Darksiders III

Darksiders III is a departure from the previous games, borrowing structure and gameplay elements from Metroidvanias and Soulslikes, and the game is viewed as a mashup of elements of previous games and a new direction. Players take control of Fury, sister of War and Death, two of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, from a third-person perspective. Fury, a mage who is described as the most unpredictable and enigmatic of the Four Horsemen, relies on whips, swords, flails, daggers and magic in combat. Fury can take on multiple different elemental forms in order to enhance her combat capabilities by granting her new weapons, attacks and traversal abilities.

The combat is described as more methodical and straight forward, not focusing on large crowds of enemies like the previous games and removing the hit counter. Enemies are stronger than in previous installments but appear in smaller numbers during encounters, so as to make battles feel more personal. Some enemies from previous games return, while other foes are new. Gated combat is not a feature, in an attempt to make everything within the setting contextualized and interconnected like the Dark Souls series.

Taking place parallel to the events of Darksiders II and before the majority of Darksiders, Fury, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse is summoned by the Charred Council, a group of mythical beings tasked with upholding the Balance in the universe. They task her with hunting down the Seven Deadly Sins, which have escaped imprisonment and assign her a Watcher to ensure she fulfills her task.

Upon arriving on the war-torn, post-apocalyptic Earth, Fury encounters and defeats the first of the Sins, Envy. She claims one of her talismans and uses it as a prison to hold Envy before venturing to a sanctuary named Haven, where she encounters Ulthane, a member of the Maker race, and some humans who survived the Apocalypse. Ulthane asks Fury to send any humans she finds to Haven. She then leaves to find the next Sin, Wrath, who mortally wounds her when she is distracted by the death of her horse, Rampage.

A third entry in the Darksiders series was originally planned by Vigil Games, but the fate of its franchise was threatened due to financial complications. Its parent company, THQ, filed for bankruptcy in 2012. The company's assets were sold at an auction, excluding Vigil Games, which was shut down along with the parent company, THQ. In April 2013, THQ began a process to auction off the remaining IP that it had not yet sold, including Darksiders.

Several companies publicly expressed interest in bidding for the franchise, including the Japanese developer PlatinumGames, and Crytek USA, a new Crytek subsidiary led by former Vigil CEO David Adams, and primarily staffed by former Vigil employees. Adams had expressed interest in allowing Darksiders to come back "home" to its creators. Darksiders, along with Red Faction and MX vs. ATV, were purchased by Nordic Games in the final transaction of THQ's assets in April 22; Nordic Games expressed interest to develop the third installment due to its popularity with the fans.

Darksiders III received "mixed or average" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic. The game was widely criticized for the technical issues in both consoles and PC versions of the game.

Eurogamer's review criticized the "straight forward combat" saying it is a matter of "upgrade weapon damage" and that the few puzzles are too simple, and in concluding that it "has done better in the past".