Darksiders - A Full Series Retrospective

[@reduxThe1]

If anyone is still playing DS2, here's a little tip: Open skill point chests with the Soul Splitter engaged and you'll get 3 skill points instead of 1. Within 1 play-through, you'll be able to unlock almost 75% of all of the skills. With an NG+, you'll be able to get 100% of the skills and have some skill points unused.

[@thegrandpowerchannel314]

Oh damn, I didn't know that. Thanks mate!

[@bloo675]

I’m replaying DS2 right now so thank you for this tip!

[@o74769]

Strife actually knew about the Charred Council's plans way before all 3 horsemen, hence he traveled to the Maker's realm where he left his pistols... I think the biggest challenge is making a game about him, rather than all Four... He is the missing piece in all this story.

[@jedicouncil66]

We needed DS 1-4, each horseman with their own game, then DS 5, which would have us play all 4

[@kennethhernandez9243]

@@jedicouncil66at this point, I’d just want them to make Darksiders 4 Horsemen and just call it. This series was so ambitious and it’s a minor miracle we even got a 3 or genesis at all. With that new teaser, I just hope we get the last game and see how it all ends. Hoping for a strife only game and then the team up feels like a pipe dream.

[@joshlamb3058]

The story of strife should be the story of him travelling the earth after revealing himself to fury but with no memory, slowly picking up fragments of his memory lodged in demons and Angel's alike that cause them to go insane and allow us to learn snippets about the charred counsel and strifes plans, ten once the memories are all found you recover four artifacts that can temporarily break the binds holding the horseman to the counsel and finally fight back.

[@MoojinBoi]

​@@jedicouncil66no, his game was Genesis

[@vorachithvongdeuane6743]

This video just confirmed how much I love this franchise. Thank you.

[@Rman94]

For Strife's guns I'm guessing that after helping the remaining Humans escape he might've faced off against the Destroyer, during which he somehow lost his guns during the encounter. Ulthane then found and held on to "Mercy", giving it to War in first game and the other two Makers picked up "Redemption", returning to their world with it and giving it to Alya. Who in turn gave to Death in the second game.

[@chriswihulu]

I always saw it as Strife lending a hand, so to say, to help his brothers in their individual Quests. It's based on the second game, where it's just given and the Maker can't or won't say how she got it, making me think Strife had a deal with her. Hopefully we'll get a solo/core Strife game, which can explain all of these moments.

[@o74769]

Ulthane traveled to Earth at the same time the seal was "fake broken" and War was summoned, his story is not so easy.

[@draxthemsklonst]

​@chriswihulu It seems that Strife has (or gains at some point) the ability to appear as other people (like "Jones," for example), and he could have used the reflecting pool that Ulthane made in Darksiders 3 to drop off Redemption with the makers, possibly without being noticed. Mercy would be simply left with Ulthane after the Destroyer attacks the Forge at Haven. It's also possibly a clue he intentionally left for his brothers. In Darksiders 1, War must have mercy on Azrael and Uriel for the story to happen as it did. In Darksiders 2 Death seeking redemption for War's "crime" and for himself - due to his guilt from killing the other nephilim. How Strife would know to leave his pistols, I'm not sure... the tree of knowledge?

[@TuberoseKisser]

Slight correction; Deaths scythes that he uses in game are actually random scythes. The Harvester requires the Councils permission to use and because the purpose of Deaths mission is under the nose of the council he can't use it except for brief moments. I haven't played DS in a while but this retrospective made me understand Fury's joke about "it's always 3"

[@Juwce_86]

Its so damn refreshing to see a long form critique on this series that doesnt slam Darksiders3. Darksiders 3 is very much my favourite (if for nothing else than the higher movement speed with run button) in the series. However its almost tied with the 1 and 2. The art style is so consistent over the games and its the main drawcard for me hence why i am lucky enough to own the art books. Thanks for this massive video. It was absolutely wonderful and ive subbed to your channel as long form videos are ny absolute favourite. Thanks and much love.

[@jurtheorc8117]

MajorHairBear had a pretty fair video on Darksiders 3 as well.

[@cattrucker8257]

Nice to see that you're also a Darksiders enjoyer. That series is just far too underrated and unknown, it's almost shocking how obscure it is. I still find that Darksiders 2 is my favourite game in the series, even though I agree with basically every criticism you have for it and have a couple of my own. Most importantly, there were optimization/porting issues of some sort regarding save file size limits and value overflows - you could semi-brick your save if you exceeded a certain, high, threshold of money, it starts spitting out an error and refuses to load that file, and you can only fix it by manually reducing the value of gold you have in a savefile editor. That may not come up in a casual playthrough, but if you try to grind the Crucible, it eventually comes up - and it happens much faster if you happen to play the Belial DLC and start using the polearm he drops, as it gives bonus money drops. I used that polearm just because I liked its drain ability and performance (IIRC), so this bug hitting me was an unexpected funny issue I had to monkey around to fix. It absolutely does feel like the Kingdom of the Dead was far too padded, and I find it to be the worst choice of a place to make their "biggest and longest" part of it. While awesome by itself in its monochrome, monotone, doomy metal album cover art style, it quickly starts to wear out its welcome at the Dead Lord part. It feels dragged out and extended far out of proportion, and then the following areas feel almost unfairly unused and forgotten. It would have been a legendary game if we'd had full open worlds in the angel and demon realms like we did in the Maker one, instead of lumping most of the game's meaty parts into the Kingdom of the Dead. It drags the game down noticeably and really does feel draining to beat. There's only one point I might sorta disagree with you on, and that's Horsemen's propensity for getting bamboozled. It feels like high intelligence is not really their strong suit - they're consummate action heroes who, furthermore, are members of a race designed from the ground up by their creators as tools of war and conquest, a ravaging horde to be directed where convenient. While they are not absolute dumbasses, the Horsemen being pawns of the powerful scheming forces of Darksiders' universe is a throughline in all games from 1 to Genesis and is absolutely on brand. In a way, being destructive agents of the powerful is what they do - so it feels natural that they often operate on a "give me a mission and I'll run it" basis. Now, that doesn't absolve them of intelligence altogether - but their brand of smarts runs in parallel with all that rather than across it. As Death's case in the Kingdom of the Dead shows, they'll chafe under incessant errands when they grow excessive, but they'd rather do it than compel the powerful figure in question by force - though, I'll be honest, I REALLY wanted to fight the King at the end of the journey through the Kingdom, especially with the Horseman in question being Death and all, it'd have been very thematic and VERY cathartic after being handled like a pawn by him. I'll also say that, while I agree in concept that Fury's character story is decent, I'll say that it feels too rushed and compressed to have such a great change of heart over the course of just Darksiders 3 alone, especially since we're talking about an ancient figure whose beliefs run deep. It feels wrong that she's extremely disdainful and dismissive of humans at first only to pledge herself to their protection as her near-sole purpose in life for a good long while such a short time later. I don't mind her being overly emotive and outbursty - it's in the name, after all - but it's the sheer 180-ness of the character change over such a short timeframe that doesn't sit well with me. I do like the idea itself, but I believe the writers should've started with her not being as negative and disdainful of humans from the beginning, and have the same events of the same story shift her stance by a less sweeping margin that would feel more natural. I've been dreaming of playing a Strife-focused "full", over-the-shoulder game since DS1 and I can only hope that somehow, someday, we might get it and that it may be on the level of the previous "full" entries or higher yet.

[@acritical]

Thanks for watching and commenting once more. I think your points are valid. It wasn't so much about questioning the Horsemen's intelligence but rather highlighting a trend that occurs seemingly in every game, to the point where it feels like a trope the developers fall back on again and again. I do also agree that Fury's change of heart is rather sudden. It feels like she has only just come to terms with the idea that humans are not as pathetic as she once believed, and then she vows to protect them. As you say, the sheer 180-ness of it feels a bit off. I primarily enjoy the imagery and meaning behind it more than anything, that her search for purpose in her life leads her down a path she would have dismissed entirely at the beginning of the game. She becomes much more than a simple enforcer by the end of it all and I like how her journey culminates in that. Your idea that the writer's should have downplayed her disdain for human's sounds like a more fitting approach.

[@cattrucker8257]

@@acritical Yeah, it's entirely fair - they are, in a way, doing rather similar stories for the Horsemen in every case. Death is only a semi-exception - while he's essentially "gone rogue" from the Council from the very start of the game, he still ends up being a mission boy for most everyone. I do, for my part, agree that a different story concept would not be unwanted here, even though I do think the "servant" aspect comes naturally to Horsemen in the DS verse. As does, ironically, the "rebellious servant" iteration of it. I would suppose it would be a natural development to move away from it were the story to ever progress past the "stuff going on around the plot to do an early apocalypse and Abaddon/Destroyer era", since "Horsemen breaking from the Council as part of their journey" seems to be their main theme for them in that period. I can only wish that the franchise does not die before that point and that we will see a next chapter eventually that moves past it. And, yeah, idea-wise Fury's story is entirely solid. The devil (or perhaps Absalom, considering) is in the details almost entirely. There's not much ground for Fury being so dismissive of humans in the first place, given that the Horsemen rebelled against the Nephilim horde's direction specifically due to the Eden issue (e.g. Death's shout "Eden belongs to Man!"), so they clearly thought humans mattered at least. She may look down on their combat prowess compared to typical First and Second Kingdom soldiers, but not on them as creatures in the first place. Ironically it would only take some dialogue tweaking to all but eliminate the issue altogether, just by altering the reasons for her dismissiveness to be more "transient" and easily fixable, such as that combat prowess bit. Easier for her to come to respect humans this way - though a few "humans are doing cool things" scenes wouldn't go amiss in that direction either. Thinking back to it, I think the reason I enjoy DS2 most of all in the series is in how the combat FEELS, both the gameplay and the spectacle/animation. It always felt to me, strongly, like the ideal incarnation of comic book visuals of combat brought to real-time animation. Perfect use of sound effects to emphasize or characterize moments, perfect slowdowns and speedups for some animations (I vividly remember the parry slowdowns in some bossfights in particular), and it's all in a very "comic book" artstyle (naturally, as befits the creator's background). I'm not even a comic fan, never truly been, but I find that style to be immensely cool when put into a vidya game, and DS2 is the most perfect example of this I know. DS1 also did it, but there's something "extra" fitting about DS2's stylistic changes, from Death's different combat style (one of my favourite visual styles in fiction) to the differences in designs of environments and enemies somehow making them fit even better. DS3 is not far behind either - what puts it below 2 in this regard, for me, is the changed VFX style, it's a bit extra overwhelming compared to 2's being a bit more in-line with the rest of the visuals. DS3 managed to be closer to the "proper Darksiders" visual/animated style than I initially felt it was, but 2 still pulls out ahead in this department.

[@jamesdickens3120]

I've always loved that one detail they gave the demons. Since they are fallen angels, their wings are upside down.

[@vitorvena]

One day, I’ll buy the rights to this franchise and build a proper legacy for it… these games deserve better!

[@TiredDoktor6391]

Alright, with what money?

[@konradfox7392]

@@TiredDoktor6391You don’t know if he/she has money or not?

[@TiredDoktor6391]

@@konradfox7392 do you? Are you certain?

[@SallionMang]

​@@TiredDoktor6391......no...?

[@MyzoryMaiq]

Coming at this guy for having aspirations lol man how bitter are you? You don't have to wish them success or anything but damn lol.

[@Eliphaschoas]

One thing that I love about Darksiders 3 is that Fury has to grow as a person throughout the story, and have to basically beat the Sin, not just their physical forms but also their effects on Fury, example Lust where Fury has to control her lust for power and being in charge, also it may seem like a short amount of time from the start where she really doesn't like humanity to where she becomes its protector but 1 we don't know how much time actually passes and 2 after what happens with the Council she has to find a new purpose or she will fall back into the boredom that she was in at the start of the game. I also love the Sins in this game, and while Sloth was an easy fight, it isn't a surprise because of what he(?) is, after all Sloth is the only one to almost beat Fury without a fight, as had the Watcher (Envy) not snapped her out of it, would Fury have even woken up? It is honestly hard to say which of the Sins is my favourite, they are all so good. I mean Lust is everything, there is so much people can lust after, power, wealth to name two things, I also like that Lust is shown as being neither male or female (and was voiced by a man who I originally thought was a female voice actor)

[@filipvadas7602]

Darksiders 2 is my favorite in the series, but I 100% agree that its "draining". The Realm of the Dead in particular goes on for *way* longer than it needed to. But, to be fair, the devs did kind of play into it and actually showed how the journey affected Death because, really, the whole game is a massive character study that slowly peels back the layers of his personality. It shows us that behind the almost arrogant and sarcastic reaper, there's tinge of regret for his actions and sympathy for all thise that are suffering due to Corruption. And all that takes a physical and mental toll on him as time goes on. By the latter half of the game he's *beyond frustrated* at how many times he's been hindered,sent on a fool's errand and insulted to his face. And once he actually reaches the Well of Souls, he is *exhausted* and is only moving forward through *sheer willpower* and an obligation to his brother.

[@acritical]

I like this interpretation, thanks for sharing.

[@TheStraightestWhitest]

Darksiders 2 wasn't too long. As you said, that was part of the plot. Big games are also worth your money better than smaller ones. But Darksiders 2 canonically took place over a lot of time, because when Darksiders 3 begins, Death is already on his journey, but when Darksiders 3 ends, Strife still has his guns. So Death's journey was long, very very long. We don't get an exact idea, but it could have legit taken years canonically.

[@filipvadas7602]

​@@TheStraightestWhitest There's nothing wrong with the game itself being long. Games like The Witcher 3, Skyrim, Breath of The Wild, Elden Ring etc. have *hundreds* of hours worth of content anf they don't feel long The problem is that the constant "rule of 3" repitition throughout the game really drains the fun right out of it. It also doesn't help that that the last quarter of the game is suprisingly rushed in places.

[@TheStraightestWhitest]

@@filipvadas7602 I never noticed the rule of three. To me it was just a gameplay catalyst. Didn't take away from the story at all.

[@syrienangel4137]

@@TheStraightestWhitest Never noticed the rule of 3 either because the dungeons and boss fights were just really fun.

[@payne8174]

War doesnt look like a fool, he just does not fear any other power.

[@sarexui634]

He does look like a fool, because abadon/the destroyer was weaker than even the dark prince, and war was risking bringing an entity that rivaled the dark prince. Even if he could defeat it, it wouldnt be before it could bring ruin across the realms.

[@Sam-xt2gz]

Seeing someone say how broken Darksiders II's combat is reminds me how good it felt to restore ALL your health from landing a critical hit with your possessed scythes that have a 100% chance to do a crit while also zapping the enemy to oblivion xD. Man that combat system was so broken and very fun. Contrasting that with the epic soundtrack and story (I know you don't agree with that but I quite enjoyed II despite being quite stretched), I find that II is the best of the series. Other than that, finding this channel was great. Could you possibly do a video on the Mafia games?

[@acritical]

Thanks mate. If you enjoyed the story then that's all that really matters, I'm only presenting my opinion here. The Mafia games are on my radar but honestly I'm not sure if I will ever get to them.

[@arandomguy546]

You perfectly summarized darksiders 2 for me in 1 word: draining. It's world, atmosphere and characters are great, but it drags for far too long to remain enjoyable for the whole runtime. Amazing video!

[@acritical]

Cheers mate.

[@BluWarta92]

I didn't have that feelings at all... Maybe because I jumped into it without having experienced 1st installment nor any expectations 🤔 I even completed all the dlc. To me this is still one of the most suprising experiences in gaming. Others being TES Oblivion, Deus Ex series and NOLF. My main complain against the game was having a such a great reward after dlc but nothing to use it for. So there was no real reason to complete the arena... except for the thrill of it.

[@BluWarta92]

Though I might add it has been years since I last played the game... might have just fond memories.

[@spardathedevil7956]

Oh, boo fckin hoo, you need helping hand to move from point A to point B if it's not a corridor?

[@SolidSnake240]

The game was the perfect length imo

[@roteberg1]

The way I see Death's journey is that it is the constant trudge though the thing we call life, which in and of itself makes it symbolic considering you're playing as Death. The repetitive motions we all go through are like the quests in Ds2.

[@chriswihulu]

If that was the case, it isn't translated well and the core theme was well rooted in: "Death will now be the bringer of life."

[@roteberg1]

@@chriswihulu well. That's true, but one can imagine for their own enjoyment, eh?

[@chriswihulu]

@@roteberg1Sure, never said that wasn't allowed, just that I didn't see it that way, not that I even dislike DS2's lenght.

[@roteberg1]

@@chriswihulu of course. I took no offense to what you said. I was just stating that I like to see it that way to make it bearable to go through all the side quests.

[@alainkien]

Man I loved your thoughts on these games. It felt like watching a documentary of my favourite childhood games, series, or franchise. I enjoy the way you explained everything, like story telling, in categories and how you put my thoughts out on these games exactly as I would have. It was long, but I don't feel like it because it was that good and detailed. Keep up the good work.

[@acritical]

Cheers! Glad you enjoyed it.

[@heraldofwoe3686]

Glad to see someone preach the good word about how flexible and diverse Ds3 combat. I have been trying to explain and demonstrate this for over a year now. Happy that someone else is spreading the word. 👍

[@acritical]

My pleasure. Thanks for watching.

[@adlerofrowe9224]

We wanted a Darksiders game with Darksiders combat, not a Soulslike

[@Zendariel87]

​@@adlerofrowe9224How would you define darksiders game or darksiders combat? I liked darksiders 1 with it's light spectacle fighter elements and more focus and Zelda elements. Never liked darksiders 2 combat for some reason. Hated the loot system and a lot of the weight the first one had really didn't seem to be there. World was more empty and just too big. From what the classic mode sounds like the darksiders 3 combat is probably closer to first if you lower the difficulty. I've yet to play more of 3 since the playstation version is 30 fps and I just can't handle that : / And sharing more with metroidvania genre in general than soulslike games. Where darksider 1 was clearly zelda inspired and 2... I don't really know, Diablo and the prince of persia reboot? But none of the games really play that much like the others in my experience.

[@fenison4430]

@@Zendariel87 Darksiders 3 combat is all about attacking in the right moments and dodging, which is *fine*, but the problem with that is that Darksiders was never about that, in my eyes the first two games were about using appropriate combos at appropriate times to get the best results, maybe this wasn't that much of a case in 1, but it certainly was in 2 where certain combos were better at dealing with groups, others for single target, others were a bunch of quick attacks that restrored your wrath quicker, while others were just big chonky attacks that dealt big damage, i don't think the devs really recognised this aspect about the combat that they've created but to me it is the defining feature which makes it more enjoyable for me than most other action games. 3 simply doesn't offer that kind of flexibility, yeah sure maybe one weapon is better for single target and the other for AoE, but in terms of the moves themselves there really isn't that much you can do without having to switch to another weapon, and this is not even mentioning the fact that you don't have a reliable launcher like in the previous games (holding X/lock-on + backwards + X in 1, A after any attack in 2 (the better launcher imo)), it being relegated to another parry move where you have to dodge TOWARDS the enemy, which is counter-intuitive and makes the launcher borderline useless, combined with the fact that your air combat options are super limited. Don't get me wrong, the combat in 3 is still leagues better than dark souls because you have at least some options in your attacks, but it still doesn't compare to the previous two games in terms of the amount of useful moves available to you at once without having to switch to another weapon.

[@joemoe650]

​@@fenison4430i think the darksiders game have never been about one thing each one was abou taking inspiration from trends at the time and applying their own twist. 1 was a typical hack n slash ( holden era of hack n slash games, 2 hopped on the openworld pseudo rpg train and 3 took elrments from the modern metroidvania resurgence. Each game has the same base but viewed through a different lense. In ds 3 while nore reactive than combo based still leaves you in controle of most fights tempos, and still enco7rgaes creative comboing wich is not a staple of a souls game where combos are non existent or a non factor, and enemies have much more ganecy than you. Iunderstand prefering one or the other but i think ita the nature of the series for them to be different

[@JuliusCaesar103]

New takes, refreshing to hear all the way through, at no point did it feel like you were stretching it just for some extra time. Can't believe the quality of this. Subscribed

[@micahorr8669]

Darksiders 2 was my first foray into this franchise and I remember absolutely loving the world, characters, lore, music and so much more. I still haven't played the others, except for a bit of Genesis, but after watching your take on 2, I can see why people don't like it. I think I loved it as much as I did because it was my first experience with the games and I was completely immersed in that larger world. This was such an amazing retrospective, well done!

[@fuyu848]

This video reminds me of how Darksiders stuck with me since years ago.

[@ZGamingGuy]

I'm at 3:43:45 currently, so you may mention this, but the final game was supposed to be a 4 player coop epic, where all horseman are playable. The devs mentioned this during the bankrupt time I believe. I hope by some miracle it happens. The story is really fascinating, and I get the feeling Samael will ultimately be the final boss

[@SIGNOR-G]

I hope not. Although he is very powerful it would a shame to fight him again as the final boss.

[@MagicWhiskers13]

I was delightfully surprised to see a long video on Darksiders like this pop up on my recommended, and was even more delighted by the video itself! Your assessment of each game was extremely fair, and it was excellent in particular to see a video on Darksiders 3 evaluating on its own merits, as well as where it did pick back up from the series as a whole, rather than just dismissing it as a whole other beast. What you said about Darksiders 2 really resonated with me, as well. It's been a few years since I played the games, and I was having trouble determining why I remembered the middle game of 1 and 3 better than 2, but what you said about the drag of it, and how nothing much *happens* in the middle made sense of that. There was just little actual plot to connect memories of gameplay to. Still, I think these are all excellent games, and I'm so glad to see someone talking about them all like this!

[@acritical]

Thanks for watching and the kind words. Glad you enjoyed it.

[@ElectricWolf1983]

These games are legendary! Art style is amazing, story and combat is awesome! And the voice acting is superb! Great video!

[@rhomayyann4691]

I'm hoping that after the recent trailer, we finally get a fourth game with Strife. Ever since I saw him, he instantly became my favorite.

[@Crabo99]

I recently played Genesis, and I think the next game will definetely work around Strife. He is good in Genesis, but not explored as much as the other horsemen in their standalone games.

[@Mrcryptidsarereal]

One thing you understated in Genesis is how true to Darksiders 1 feels, and that's because Joe Mad is the founder of the developer Airship Syndicate.

[@Ashen8th]

A Darksiders video essay in my feed? A well-written, deftly narrated Darksiders video essay? Probably the quickest I’ve ever subbed to a new channel.

[@bradreed4414]

Good to see this series getting some love, it is very good. The stories are way more compelling than most people would assume

[@jeffnussbaum716]

Hiring Keith Szarabajka as the narrator/Crowfather was a coup. What an amazing voice.

[@frostsoul4199]

man, the nostalgia i have for this series is potent. the whole experience is just magnificent. whether it's the ever-changing combat or the artstyle, or any other number of things, the allur of Darksiders remains timeless. also, as a side note for the possessed weapons in DS2, they really are overpowered as hell. in the early game i got my hands on a possessed axe that i level up a few times with extra crits and strength stats. this wound up letting me kill the Construct Hulk bossfight with two charged attacks. TWO HITS on a boss enemy. such a wild system.

[@projektspark5353]

We're back guys, darksiders 4 is coming !

[@novaFLW]

YESSSSSSSIRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

[@GamingHawke]

Darksiders is coming back! Can't wait to see what they do.

[@honorarydarkness1300]

The Chosen from the first game are not demons, but abyssals. Being old as time, abyssals predate angel and demon alike. They are born from worlds caught in a limbo between life and death, and the harsh conditions only allow the strongest to survive. Makes sense using that for crafting armor, doesn't it? It also haven't escaped me that his Chaos Form greatly resembles Samael. As if they are connected somehow. It's possible that Samael represents the destructive aspects of aggression and persuasion, as the latter is a trait connected to drive and leadership. War's own Chaos Form likely reflects that he himself possess these traits (he just deploys them to more positive ends). The Gladiator may symbolise selfish pride and arrogance rooted in his social status and battle skills (which once costed him his left arm, and almost the lives of his siblings). Notice how the Gladiator talks down on him from his high horse, and his resemblance to the Chaos Meter icon (when full). Later on, you fight three robotic mini bosses with a red light coming from the head, plus a blue one from the chest. This indicates that War, albeit a mostly good person...is brainwashed. This is confirmed in Genesis, where he displays fanatical and puritanical behavior until midway in the game, with Strife being able to make him question his programming. And before you can access the Tree of Knowledge, you must confront his Inner Shadow head on. As for Abaddon, his role is actually hinted early on (as the name means 'Destroyer' in Hebrew). Both his and War's dark side visually carries dragon symbolism, it's just emphasized more heavily in Abaddon's case. War rejects Abaddon's offer because it would mean embracing his own slavery. Being sick and tired of his role as a puppet, he naturally looks down upon a beast who stopped fighting for greater causes than its own self-preservation. Abaddon was formidable...until he feared punishment (and succumbed). Before that, his own pride got the better of him. He's like a 'righteous' politician that gets caught red handed (and trembles before the guillotine). He temporarily avoids said 'guillotine' by switching sides and backstabbing his former allies. Some role model, huh? War fought for a false cause he earnestly believed in, whereas Abaddon consciously abused the authority of a position he knew the true nature of all along.

[@haydennoble9253]

Man how do you not have even more subscribers? This video was excellent.

[@cacomeatballmarinara2014]

I bet Strife was probably fighting an insane urge to smile or snicker when he was confronting Fury at the start. She was threatening him, but he knows exactly which buttons to press and when

[@Erian1mortal]

If I remember correctly, the gun from Strife that you get in Darksiders 1 is a replica, not the original, it's probably what Ulthane was working on.

[@nikolakostic6847]

Fun fact about Darksiders 2. You can do 2 dashes forward and then press spacebar(he will od a launcher attack) and then you can use dash again while in the air to do a meteor strike (he will dash to the ground reseting forward dash, so you can constantly and never pause with the third dash. hope it helpes 😊

[@MrJomalley123]

Honestly its the well written characters and incredible story telling that keeps bringing me back to these games

[@wymanrtaylor]

The rare series in which I adore every single game

[@EmborFrost]

This was an excellent breakdown of the entire series. Im so glad i found this videoa dn the channel. Subscribed, and left a like.

[@Motorius9000]

An absolute treat! A very good in-depth look indeed. Let us hope that the series continues!

[@itscutaru]

All things considered regarding the ups and downs of this series, I'm thankful that each entry exists. Personally, I like D2 the most out of all of them, as I'm a sucker for big brother familial type characters and had the good, in hindsight, idea to take a break after the kingdom of the dead instead of doing it in one sitting. But my honest belief is that the answer to "Which Darksiders game do you think it's the best?" lies less in the 'identity' of the franchise, as it doesn't really have a specific one, and more into what types of games you like the most. While very simplified, I see each entry as a different inspiration point (1 and 2 sharing the most similarities) D1 -> God of War D2 -> legend of Zelda D3 -> dark souls Genesis -> Diablo (to a degree?) So depending on which type and what elements of those types you enjoyed the most, the answer varies from person to person. Ultimately, I play these games for the Horsemen above all else, to see their characters and how they develop. And if there's nothing you could really say it's original in the franchise mechanically, then at the very least, its premise, putting you in the shoes of biblical entities often described as disasters and actually humanizing them, is.

[@mdd4296]

Genesis was more classic zelda (top dowm action adventure)

[@itscutaru]

haven't played the older ones, so I'll trust your word on it

[@FutayuriShironeko]

Funny thing about Sloth vs Avarice, on my first playthrough I found Sloth first, since both Sloth and Avarice kills results in Storm Hollow calling, depending which you kill first and even changes Lord of Hollows dialog accordingly. Also they both seemingly have similar amount of health and attack damage.

[@bloo675]

Seriously one of my favorite game series of all time. The games deserved so much better 😭 I played darksiders genesis recently and then replayed darksiders 1. I’m now replaying darksiders 2 (:

[@Knightelfpaladinlvl8]

great video. I watch videos like this pretty often. It's a shame it doesn't have the views it deserves.

[@thomass.586]

I enjoyed this immensely, the Darksiders series just reminds me of good times. I even read the book "Abomination Vault" which I highly recommend to fans of the franchise. Let's hope a sequel will surface some time and that it will do the series credit.

[@Arkansan_Rebel]

Is that a Pathfinder book? I'm askin' 'cause only Pathfinder Abomination Vaults is the only thing poppin' up.

[@thomass.586]

Darksiders: The Abomination Vault by Ari Marmell

[@dragonblade71ify]

I recently started playing darksiders again to try it with a fresh mindset since i was a teen when it came out. So far, i enjoy it much more. Thanks for creating this video.

[@Hynotama]

In Darksiders 2, if you disable the autocollect option, every piece of gear will show you it's stats when you stand on top of it and you're given an option to equip it or put it in your inventory.

[@confusingmays9046]

That's the correct way to play it. Seeing him sorting through the inventory felt weird to watch, since I was very rarely in the screen, haha!

[@xXLunatikxXlul]

Once I figured this out it made inventory management easy af. DS2 is the best.

[@Hynotama]

@@confusingmays9046 I usually start with auto-collect turned on and as the game progresses and I have less space because I keep legendary weapons and Armor and hold on to heat for my possessed weapon, I turn it off and become more selective with what I pick up. In the beginning I just pick up everything because I have plenty of inventory space and I need the gold.

[@Hynotama]

@@xXLunatikxXlul yes, DS2 is the best.

[@jonathasvieira6414]

Darksiders 3 was my first Darksiders game and is also my favorite. I agree with all the criticisms here and even with the flaws I still love this franchise, and had a lot of fun with all of them. Quite a long video, but I'm enjoying watching it, it's an amazing review.

[@despicablememe4140]

Amazing video my man. You got a new sub. I know the story is a mess but Darksiders is one of my favorite series. You do a great job explaining this. I'm sure you put a ton of work into your videos and I will be checking out the others.

[@Reubenhater]

For Darksider 3, the Envy reveal wasnt shocking to me since from Darksider 1, i always expect that every watcher will betray you. Though it was cool.

[@Delulu1886]

oh how I admire the fact that Small channels Make The Best Retrospectives out there it's honestly A Hidden Gem Situation Going on here

[@undeadelite]

Fantastic video, i hope you can do one on the Painkiller series :D

[@Awecyan32]

When I played Darksiders 1, I felt like the game started to wear out it's welcome close enough to the end that I still look upon it favorably. Darksiders 2 I was ready for it to be over about at the point you mentioned, when I hit the city of the dead and by the time I was in hell, I was so done with the game that I don't think I even cared to watch the cutscenes, I looked up a plot summary afterwards to fill in the gaps. I avoided enemies and most fights, so I ended up being under-leveled and just didn't enjoy most of the game. Darksiders 3 was fantastic, I honestly would have been fine with the game being a tad longer, too.

[@familialdysautosis2717]

Darksiders 2 is my favorite game ever made, and ironically enough, I agree about the execution chance. So much so, that 99% of my playthroughs, I just try to stack as much execution chance as possible. My highest rate to date is 78%. That's most of the time honestly.

[@christiandabila4333]

I love the dynamic though between both strife and death in the sense that they are both the ones that empathize and are sympathetic to those around them. Death willing to sacrifice himself to restore humanity to save his brother and Strife willing to protect them until Fury can take his place and he can begin his journey. Definitely my two favorite of the four horsemen

[@sarexui634]

I never played darksiders 1 completely so i was always confused about how death shows up in the ending of 1 if he sacrifices himself in the 2nd game. I was so amazed to find out this isnt a sequel but a prequel. So basically what happened to war is what happened to death. When the 7th seal was broken, the horsemen are called, no matter what theyre doing or where they are. The 7th seal brought war and death back from death/oblivion.

[@jablue4329]

This video was a really nice look back at a series I grew up with and always think back to occasionally. Thanks. And thanks for letting me see what dying to the worms looks like 😂

[@FiniteSteakMachine]

Just noticed that in fights with the sins, the compass still points to the center of the arena, not the sin you're fighting. Interesting detail that I could only notice when watching rather than playing. It would have been really clever if the game had expected you track an invisible sin using only the compass, but I think most people forget about the compass pretty early on.

[@spiketheanimatronic1838]

I love the lust and envy scene the foreshadowing

[@wakkosan]

Great video and a very nice in depth analysis. Would love to see a Strife game and as for the last where all the horsemen come together I was thinking maybe a Legacy of Kain: Defiance type of gameplay could work. And you play with all 4 at the end of the game. Fight the final evil either in stages with each horseman damaging the last boss in their unique way or allow you to switch between them like in Genesis.

[@icequeen52]

Great video! DS3 was my favourite, Fury's character growth really stuck out to me, out of everything. The combat system was my favourite by far, I can't put my finger on why but it's to do with the feel of everything. That flow of perfectly timed dodges and counter attacks never failed to give me enjoyment. Here's a fun little fact: the Possessed Weapons in DS2 are even more overpowered than you think! There's a bug that allows you to keep levelling them up even after they've been levelled up 5 times. Simply drop the weapon and pick it back up again. After that, the level count for the weapon is reset and you can break the stats on it even further!

[@DarthMirasshtar]

that line still hits... "No, not alone."

[@tonyemmerson2376]

I love the growth of war, death and fury. Seeing there flaws. And choosing to do what’s right Dispite that

[@Alacaelum]

This makes me appreciated this series even more. All the games are flawed, but still fun, and the story may be "clunky" in some point is very well written and has a very personal development. The feeling that many of the events seems to not advance in truth serve even more to emphasize the greater picture of the conspiracy happening. I do hope they can make a game that finally connect the four siblings, and I hope when that happens the devs can pour their absolute love and dedication in it.

[@Handbuilt1]

Yea , too many unanswered questions , we need more games to know the whole story. Thank you for this wonderful video . PS ..I would hope to play N 4 before I get too old ..... LOL

[@OracleOfTheOasis]

One thing I will say about the “rushed” feeling nature of Darksiders 2 is that we can be glad that we got it in a *working* state and not a buggy mess, rather than not have gotten it at all

[@Invader_Rin13]

New Darksiders confirm, lets goooo!

[@Zaiqahal]

Darksiders II is about the only open world single-player game I have completed 100%. Only other games I've done that for are the 2 Prototype games, I believe.

[@GenericProtagonist118]

I really hope that one day this series gets a resurgence, or at least a proper ending.

[@OTBASH]

You were spot on with how you described Darksiders 2 for me. It was a great game, but overstayed its welcome and dragged on too long for my liking. Towards the end it was getting pretty tedious, but Death is still my favorite horseman, with Fury coming in second. I really enjoyed her development in the end and her hallow powers were fun to use in battle.

[@dr.calibrations7984]

2:43:21 In the OG cut of the game. The Storm Hollow was the best for countering as the ranged throw made it the only safe counter. Originally counter attacks weren't armored or invulnerable. If you tried to counter and your opponent wasn't done with their combo, you got to eat it.

[@pauljordan0203]

I think Darksiders Genesis was the reason why we haven't gotten a 4th installment.

[@DenisK3000]

I am super thankful to you, for making such an amazing video, well bloody done good sir! ❤

[@acritical]

Thank you very much indeed.

[@abacaxicomgostodeacerola9663]

HORSEMEN, PREPARE YOURSELVES! WE RIDE ONCE MORE!

[@mr.x6313]

My absolute favorite aspect of the series is the borderline-Shakespearean dialogue and the elevated, dignified vocabulary that nearly every character uses. Death’s line about Corruption rising from Absalom “like a black tide rising” is a particularly great line. Which makes it feel so weird that Genesis just does away with that, opting to make the dialogue so common, even vulgar, by comparison. Strife feels like he comes from a whole other game franchise.

[@krrisss23]

Damn this was awesome and very in depth and gave me a nice sumary for Genesis

[@Andilite1212]

coming back to this since the new one was teased

[@ryanboyd6114]

Fantastic work on your retrospective. 😊 new subscriber for sure.

[@2Siders]

This video game series stole my NAME!

[@Overanalyse_This]

1:07:00 Dude Tiamat was a whole ass issue for me back in the day!

[@devilghost1177]

I grew up on dark sides 1 and 2 haven’t played last two thanks for video 10/10

[@TevyaSmolka]

i love the darksiders series it's really awesome and badass and seeing all 4 horsemen kicking ass and is really awesome and tons of fun at least in my opinion.

[@ThatDangBee]

So Remnant rose from the ashes of Darksiders, that's pretty neat. A sequel to Remnant was announced recently too.

[@leonseuropeanislandadventu7398]

Remanant is ass compared to Darksiders. No real story to mention, easy as sin gameplay, and a lack of need to use anything other than a starter weapon, which can easily clear the game.

[@xXLunatikxXlul]

@@leonseuropeanislandadventu7398 I haven't touched the game since it was for free. Is it really that bad?

[@Hidden_lvl]

​@@leonseuropeanislandadventu7398Remnant is more challenging than any DS game

[@zangunov8664]

The beams from the heads in 3 aren't abrupt actually, they follow the arenas walls and shift at the edges where the walls meet creating a fast movie hazard. So it forces you to look at them and her or take a big hit. Almost like the Lust & Usiel fight where the angel is the hazard.

[@GenericProtagonist118]

My guess with the constant theme of the Horsemen being tricked is supposed to be a shared character development and possibly even foreshadowing. I feel like there was always more to the Charred Council, The war between Heaven and Hell, and the weird importance of Humanity. Perhaps there's an even bigger deception that goes even further and it will take all of them to finally say no more and no longer fall to such things.

[@michdocs9542]

Great video, I really liked the DS2 analysis especially because the game always felt... off to me, like I loved playing it but always had issues completing it. Never realized how little the story progresses. I truly hope we still haven't seen the best DS game yet, and that DS4 does to the series what the Witcher 3 did for CDPR but that probably me inhaling copium.

[@ChickenMan666]

one of the most underrated franchises ever !

[@legolasackerman588]

amazing video, keep up the good work

[@Mattznick]

going through the series for the first time myself and watching each game section in this video after i beat each game 👍

[@notjustjet6834]

Strife is with the humans, because the are literally IN strife (Bitter/Violent Conflict with heaven and Hell).

[@fat-gotenks]

Time to ride again.

[@D3ltus]

War's voice actor is one of my favourites, that man has done some incredible work throughout his career. Liam O'Brien if you want to look him up

[@stevenguitink5947]

Every review/analysis of the Darksiders franchise makes me think that the biggest flaw of the series is a lack of a commited identity. The first game came out during the height of God of War clones so it aped a lot of that. Darksiders 2 took cues from Legend of Zelda. And Darksiders 3 came in the wake of Souls-like games. Genesis feels like an attempt to experiment. There's some core similarities between all the games seemingly, but nothing that makes them stand out as a whole aside from the art style.

[@acritical]

Yes I believe it is both a strength and a flaw. The series has never committed to refining one specific formula. Instead, it's been a bunch of additions and changes between each title, leading to radically different experiences, which is rather peculiar.

[@Hassler247]

I do feel the affliction ability can be pretty valuable especially in certain encounters. Most notably wraiths in black throne. They definitely aren’t necessary though and I seem to forget I have them for 80% of the game anyways.

[@ZGamingGuy]

Something that I never see people mention about DS2, is that the cinematics aren't as...interesting? I'm referring to the camera work specifically. Like, the talks with Samael were always really engaging in the first one. But weren't as good in the second. I think I'm failing at really articulating what I mean, but hopefully the point came across

[@permeus2nd]

22:47 ""mind if I just borrow these wings?"" ""Mine now!""

[@TheDarkestPhiba]

writing this just after Darksiders 3 part, not sure if it's has been missed, but as humanity is supposed to be the embodiment of balance, and the Horseman are supposed to protect the balance, maybe it was supposed to be their purpose all along, and it got twisted by the Charred Council, just something that sprang to mind.

[@DimosasQuest]

Amazing video. Keep it up!

[@CelestialReaper]

Fun Fact: Dark Prince and The Crucible Champion are both voiced by Reaper from Overwatch. WHICH i think would be a perfect replacement for Death's voice since his actor is nowhere to be found)

[@Overanalyse_This]

Death does the Anime Run😂😂😂 Yeah, of all the Horsemen, he would be the one.