Not long after the release of Darksiders 2 in 2012, it was revealed that THQ was in major financial trouble. The company would eventually declare bankruptcy, leaving the future of the Darksiders franchise in doubt. Six years after the launch of Darksiders 2, and fans were finally treated to the long-awaited Darksiders 3, though the game was met with a mixed reception by fans and critics alike. Even so, some fans were just happy to be getting another Darksiders game at all, and luckily, they didn't have to wait six years for the next one.

Darksiders Genesis comes just a year after the launch of Darksiders 3, and it's unlikely to be nearly as divisive as its predecessor. Even though its switch to a Diablo-style isometric camera is quite the departure from series norms, Darksiders Genesis is still very much a Darksiders game, and while it certainly has some rather glaring flaws, it still makes for some great fun, especially when playing in co-op.

Darksiders Genesis is the first game in the Darksiders series to feature co-op, letting one player play as Strife and the other as War. The two Horsemen of the Apocalypse join forces to try to foil Lucifer's plot, and they team up with Darksiders regular Samael to do so. Since Darksiders games have been completely solo ventures up to this point, the personalities of the Horsemen haven't really been fleshed out all that much, but here we get plenty of interesting conversations between Strife and War, and both come out of the game far more compelling than they were beforehand.

War and Strife's conflicting personalities make for some amusing banter throughout Darksiders Genesis, and they help balance each other out. Fury's personality in Darksiders 3 was a source of criticism for many critics of that game, and it's possible that if this were a solo adventure for Strife, his endless quips would be grating. However, Strife's quips combined with War's grim seriousness is consistently entertaining.

War and Strife don't just shine in the Darksiders Genesis story. Playing as either one of them is a blast, especially since the developers went to great lengths to make sure that they feel like truly distinct characters. War plays like a tank, and he comes equipped with many of his abilities that he has in his solo adventure. Playing as War feels more like the Diablo games that clearly inspired Darksiders Genesis with a focus on hack-and-slash combat, but playing as Strife is a completely different experience. Playing as Strife is like playing a twin-stick shooter, with him serving as the DPS to War's tank.

Darksiders Genesis players will find a satisfying rhythm to the game's combat, where Strife is hanging back and blasting enemies from afar while War is making sure that foes are constantly focused on him. Combat becomes even more engaging later on in the game, when players have access to even more abilities that they can use strategically with their co-op partner. That's not to say that combat isn't fun at the beginning of the game, though. Darksiders Genesis starts players out with a ton of combat options, to the point that it can be a little intimidating at first figuring out how to do everything.

The different play styles of War and Strife are a highlight of the Darksiders Genesis experience, but their uniqueness is also apparent when it comes to puzzle-solving as well. Darksiders games are known for their Legend of Zelda-inspired puzzles, and Genesis is no different, with both War and Strife collecting a variety of gadgets to help them solve puzzles over the course of the adventure. For example, War gets a gauntlet that can destroy certain crystals in the game, whereas Strife obtains an item that lets him create portals. Some of the best puzzles in the game force players to combine War and Strife's abilities, which really elevates the co-op experience.

Darksiders Genesis is clearly a game built with co-op in mind, though solo play is perfectly fine as well. There are some tweaks made to the game world to accommodate solo players, though we highly recommend playing in co-op if possible. Darksiders Genesis is significantly more fun when playing in co-op, and it makes it pretty easy to do so. Darksiders Genesis supports both online multiplayer and split-screen, with the latter much appreciated since developers sometimes drop split-screen support when it comes to the PC versions of games.

There is one minor annoyance when it comes to the Darksiders Genesis co-op, though, and that's the way it's accessed. Instead of just allowing for immediate drop-in/drop-out co-op, players instead have to visit special stones in the game world to start co-op sessions. Now, this isn't usually a big deal, as these stones are placed at the beginning of levels and in the hub area, but there are some specific instances where it can be annoying.

Unfortunately, Darksiders Genesis has some technical issues that will occasionall force players to restart the game, and in these instances, their co-op partner may be left out for awhile until players can get to another stone. This isn't something that's going to be a consistent issue, but we did run into this a handful of times during our playthrough of the game, and so those interested in Darksiders Genesis will want to be mindful of that.

Darksiders Genesis is much more polished than Darksiders 3, but there are still some serious technical issues plaguing the game and really keeping it from reaching its full potential. We experienced things like enemies not spawning when they needed to be killed to advance to the next room, co-op partners being blocked out of boss rooms, and straight-up game crashes on a few occasions.

Darksiders Genesis also suffers from a bad camera, which is one of the game's most frequent problems. It's not uncommon for walls to get in the way of the camera, obscuring players' view when they're in the middle of a fight. Other times the camera hides upcoming cliffs or hazards, leading to cheap deaths. Other times still, the camera will suddenly zoom in on a seemingly random spot, which can mess things up for players.

The camera also has a negative impact on the platforming in Darksiders Genesis, but the platforming creates its own problems as well. The platforming in Darksiders Genesis is imprecise and just doesn't work well with the isometric camera. Some of the most irritating sections of the game come when platforming is mixed with climbing, as War and Strife tend to jump off poles and walls to their doom no matter what direction the stick is pointed in. Luckily platforming isn't a huge focus in the game, and players will get to spend most of their time enjoying the well-done puzzles and combat.

Besides combat and puzzle-solving, Darksiders Genesis also has strong exploration elements, with many levels featuring open-ended environments that encourage players to stray off the beaten path. There are some pretty great rewards for doing so, with players sometimes stumbling on brand new abilities for War and Strife. Other upgrades for War and Strife come in the form of Creature Cores, which are earned by killing specific monsters, and figuring out the best Creature Cores to maximize War and Strife's potential is very rewarding in and of itself.

Darksiders Genesis players have plenty of upgrades to unlock, though doing so requires them to amass quite a bit of the game's currency. This can be done by repeating story missions, but there's also an Arena that players can check out where they can fight waves of enemies under specific stipulations in exchange for rewards. The Arena is a great feature in Darksiders Genesis as it allows players to fully immerse themselves in the combat, letting them test their skills against a wide variety of deadly enemies and mini-bosses without having to worry about platforming or anything else.

While there are some mini-bosses that pop up maybe one too many times, the main boss designs  in Darksiders Genesis are all pretty creative, and the battles are memorable. They each have their own gimmicks to help make their battles interesting and stand out, though players should be warned that some of the bosses in the game are incredibly tough. Darksiders Genesis isn't a Souls-like game by any stretch of the imagination, but there are definitely some fights that will give players a run for their money, including some bosses that can easily kill players in a single hit.

The challenging boss fights, engaging combat, and emphasis on co-op in Darksiders Genesis make it still worth checking out despite its technical hiccups. Fans of the Darksiders franchise worried that the game is too different from the others can rest easy knowing that Darksiders Genesis is a genuine Darksiders experience from start to finish.

Darksiders Genesis launches on December 5 for PC and Stadia, and is coming to PS4, Switch, and Xbox One on February 14, 2020. Game Rant reviewed the game on PC.