Early in the year THQ and Vigil Games released Darksiders for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The game a was an interesting cross between Zelda and God of War. Despite it being a fairly good game, it failed to reach a larger audience. Selling less than a million copies in the U.S. across all platforms according to VGChartz, many wondered if we would ever see a sequel. Apparently, THQ saw more potential in the franchise than game buyers and announced a sequel was in the works back at E3. Just recently some information about that sequel was revealed by THQ.
Set to occur simultaneously with the events of the first title, Darksiders 2 will feature a new protagonist. The reasoning behind this turns out to be understandable when you hear THQ's Danny Bilson explain why:
"When we do the Darksiders sequel, it'll be a different character and take place simultaneously to the other story. There's only one apocalypse -- I couldn't very well have four different apocalypses, one for each rider. It has some new mechanics and some very robust features that differentiate it a lot and grow it from the first game because you have to build on the first one, you can't repeat it. I think that's very important in franchise-building."
Bilson and THQ really feel that Darksiders can become one of their flagship franchises along side Red Faction. They also seem willing to put in the time to make the game the best it can be. During a Novemember 4th investment call, THQ mentioned that Darksiders 2 possibly would not be ready to ship until fiscal year 2013. THQ's fiscal 2013 includes the final months of 2012, so we could be looking at a holiday launch in 2012.
I personlly enjoyed Darksiders and am looking forward to the sequel. The only thing that concerns me is how long it is going to take THQ to get this game to the market. I am not sure how you can go about building a franchise if it takes almost three years in between titles. People have probably already played Darksiders and put it out of their minds at this point, and in another two years who knows who if it will still be relevant. Now I am all for taking the time to make games the best they can be, I just wonder if their window to make a franchise will be passed by the time this sequel is released. Maybe THQ could make up for it by giving out another free game with it.
So readers, are any of you looking forward to Darksiders 2? Feel like you will still be wanting to get your hands on it when it finally comes out in two years?