Game analysis darksiders_gda1_manas_murali - copy

Manas Murali Game analysis 10/Sept/2012 Page 1

GAME ANALYSIS GAME – DARKSIDERS

By:

Manas Murali


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


Story .......................................................................................................................................... 15

Dramatic arc .............................................................................................................................. 20


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


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.


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.


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


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.


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


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


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.


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.


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,


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.


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.


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.


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”.


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”.


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


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

Game analysis darksiders_gda1_manas_murali - copy

Documents

o enemies

o actions

o objects

o number

o role

o usability

o management

o explorer