When I first saw the announcement that a new Darksiders game was happening and that it was going to be an isometric title, I was anything but enthusiastic.

Maybe it was just me, but the idea of such a grand scale action adventure game going down that route had me worried, not just about the quality of this game, but for the franchise in general.

Luckily, after getting to talk to the minds behind the game, and having a chance to play the game myself, I am happy to report that my fears were unjustified, and that Darksiders Genesis is still very much a proper Darksiders game.

I was able to sit down for a preview of the game with Joe Madureira and Ryan Stefanelli from Airship Syndicate and talk about their return to the franchise since Darksiders 2.

They assured us that despite the new camera angle, the game is very much built in the same vein as previous Darksiders games, it is just that this time they are able to build a proper world full of enemies, puzzles, and platforming in a style that fits.

They wanted to make a game that was able to help flesh out pieces of the Darksiders lore that were left unanswered and to do that, they wanted to go back, before the events of the first game.

By having the game be a prequel, they have been left the freedom to explore aspects of the world that were never truly expounded upon. This means that if you are someone who has never played a previous Darksiders game, you will not be lost as the story goes on.

At the same time, for returning fans, such as myself, there are going to be tons of easter eggs and call-backs (technically call-forwards) that will please you.

The game allows the player to take control of both War and Strife in Darksiders’ first ever co-op adventure. Solo, the player can swap between the two characters on the fly to deal out devastating attacks with the characters robust toolkits.

In multiplayer each character is controlled by a player on the screen simultaneously. When you are playing in multiplayer, your experience going through levels will be different as there will be more enemies and different obstacles to overcome that would require two players.

Because the two players will have to share a screen, it requires them to work together to accomplish each of the game’s 17 levels. There are also higher unlockable difficulties, level challenges which are called “bounties”, and a new game mode which the devs were not far along in development to talk about.

As far as the gameplay goes, I was very pleased with what I got a chance to play through. My demo with the game was two levels, a normal dungeon and one of the game’s earlier boss fights.

It took a little bit of practice to get the hang of things, but before long I was back to my old Horseman self as I was devastating crowds of enemies with awesome and flashy attacks.

War plays almost exactly as he did in the first Darksiders game, If you remember the controls from before, you will have little issue playing him here. The character that I found to be most interesting is however is Strife.

Strife is a mix between long range gun attacks and more slick and quick melee abilities. You will need to balance out your attacks with both as ranged attacks will cost you ammo, and melee kills with drop more for you.

During my time with the demo, I never found myself running out of ammo, but I can not doubt that it will be necessary to play smarter on higher difficulties. Another aspect of Darksiders Genesis I enjoy is the relationship between War and Strife as they go about their adventure.

War is still is more serious self while Strife is much more of a goofball light-hearted character. They are the ultimate buddy-cop duo for this universe and I can not wait to see more when the game releases.

Darksiders Genesis is launching across Windows PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Google Stadia sometime later in 2019.