Finished up Darksiders 3 tonight, and I'm pretty happy with it. Definitely like it a lot more than Darksiders 2. How I'd rate it compared to the first is tougher to say - it's been a while, so I kind of feel like I'd need to replay the first to really decide that - but the fact that it's a definite possibility that it beats it is very good in my mind. Kind of more than I was expecting right there, honestly.

Though granted, it has some definite problems. Points where the game seems lag to up because it's loading the next areas, or sometimes for no apparent reason at all. Texture pop-in issues at times. Occasional clunky bits of mechanics or puzzles which require excessively strict timing or which have very unintuitive solutions.

Still, on the whole, it's pretty satisfying. I'm damn glad I didn't play it before they added the Classic control scheme though - I'd hate to have to deal with Dark Souls style controls. It was tough enough with the ability to cancel attacks into dodges, needing to go without would suck. Plus you'd lose the satisfying feeling of getting into a good rhythm of relentless offense punctuated only by precisely-timed dodges, which was one of the best parts. Granted, it'd be nice if there were more variety to what you can do - most attacking does just come down to spamming your basic attack sequence with whichever weapon you're using at that moment, and only the whip even has a single delay attack sequence to mix in. Devil May Cry with a crapton of options of how to string your attacks together and do things that just look and feel cool, this ain't. Still, the deadliness of enemies and the need to properly time dodges (plus the occasional enemy that can actually block) keeps it from being just a mindless button-masher. Aside from when you enter Wrath Form, anyway - that thing being invincible means that it really is just a "mash buttons for massive damage" mode, which is kind of a shame.

And while I don't like the idea of Dark Souls style controls for the game, the Dark Souls style world design works considerably better for it. Especially compared to the oversized open-world design of Darksiders 2. I just wish it had a damn map so I could keep my bearings better.

Story-wise, nothing to write home about, but I was pleasantly surprised by Fury getting a legitimate character arc throughout it. I feel like the previous games were more about the lore of the setting than any development of the main characters, so that was kind of nice, even if it wasn't anything amazing.