and Mirror of Fate to a modern-day backdrop, a complete departure from the series' historical medieval castle settings. Furthermore, the stealth gameplay shown in trailers felt out of place with the Castlevania series' traditional combat, and the notion of a powerful Dracula having to hide from modern soldiers seemed inconsistent with his established role as the ultimate boss in the series.

Producer David Cox and Game Director Enric Alvarez (co-founder and CEO of MercurySteam) addressed these decisions in multiple interviews and developer diaries leading up to the game's release:

Regarding the Modern Setting: David Cox and Enric Alvarez repeatedly emphasized that setting Lords of Shadow 2 in the modern era was to fulfill the cliffhanger left at the end of Lords of Shadow 1. In the post-credits scene of the first game, Dracula awakens in a modern city to face the return of Satan. Thus, the modern setting was the "destiny" of the entire trilogy's narrative arc and Dracula's ultimate path to redemption. Enric Alvarez mentioned in interviews that the design of the modern city aimed to convey the vastness of the world to players while offering vertical exploration and environmental interaction different from the castle. This design philosophy, where "the city itself is an extension of the castle," allowed modern elements and gothic aesthetics to coexist.

Regarding Stealth Gameplay: David Cox and Enric Alvarez frequently stated that Dracula was not at his peak strength at the beginning of the game; he was extremely weakened after his long slumber. Early in the story, he needed to gradually regain his power. Therefore, when facing certain overwhelming enemies, he couldn't confront them head-on and had to resort to stealth to avoid risks or find weaknesses. They hoped this approach would allow players to experience Dracula's "vulnerable side" and increase the game's tension. They also aimed to introduce stealth to break up the rhythm of pure hack-and-slash combat, offering players a different gameplay experience and preventing combat fatigue. David Cox stated in an interview that they wanted the game to have "more activities to intersperse among the bloodiness" and aimed to offer a more diverse experience.

3D Metroidvania: Story-Driven Linear Levels and "Dessert" Exploration

Similar to its predecessor, Lords of Shadow, the main campaign of this game remained a story-driven linear action-adventure. Players were typically guided by the narrative, moving to objective locations, defeating level bosses, unlocking new abilities, and then being teleported to new areas to continue the adventure.

However, after completing the main story, players could return to previously visited locations for free exploration, using newly acquired abilities to reach hidden areas inaccessible during the main campaign. As players explored, they would discover that the two large maps in the game were interconnected—players could travel from an exit in one area to another, consistent with typical Metroidvania region structures. This game demonstrated MercurySteam's capability in designing a classic Metroidvania map. Unfortunately, in this last major Castlevania production, the Metroidvania elements served merely as a "dessert" rather than the primary gameplay, which is truly regrettable.

3D Combat: Improved Experience and Frustrating Enemy Design

This game inherited the God of War-like combat mechanics from its predecessor, Lords of Shadow, and significantly improved the combat experience. The number of weapons increased from one to three, and combat became smoother and faster, with the overall feel leaning closer to Devil May Cry. The sense of impact and hit feedback when striking enemies were also notably enhanced; most enemies now had clear hit animations and controller vibration feedback, and the hit sound effects and vibration intensity varied distinctly with different weapons. Furthermore, the frustrating QTEs (Quick Time Events) from the previous game were drastically reduced, appearing only at critical moments with more lenient timing requirements.

However, in contrast to the improved combat experience, the design of some new enemy types in this game was quite poor, leading to frustration:

Shielded/Heavily Armored Enemies: These enemies couldn't be damaged directly from the front. Players needed to use the specific weapon "Chaos Claws" to continuously attack and break their shields or armor, which consumed mana.

Monk-type Enemies: As long as they remained on the battlefield, they would continuously summon new enemies. If players couldn't quickly eliminate these enemies, they would be forced to repeatedly fight endlessly spawning weaker foes.

Infinitely Resurrecting Bloody Skeletons: After defeating these enemies, they would transform into a puddle of flowing blood and resurrect as new skeletons within seconds. Players had to continuously attack the blood puddle during this brief window to prevent resurrection. However, this window was extremely short and easily interrupted by enemy attacks, often forcing me to repeatedly attack the same enemy.

Compounding these issues, the enemies in this game had overly aggressive attack patterns, and even basic enemy attacks could interrupt the protagonist's attacks, easily breaking the flow of combat and causing frustration.

3D Climbing and Jumping: Restricted Assassin's Creed-Style Experience

This game featured many climbing and jumping sections, requiring players to continuously ascend and leap between walls, ladders, and pillars, sometimes needing double jumps to reach distant platforms. The climbing and jumping experience felt more akin to Assassin's Creed 1-3. However, unlike Assassin's Creed, where players could climb almost any wall, in this game, only specific areas of the environment allowed for climbing, which limited the freedom of exploration.

Stealth & Evasion: Simplistic Mechanics and Single "Correct Answer"

The main story of this game featured several mandatory stealth sections. In these segments, players couldn't attack enemies and would die within seconds if detected. Players had to use bats to distract enemies, transform into rats to pass through narrow passages, and finally sneak behind enemies to possess them, then control their bodies to activate gate switches.

Compared to other classic stealth games, this game's stealth levels felt constrained with narrow spaces and a lack of effective means for players to deal with patrolling enemies. Consequently, there was often only a single "correct answer" for navigating these stealth sections: players had to follow a specific route to pass, lacking the freedom found in other stealth titles. I found the stealth sections to be the worst part of this game.

Art & Music: Gorgeous Gothic Castle vs. Abrupt Modern City

This game featured two main maps: one was Dracula's Castle, reminiscent of the vampire castle from the previous game, inheriting Castlevania's classic dark gothic art style; the other was a retro-futuristic modern city akin to Arkham City from Batman: Arkham City. The castle section offered an excellent art experience; even 11 years later, it remains one of the most exquisite vampire castle environments in vampire-themed games. However, the modern city portion felt completely out of place with Castlevania's style. Switching between the two maps created a severe sense of disconnect, breaking the game's intended immersion.

The game's background music continued the religious hymn style and epic scope of its predecessor. Paired with Dracula's journey of self-redemption, it created a strong sense of immersion while adventuring in the castle sections, like watching an epic story unfold.

Narrative and World-Building: Dracula's Self-Redemption and a Muddled Modern Plot

Lords of Shadow 2's story takes place a millennium after the first Lords of Shadow, with the setting abruptly shifting from medieval times to the modern era. The plot is divided into two distinct parts:

Dracula regaining his lost power and recovering his memories within his illusory Dracula's Castle, ultimately achieving self-redemption. (This part has many connections to Lords of Shadow and Mirror of Fate, making the trilogy's plot complete.)

Dracula searching for three of Satan's acolytes in the modern city to prevent Satan's return. However, this modern-day plot segment was convoluted and illogical; I previously analyzed in detail how poor its narrative was in my review of Lords of Shadow 2.

Consequently, the two disconnected parts, especially the problematic modern city storyline, led to Lords of Shadow 2 receiving poor reviews, despite being intended as the trilogy's satisfying conclusion. This also resulted in the Castlevania series having no major new entries since.

Overall Impression

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 should have continued the story of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, further exploring medieval adventures. However, MercurySteam's team aggressively shifted the story to a modern setting and introduced stealth sections that were inconsistent with the series' traditions. Despite featuring smoother combat and explorable 3D Metroidvania levels compared to its predecessor, which could have been the starting point for Castlevania's revitalization, it unfortunately became the final major game of the Castlevania series.

Pros:

Return of Castlevania series' Metroidvania exploration, presented in a 3D open-world style

Excellent combat experience and hit feedback

Gorgeous dark gothic art style and detailed environments

Cons:

Stylistic disconnect between the vampire castle and modern city maps

Tedious and forced stealth elements

Mecha-style enemies that clash with the overall aesthetic

Abrupt and illogical plot

[knightleon64]

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60S Quick Look Good Game: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate

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A Disappointing Early Foray into 3D Metroidvania - Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2

1. Introduction

Game Title: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2

Release Date: Feb 26, 2014 (PC)

Genre: 3D Metroidvania, Action-adventure, Hack and Slash

Playtime: 15-30 hours

Overview:

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 marks the conclusion of the Lords of Shadow saga and, regrettably, stands as the last major installment in the Castlevania series to date. Departing from its predecessor, Lords of Shadow 2 builds upon the excellent dark gothic art style and God of War-esque combat of the first game by reintroducing the Metroidvania exploration mechanics that are classic to the Castlevania franchise. Players navigate through the sprawling Vampire Castle and a dark, gothic-infused modern city, gradually unlocking abilities such as bat transformation, mist form, and double jump. These new powers grant access to hidden areas, allowing for encounters with a diverse array of enemies, including vampires, skeleton warriors, demons, cyberpunk soldiers, and cyberpunk mechs, interspersed with a handful of stealth sections.

2. Gameplay Mechanics

Story-Driven 3D Metroidvania Exploration:

This installment cleverly integrates the core mechanics of the classic 2D Metroidvania gameplay – the gradual acquisition of abilities to unlock and explore new areas – into a 3D environment. The game features two expansive maps: Castlevania City and Dracula’s Castle. Each of these is divided into four freely explorable levels, which in turn contain numerous interconnected sub-levels. Scattered throughout these environments are hidden zones accessible only by utilizing newly acquired abilities or solving environmental puzzles, often rewarding players with health upgrades or lore-rich collectibles.

However, unlike typical Metroidvania titles, the main story progression in Lords of Shadow 2 feels more akin to a linear action-adventure game. Players are driven by the narrative, moving from objective to objective, defeating level bosses, unlocking new abilities, and then being transported via the story to new areas for further adventure. This contrasts with the traditional Metroidvania experience of freely exploring a map, encountering initially inaccessible regions, unlocking new abilities in specific areas, and then using these abilities to reach previously unreachable zones.

Consequently, players primarily focused on the main storyline might perceive the game as a linear, level-based action-adventure title. The Metroidvania exploration elements, in this context, feel more like an afterthought. This is where my greatest disappointment lies. Mercury Steam had the potential to deliver a compelling 3D Metroidvania exploration experience, akin to STAR WARS Jedi: Fallen Order™. Had they focused on this, the game could have garnered higher critical acclaim and sales. Mercury Steam possessed the capability to create a flawless 3D Metroidvania exploration game, but they ultimately produced a mixed bag of gameplay modes that diluted its core mechanics.

God of War-Like Hack and Slash:

If the combat experience of the original Lords of Shadow resembled early God of War titles, with colossal bosses, QTEs, and the Blades of Chaos-inspired Combat Cross, then Lords of Shadow 2’s combat leans more towards the style of Devil May Cry. The combat tempo is significantly faster, with Dracula capable of continuous, multi-directional high-speed dashes. Players can swiftly switch between three distinct weapon types, each boasting a comprehensive move list, allowing for fluid execution of various moves to dispatch enemies in high-octane, rapid-fire encounters.

The impact and feedback upon striking enemies have been drastically improved compared to the first Lords of Shadow. Most enemies now exhibit clear hit animations and responsive controller vibrations. The impact sounds and vibration intensity vary significantly depending on the weapon used. Furthermore, the often-criticized QTEs from the previous game have been substantially reduced, appearing only at crucial moments with more lenient timing windows.

In Lords of Shadow 2, Dracula wields three primary weapons: the Shadow Whip, the Void Sword, and the Chaos Claws. The Shadow Whip functions similarly to the Combat Cross from the original Lords of Shadow, employing a whip for attacks. The Void Sword allows Dracula to convert damage dealt into health and freeze enemies, while the Chaos Claws are powerful gauntlets capable of shattering the armor and shields of heavily armored foes. The DLC also introduces Alucard as a playable character with a swift, katana-like longsword.

Distinct from both Devil May Cry and God of War, and what I consider a defining feature of the Lords of Shadow series’ combat, is the mana system tied to the Void Sword and Chaos Claws. Each use of these weapons consumes Void Mana or Chaos Mana, respectively. To replenish mana, players must defeat enemies without resorting to executions; upon their demise, these enemies will drop red orbs that can be absorbed by pressing the analog stick. Additionally, the Combat Focus mechanic from the first Lords of Shadow returns, rewarding players with an orb drop for every consecutive hit landed without taking damage.

Secondary weapons make a reappearance, but their utility in combat is noticeably diminished compared to the original Lords of Shadow. I found myself using them more as tools for puzzle-solving rather than combat assistance.

The enemy design in Lords of Shadow 2 introduces three new challenging mechanics compared to Lords of Shadow and Mirror of Fate:

First, the game introduces shielded and heavily armored enemy types. These foes cannot be damaged from the front, requiring players to use the Chaos Claws to break their defenses. If Chaos Mana is depleted, players are forced to flank them, significantly increasing the combat difficulty.

Second, Monk-type enemies are introduced, who continuously summon new adversaries as long as they remain alive on the battlefield. Failing to eliminate these summoners quickly can lead to a rapid depletion of health and mana amidst an endless wave of enemies.

Third, the Bloody Skeleton type enemy can revive indefinitely. Upon defeat, they dissolve into a pool of blood, only to reform into a new skeleton within seconds. Players must continuously attack the blood pool during this brief window to prevent their resurrection.

These three enemy types add a layer of challenge to the combat. However, the endlessly summoning enemies and the perpetually reviving skeletons often led to frustration, dampening my enthusiasm for combat. Encountering heavily armored enemies with zero Chaos Mana proved particularly agonizing, forcing constant attempts to attack from behind. Furthermore, these enemy types frequently respawned randomly during exploration, leading to tedious situations like defeating three Bloody Skeletons only to face another set moments later. This poor enemy generation system detracts significantly from the otherwise solid combat experience.

Climbing and Jumping:

Exploration frequently involves navigating environments by climbing walls, ladders, and pillars, occasionally requiring double jumps to reach distant platforms. The climbing and jumping mechanics feel more akin to Assassin’s Creed 1-3 than Prince of Persia. The removal of environmental traps from the previous game means that platforming sections rarely result in repeated deaths due to unforeseen hazards.

While the item-based puzzle-solving from the first game has been removed, Lords of Shadow 2 introduces numerous intricate climbing sequences. Players must carefully observe their surroundings and strategically plan their climbing and jumping routes to reach their destinations.

Stealth:

Several mandatory stealth sections are woven into the main storyline. In these segments, direct combat is impossible, and detection by enemies results in swift death. Players must utilize bats to distract foes and transform into a rat to traverse narrow passages, ultimately sneaking behind enemies to possess them and use their bodies to activate door switches.

Two of the game’s bosses also require mandatory stealth sequences prior to their boss fights, where players must evade their pursuit and reach a specific location to initiate the battle.

Compared to dedicated stealth games, the stealth mechanics in Lords of Shadow 2 feel uninspired and simplistic, lacking integration with the game’s core gameplay loop. Removing these sections could have potentially enhanced the overall experience.

3. Progression and Collectibles

Move Unlocks and Weapon Mastery:

Each of the three main weapons possesses its own distinct and comprehensive move list. Defeating enemies grants experience points, which can be spent to unlock new moves. Repeatedly using the same move in combat accumulates its mastery level. Reaching 100% mastery for a move signifies its complete proficiency. Mastering multiple moves contributes to the weapon’s overall Mastery Level, which can ultimately be raised to level 3.

Health and Mana Capacity Upgrades:

Life Gems, Void Gems, and Chaos Gems are scattered throughout the game’s levels. Collecting five gems of the same type increases the corresponding stat’s maximum capacity. There are 30 gems of each type to be found.

Collectibles and Hidden Content:

Beyond the three types of gems, the game world also contains numerous Knights’ Diaries and City’s Memories, providing players with insights into the game’s lore.

4. Unique Flavors

Lords of Shadow 2 inherits the lavish dark gothic art style prevalent in the Vampire Castle sections of its predecessor, transforming these aesthetics into freely explorable 3D Metroidvania environments. If one were to disregard the game’s other half, the modern city sections, this would be, in my mind, the perfect 3D successor to classic 2D Castlevania titles. Players, much like in Symphony of the Night, embody a vampire protagonist, freely exploring Dracula’s Castle and possessing the ability to transform into a bat or mist.

The modern city sections, comprising the other half of the game, also offer a unique flavor. Players explore a metropolis that blends medieval and contemporary architecture. Built upon the ruins of Dracula’s Castle, the city features numerous dark gothic structures, creating an atmosphere reminiscent of Arkham City from Batman: Arkham City. The experience of playing as an ancient vampire battling demons and cyberpunk-style mechs in a futuristic city is, to my knowledge, a unique blend on Steam.

5. Story and Lore

Main Story:

The narrative of Lords of Shadow 2 directly follows the events of Lords of Shadow and Mirror of Fate. The story begins with Dracula’s awakening in the modern city, a direct continuation of the first Lords of Shadow’s ending. Zobek informs Dracula that Satan, defeated in the previous game, is poised for another invasion. To avoid enslavement by Satan, Dracula must seek out three of Satan’s acolytes to prevent his return.

The story unfolds through two interconnected plotlines. The first sees Dracula venturing through the illusory Dracula’s Castle to regain his lost powers and collect the fragments of the Mirror of Fate. The second plotline follows Dracula, guided by Zobek, as he investigates the identities of Satan’s three acolytes and attempts to thwart their schemes in the real-world Castlevania City.

First Plotline: Upon awakening from his slumber, Dracula has lost all his power. Consequently, players repeatedly enter illusions of Dracula’s Castle, formed from Dracula’s memories of the past, to rediscover and reclaim lost abilities such as the Void Sword and Chaos Claws. Within this illusory castle, Dracula encounters Marie, his wife from the first Lords of Shadow, and Trevor, one of the protagonists from Mirror of Fate, appearing as a child. Guided by Marie and Trevor, Dracula recovers his full power and gathers all the fragments of the Mirror of Fate, ultimately confronting and defeating his inner evil, reconciling with his past, and achieving spiritual redemption. I consider this plotline to be the stronger aspect of the game’s narrative, effectively tying together the events of Lords of Shadow and Mirror of Fate.

Second Plotline: Dracula discovers that Satan’s three acolytes have long been lurking within human society, corrupting humanity through demonic influence. Early in the game’s narrative, one of Satan’s acolytes develops a virus capable of transforming humans into demons, which is then unleashed upon the city. Subsequently, the majority of the city’s population transforms into zombie-like demons. The protagonist gradually uncovers the real-world identities of the three Satan’s acolytes, eventually leading to a confrontation with and defeat of Zobek and Satan. I found this plotline to be significantly weaker: “Firstly, the rapid transformation of the entire city into a zombie-infested wasteland reminiscent of Raccoon City in Resident Evil 2, occurring so early in the game, deprives us of seeing Dracula, a centuries-old vampire, confronting the shock of the modern world. Secondly, while the three Satan’s acolytes are given human identities – a pharmaceutical researcher, an arms dealer, and a false priest – the game fails to illustrate how they leverage their societal positions to corrupt humanity. Thirdly, when Dracula captures the pharmaceutical researcher in an attempt to glean information about the first acolyte, she abruptly transforms into the first acolyte without any prior narrative foreshadowing. Fourthly, Dracula’s encounter with the second acolyte sees him rendered helpless by lightning attacks. Despite being portrayed as powerful, this acolyte is defeated once his three possessed statues are destroyed, denying players a direct boss fight against his true form. Fifthly, the third acolyte is narratively built up as being even more powerful than the previous two, yet he is immediately killed by Satan after successfully summoning him, again denying players a boss fight against a seemingly formidable foe. Sixthly, Satan, as the game’s final boss, exerts less presence and threat than even his acolytes. The final boss battle sees him possess Alucard to fight Dracula, and upon Alucard’s defeat, Satan’s true form flees rather than engaging in a decisive battle, only to be killed by Dracula using the Vampire Killer. This ending feels wholly inadequate for a character of Satan’s stature. I had anticipated an epic boss encounter akin to those in the original Lords of Shadow. Furthermore, a significant plot hole arises here: if the Vampire Killer can definitively kill Satan in Lords of Shadow 2, why did Gabriel, wielding the same weapon in the first Lords of Shadow, fail to do so? Moreover, the Vampire Killer is presented as a weapon crafted by humans, so how does it possess the power to permanently kill Satan?”

If the game had solely focused on Dracula’s adventure and self-redemption within Dracula’s Castle, I would have rated the story an 8 out of 10. However, the modern city storyline feels like a poorly executed and incomplete imitation of Resident Evil 2, plagued by illogical and abrupt plot developments.

Character Development and Narrative Depth:

I will evaluate the character development in two parts: the Dracula’s Castle sections and the Castlevania City sections.

Dracula’s Castle Sections:

Dracula’s Castle features the return of several characters from Lords of Shadow and Mirror of Fate, including Marie, Trevor, Alucard, Chupacabra, and the Toy Maker. Deceased characters from the first Lords of Shadow, such as Claudia and the Black Knight, also appear as chess pieces. Carmilla, a boss from the original game, makes a reappearance as a boss in this installment. Agreus, Pan’s brother who aided the protagonist in the first game and ultimately sacrificed himself, also returns as a boss, serving as a poignant reminder of the previous narrative. Across the trilogy, the unwavering support and assistance of Dracula’s wife, Marie, left a lasting impression. Furthermore, Mirror of Fate and Lords of Shadow 2 extensively feature elements related to the Toy Maker – carousels and puppet theaters – with a pre-boss fight puppet show revealing the tragedy of the Toy Maker’s deception and imprisonment within the castle.

Players who have experienced Lords of Shadow, Mirror of Fate, and Lords of Shadow 2 will find that the overarching narrative forms a complete Greek tragedy. Gabriel, a knight of the God’s Brotherhood of Light, embarks on a quest to defeat the three Lords of Shadow to revive his wife, Marie, only to discover that these Lords were the corrupted founders of the Brotherhood he served – the dragon slayer ultimately becoming the dragon. Moreover, the one responsible for his wife’s death was none other than himself, manipulated by Zobek, one of the Lords of Shadow, who was himself a pawn of Satan in his plot to invade the world. Despite saving humanity, Gabriel transforms into the new Prince of Darkness, Dracula, and is hunted by the very Brotherhood he once served, including his own son, Trevor, and grandson, Simon. He inadvertently kills his son, Trevor, and even though he uses his blood to transform Trevor into the vampire Alucard, Alucard ultimately stands against Dracula. Finally, after a millennium, Dracula achieves spiritual self-redemption, reclaiming his humanity and vanquishing Zobek and Satan, ensuring that no other Dark Lord will threaten humanity.

The thematic core of the Lords of Shadow series is Fate: the three Founders of the Brotherhood of Light become the three Lords of Shadow, Gabriel who defeated the Lords of Shadow becomes Dracula, and Gabriel’s son Trevor who was meant to defeat Dracula becomes the very vampire he despises, Alucard. Every hero who once stood in the light ultimately falls to darkness. However, in the ending of Lords of Shadow 2, Dracula shatters the Mirror of Fate, signifying his rejection of predetermined destiny and breaking the cycle of heroes becoming monsters. In this regard, I consider the narrative of the Lords of Shadow series to be an excellent Greek tragedy, with Dracula’s self-redemption in Lords of Shadow 2 providing a fitting conclusion to the saga.

Castlevania City Sections:

As mentioned earlier, the characterization of the three Satan’s acolytes is muddled and lacks sufficient narrative or environmental context to support their backgrounds. In contrast, the original Lords of Shadow effectively established the personalities and backstories of the three Lords of Shadow through environmental storytelling and plot developments leading up to their boss encounters. Therefore, the portrayal of the three primary story bosses in Lords of Shadow 2 represents a significant regression compared to its predecessor.

Later in the game, Dracula encounters Victor, the last descendant of the Belmont family. He wields Gabriel’s primary weapon from Lords of Shadow, the Combat Cross, along with other relics acquired throughout the game. His fighting style is almost identical to that of the player-controlled protagonist in the first Lords of Shadow, leaving a strong impression. I had hoped for more narrative development for this character, perhaps a storyline involving a vampire hunter and a vampire collaborating against Satan. However, Victor dies shortly after his introduction, sacrificing himself for Dracula, a former enemy he had just met, succumbing without resistance to the sword of a statue possessed by one of Satan’s acolytes. I believe that even if the developers intended for the last Belmont to perish, it should have occurred within a more epic narrative context. Victor’s meaningless death trivializes the legacy of Belmonts as playable adventurers in the Castlevania series, making their history feel like a joke. Furthermore, Victor and Dracula’s sudden alliance feels forced and underdeveloped, lacking a believable transition from antagonism to cooperation.

At the end of the game, Zobek’s Lieutenant removes his helmet, revealing his true identity as Alucard. However, there are no prior narrative threads or subtle hints throughout the game to suggest Alucard’s involvement or his disguise as Zobek’s Lieutenant during their interactions with Dracula.

In summary, the Dracula’s Castle storyline, along with the preceding two games, forms a cohesive narrative that aligns with the series’ core theme of Fate. Despite a lack of extensive cutscenes, the character portrayals are memorable. Conversely, the Castlevania City storyline has virtually no connection to the previous Lords of Shadow titles and the primary setting in a modern city feels entirely disconnected from the iconic medieval castle setting of the Castlevania series.

Worldbuilding:

Similar to its predecessor, Lords of Shadow 2 effectively utilizes detailed environments and enemy designs to flesh out the world of the Lords of Shadow series. For instance, the game’s opening sequence depicts Dracula facing an invasion of his castle by the Brotherhood of Light’s forces, mirroring the first Lords of Shadow where the protagonist, Gabriel, was sent by the Brotherhood to defeat the three Lords of Shadow. The roles are reversed, with the protagonist now being the hunted evil. The Brotherhood’s use of Titans to siege Dracula’s castle also echoes the Titan boss battles of the first game.

During the climactic battle against a Paladin of the Brotherhood, the Paladin wields a holy crucifix and recites prayers in Latin, such as “Christus ab omni malo te defendat.” Later, players encounter other Brotherhood enemy types, including priests who also perform magical rituals using Latin incantations. This attention to detail makes the fictional Christian Holy Order of the Brotherhood of Light feel more authentic and believable, enhancing the game’s worldbuilding and immersion.

The opening narrative establishes that Dracula’s Castle has been destroyed and lies in ruins, with Castlevania City being built upon its foundations. Consequently, players will discover locations within Castlevania City that are modern reinterpretations of areas encountered in the illusory Dracula’s Castle. The game also subtly hints at the nature of the Dracula’s Castle that players explore: is it a mere illusion or a tangible place? The narrative suggests that Dracula possesses the ability to manifest his thoughts into reality, with his primary weapons, the Void Sword and Chaos Claws, being physical manifestations of his inner emotions.

6. Visual Experience

Art Style:

Dracula’s Castle in Lords of Shadow 2 heavily draws upon the dark gothic architectural style seen in the Vampire Castle sections of the first Lords of Shadow, featuring ornate carvings, elaborate chandeliers, colossal statues, and gothic spires. Each of the four distinct areas within the castle possesses its own unique characteristics, such as the lava-filled City of the Damned and the ice-covered Overlook Tower.

In contrast, Castlevania City feels like an amalgamation of Arkham City from Batman: Arkham City and Raccoon City from Resident Evil. The city streets are lined with neoclassical-style retro-modern buildings, often topped with gothic medieval roofs and gargoyles. Players engage in combat against zombie-like enemies and cyberpunk-style mechs under the cloak of night. The interiors of buildings, however, often feature modern laboratories and hospitals. I found these modern interior environments to clash with the game’s overarching dark gothic aesthetic, disrupting the sense of immersion.

Design Consistency:

The game’s environments and enemies are divided into several disparate stylistic categories.

Firstly, Dracula’s Castle is a lavishly detailed dark gothic castle, populated by classic Castlevania monsters like vampires and skeletons, as well as the opposing Knights and Priests. Here, the environment and enemy styles are cohesive and align with my expectations for a 3D Castlevania game.

Secondly, the streets and exteriors of buildings in Castlevania City exhibit a dark gothic-infused neoclassical retro-modern architectural style, reminiscent of Arkham City. This style differs significantly from the opulent medieval architecture of Dracula’s Castle, making it feel like two distinct games. The constant transitions between the modern city and the ancient castle feel jarring. Furthermore, the enemies encountered here – zombified humans, demons, and mechs – feel stylistically out of place in a vampire-themed game. The mechs, in particular, have a purely sci-fi aesthetic that lacks any of the dark gothic elements associated with the Castlevania series, feeling like forced inclusions from another game.

Thirdly, the interiors of buildings in Castlevania City feature numerous modern laboratories and underground passages. These indoor environments lack any details that evoke the dark gothic art style of the Castlevania series, instead resembling generic laboratories from other modern-themed games. A common enemy type in these areas is a heavily armored soldier with firearms, who cannot be attacked directly, forcing stealth gameplay. This segment of the game, with its environments and enemies, feels more like a near-future stealth game than a Castlevania title.

Therefore, the game suffers significantly from a lack of design consistency.

Detail and Impact:

The level of graphical detail in Lords of Shadow 2 is impressive, with intricate environmental details and character costume designs that hold up even in 2025. It even surpasses the visual fidelity of recent vampire-themed titles like V Rising. The opening Titan boss fight delivers a strong sense of epic scale, and the towering, ornate statues and architecture encountered during outdoor exploration also contribute to this feeling. However, regrettably, the game’s boss battles lack the awe-inspiring and epic intensity of those in the original Lords of Shadow.

7. Controls and UI

Control Convenience:

The control scheme in Lords of Shadow 2 largely inherits from its predecessor but reduces the frequency and difficulty of QTEs. The introduction of multi-directional dashing with the LT button replaces the acceleration run from the first game, which was prone to misinputs. The game also removes the need for sprint-jumps or hook swings combined with jumps to reach distant platforms in climbing and jumping sections, eliminating frustrating jump failures due to control errors or mistimed inputs.

UI Interface:

Lords of Shadow 2 retains the medieval book-style UI from the first game, contributing to the sense of immersion. However, as a 3D Metroidvania title, it only features a mini-map for the current area, lacking a comprehensive map of the entire world. This often led to disorientation when revisiting previous levels to find hidden locations, forcing me to rely on memorizing the entrances and exits of different areas. The absence of a full map makes the late-game exploration for secrets feel akin to another 3D Metroidvania game without a map – Dark Souls – where players are forced to learn the layout through repeated exploration.

8. Difficulty and Challenge

Difficulty Settings:

The game’s difficulty can be broken down into several aspects:

3D Metroidvania Exploration and Puzzles: The exploration in Lords of Shadow 2 blends elements of 3D Zelda and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Players will encounter numerous areas that are inaccessible with their current abilities or hidden from view. The lack of a full map and the inability to mark locations further complicate navigation, forcing players to rely on memory. The interconnected nature of many sub-areas without a comprehensive map often leads to confusion and difficulty in determining the direction of unexplored regions.

The game removes the item-based mini-game puzzles from its predecessor, replacing them with platforming puzzles. Players must observe climbable and jumpable surfaces and strategically plan their routes to reach their destinations. The removal of environmental traps also means that platforming sections are less punishing, requiring only careful observation and route planning.

Regular Combat: Compared to the first Lords of Shadow, the combat difficulty in Lords of Shadow 2 is somewhat reduced. Notably, the mechanic of initiating executions by grabbing enemies has been removed. In the previous game, executions would yield orbs for mana recovery, whereas in this installment, orbs are only dropped by defeating enemies without triggering an execution.

As mentioned earlier, the introduction of heavily armored enemies that require their armor to be broken before taking frontal damage, endlessly respawning enemies, and summoning-type enemies significantly increases the complexity and challenge of combat encounters.

To assist players struggling with combat, the game introduces several consumable items that can be used in battle, such as items that instantly restore full health, grant temporary unlimited mana, temporarily slow down time, and temporarily unlock all weapon moves. These items can be replenished at the shop, offering an option for players to alleviate combat difficulty.

Boss Battles: On normal difficulty, boss health and damage output are relatively low. Boss AOE attacks are infrequent and telegraphed with clear visual cues, allowing most players to defeat bosses on their first attempt without the need for repeated reloads.

Challenge:

The challenge in Lords of Shadow 2 primarily stems from two areas:

First, discovering hidden areas within the environments and acquiring all collectibles. Many collectibles are placed in obscure locations or require finding specific jumping paths to reach.

Second, completing the challenge modes. Collecting certain in-game items unlocks challenge modes that task players with defeating specific enemies under restrictive conditions, such as defeating heavily armored enemies without using the armor-breaking Chaos Claws.

9. Conclusion and Score

Overall Assessment:

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 is an action-adventure game that attempts to blend 3D Metroidvania exploration with God of War-like hack and slash combat. The game marks a return to the Metroidvania exploration mechanics of the Castlevania series, with players utilizing abilities to access new areas and uncover hidden collectibles across two distinct large maps, one of which, Dracula’s Castle, feels like a 3D reimagining of classic Castlevania environments. However, the mandatory stealth sections feel tedious, and the inclusion of modern city and mech elements clashes with the traditional medieval aesthetic of the Castlevania series. These flaws prevent what could have been a new pinnacle for the franchise from achieving its full potential, ultimately making it a somewhat disappointing final major entry. Nevertheless, if one can overlook the jarring modern city elements and forced stealth sections, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 remains a visually impressive and fluidly combat-driven vampire-themed game in 2025. It also stands as one of the few titles outside of the Darksiders, Batman: Arkham, and STAR WARS Jedi series to offer a 3D Metroidvania-style open-world exploration experience.

Pros:

Return of Castlevania series’ Metroidvania exploration in a 3D open-world format

Excellent combat experience and hit feedback

Gorgeous dark gothic art style and environmental detail

Cons:

Stylistic clash between the Vampire Castle and modern city maps

Tedious mandatory stealth elements

Out-of-place mech-type enemies

Abrupt and underdeveloped plot

Who Should Play:

Die-hard fans of the Castlevania series, enthusiasts of Metroidvania games.

Score:

Gameplay: 7/10

Story: 7/10

Graphics: 9/10

Controls: 8/10

Overall: 7/10

[knightleon64]

The Last Metroidvania Castlevania – Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate Review

1. Introduction

Game Title: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate

Release Date: Mar 28, 2014 (PC)

Game Genre: Metroidvania, 2D Platformer, Action-Adventure

Game Length: 8-12 hours

Overview:

The Castlevania series is a key origin for the Metroidvania gameplay style. However, the series reboot, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, abandoned this classic formula and become a linear, old God of War-like 3D Action-Adventure approach. In contrast, Mirror of Fate, a spin-off from Lords of Shadow, stands as Konami's last Castlevania title to embrace the Metroidvania style. Unlike classic Castlevania entries such as Symphony of the Night and Harmony of Dissonance, which incorporated RPG elements, Mirror of Fate retains only the core Metroidvania aspects: open exploration of side-scrolling maps and the mechanism of acquiring key items to access specific areas and uncover hidden treasures.

2. Gameplay Mechanics

Multi-Character Linear 2D Metroidvania Map Exploration:

Players will explore various areas within Vampire Castle, much like in classic 2D Metroidvania Castlevania games, solving puzzles, navigating traps, obtaining crucial items, reaching hidden zones, and battling dark creatures and bosses. However, the map exploration experience in this title is fairly linear. Players will progress through environments in a set order, lacking the freedom to choose which area to explore first.

Unlike typical Metroidvania games that focus on controlling a single character across one map, Mirror of Fate features three Acts with three unique characters and three unique maps. Each Act plays a different character, each act with unique areas and enemies. Even when revisiting the same locations, the level layouts and traps vary significantly depending on the character being played, providing a constant sense of novelty. Regrettably, the environments in all three Acts are quite small, resulting in a shorter playtime compared to other Metroidvania titles.

2D Platformer Hack and Slash:

The combat in Mirror of Fate mirrors is similar to its predecessor, Lords of Shadow. Players wield the "Combat Cross," a metal whip, as their primary weapon, along with two ranged sub-weapons and two different skills for each character. Various moves are executed by pressing the X and Y buttons in specific combinations.

The combat experience has been improved from Lords of Shadow. Mirror of Fate inherits most of the previous game's moves while simplifying the execution of many, making them more practical in actual combat rather than being difficult to trigger. Enemy hit reactions and stun states are noticeably better than in the previous installment, contributing to a relatively polished combat experience within the 2D Metroidvania genre.

Compared to Lords of Shadow, the frequency of Quick Time Events (QTEs) has been reduced considerably, though the time windows for QTE inputs remain quite short.

The combat in Mirror of Fate has three main drawbacks: 1. Boss numbers are limited, and their attack patterns lack variety. 2. Although each Act features a different character, they share the same weapon and move set, which can feel repetitive. 3. While each Act's characters have unique skills, they are fundamentally similar: the LB button is used for skills that restore health or provide damage immunity, and the RB button triggers skills that increase damage output or add new attack methods.

2D Platformer Jumping and Climbing:

The game features numerous cliffs, platforms, and caverns that players must navigate through jumping and climbing. Many areas include traps, such as fireball launchers or spikes, requiring players to dodge these hazards while timing their jumps carefully.

Compared to Lords of Shadow, Mirror of Fate has fewer punishing timed-trap mechanics, like rising lava. As a result, the difficulty of platforming and climbing is reduced.

3. Growth Elements and Collectibles

Move Unlocking and Skill Acquisition:

Players earn experience points (XP) by defeating enemies, and leveling up occurs when a certain amount of XP is gained. However, leveling up does not increase a character's attack power or maximum health; instead, each level unlocks a new move. All three Acts' characters share the same pool of XP and levels, eliminating the need to re-level when switching to a new character.

Throughout the main story, the protagonists of each of the three Acts acquire their own unique skills. For example, Simon, the protagonist of Act 1, can summon two spectral allies: a female spirit that grants temporary damage immunity and a male spirit that attacks enemies from a distance. Alucard, the protagonist of Act 2, can transform into mist to teleport behind enemies or assume a beast form to boost his base attack damage. Trevor, who stars in Act 3, inherits the Light and Dark Magic from Lords of Shadow. Light Magic allows him to recover health with each successful attack, while Dark Magic enhances his base attack power.

Collectibles and Hidden Content:

There are five types of collectibles scattered throughout each game environment: items that increase maximum health, magic capacity, and ammunition; scrolls that provide backstory; and bestiary entries that detail enemy information. Most of these collectibles are located in easily overlooked hidden areas or zones that require specific key items to access.

4. Unique Flavor

While Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate lacks the RPG elements of classic Metroidvania Castlevania titles, it retains the core map exploration of the Metroidvania genre, along with the Castlevania series' typical dark gothic art style and battles against classic Castlevania monsters like werewolves, skeletons, and vampires.

With no new 2D Metroidvania Castlevania game released in 17 years, Mirror of Fate is the most recent entry in this style. Although Steam boasts a large library of Metroidvania games, only titles from the Castlevania series itself or Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (created by Koji Igarashi) truly capture the classic Castlevania feel.

5. Story and World-Building

Story Summary:

Mirror of Fate bridges the gap between Lords of Shadow  and Lords of Shadow 2. Set decades after Gabriel's transformation into Dracula at the end of Lords of Shadow 1, the story follows Simon, guided by fate, as he ventures to Dracula's castle to confront the vampire lord. Simon is aided by Dracula's son, Alucard, and together, they defeat Dracula. The game also chronicles the origin of the iconic character Alucard from Trevor's perspective.

Characters and Depth:

Lords of Shadow  reimagined Dracula's origins, portraying Gabriel as a human who challenged the Lords of Shadow to resurrect his wife. In contrast, Mirror of Fate radically reinterprets the backstories of three classic Castlevania protagonists: Simon, Alucard, and Trevor. Simon, traditionally a descendant of a vampire-hunting lineage, is now Gabriel's grandson. Alucard, known in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night as the half-human, half-vampire son of Dracula, is now Trevor, the human son of Gabriel (while he was still human) and his wife, Marie. After Trevor is killed challenging Dracula, Dracula transforms him into the vampire Alucard using his own blood.

The game features minimal cutscenes and dialogue, leaving the characters of Simon, Alucard, and Trevor relatively undeveloped. The floating mask that guides the player throughout the game remains unidentified until the bestiary is unlocked upon completing all three Acts, revealing it to be Fate itself.

World-Building:

As a connecting piece between Lords of Shadow  and Lords of Shadow 2, Mirror of Fate includes numerous details that align with the lore established in those games. For instance, players visit the Games Room where Gabriel and Laura played chess in Lords of Shadow , and the hidden underground passage from that room is also present.

One of the bosses, the Necromancer, serves Zobek rather than Dracula, consistent with the plot of Lords of Shadow  and foreshadowing Zobek's return in Lords of Shadow 2.

In Act 3, Trevor acquires the Light and Dark Magic previously wielded by Gabriel, and during Trevor's confrontation with Dracula, Dracula uses the Void Sword and Chaos Claws, his signature weapons from Lords of Shadow 2.

Additionally, key plot elements from Lords of Shadow 2, such as the "Mirror of Fate" and the "Toy Maker," make early appearances in this game. The overall aesthetic of the environments also matches the Vampire Castle setting seen in Lords of Shadow  and Lords of Shadow 2.

6. Visual Experience

Art Style:

Mirror of Fate employs the same dark gothic art style as Lords of Shadow, presented in a 2.5D side-scrolling format.

However, the character designs shift from the realistic style of Lords of Shadow to a 2.5D animated, cartoonish aesthetic. This cartoon style leaves a lasting impression.

Design Consistency:

The new environments and enemy designs in Mirror of Fate are consistent with those found in classic 2D Castlevania titles. Iconic locations like the Clock Tower, Unholy Church, and library reappear in this game.

Furthermore, the environments, enemy designs, and main weapons from Lords of Shadow are largely unchanged in Mirror of Fate.

Detail and Impact:

Originally a 3DS title, Mirror of Fate suffers from relatively simple and rough models for environments, characters, and enemies due to the handheld's technical limitations. This results in a lack of the stunning environmental detail seen in Lords of Shadow, which is regrettable, as this is Konami's final 2D side-scrolling Metroidvania Castlevania game.

7. Controls and UI

Control Convenience:

Mirror of Fate significantly reduces the frequent QTEs of its predecessor, and the button inputs for executing moves have been simplified. Players can execute various moves more easily, resulting in a much-improved combat and platforming experience compared to Lords of Shadow.

UI Interface:

Compared to the elaborate medieval manuscript-style UI of Lords of Shadow, the UI elements in Mirror of Fate, while straightforward and functional, lack a certain refinement.

8. Difficulty and Challenge

Difficulty Settings:

The game's difficulty can be broken down into three areas:

Regular Combat: Unlike Lords of Shadow, where players could grab and execute regular enemies, Mirror of Fate requires enemies' health to be reduced to a certain point before a finishing move can be performed. However, these executions no longer involve QTEs, eliminating the possibility of failure due to missed inputs.

Ranged sub-weapons deal considerably more damage in Mirror of Fate than in Lords of Shadow, allowing players to dispatch many troublesome enemies with ease.

Similar to the Light and Dark Magic system in Lords of Shadow, the three protagonists in Mirror of Fate can expend magic (Mana)to activate skills that restore health or increase damage output. In particular, Simon, the first protagonist, can use Mana to gain temporary invincibility, which greatly reduces the challenge of combat.

Boss Fights: Compared to the boss fights in Lords of Shadow, those in Mirror of Fate feature far fewer QTEs, and bosses have fewer attack patterns. As a result, boss battles are generally less challenging. By learning a boss's attack patterns, players can often defeat them without taking damage.

2D Platforming: The platforming in Mirror of Fate is less demanding than in Lords of Shadow. While some areas with fire-breathing traps pose a challenge, a notable difficulty spike occurs in a section with a giant rolling ball that chases the player, requiring precise and rapid jumps. However, this type of sequence appears only once. Overall, the platforming in this game is largely unchallenging.

Challenge:

The greatest challenge in Mirror of Fate lies in achieving 100% completion of all hidden areas. Unlocking the final story sequence requires players to collect every hidden item in all three Acts. However, the solutions to many of these hidden area puzzles are quite challenging, and I, myself, did not manage to achieve full completion.

9. Summary and Score

Overall Assessment:

Mirror of Fate is a representative Metroidvania Castlevania title. However, compared to the classic 2D Metroidvania Castlevania games on the GBA and NDS, it features smaller maps, less room for exploration, and a lack of RPG elements. Compared to other Metroidvania games on the market, Mirror of Fate offers relatively polished combat and satisfying hit feedback. If you are a dedicated fan of 2D Metroidvania Castlevania games and enjoy exploring dark gothic environments, Mirror of Fate is an acceptable substitute.

Pros:

Classic Castlevania locations and enemies return.

Relatively polished combat and satisfying hit feedback for a Metroidvania title.

A large variety of unique level designs and enemies.

Cons:

Small map size with limited exploration.

Lacks the iconic RPG mechanics of the 2D Metroidvania Castlevania series.

Simplistic graphics.

Repetitive and unchallenging boss attack patterns.

Target Audience:

Fans of 2D Metroidvania Castlevania games and Metroidvania enthusiasts.

Score:

Gameplay: 6/10

Story: 6/10

Art: 7/10

Controls: 7/10

Overall: 6/10

[knightleon64]

The Weight of Dust Chapter 30: The Weight Released

The cell’s stone wept with frost as Eleanor lay on the floor, her chains a cold embrace around her wrists. Fever burned beneath her skin, her cough a wet rasp that stained the dark with blood—Thornfield’s dust, her blood’s loss, now claiming their due. The slit above offered no light, only a whisper of Wolthrope’s wind, and she shivered, her patched dress a frail shroud. Eldric’s death, Margaret’s, Henry’s—they pressed on her chest, a millstone she could no longer bear.

Shadows danced, and she saw them—James, tall in his redcoat, grinning; Eldric, his bird aloft, laughing; Margaret and Henry, hands clasped, humming her lullaby. “I’m with you now,” she whispered, her voice a thread snapping, and reached for them, her trembling fingers brushing air. The fever flared, a tide of heat and haze, and their faces sharpened—love’s cruel mirage calling her from the dark. Her breath faltered, a shallow ebb, and she tasted salt, her tears mingling with the damp beneath her cheek.

The gaol was silent, its walls a mute witness to her end—Wolthrope’s mills thrummed beyond, their roar a requiem for a life ground to ash. She’d fought with every sinew—looms, blood, theft—yet the king’s decrees, the mill’s hunger, the law’s chains had won. Her family faded, their warmth a memory she could not hold, and she felt the weight lift—not in triumph, but surrender, her spirit spilling free like dust on the wind.

Her eyes fluttered shut, the slit’s gray extinguished, and she sank into the floor, a frail husk in a world that forgot her name. The chains clinked, a final note, as her breath ceased—a mother, a daughter, a widow, released at last from the ashes of her toil. Wolthrope churned on, its smoke curling skyward, and Eleanor Harrington vanished, her story a whisper lost to the city’s ceaseless grind, her love buried in the silence of a pauper’s grave.

[knightleon64]

The Weight of Dust Chapter 29: The Cell’s Silence

The gaol’s cell was a crypt of stone, its air thick with damp and the tang of rust as Eleanor sat shackled, her wrists raw beneath the irons. A single slit let in Wolthrope’s gray dawn, a cruel sliver of a world she’d lost. Her cough echoed, a hollow lament, and she clutched her patched dress, its threads unraveling like her life. She’d sung Eldric’s bird song to the dark—“Fly, my love”—a whisper to keep him near, though the silence mocked her, a void where his voice should be.

A guard shuffled past, his boots a dull thud, and paused, his face a mask of indifference. “Your lot’s gone,” he muttered, words blunt as stone. “Boy starved, old ones too—slum took ’em.” The air fled her lungs, her heart a shattered thing—Eldric, her light, starved without her; Margaret and Henry, adrift, claimed by neglect. She collapsed, a wail tearing free, “I was supposed to save you!”—a cry swallowed by the walls, her chains rattling like a mourner’s dirge.

She saw them—Eldric’s bird still in his hand, Margaret’s hum silenced, Henry’s grasp cold—and her mind broke beneath the weight. The mill, the blood, the theft—all for naught, her love a frail shield against a world that devoured. Her cough deepened, blood flecking her lips, and she pressed her face to the floor, its chill a mirror to her despair. James lingered in the shadows, his coat a ghost she could not touch, and she whispered, “Forgive me,” to the dark.

The gaol’s silence was a tomb, Wolthrope’s mills a distant roar beyond the stone—life grinding on, heedless of her ruin. She’d fought, bled, stolen, yet her family slipped away, their deaths a sentence she bore alone. The slit’s light faded, dusk creeping in, and she curled into herself, a husk in chains, her spirit fracturing as the abyss claimed all she’d held dear.

[knightleon64]

The Weight of Dust Chapter 28: The Constable’s Chains

Dawn broke over Wolthrope, a bleak smear of light as Eleanor slipped from the tenement, her shawl a tattered shroud. Hunger had hollowed them—Eldric’s cough a faint echo, Margaret and Henry shadows of breath—and the loaf’s memory drove her back to the bakery, its warmth a cruel lure. She lingered by the counter, the scent of bread a torment, and when the baker turned, she snatched a crust, her hands trembling with shame. She fled, the bell’s clang a knell, but a cry—“Thief!”—pierced the air, and boots thundered behind.

Constable John Harrow loomed, broad and stern, his uniform frayed at the cuffs. “You’re caught,” he growled, seizing her arm, and she stumbled, the bread tumbling to the mud. “My son can’t walk, my parents can’t think!” she pleaded, her voice a sob, tears streaking her dust-caked face. “They’ll die without me!” His jaw tightened, eyes hard beneath his cap. “Law’s the law,” he said, and the irons snapped shut, cold and unyielding, biting her wrists. The crowd jeered, their scorn a lash, and she bowed her head, a mother broken by her own hand.

He dragged her through Wolthrope’s mire, the river’s chill seeping into her bones, James’s coat left behind—a mute mourner. The gaol loomed, its stone walls a tomb, and she thought of Eldric’s bird, Margaret’s hum, Henry’s grasp—left to fade in the tenement’s gloom. Her cough rasped, a dirge for her failure, and she saw their faces in the fog, her pleas unheard by a world that turned its back. Harrow shoved her into a cell, the door clanging shut, and she sank to the damp floor, chains a weight she’d forged.

The candle’s glow was gone, replaced by darkness thick as coal dust, and she pressed her hands to her face, tasting salt and despair. She’d stolen for love, yet these chains severed her from them, a final stroke in a life bled dry by want and woe.