1. GAME ANALYSIS
GAME – DARKSIDERS
By:
Manas Murali
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2. Table of Contents
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 4
I. Formal elements .................................................................................................................................. 4
 Player .......................................................................................................................................... 4
o Number ................................................................................................................................... 4
o Role ......................................................................................................................................... 4
 Objectives (Capture) ................................................................................................................... 4
o Primary objective .................................................................................................................... 4
o Secondary objective ................................................................................................................ 5
 Procedure .................................................................................................................................... 6
o Actions .................................................................................................................................... 6
o System procedures.................................................................................................................. 6
 Rules ............................................................................................................................................ 6
o Objects and concepts ............................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
 Restricting actions ................................................................................................................... 6
o Determining effects ................................................................................................................ 7
 Resources .................................................................................................................................... 7
o Usability .................................................................................................................................. 7
o Management ........................................................................................................................... 8
 Conflicts....................................................................................................................................... 9
o Enemies ................................................................................................................................... 9
o Level obstacles ........................................................................................................................ 9
 Outcome - ................................................................................................................................. 10
II. Dramatic elements ............................................................................................................................ 11
 Challenges ................................................................................................................................. 11
 Evolution of the enemies .......................................................................................................... 14
 Player - Type of players who would play this games are as follows - ....................................... 15
o Explorer ..................................................................................................................................... 15
o Killer .......................................................................................................................................... 15
o Achiever .................................................................................................................................... 15
 Premise ..................................................................................................................................... 15
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3.  Story .......................................................................................................................................... 15
 Dramatic arc .............................................................................................................................. 20
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4. Introduction
It is a third person action adventure/Beat’em up game which is inspired from the concept of the
Apocalypse, in which your character is one of “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse”, War. The
player engages in level based puzzles, combat, cinematic and exploration in the game. This game is
available in platforms on Xbox360, Play station 3 and PC.
I. Formal elements
 Player
o Number – It is a single player game only.
o Invitation – The story and the characters in the game attracts the audience
primarily and then they get more interested in the combat mechanism of the main
character, War.
o Role – The main character of this game is War, one of the four horsemen, who has
to explore around the map, solve puzzles, kill demons and angels and has to
communicate with certain characters and complete their given tasks/quests (if any)
to continue the story. So basically it’s a PVE type of role.
o Interaction – The player has to use the controller like Keyboard-Mouse or Console-
controller (depending upon what platform the player plays in), to control the
character War through which the player can perform all type of actions like jump,
attack (with combos), dash and movements, which are the basic pattern for the
main player and also there will be interaction with different NPC’s throughout the
game.
 Objectives (Capture)
o Primary objective – At the beginning of the game, War has been summoned to
Earth, at the midst of
battle between angels
and demons. This has
lead to the destruction
of the Balance of the
three kingdoms,
namely Kingdom of
Heaven, Hell and Man,
and all blame was
pointed on War as he
was summoned before
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5. the foretold time. The main objective of War is to find the ones (main target “The
Destroyer”) who plotted the destruction and also to restore balance once again.
o Secondary objective - War had to complete the following secondary objectives to
reach his primary objectives.
 Samuel’s Deal – For War to reach the tower, also known as “Black Throne”,
he had to deal with Samael. The deal was to bring hearts of “The Chosen”,
favourites of the Destroyer.
 Azrael’s request - After reaching the tower, War sees Azrael imprisoned.
Azrael too made a deal with War, if he released him from his confinement,
he will take War to the Destroyer’s place.
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6.  Procedure
o Actions
 War can melee attack enemies with different weapons like “The
Choaseater”/”Armageddon Blade”(sword), “The Harvester”(scythe) and
“The Tremor”(gauntlet).
 War can also be able to perform long range attacks with “Mercy”(Handgun),
useable guns like “Fractured cannon” and “Redemption”, “Crossblade”,
“Abyssal Chain”(gauntlet with spear-tip chain) and “Earthcaller”(horn).
Scythe can also be used for small range attacks, as the War is able to throw
the Scythe like a boomerang for very short distance.
 War can float in air for a limited amount of time after double jump with the
passive ability called “Shadowflight”.
 War can perform different types of combos in which he is able to give high
amount of damage. He can also switch weapons during the combo,
 War can grapple low level units with its claw for an instant kill. Also can
throw chain spear to its enemy to grapple them in range attacks.
 War can pick up usable objects and can aim and throw it on others
 War can swim on and below the surface of water.
 War can perform finishing moves for all type of enemies in the game.
 War can select multiple targets with its focus and can attack all of them at
once.
 War can transport from one point to another with the help of “Voidwalker”.
o System procedures
 The player can save/load the game during anytime of the gameplay.
 The player can change the video, audio and control setting of the game.
 Player can manage/assign weapons, abilities and items to its respective
given slots.
 Player can use subtitles if he wants for cinematic.
 Player can skip the cinematic if he wants.
 Player can see the large map of the game if he wants.
 Rules
 Restricting actions
 The character cannot use the “Shadowflight” for a long time, it is limited.
 War cannot summon “Ruin” everywhere. He can only use it on a large free
space.
 The character cannot use multiple weapons at the same time. War can only
switch weapons but cannot use it together.
 Choas form will be limited for only short period of time.
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7. o Determining effects
 If war falls in a pits, he will some of its health and will be relocated in a
nearby area.
 If War gets captures from “Gormaw” he will lose health and will be tossed to
the nearby area.
 If War loose all his life, he will die.
 If War gets his Chaos meter full, he can change to his Chaos form.
 If War loses his all Wrath bar, he can no longer be able use his Wrath
abilities.
 If War dies, the character restarts from the last
 Resources
o Usability
 Artifacts – These are the items which can be found in the game and can be
traded with Vulgrim in exchange for souls. There are three types of Legion
artifacts which has its own value and numbers, these are –
 Soldier x 20 (500 souls each) give 1 life shard.
 Champion x 6 (1000 souls each) give 1 life shard.
 Overlord x1 (5000 souls each) gives 1 wrath core.
 Souls – War receive souls after defeating the enemies, destroying any
environment parts and from chests. There are three types of souls ,which
are as follows –
 Health – As the name suggests, it gives health to the character and
it is green color.
 Currency – It is the basic source from which War can buy and
upgrade stuffs from Vulgrim and it is in blue color.
 Wrath – These souls increases War’s wrath bar from which he draws
out his unique abilities. The color of this soul is yellow/
 Consumable items – There are items which can be used or consumed to gain
certain entities like Health, Wrath and Chaos to a certain limit (depending
upon the value of theitems).
 Wicked K – A challenging source to gain souls and which are hidden in four
secret locations. After defeating this character, War gains 1000(at first 2
times) or 2000 souls (at last 2 times).
 Enhancements – These are kind of a buff or augmentation that can be
placed on the weapon’s slot. These can enhance the ability of the sword
passively like damage or can enhance the abilities of the character like wrath
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8. or chaos production over time.
 Sentinel guns - They can be picked up from dead units or from the level itself
and serves as a long range weapons for War. There two types of firing which
are rapid fire and charged fire. Rapid fire can fire continuously at the
pointed direction and charged fire can select multiple target and acts as a
homing missiles. From the heaven side it is known as “Redemption” and
from the Hell side it is known as “Fractured Cannon”.
 Treasure map – These can be used to locate all the treasure from a single
level. This map itself is hidden in a chest which can be found in each level.
 Beholder’s key – They can be used to open the blue gate with the red eye in
the middle.
 Shards - These are in four different pieces and is placed in a chest as a
treasure, these are of two types -
 Health shards – by collecting all the four pieces of Health shards,
War gains a Lifestone(extra health bar).
 Wrath shards- by collecting all the four pieces of Wrath shards, War
gains a Wrath core (extra wrath bar).
o Management
 Weapons – The player has to manage his secondary weapons in the given
four slots for weapons. So that it may be easier for the player to access to
different secondary weapons by pressing the numbers from one to four.
 Enhancements – The player can manage all his enhancements and can be
placed on each of his weapons. These can be changed later on by the player
according to his desires.
 Souls (currency) – Management of currency souls for certain upgrade of
weapons and abilities in essential in the game.
 Special abilities – War has different Wrath related abilities from which he
can place each of his power in given four slots. This will be an advantage for
the player as he can use all abilities quickly in tough situations.
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9.  Conflicts
o Enemies
 Demons and angels – These are the mob units from both the faction and are
in different shape and varieties depending on its level. These mobs will
appear almost the entire time of the gameplay and they always come in
groups and also in a pattern where all the low to medium units comes first
then at last the heavy units shows up, that too in lower number than in low
to medium number of creeps.
These mobs get tougher and strong throughout the course of gameplay.
 Boss – Boss fights is a bit harder to kill than the mobs and each boss have
their abilities and a pattern of attack. Boss fights are exciting and appears at
the end of each level and sometimes in-between the missions.
The first four Boss fights were Tiamat, Silitha, Griever and Stygian from
whom War had to take their Hearts and give it to Samael. The rest Boss
fights are Straga and the Destroyer who are located in “Black Towers”.
o Mini bosses – There are some mini bosses who are low priority
characters like Broodmother, Phantom General and The jailer
who were also challenging and filled the gap of excitement in
the game.
 Wicked K – A hidden bonus character found in four different locations in the
entire game. His personality is like an English gentleman, wears a hat and
carries a cane (his weapon) and is way different from all the other basic
wicked characters.
Killing him is not that simple; he is surprisingly fast and strong and blocks
most of the character’s attacks. This character provides a thousand souls for
the first two times and two thousand for the last two, after defeat.
 Shadow War – Shadow War appears at the Garden of Eden and is the dark
side of War. In order to access the “Tree of Knowledge”, War must defeat
his dark side. The shadow War can use the same abilities as War and also
can change into his “Chaos form”.
o Level obstacles –
 Group attack – During any task, sometimes the player has to face group of
medium-high level mobs together and fight them until every single one is
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10. killed. Once entered in such situation, all the exits or passage will be blocked
and it will only be open until all the mobs are killed.
 Skull bash / bombs – During the wall climbing, sometimes the player face
self-detonating bombs, which will be located on the walls and looks like a
bunch of human skulls together. Whenever the War gets too close to it, it
will self-detonate with a small timer.
There are identical looking bunch of skulls, but bigger in size, which will bash
all four sides of the wall like a huge tentacle, if War comes close to it.
 Puzzles – Each puzzle have their own difficulty level in crossing through, so
puzzle to be an obstacle in this game. More the difficulty level to clear
puzzle, more time it will consume by the player. Every element of the puzzle
is determined the ability of War, using it with proper method and in precise
time will help one too clear it faster. Also figuring out the way to clear it is
also an issue.
 Goremaw – These demonic slimy looking creature always found on top of
the ceiling, blocking important passage way. They cannot be killed or
destroyed but can be disabled for a while with a long range weapon.
 Builder platforms – These are temporary platform where it creates the
pathways from one end and gets dissembled from the other end. The player
has to move its character as quick as possible or else it will fall in a pit, losing
some of its health.
 Shadow lukers – These are the guardians of the “Tormented gates”, who
blocks the main passage through different levels. To free them, War has to
finish off all the shadow lukers in that area, who resides in a different realm
known as the “Shadow Realm”. The Tormented gates grants War the ability
to see the Shadow Realm temporarily. Once entering this realm, War has to
face conditional challenges given by these lukers and once completed, these
lukers are vulnerable.
 Swarms /Bats/Wickeds/ Broodlings – All these low level mobs will be
present in the entire game in both during the mission or not. These one
shot/instant kill mobs will a small hindrance but have upperhand in spawn
rate.
 Crystals – There are of two types – Red and Blue. Red crystals can be
destroyed by the bomb and Blue crystal can be destroyed by the “Tremor
Gauntlet”. These crystals block most of the minor to medium passage in the
game.
 Outcome -
The outcome of this game is predefined, there are no alternate ending for this game.
War slaughters all the guilty ones who were responsible for the premature start of
the “Apocalypse” for which War was blamed and punished for the crimes he didn’t
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11. commit. This includes the Angels, Demons and the Charred council (who used him
for assassination purpose). He breaks free from his enslavement of the watcher and
breaks the final seal which summons the rest three Horsemen.
This is a Zero sum type of game in which there are no score and record to maintain.
The game ends as the story ends.
II. Dramatic elements
 Challenges
There are fun and exciting challenges throughout the course of the gameplay. There are
challenges were the player has to analyze the situation/environment/foe to complete the
entire task with a success. Some of the challenges are mixed or linked with other. These are
the categories of challenge the player will face -
o Level based puzzles – The game is filled with level based puzzles where the player has to
figure out the way to crack the puzzle to proceed further into the game. Also, different
level contains different puzzles and the all are dependent on the abilities of the
character. For example, in the “Black Throne” the player had to figure out a way to
connect the power from the “Well of Souls” to three floating statue’s head. The player
had to use the ability of the “Voidwalker” to travel from one point to the other. The
player had to figure out when and where to use this ability to reach the player’s desired
position. After the search, the player had to connect the power source till it reaches the
floating heads and for that to happen, Voidwalker’s ability was required. This task itself
is like a puzzle for the player.
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12. o Mob fights – There are different variety of mobs and these mobs has different abilities
depending upon the levels. Fighting all these mobs in large groups is challenging and fun.
It’s not just the land melee units; there are flying units which can be both rangers and
melees; all this monster comes at the character together. The player has to decide
whom to kill first and fast depending upon the situations.
o Boss fights - The most waited and epic moment of each level/area - is the Boss fights.
Most of the boss fights are puzzle based battles, in which there will be certain blind
spots or methods (with certain weapon sometimes), to kill the boss. For example, to kill
Silitha, the player had to use the “Abyssal Chain” to get War near the Boss. Each boss
has its own way of dealing with the character which contains certain pattern of attack;
so that the player can recognize and evade all the threats.
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13. o Arena based fights with shadow lukers – It’s an arena based fights with certain
conditions the player has to follow. These fights are essential in making the players
understand certain mechanics of the character’s combat system plus clearing these
arenas are very much challenging under a certain time limit(if any).
o Exploration – Not much of a challenge but challenges the players to search for certain
hidden artefacts or treasures which will aid the character further into the game. For
example,
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14. o Wicked K- It’s kind of a secret challenge placed in four locations in the entire game. The
challenge is to defeat a unit name “Wicked K” who is interestingly more challenging than
other mob units.
 Evolution of the enemies
o Throughout the course of the gameplay, the unit difficulty rises. There will be some
identical looking mobs (from both faction; angels and demons) in different level but
their abilities and few physical properties changes. Also they will be much tougher than
the previous level monsters.
o Completely new and tough angels and
demons will be showing up as we proceed
further in the game.
o The spawning rate also increases
throughout the game. It may be the same
location but after a boss kill, the rate
increases.
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15.  Player - Type of players who would play this games are as follows -
o Explorer – For the explorer type, this game is one to play. There are variety of levels in
which player can experience its
o Killer – This game is full action and killing, so for killer type of player this is a very suitable
game.
o Achiever – Player can achieve lot of new weapons and abilities in this game.
 Premise
War was blamed for the premature start of the Apocalypse which was a violation of laws made
by the Charred council. The council sentenced War to death but War denied the accusation
made towards him and requested for a chance to find and punish the ones who were
responsible for the mess and to restore balance once again.
 Story
Darksiders is a story driven from the concept of the “Apocalypse” and its “Four horsemen”. The
story plays a vital role in this game as it motivates the player to proceed further in the game.
The protagonist, War, is one of the” Horsemen” who was summoned to the Kingdom of Man
during the battle between Demons and Angels, who represents the Kingdom of Hell and
Kingdom of Heaven respectively. The Charred council, the mediator group, foretold the
prophecy of the “Endwar” in which a war will be raised between Heaven and Hell, after the
destruction of all the seven seals; which later on summons all the four horsemen to determine
the fate of all the three kingdoms. This was the law and it was broken when the War was
summoned alone prematurely and the seventh seal was broken. This led to the destruction of
the” Kingdom of Man” and the “Hellguards”, Heaven’s force, were defeated with the death of its
honourable General, Abaddon.
War also was defeated from the same enemy who killed Abaddon, Straga – the General of Hell
army. War was later brought back in front of Charred Council after death and was charged guilty
for the imbalance. The council gave a chance to prove his innocence and slay the ones who were
responsible for the imbalance. War accepted the task and
 Characters
o Primary -
 War – He is the main protagonist of the game,
who is feared by both factions, Angels and
Demons, he is well known as “The Rider of the
Red horse “or one of “The Four Horsemen” of
the Apocalypse. War carries a huge sword
name “Choaseater”, which is his primary
weapon and it is known to be very powerful.
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16.  Samael – Was a powerful demon before the
imprisonment, whose power can be
matched with Lucifer himself. He didn’t
approve of the Destroyer’s rule over Hell
and was exiled. His power got split among
“The Hearts of the Chosen” and was a
prisoner in Earth. Later War returns all the
Chosen’s Heart to him as he helped him.
 Watcher – Served the Charred
council and was intact with War as
a keeper. He helped War in some
situations with knowledge but his
main objective was to watch over
War for any type of betrayal.
 Abaddon/Destroyer – Before
Armageddon, Abaddon was the
General of the Hellguard who plotted
the scheme of attacking the demons
before Armageddon with Azrael. After
his failure, he was converted into
Destroyer by an unknown woman, who
ruled in Hell afterwards.
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17.  Uriel – Was an angel and a true follower of
Abaddon . She cursed War, as she blamed
him and wanted revenge for the fall of the
Hellguards and Abaddon. She took over
charge of the Hellguards after the fall of
Abaddon.
 Azrael – He is also known as “The
Angel of Death”; he conspired with
Abaddon for the premature start of
the Apocalypse and was imprisoned
later by the Destroyer after
Abaddon’s fall. He was freed from his
imprisonment by War and helped
him to reach the garden of “Eden”
and then to the Destroyer’s place.
 Ulthane- One of the “Old One”, also known as the “Black Hammer”, who created
the mightiest sword “Armageddon Blade” which was used to break the “Seven
Seal”. He met War and helped him to reforge the Armageddon blade to slay the
“Destroyer”.
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18. o Secondary –
 Ruin – Its War’s mighty horse which can be
summoned by War. After the defeat of its
master, War, Ruin was captured by the
demons and later on it was freed by War in
Ashland.
 Straga – He is the general of dark army who defeated War and Abaddon at the
battle of Armageddon. He is considered the mightiest of the entire Destroyer’s
chosen one.
 Silithia – One of the Destroyers’s chosen whom War had to kill to gain its heart,
looks like a demonic spider. She feeds any trespassers to her children and keeps
the special ones to herself.
 Charred council – Also known as the “Old One”, are the mediators between
Heaven and Hell. They maintain the balance between both sides and also were
the ones who command the “Four Horsemen”.
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19.  Griever – A large demon insect who is one of the chosen ones of the Destroyer.
She also controls bunch of swarms to her advantage and she can also beam
powerful laser at her enemies.
 Stygian – Is a gigantic and the most powerful Ashworm in Ashlands, who is kept
captive by the low level demons. It is also one of the Chosen of the destroyer.
 Tiamat – Also known as the “Dusk Queen” is the first boss and the one of the
Chosen, whom War had to
deal with. She looks like a
giant blood sucking bat that
was located at Twilight
Cathedral.
 Tormented Gate – A giant
rock shaped humanoid, which
were also called the “Old
Ones”, were attacked by the
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20. demons and were enslaved by the Destroyer. They were cursed and were placed
as giant gate; these golems were under the keep of Shadow Lurkers.
 Vulgrim – A demon merchant who demands souls from its clients in exchange
for his products. He provided War with items and upgrades and also provides a
quick transport through portals, known as “serpent Holes”.
 Dramatic arc
o At the beginning, the story motivates/excites the player to play the game. Later on the,
the player faces obstacles which will be tough at first then will be easy later.
o The tension player faces is higher at the beginning and decreases the course of play.
This is due to the lack of abilities and information at the beginning at first, then the
player gets stronger which makes the player easy to play further on.
o There times when the character dies very quickly from the damage from the mob which
can really frustrate the player, especially the one shot kill. For example, during the
gameplay, the character dies due to the rebound of the object thrown at a foe. The
character had two full bar of health which was enough to even deal with the boss. The
damage received from the boss is lesser than received from a medium level monster;
this imbalance of damage dealt from foes can sometime irritates the player.
o The boss fights in the game are the most exciting part for the player. The moral conflict
the player faces with the
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