Darksiders Warmastered edition for Wii U, represents the latest great triple A title for the Nintendo Wii U console. A must-have game for any video game lover but perhaps not in its best form on Nintendo Wii U.
The arrival of the Nintendo Switch last March marked the end of the Nintendo Wii U, a console as beautiful as it is unfortunate. When a few years ago the same Nintendo announced a delay of Breath of the Wild, probably due to the need to give the development team time to complete the Switch version of the game, many thought that the time of Wii U was now over and that the console would have progressively lost developers. Among the titles expected for Wii U in the air of cancellation there was also Darsiders Warmastered edition, a much loved and awaited game also by Nintendo fans. Confirming its intentions and despite a console now dying, THQ Nordic has decided to keep its promise by releasing its remastered version of the title developed by Vigil Games last December.
The narration, as is normal, has not undergone any changes in the restoration operation. In the beginning it was Heaven and Hell, otherworldly realms both supported by a higher order, the Council. Both kingdoms live a forced peace, waiting to be able to end the battle that began at the beginning of time. According to what was established by the Council, in fact, the forces of Heaven and Hell, in order to avoid the destruction of the earth, the battlefield of choice for these two kingdoms, should have remained in equilibrium until the kingdom of men had been able, having obtained the right knowledge and knowledge, to defend themselves; only at that moment would the seals fall and the forces of evil and good could once again collide. The equilibrium thus achieved was sealed by 7 seals, and the horsemen of the apocalypse were placed in its defense.
The game opens with a real apocalypse with a meteor shower that sweeps away the cities of men. However, as we will soon understand, these are not celestial bodies, but angels and demons who, once the seals have fallen, return to face each other on earth. In this chaos we impersonate Guerra one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse: our alter ego is accused of having unleashed the battle, violating the order of the Council and breaking the seals prematurely. Condemned by the underworld, Guerra returns to earth to repair mistakes he did not commit and above all to find out who is behind this betrayal.
The undying beauty of Darksiders gameplay
Despite more than 7 years have passed since its first appearance, Darsiders Warmastered edition preserves intact the appeal of a well-studied gameplay, which grows as the adventure continues, together with the skills of our protagonist, at first a bit slow and awkward, then relentless machine of destruction, as his name recalls clearly; Guerra has in fact lost most of his powers and the only weapon at your disposal in the early stages of the game is your inseparable Divoracaos sword. After the first half hour of play, things get much more interesting.
In fact, Guerra will be able to recover the souls of demons, angels or humans defeated on the battlefield (humanity has been almost completely wiped out) and trade them with demons to obtain new weapons that make significant changes to the combat system, such as blades. swords that can be thrown like boomerangs slicing anything that is rendered as a target, or new swords with particular characteristics.
The combat system is the classic God of war hack and slash, a game with which it has more than a few similarities. Compared to the latter, however, the title developed by Vigil Games, can count on an unparalleled variety of gameplay, definitely superior to the title of Santa Monica studios. Definitely exciting, for example, will be the sessions in which you can fly aboard a griffin or those in which riding a steed you can mow down anyone who has the misfortune to stand between you and your path. During the clashes with the enemies Guerra will also be able to perform "executions" without however the classic God of war QTEs, but simply by choosing which key to end your combo. Finally, there is no lack of environmental puzzles and exploratory phases that will lead you in search of rare artifacts and battles with incredibly studied final bosses with an exceptional visual impact.
A halfway remaster
If what has been said so far is thanks to the original development team, which has been able to give us a title that from the gameplay point of view has brilliantly passed the test of time and two generations of consoles, we cannot be so enthusiastic about the technical sector of this remastered for Wii U. Unlike what was seen with the Warmastered editions for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the Wii U version is severely limited by the poor technical qualities of the Nintendo console. First of all, no 1080p and no 60fps as in the versions for the current console generations, 720P and 30fps would however be a good compromise if it were not that even by giving up the highest resolution, the title suffers here and there from obvious drops in frame rates that occur. in the most agitated situations. The textures were certainly taken from the versions for new generation consoles, however it is a shame to see how well-finished textures are then thwarted by an all too evident aliasing, especially on new generation TVs. Furthermore, no additions have been made to the classic gameplay to meet the characteristics of Nintendo Wii U, but frankly we would not even have expected this given the now discounted early retirement. The impact on the whole is not unwatchable at all but this is more than anything else due to the excellent starting point of the original work, on which this Warmastered has only affected on the surface.
Final comment
Darsiders Warmastered edition it's a halfway remaster. The graphics sector seems in fact halfway between the original of 2010 and the versions for the current generation consoles. However, the blame certainly cannot be attributed to THQ Nordic, which has indeed kept its promise to release the title anyway even for a console now abandoned by the creator herself. It should rather be leaning against a project, that of Wii U, perhaps wrong from the beginning with an already old hardware and a launch that took place without the adequate support of third parties and in mid-generation, when the games for the reference console were already closed.
However, what remains of this Warmastered edition is the confirmation of the great quality of the original title developed by Vigil Games which, many years after its first release, still maintains its charm intact. If you've been stuck at Wii U and don't have a PS4 or Xbox One yet (or even a scrapped PC), then it might make sense to retrieve this gem on Nintendo's console, but if you have any of the aforementioned platforms, the advice is to head to that. What is certain is that every lover of videogames worthy of the name, should not miss the opportunity to play Darksiders, waiting for the third chapter coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.
