Gunfire Games shows off its environmental puzzle design in Darksiders 3

Ahead of its launch later this year, developer Gunfire Games has given players a first look at what kind of world design and puzzles fans can expect in Darksiders 3. While inherently familiar for those returning to the series, the studio has taken the refreshing approach of ditching overbearing UI prompts to guide.

Design director John Pearl and lead level designer Richard Vorodi guide viewers through six minutes-worth of puzzles in an IGN First exclusive, showcasing a more sophisticated level design when compared with its predecessors despite still incorporating pressure plates, rotating doors and cave networks.

While the first iterating had bombs simply sitting in the necessary rooms, Darksiders 3 chooses to evolve that mechanic into something more organic to the environment using Bomb Bugs. This introduces extra steps, such as feeding the bug explosive material before throwing it in the right direction to burn up webbing.

“One of the hardest things to do in puzzle design is try to explain the rules without putting up a giant text box on the screen,” explains Vorodi. “Our approach is to take baby steps along the way and try to insinuate what you’re supposed to do. Just nudge them until they get it.”

There seems to be a lot of callbacks to previous entries in both the world design and the way in which puzzles are played. Both the crystal sword and the catacombs area are “fictionally connected” to the first Darksiders entry, according to Pearl.

“How it works is, basically, the closer you get to the fantasy elements of the game, the more fantastic the puzzle elements become,” states Vorodi. “So when you're on the surface of New York, you're going to see way tamer things than you would down here in the centre of the Earth.”

PC, PS4 and Xbox One players can step into the shoes of Fury on November 27th, attempting to “hunt down and dispose of the Seven Deadly Sins” with her signature whip and magic.

KitGuru Says: It’s refreshing to see Gunfire Games not holding the players hand, allowing them to figure things out on their own. What do you think of Darksiders 3 so far? Will you be picking the sequel up?

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