Darksiders Warmastered Edition Gets A Surprise PC Upgrade After Almost 10 Years
Nearly 10 years after launch, Darksiders Warmastered Edition has suddenly received the kind of PC update you normally expect from a much newer release. Not bad for a game many players probably left sitting in their Steam library since the last big sale.
The timing makes sense: the remastered version of the original Darksiders has finally arrived on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, and alongside those console versions, the PC edition on Steam also got refreshed. For Malaysian and SEA players who still enjoy action-adventure games with that old-school hack-and-slash energy, this is a pretty solid excuse to revisit War’s apocalypse road trip.
The headline upgrade is the move to an updated rendering engine, now with Vulkan API 1.3 support. That does mean the game’s requirements have shifted a bit. Players will now need a 64-bit CPU, plus hardware that supports Vulkan 1.3. The good news: support goes pretty far back, including AMD’s Radeon R9 series and NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 700 series GPUs.
In other words, most semi-modern gaming PCs and laptops should still be fine. For Malaysia, where plenty of players are squeezing extra years out of older desktop builds or second-hand GPUs, that matters. This does not sound like an update that suddenly locks out everyone without a shiny new RTX card.
The Vulkan change is especially interesting for Linux and SteamOS users. TechPowerUp notes that the new API should help performance and compatibility when running the game through Valve’s Proton layer. Darksiders Warmastered Edition already has a Silver rating on ProtonDB, with the main pain point being cutscene media codecs that may need extra installation. So if you are gaming on a handheld PC or experimenting with Linux instead of Windows, this update is actually relevant.
There is also a new photo mode, accessible from the pause menu. It sounds fairly straightforward: set up the shot in-game, then use Steam or Windows’ built-in screenshot tools to capture it. Still, for a game with big comic-book fantasy visuals and chunky boss designs, having proper photo setup tools is a welcome quality-of-life addition.
Controller support has been improved too, thanks to better Steam Input settings. Controllers with motion control, gyros or IMUs are now supported, including devices like the new Steam Controller. That may sound niche, but it is the kind of compatibility work that helps a game survive across more setups — living room PCs, handhelds, docked devices, and whatever weird controller your friend brings over.
The update also includes bug fixes and quality-of-life improvements. One specific fix mentioned is the reticule at lower resolutions, which should be very good news for Steam Deck users and handheld PC players. Smaller screens and lower resolution targets can make UI problems more annoying than they sound on paper, so this is the kind of fix that actually improves playability.
For SEA players, the big takeaway is simple: this is not just a nostalgia patch. It makes an older action game more usable on modern PC ecosystems, especially for handheld gaming and Proton setups. If you already own Darksiders Warmastered Edition on Steam, this is worth checking out again — especially if you want something stylish, offline-friendly and not tied to live-service grind.
Source: TechPowerUp
