Darksiders: Wrath Of War - First Look Preview

The end of the world is nigh, and we're not talking about the creation of mini black-holes in Switzerland; we're talking about THQ's Darksiders: Wrath of War, currently in development at Vigil Studios for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

TVG got a very brief glimpse of the action-adventure title back in March, but several months down the line, War's thirst for revenge has received a much more substantial presentation. We take a glimpse into the future of mankind...

The Legend Of Kratos?

Despite opening with a cinematic chronicling the apocalypse and the coming of demonic forces to modern-day Earth from meteor clusters, the actual gameplay takes place a century later following the extinction of mankind. Punished for starting the apocalypse early, War's return to Earth sees the horseman in a devastated city. But this early glimpse of the end of the world was merely a taster. With art from Vigil co-founder and renowned graphic artist Jose Madureira, the moody gothic tone of the Darksiders is looking very slick and atmospheric; War himself is shaping up to be quite a notable new anti-hero, and it'll be interesting to see how the other three horsemen are presented in the game (if they feature at all).

Focusing on the first major dungeon in the game, based in a church and its catacombs, the bulk of our time with Darksiders proved a decent demonstration that comparisons between it and God of War are looking pretty unfounded. As Vigil Games themselves describe the game, Darksiders is more 'adventure/action' than 'action/adventure'. Vigil has made no secret of the fact that the Legend of Zelda series is one of the inspirations behind Darksiders, even if we can't quite remember a Zelda instalment quite as dark as this. Following a similar 'hub and dungeon' structure to Nintendo's biggest brand (after a certain plumber and his brother), Darksiders' mix of exploration and puzzle-solving should make for a compelling experience.

However, there are a couple of questions over how deep the puzzle-solving actually is. For instance, the church and catacombs sequences focused on finding giant swords, locking them into the relevant gothic statues, and then knocking the statues to the ground, revealing different part of the catacombs. Hopefully there'll be more to the more cerebral sections of the game, especially if Vigil aims to succeed in emulating Zelda-like dungeons. At least the promise of puzzles taking up entire rooms shows Vigil's attempts to make Darksiders epic.

War...War Never Changes.

But the nod to Zelda is taken even further in the game, with War's inventory of items including a rather deadly take on Link's trusted boomerang. Capable of tagging multiple enemies with a single throw, the weapon is more like the glaive used in Dark Sector than the traditional aboriginal style, and is just one of many items awarded to players as the horseman's journey progresses. Another mini-boss encounter, this time against the Clive Barker-sounding name of 'The Jailer', introduced another handy item - a cage. Specifically, it's a supernatural cage that The Jailer uses to release hordes of skeletons against War. But in a neat twist, if War manages to get his gauntlets on the cage, then the skeletons will ally themselves with him...behold, an instant army in a can!

It may not be structurally similar, but where perhaps the inevitable comparisons with David Jaffe's Kratos can be made is with the combat. War, as you'd expect from his name, is pretty well versed in the art of fighting, and uses a blade described in Revelations as his main weapon for all manner of attacks. In fact, his (it's?) collection of swords will expand as the game progresses, with certain swords required to defeat certain enemies. For instance, a crystal sword must be used to kill crystal armoured demons. Weapons with multiple functions also seem to be a trend in Darksiders, which will hopefully help create some interesting puzzles. Boomerangs for instance came in handy during the demo against one mini-boss, described as a 'Poisoned version of the Undead', as it removed the poison and allowed War to strike.

But beyond being able to wield large swords, boomerangs, and other props, War's capabilities also extend into the air, as the horseman can grab winged demons before killing them and swinging over the next flying foe.

Away from the epic dungeons, one area open for exploration is The Ashlands, the remnants of mankind's cities now blanketed in a nuclear-fallout style covering of ash and dust. It's these sorts of environments that War rides upon his flaming-hoofed horse, Ruin. Not just a way of speeding up War's movement across some of these larger landscapes, Ruin also gives his master access to otherwise deadly areas and weapons, such as a Gatling gun. Like a scene from Tim Burton's classic Beetlejuice, The Ashlands are the home of giant worms, which have more teeth than the tooth fairy's secret stash. Cue more epic encounters...though Vigil ended the presentation there for another day.