As well as the protagonist War, along with his big sword and sombre holy warrior attitude, Genesis introduces Strife; the fourth horseman of the apocalypse whose fast gunslinging combat and acerbic humour brings some levity and variety to doubt. The storyline of the game boils down to a set of excuses for the duo to take out bigger and badder demons in their way to Lucifer's lair while discovering crazier tools of destruction, but in quieter moments the interplay between the two anti-heroes is brilliant. Genesis happens well before the first game, just after the horsemen have carried out a genocide against their unholy half-demon half-angel race, and there's loads of lore tidbits for series fans.

With two gamers you each control a horseman, and also their playstyles define their roles. War can parry to open enemies up to combos and learns big area of effect attacks, which makes him ideal for getting up close and personal with big demons or taking on tight groups. Local co-op is through splitscreen, which makes matters crowded but at least lets you research independently, and solo players can switch between the two horsemen anytime making for a remarkably cohesive and dynamic experience.

The greatest accomplishment of this game is that both battle styles stay fun and fresh throughout the whole 15-hour event, aided by a whole slew of updates, abilities and items. War and Strife both get completely different abilities -- some within the conventional progression, some hidden away from the beaten trail -- and you are continuously bringing new combos and strengthens through the stores too. One of the most intriguing systems sees you collecting"cores" from defeating creatures and putting them on a sprawling ability tree to unlock minor -- but stackable -- stat increases and effects. Upgrading these can take a lot of grinding in previous levels, but it is powerful enough that you can wipe your entire cores off the board, start again and wind up with a very different-feeling set of fighters.

Art-wise this still resembles what you expect from comic legend and long-time Darksiders designer Joe Madureira; filled to the brim with hypercolour muscles, skulls and lava. But the shift in perspective allows for a few design and much bigger scale environments. There is the occassional flub where the game expects you to make jumps or research places which are obscured or warped from the complex geometry, but more frequently the space allows for badass moments like chasing monumental bosses or riding the undead horses throughout rotting plains.

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