In the competitive world of fantasy video games. A series that often gets overlooked is the Darksiders games from Virgil studios. As a  fan of the series I thought it would be fun to look back at the entries in the series and share why I think you should play these awesome games.

Darksiders is a hack and slash action-adventure created by Virgil games. Set on a post-apocalyptic Earth, Mankind faces extinction while angels wage war against hordes of demons battling for control of the world. Among them are the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, the last of the Nephilim who are set the task of bringing balance to the universe.

You play as War, one of the Horsemen set to restore balance and punish those who break the peace. The forces of Heaven and Hell are engaged in all-out war after an age-long truce has been broken. You stand accused of breaking the truce and bringing about the apocalypse. Your goal is to prove your innocence and fight the real culprit for starting the conflict.

Much of the game’s appeal for me lies in the colorful art-style reminiscent of old Heavy metal album covers. I like the post-apocalyptic setting populated by demons and monsters. The game is full of impressive designs of the main bosses and level environments. The repetitive game loop hack, slash, and loot is broken up by the added platform and puzzle elements that require you to think through some challenging problems that you have to solve to progress to the next area. Also, when enemies and bosses are near death, you can trigger a quick-time special move or kill, which is gory and satisfying to pull off.

The game is a hack and slash adventure that combines combat game mechanics from popular games at the time such as God of war and Devil may cry and adds some platform and RPG elements from games like Zelda. The players traverse the game environment battling waves of enemies using weapons and magic, solving puzzles to unlock areas, and facing off against the game’s bosses. There is a strong emphasis on combat and exploration as you traverse the environments, learning new moves during enemy encounters and finding useful items and weapons that allow progression.

Legendary games voice actor Troy baker provides voice talent, along with Star Wars icon Mark Hamill. Darksiders essentially took tried and tested game mechanics from other successful games and blended them together to create something new. While it’s not original, it is still a fun, solid action game.

The success of the first game paved the way for a sequel in 2012 and Virgil studios invested over 50 million dollars into its development. While the studio later went bankrupt shortly after launch, We got a stunning triple-A title that tried to compete with the big boy’s triple games of the day (Skyrim, god of war, and Dragon Age). This time the player assumes the role of Death, the second horseman, and we also get a trusty steed Despair to ride around the game’s semi-open worlds. This game is more like Zelda than the last, with main quest lines and side quests for the player to complete dungeons to explore. There are even more platform and puzzle elements than in the first game. The player can also explore areas to loot items and weapons that will aid them on their quest. The events of this game run parallel to the first game, taking place in the mythical realms of the forged lands and the kingdom of the dead. The main quest has death searching for the well of souls that can bring humanity back from extinction.

The game’s budget has increased the production values, and the result is a stunning-looking game with a fun art style reminiscent of the World of Warcraft. The developers took a kitchen sink approach, sprinkling elements from their favorite games, and the game proudly wears its influences on its sleeve.Darksiders is bigger, brighter, and more polished than its predecessor and has tons of Dungeon crawling content to keep you occupied.

After the collapse of Virgil games, the next game in the series was developed by Gunfire Games. In a departure from the gameplay of the previous titles, The third game blends elements from Metroidvania-style games and from software’s souls series. The story is a prequel to the first game, and the player controls the Female horseman Fury. The main quest this time is to capture the seven deadly sins, which have escaped imprisonment. As with the previous games, players can use a variety of melee and magical weapons and gain experience points, which can be used as currency to upgrade their abilities and weapons.

Instead of facing off against waves of demons, the enemies are fewer and stronger, making the battles and encounters more personal. Gated combat has been removed, and the environments have been designed to interconnect with one another.

There is an increased focus on the leveling system as the game difficulty increases as you progress through the story. The game still includes the standard puzzle and platforming elements that the series is known for, and its paired-down combat system feels more focused. The enemies and environment design are still great, and the boss fights are fun and very similar to the Souls games.

When you compare this game to the previous triple-A title it feels like a step backward into the mid-tier of the gaming world. It’s a smaller budget and a smaller team, but it’s well executed except for the bugs that plaque budget games like this. Like the other games, the story runs parallel to events in the second game.

When you compare this game to the previous triple-A title it feels like a step backward into the mid-tier of the gaming world. It’s a smaller budget and a smaller team, but it’s well executed except for the bugs that plaque budget games like this. Like the other games, the story runs parallel to events in the second game.

What I enjoyed about this game was that the developers tried to change things up and create a game that matched popular game mechanics and current gaming trends. It’s a more linear experience compared to the previous game, but it still offers the players lots of opportunities to explore and battle challenging opponents, as we have come to expect from the series.

Darksiders Genesis continued to experiment with different sub-genres by delivering a top-down action role-playing game like Diablo, introducing players to the fourth and final horseman Strife.

Strife teams up with his brother War to take on the minions of Hell. This title is more of a spinoff than a continuation of the main series. You can play as either of the two brothers and switch between them. One uses ranged pistols, while war uses melee attacks. As a huge fan of Diablo, I was really excited to play this game. Besides being a diablo clone with a hack, slash, and loot game loop. Genesis integrates all the elements of classic Darksiders games into the mix, which made it a more engaging and challenging action RPG. Adding puzzles and large areas begging to be explored added plenty of variety to the gameplay. The level design is excellent and what we have come to expect from the series.

This brings me to why I think, even years after release, the series deserves a little more love and attention from the gaming community. It’s a game series that wears its influences proudly. It’s as if the developers took all their favorite action RPG games and through them into a blender, and the result was this series. That for me is what makes Darksiders special, it’s a fantasy game series made by fans of the genre for fans of the genre. It’s because of that, that despite the game punching above its weight for most of its history, it manages to deliver a fun and engaging experience. It has not been afraid to mix the formula up and try new ideas.

The best part is that these games are dirt cheap, and you can play the entire series on a modern pc on max settings. I promise you it will time well spent.