Darksiders Warmastered Edition surprise patch adds photo mode after years of silence

Nobody expected this one.

Darksiders Warmastered Edition, the remastered version of THQ Nordic's 2010 action-adventure classic, just received a completely out-of-nowhere patch that adds a photo mode and motion controls. The update arrives nearly a decade after the game's last patch, making it one of the more unexpected software drops in recent memory. If you own the game on any supported platform, you can jump in right now and start capturing War in all his apocalyptic glory.

Photo mode comes to Darksiders

What the patch actually adds

The headline feature is the photo mode, which lets players pause the action and reframe scenes to capture screenshots with adjustable camera positioning, filters, and depth-of-field options. For a game built around War, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, tearing through demons and angels alike, the visual potential here is genuinely strong. The art direction in Darksiders has always leaned hard into that Joe Madureira comic book style, and a photo mode gives that aesthetic the spotlight it deserves.

The second addition is motion controls, which brings gyroscopic aiming and movement input to platforms that support it. Here's the thing: motion controls in a third-person action game are a niche request, but for players who prefer that style of input, especially on handheld devices, it's a welcome addition that costs nothing to ignore if you don't want it.

Why a nearly decade-old game is getting new features

Darksiders Warmastered Edition originally launched in 2016 as a 1080p, 60fps remaster of the 2010 original, and its last meaningful update came not long after that. The series itself has stayed active, with Darksiders Genesis releasing in 2019 and the broader franchise remaining part of THQ Nordic's catalog. That ongoing publisher support is likely why this patch materialized at all.

The key here is that THQ Nordic has been quietly maintaining and revisiting older titles in its library, and Darksiders as a franchise still carries real fan affection. Dropping a quality-of-life update for a game this old signals that the publisher hasn't written it off entirely.

The franchise context worth knowing

For players who haven't touched the series, Darksiders Warmastered Edition is a solid entry point into one of the more underrated adventure games of its era. The original game drew heavy comparisons to The Legend of Zelda for its dungeon structure and puzzle design, wrapped in a post-apocalyptic setting with combat that felt closer to God of War. The remaster holds up reasonably well visually, and this new patch makes it a slightly more complete package than it was last week.

What most players miss is that the Darksiders series does something genuinely distinct with its genre blending. It's not just a brawler, and it's not just a puzzle game. The balance between those two halves is what made the original memorable, and the Warmastered Edition preserves that without significant changes to the core experience.

War's combat holds up well

A small update with a clear message

Patching a game that hasn't been touched in nearly 10 years is a deliberate choice. It takes resources, testing, and platform certification. THQ Nordic didn't have to do this, and the fact that it did suggests the Darksiders IP is being kept warm for a reason. Whether that means a new entry is in active development is speculation, but publishers don't typically invest in legacy titles without some longer-term thinking involved.

For the fans who have been holding out for any sign of life from this series, this patch is at minimum a signal that someone at THQ Nordic still cares. For everyone else, it's a good excuse to revisit a genuinely enjoyable action game that tends to get overlooked in conversations about the genre.

If you want to get more out of the game while you're at it, our gaming guides cover a wide range of action titles worth exploring alongside your Darksiders playthrough.