I have been a fan of the Darksiders games since they first released in the mid-2000s. I loved the idea of playing as the Horsemen of the Apocalypse and embarking on divine missions (even if that meant being exiled and losing all my powers). War was a very compelling character to play as and THQ portrayed him in near perfect light. In recent years, THQ has revamped the first game and called it Darksiders: Warmastered Edition. And this remake has finally come to the Switch. Watch out everyone, War is back!
That’s right baby, WAR IS BACK!
The Warmastered Edition of Darksiders is basically a fresh coat of paint for the game. THQ has simply run the previously existing title through a refresher and made it look a bit better for today’s consoles. Aside from this, not much else has changed in the game. It’s still the same old Darksiders we know and love! For those of you who don’t know the Darksiders story or game in general, it basically goes like this:
The call has been given for the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse to ride to Earth and restore peace. War was the only one to answer the call, for reasons unknown, which in turn leads to a series of events that go against the eternal. The player is tasked with restoring peace to Earth and subsequently stopping the war between Angels and Demons.
Playing Darksiders on the Switch, I felt right at home. I found the control scheme to be very reactive and easy to use. THQ have done an amazing job porting a home console game to a portable system (at least that is mainly how I played Darksiders). All of War’s abilities are easy to use and feel easy to access, and make you feel just as powerful as the previous iteration of the game did.
I did, however, have an issue while my Switch was docked. While using a controller, I found War to be near uncontrollable due to stick wandering. This, in turn, causes War to walk on his own without any player input. I have never had this issue on any other game on my Switch leading me to suspect that this may have been a pre-release glitch with the Switch version of Warmastered Edition.
This glitch with the control scheme made War so difficult to control that I was forced to use the Joycons while playing in docked mode and was unable to use my Pro controller. I found this to be very inconvenient and a major issue that needs to be fixed immediately.
More of the same?
As I said earlier, Darksiders, Warmastered Edition doesn’t really offer that much more than what the original Darksiders had to offer. But what more is there to improve? One thing I would have liked to see changed is the camera placement. At times, this can feel clunky and hard to control. I would have loved for THQ to zoom this out a little more and make it follow War a bit better. However, this is only a small issue and after a couple of hours gameplay, you can pretty easily control the camera and War’s actions without hassle.
The general upgrade to the look of the game is hard to differentiate compared to the original. I had some difficulties telling the difference between the original and the Warmastered Edition initially, but after looking at a couple of YouTube videos I could easily spot the upgrade. Everything looks polished and significantly more detailed if you are really looking. The look and feel of the Warmastered Edition compared to the original is a pretty nice touch, however, no other new elements have been added here. I feel that if you are purchasing a newly polished remake, something more should have been added. Sure, Darksiders is a great experience on its own, but where is the extra gem that makes you go out and spend the extra dollars compared to buying the original on PC for cheaper?
Heaven for the ears?
The general audio of the Warmastered Edition is nothing new. In handheld mode, I found the Switch’s inbuilt vibration and speakers to be more than enough. I took pleasure at playing this with a headset on and loved all of the small details that the audio of the game paints for the player.
HOWEVER, I did have an issue while the game was in docked mode again. While general gameplay is fine, when it came to combat, I found the audio to randomly increase and decrease. While running, the sound effects and general audio stabilises. When initiating combat, there would be a sharp volume spike leading to an increase in volume and near-deafening sound effects. The volume would then sharply decrease causing me to have to turn my TV up in order to hear what was happening during the rest of the battle and even in some cutscenes.
I have no idea what was causing this issue, however, it was a rather frustrating one causing me to further play the game in handheld mode more often. Seriously THQ, what is up with that?
Overall thoughts?
Overall, Darksiders Warmastered Edition is a pretty solid title. Offering a more polished version of the original on the Switch. Players who have never played Darksiders should definitely pick this up. However, at a $40 AUD price tag, I can’t help but feel like The Warmastered edition should offer the player a bit more than just a more polished version of the original. A couple of new elements wouldn’t go astray here.
- THE GOOD
- War is back!
More of that Darksiders Action The game looks great Plays very well on Switch
- THE BAD
- Weird Audio issues
Self moving characters? Sometimes clunky controls
- 7
- Good
Review Summary
Darksiders Warmastered Edition isn’t a bad game. It’s quite enjoyable on the Nintendo Switch and offers the same great action that propelled the Darksiders Series to where it is now. However, with some weird audio issues, sometimes clunky controls and controller issues, It is let down and sometimes hard to play. Currently, I feel that it’s a bit overpriced for what’s on offer. Still, If you haven’t played Darksiders before, pick it up!
