Every Darksiders game, ranked
All 3 Darksiders games we hold, spanning 2010 to 2018: 2 ranked by the GamingPickz Score and plotted below, the rest listed in release order so nothing in the series is missing. Together they carry 30,343 Steam reviews.
Where to start
- For the best-reviewed: Darksiders (GamingPickz Score 7.7), the highest-rated entry we can score.
- For the money: Darksiders III gives the most score per dollar right now.
The Darksiders games on the grid
Compare the whole catalogueThe same 2 games, plotted rather than listed. The two axes below are the ones the ranking is built from, so a game sitting high and right is a game the formula placed near the top. Change either axis to see the field a different way. Where we hold a publisher wordmark, the game is drawn as its mark rather than a dot.
2 games have both
Axes are fitted to these 2 games rather than the full 0 to 100 scale, because a filtered list shares a narrow band and would otherwise sit in one corner. End values are marked. A point on the left edge is the lowest of thesegames, not a low score.
Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.
Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.
- PC
Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.
How positions are decided
No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
- Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
- Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
- No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
- A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
- Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.
Every game by critic score
The grid above is built from Steam data, so it can only place the Darksiders games that were on Steam. This one uses the Metacritic critic aggregate, which the older console-only entries have too, so the whole series lands on a single chart: critic score against release year.
On Steam (also has a GamingPickz Score) Console-only (Metacritic only)
2 best Darksiders games, ranked
Ordered by GamingPickz Score. Every figure links back to the source that produced it.
- 1
Darksiders
Best for: A consistently well-received pick in this category
7.7GamingPickz Scorehigh confidenceDarksiders at a glance Released 2010 Studio Vigil Games Player sentiment 89% positive of 12,912 Critics 83/100 Price Not listed Steam Deck unsupported Install size Not stated Accessibility 1 declared feature Raw 89% shrinks to 88.8 on 12,912 reviews, then blends with the 83 critic aggregate, giving 7.7.
Worth checking first- Flagged for mature content on its store page.
- Valve rates it Unsupported on the Steam Deck.
- 2
Darksiders III
Best for: A consistently well-received pick in this category
6.8GamingPickz Scorehigh confidenceDarksiders III at a glance Released 2018 Studio Gunfire Games Player sentiment 76% positive of 17,431 Critics 70/100 Price $39.99 Steam Deck playable Install size 25 GB Accessibility 1 declared feature Raw 76% shrinks to 76.2 on 17,431 reviews, then blends with the 70 critic aggregate, giving 6.8.
Worth checking first- Flagged for mature content on its store page.
Only the 2 Darksiders games with Steam review data can be scored and ranked. The complete series, scored or not, is charted in order below.
Best and worst entry
The best-received Darksiders game we can score is Darksiders at 7.7. The lowest is Darksiders III at 6.8, a 0.9-point spread across the series. The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.
Cheapest way in, and best value
- Cheapest right now: Darksiders III at $39.99. Prices are read live from Steam and move.
- Best value: Darksiders III, the most GamingPickz Score per dollar in the series at its current price.
On a Steam Deck
Valve's own Deck compatibility rating for the Darksiders entries on Steam:
- Playable: Darksiders III
- Unsupported: Darksiders
Platforms across the series
Where the 3 Darksiders games have landed, counting every entry we hold:
| Platform family | Entries |
|---|---|
| PC | 3 of 3 |
| Nintendo | 1 of 3 |
The Darksiders series, game by game
Every Darksiders game we hold, in release order. Each description is the game's own, from Steam where it has a listing and Wikipedia for the older entries, never ours.
- 2010
Darksiders
7.7Deceived by the forces of evil into prematurely bringing about the end of the world, War – the first Horseman of the Apocalypse – stands accused of breaking the sacred law by inciting a war between Heaven and Hell. In the slaughter that ensued, the demonic forces defeated the heavenly hosts and laid claim to the Earth. (Steam)
- 2012
Darksiders II
Metacritic 81Darksiders II is an action role-playing hack and slash video game developed by Vigil Games and published by THQ. It is the sequel to Darksiders and was released in August 2012 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and as a launch title for Wii U upon the console's North American and PAL regions release in… (Wikipedia)
Plot
Darksiders II is parallel to the previous game. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse - War, Strife, Fury, and Death, the player character - are the last of the Nephilim , cursed fusions of angels and demons who waged war on all Creation for a place to live. To preserve the balance of the universe, the Four received power from the Charred Council in exchange for slaughtering their kin. (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception Darksiders II received positive reviews. Aggregating review website Metacritic gave the Wii U version 85/100, the PlayStation 3 version 84/100, the Xbox 360 version 83/100, and the PC version 81/100. IGN gave it a score of 7. (Wikipedia)
- 2018
Return to an apocalyptic Earth in Darksiders III, a hack-n-slash Action Adventure where players assume the role of FURY in her quest to hunt down and dispose of the Seven Deadly Sins. The most enigmatic of the Four Horsemen, FURY must bring balance to the forces that now ravage Earth. (Steam)
Plot
Taking place parallel to the events of Darksiders II and before the majority of Darksiders , Fury, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse is summoned by the Charred Council, a group of mythical beings tasked with upholding the Balance in the universe. They task her with hunting down the Seven Deadly Sins, which have escaped imprisonment and assign her a Watcher to ensure she fulfills her task. Upon arriving on the war-torn, post-apocalyptic Earth ,… (Wikipedia)
Reception
Critical response Reception Darksiders III received "mixed or average" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic . The game was widely criticized for the technical issues in both consoles and PC versions of the game. Eurogamer 's review criticized the "straight forward combat" saying it is a matter of "upgrade weapon damage" and that the few puzzles are too simple, and in concluding that it "has done better in the past". (Wikipedia)
Darksiders, head to head
Two entries side by side on score, price, specs and reception:
Darksiders vs other series
How Darksiders stacks up against other series in the same genre, as a whole:
Also: Darksiders vs We Were Here, Darksiders vs Amnesia, Darksiders vs Dishonored, Darksiders vs Lego Batman, Darksiders vs Prince of Persia, Darksiders vs Watch, Darksiders vs A Plague Tale, Darksiders vs Danganronpa, Darksiders vs God of War, Darksiders vs It Takes Two, Darksiders vs Lego Harry Potter, Darksiders vs Marvel’s Spider-Man, Darksiders vs Mirror's Edge, Darksiders vs Red Dead Redemption, Darksiders vs Sea of Thieves
Common questions
How many Darksiders games are there?
We hold 3 Darksiders games in the catalogue, released between 2010 and 2018. 2 of them carry enough Steam data to rank; the rest are listed in release order below, including console-only entries with no Steam listing.
Which Darksiders game is best?
By the GamingPickz Score, Darksiders rates highest at 7.7. That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, computed the same way for every game, not our opinion. The full ranking is above.
What order should I play the Darksiders games in?
Release order is listed below, from 2010 to 2018. For most series that is also story order, but we list dates rather than telling you a canon; the timeline is read from Wikidata.
More franchises
Browse every game franchise ranked the same way, or head to the full grid.