I'm really enjoying Far Cry 5 but I can't abandon my objective of getting through every single PS-Plus Extra game on the list. Since Sony keeps adding games every month I believe I am actually losing ground as far as this endeavor is concerned so I take a break from FC5 (which I really like) in order to put an hour or so into other games.
This time I went down a path that I knew I was going to enjoy because Darksiders games are ones that I tend to enjoy. I will say that Genesis is substantially different from others that I have played in the past.
If you have played some other Darksiders games in the past and enjoyed them as I did, this addition might surprise you because as far as game mechanics are concerned it has almost nothing in common with the others. This game plays an awful lot like Diablo's later games in that it is a top-down hack-and-slash game with RPG elements such as powering up various skills.
At first I was very surprised and a bit disappointed but as I played on a bit more I think I may actually prefer this to the typical Darksiders game because although most of the Metroidvania aspects are absent, it is a nice breath of fresh air and a completely different experience than I was expecting based on other DS games I have played - which is all of them.
The game involves a lot of exploration across areas filled with mostly zero enemies at first, just like Diablo 2 and 3, but then you will encounter camps that have mostly trash mobs and maybe a couple of tougher enemies in them. None of this is terribly difficult and I think the way that they introduce you to the controls is absolutely perfect.
You have two characters in your crew almost all of the time and you can switch back and forth between them. Strife and War are the two characters that you control and one of them will almost certainly appeal to players a lot more than the other. Strife uses pistols and other ranged attacks while War uses a sword and has to get all up in the face of enemies in order to engage them at all. Since the only way that most enemies can damage you is by proximity, obviously the best option in these encounters would be to stay at distance. Therefore, for the 1.5 hours or so that I played this, I was using Strife 90% of the time. The 10% that I did use War was mostly because certain parts of the levels have aspects that can only be accomplished by changing characters.
it's difficult to really show what gameplay is like in still images because often there is so much going on that it can take a minute for you to get your bearings. In the outside areas this works dramatically to your benefit since you can lure enemies one-by-one out of their camps but the tables turn once you go underground to a contained environment where you will frequently be overwhelmed into a corner and get killed.
I wouldn't say that game is very difficult but it was very fun. It is as difficult as you want it to be a lot like Diablo 3. You get more rewards by ramping up the difficulty and by doing so, you increase the amount of stuff and upgrades that you can purchase.
I didn't have much of an opportunity to dive into the upgrades but there are a lot of them so I can see how this game could be very customizable for someone that really wanted to get the full experience. The voice acting was incredible and even though the graphics are simplistic compared to other Darskiders games, I kind of enjoyed the break from 3D for a little while. I can see this game having much more repeat-play value than other DS games and although I am going to go back to Far Cry 5 for now, I can totally see myself playing this again in the future when I get another break or get tired of sniping people over and over in an FPS environment.
Overall I thought that this was a fantastic game that would appeal to almost anyone. Just like Diablo 3, it can be as difficult or as easy as you want it to be so if you are just looking to tear through the story that could probably be done in a day if you really buckled down. It is one of those games that never really ends though, so this could be a downside for some players since it is expected that you will repeat certain levels in order to grind for upgrades. This didn't seem to be excessive though, and that shows that they put a lot of time into considering exactly that.
I highly recommend this game and intend to play a lot more of it
Games I have already tried in my journey to play at least 1-hour of every PS-Plus Extra game
- Gravity Rush 2 (action adventure game with fast movement in every direction. It has RPG elements and a pretty decent story. Make it past the first hour and the game really opens up. Recommended)
- Oddworld: Soulstorm (2D+ platformer with great graphics, sound, and voice-acting. Unfortunately it is plagued with a lot of repetition. Recommended for a few hours)
- Bee Simulator (sort of like a flying FPS game but with no combat. It's graphically impressive and filled with tidbits of knowledge about bees... unfortunately it is repetitive as hell and gets boring fast. Not recommended)
- Prison Architect (a prison management simulator game similar to SimCity. It's a great game but just like most simulation games, it just isn't very playable using a controller. Not recommended on PS4)
- Hotline Miami 2 (a top-down shooter with gruesome violence and terrible AI. Would be great for speedrunners and hardcore gamers. Casuals like me are going to quickly tire with it)
- Battle Chasers: Nightwar (turn based RPG of medium-length that does a good job of teaching you how to play in the first hour. It's pretty old-school and I happen to like that... recommended)
- Chorus (3rd person open-world space fighting game. It's graphically impressive but combat is too repetitive to really hold your interest for the entire story. Still recommended though.)
- Portal Knights (a very well made survival action builder game similar to Minecraft. I really enjoyed this and look forward to playing it more. Recommended)
- Saints Row: The Third (clever and funny FPS game that intentionally puts you in impossible and absurd situations. It's innovative and humorous but ultimately quite dated and got repetitive and boring pretty quick. Not recommended)
- Balan Wonderworld (A rather beautiful 3D(ish) platformer that is extremely easy but still engaging enough to hold your attention for a few hours. Recommended for casual gamers)
- The Artful Escape (an adventure game of sorts with awesome visuals and music, but repetitive areas and controls combined with IMO far too much dialogue makes this game get boring, fast... Worth a look but not recommended to play)
- Until Dawn (interactive horror game that you don't really control a great deal of. It's reasonably entertaining, you can't lose, and the graphics and sound a pretty great. It's not really a game but I enjoyed it and played it to its finish. Recommended)
- 11-11: Memories Retold (a WW1 story that doesn't actually involve much input on the player's part. The game is very boring despite having a wonderful graphical style: Not recommended)
- Desperados 3 (a real time tactics / stealth game that I personally do not feel belongs on consoles at all. If you have never played these sorts of games on PC your opinion might be different. This one gets a "maybe.")
- Maneater (Action RPG where you play the role of a deadly shark. The idea is decent but ultimately the extremely repetitive gameplay makes this one easy to miss. Not recommended)
- TorqueL (physics puzzle platformer that is simplistic at first but quickly becomes maddeningly difficult. Gets boring pretty quickly on consoles and would be better suited as a time-waster on mobile devices. Not recommended on PS4)
- Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon: Turn-based cutesy RPG that is extremely story-driven just like anything Square is involved in. If you are huge fan of Final Fantasy you might like it, for me it was one hour then done forever.
- XCOM 2 : (Turn-based Sci-Fi game set in a dystopian future where you are part of the rebellion. Despite a very slow start IMO the game really gets involved later on... recommended)
- Darksiders Genesis (Top-down hack and slash that reminds me a lot of Diablo 3 but with a more restricted environment. It's very fast paced and as easy or difficult as you want it to be. It's a lot of fun and therefore comes highly recommended.)
All other games I have already reviewed (there are a lot of them)