Following the success of the original Darksiders, THQ has decided to give fans more of what they wanted. Darksiders 2 is being developed by Vigil Games and is looking to build upon what made the first game great. The sequel is said to be at least twice as big as the original, and the developer is investing a lot into the characters and art of the game.
People constantly compare Darksiders to a Zelda game and though that’s nothing to be ashamed of, the features they are adding to Darksiders 2 may lessen that comparison. Nevertheless, any game that can live up to the Zelda pedigree can’t be too bad.
In Darksiders 2, gamers will play as Death (instead of War) and continue the fight for humanity that started in Darksiders. Game Director, Marvin Donald, says that War was more of a tank character – and that the upcoming protagonist, Death, will be more fluid and agile. The studio is definitely looking to up the rock star ante in the sequel. Death wears less armor and is generally a more showy and expressive fighter. In addition, Death will wield a pair of scythes throughout the game, and combine them together at certain points to form an even more formidable weapon.
All of the core gameplay features from Darksiders are present in Darksiders 2, along with new things. Loot is new to the series and will provide players with added customization options. The various items will allow players to pursue specific fighting styles based on what they equip. Vigil Games is also adding more RPG elements – such as a full stat system – to keep gamers coming back for more.
Darksiders is mostly known for its gameplay, but the artists and creative forces behind the franchise’s art shouldn’t be overlooked. The dedicated art team is determined to bring the specific “Darksiders style” to the sequel in every aspect of Death’s adventure.
Han Randhawa, Vigil Games’ Art Director, says the Darksider’s art style can be summed up quite simply.
“We just want to make it strong. So, nothing wispy or whimsical. Nothing in Darksiders should look goofy.”
They want Darksiders 2 to have an even more defined sense of style than the original. Randhawa goes on to talk about how the general rule of thumb is that everything in Darksiders 2 should be worn and feature sharp edges. Apparently curves and elegance do not belong in Darksiders 2. These guidelines are true, not only for character models, but also items, weapons, scenery, and locations.
An interesting point is that, although the subject matter is definitely grim and dark, the art will not be gray and dull. In fact, creative director, Joe Madureira, is a big proponent of using bright and vibrant colors to bring the game to life. Their goal is to use a variety of colors to distinguish specific locations from one another.
The first game came out of nowhere and was a huge success critically. As a result, the pressure is definitely on newcomer Vigil Games to create a worthy successor. We will all get to see the result sometime in 2012.
Darksiders 2 will be available sometime in 2012 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. It is also expected as a launch title for the Nintendo Wii U.
Source: Gameinformer
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“Darksiders is mostly known for its gameplay”
totally not true, they have joe mad as lead designer/artist, anyone who follows comics knows him and his kick a** drawings, the creatures shown off so far look amazing, same with death.
darksiders had chaotic controls and felt lacking, i hope they step their game up in the combat department and just give us more variety (the final boss fight sucked crap, it was a alot easier then the 1st boss… which should never be the case). the RPG stuff is a bonus b/c the game stood on its own (i see it as a more sensible GoW and a more mature zelda game).
The majority of people describe Darksiders as a Zelda-clone and focus on the title’s gameplay elements, but there is no doubt that Joe Madureira is seriously talented and has the credentials to back it up.
Nice reply.
I found Darksiders to be more aggravating than enjoyable. The control scheme was atrocious. The layout was not intuitive and switching between long range weapons to melee weapons was incredibly disjointed. What I hated most in particular was the mechanic for War’s throwing blade. Shoe horning a badly implemented first person shooter mechanic for the long range weapons was a bad idea and should have undergone further QA testing. Darksiders has a unique story but the execution left much to be desired. Unless they address all the problems with the control set up Darksiders 2 will be less enticing for me to play. While I am a huge fan of Joe Madureira’s work his art won’t be enough to save or sell me on a game that’s going to be more of the same.
Soooo…
…it required some small trace of coordination?
The controls were just fine. There were plenty of weapons and plenty of functions. They were mapped about as well as one could expect. I personally never had an issue with them. The long-range weapons were done in such a way that I had absolutely no problem using them in combos or eviscerating the bad guy directly in front of me then smoothly switching to my pistol to finish off some random bad guy at a longer range.
Of all the things I’ve heard anyone complain about in this game… Controls have been the one thing I’ve not seen anyone really take issue with.
UNLESS, of course, you’re referring to the PC version. Then that’s the TOP issue. Then I’d understand where you’re coming from. (Seeing as how they failed to include any keyboard or mouse controls…and rely solely on the Xbox 360 controller to be connected to your PC. Real stupid.)
I just don’t think that many can relate to you on that particular problem.
The only reason I was ever interested in the first game was because of Joe Mad. His work on Uncanny X-Men back in the day is what got me into comics. MAD!
I’m willing to bet that the game ended up being satisfying to you on more than that level by the time you were done playing, though. Could I count that as an accurate guess?
It looked good BEFORE it came out. It ended up being a FANTASTIC game; despite the rampant comparisons to Zelda.
I personally thought it was more like Ninja Gaiden than Zelda. The combat was fairly similar but maintained it’s own appropriate sense of style as per the character’s much larger profile.
The environment of the game was outstandingly creepy in that ‘humans used to exist here but are now extinct’ way. I was actually very awe-struck by the scope of death that surrounded us in the cities that had been destroyed and abandoned 100 years ago…
There is definitely no argument about the art. Whether you liked or hated the game, NO ONE will argue with Joe Mad’s work. It’s top-notch. He sets the standard in comic art.
One does NOT argue with Joe Madureira’s art.
Chuck Norris is only Chuck Norris because Joe Madureira drew him that way.
LOL!
Hell… Even the music was pretty damn good. And the voice acting was GREAT.
I really don’t understand why such an awesome game had so much controversy surrounding it. It’s ridiculous. (Unless you’re one of those people I’ve seen who are still hung up on that whole screen tear in the graphics when it first released – which they promptly fixed with a patch. It wasn’t that big a deal.)
I can’t wait for this one. Up to this point; I still prefer War’s character over Death… Not only because he was such a BAD-ASS, because the voice actor made War an EPIC remembrance for me.
But who knows? Maybe Death will prove to be just as much of a BAD MOFO as War was?
I just hope we’re not confined to using his scythe as a weapon the whole game or some other such nonsense. I’m a sword guy myself… LOL!
But my most prominent concern outside of the game content is that of the PC release.
The first game’s release on PC was post-launch and was nothing more than a VERY badly done port from the Xbox version. I just bought the PC version not too long ago thinking that it’d be great to play it on my bad-ass new system…
…only to be completely awe-struck by the short-sightedness of the developers. NO KEYBOARD CONTROLS. Crap for graphics adjustments…
And the worst part of it is… You HAVE to have an Xbox 360 controller connected to your PC to play it. Either that or a third-party controller using a software-based Xbox 360 controller wrapper library to emulate the 360 controller.
Otherwise you’re just staring at War’s head from a top-down view as the screen does nothing but spin. I’m still waiting to have the time, money AND inclination at the same time to buy one of the wireless USB game controller receivers so I can play it.
At any rate… I see above that apparently they’re planning a PC release. Let us hope that they do a MUCH better job of it this time around.
This is on my ‘TO GET’ list either way.
“Nothing in Darksiders should look goofy”
Wow, too easy……
Nothing goofy?
Sorry- Death looks kind of goofy in that picture.
I’ll keep my money until something more impressive and compelling comes forward.
Or at least until this game comes out and proves it’s metal?
That’s of course assuming it does. I’m definitely hoping it does.
After playing the 1st Darksiders, I have to say it was AWESOME. I am very excited about this game.
Glad I’m not the only one.