So far 2010 has had a fair share of hits, disappointments, and massive flops. But one game that was a huge surprise hit was THQ’s Darksiders. Darksiders had a lot going against, mainly that it was a unique new IP being released at the start of the year. But Darksiders managed to buck most trends of being another God of War/Devil May Cry “clone” and ended up being a game that was praised for its art design, combat and RPG/adventure game elements. Even our own Scott Wilson enjoyed Darksiders as he awarded the game a score of 8 out of 10 in his review.
Aside from earning critical praise, Darksiders went on to sell a nice amount of units. Being a commercial success that of course means a sequel is on deck. Speaking at Wizard World Chicago, Darksiders creator and Vigil Games co-founder/Creative Director Joe Madureira dropped a few small tidbits on Darksiders 2.
Of course with Darksiders 2 not being “officially” announced Madureira had to be coy with his worlds on the future of the post-apocalyptic action game. When asked how Darksiders 2 was progressing Madureira replied that the game was in fact in production, something that most of us assumed. But Madureira did reveal that we would get an official announcement on the game soon but content most likely wouldn’t be shown at PAX Prime. Given how THQ has big plans for later this year, I wouldn’t be too surprised if a teaser trailer is shown at the Spike Video Game Awards or around that general time frame.
Being a standout success the future of the Darksiders franchise is likely to expand as do most games. When asked if we would ever see a Darksiders game pop up on the PSP or Nintendo DS Madureira said that it isn’t likely but if it does happen Vigil most likely won’t develop it. With Vigil working on Darksiders 2, the Warhammer MMO and other unannounced projects, the studio has its work slate filled for the next few years.
Madureria did reveal that there’s been talk of doing a XBLA Darksiders game, most likely akin to THQ’s existing plan of producing smaller scale games prior to the launch of the proper disc based release. Given the huge departure of Red Faction’s debut game on XBLA/PSN, it’ll be interesting if the potential Darksiders game follows suit with providing gamers a different gaming experience. Maybe it’s just me but I wouldn’t mind playing a XBLA/PSN Darksiders game that’s a side-scrolling game akin to Castlevania. But that’s just another pipe dream of mine.
That’s all Madureria revealed but despite being light on heavy details, it’s still nice that he was as forthcoming as he was instead of following the standard “no comment” route. Vigil proved that they can release quality AAA games with the release of Darksiders, which was their first game, and I honestly can’t wait to see what the studio does next with the franchise.
This game had some of the most solid art design from a lesser company. I hope them the best!