With the dissolution of THQ in 2013, one of the franchises left in the lurch was Darksiders. In 2010, Darksiders was the breakout, sleeper hit of the year. However, the franchise has not been able to continue since the release of Darksiders II in 2012. Nordic Games acquired the franchise, but there has been barely a word of its fate since that time.
Hope came in the form of a Facebook post by the franchise’s creative director, Joe Madureira, in May. Joe “Mad” declared that Darksiders is “not dead” and said, “Nordic seems very committed to continuing the series. As far as my involvement, I can’t say at this point. Hopefully we will all have exciting news about the franchise soon!!!!!!” His words were encouraging. Later, a rep for Nordic Games followed up Mad’s post with the following statement (via Rock, Paper, Shotgun): “With regards to Darksiders 3: Of course we’ve always been busy in the background, talking to a lot of former team members about a continuation of the series, but we are not ready to announce anything officially. Joe Madureira is spot on in saying that DS is not dead and we are committed, though. Before we can say something about the ‘how’ and ‘when’ of publishing/financing the sequel is concerned, we are still busy in properly figuring out the ‘who’ part of this large-scale project. All I can say is that we can and will not settle for second-best solutions in the case of Darksiders.”
The confirmation that the Darksiders series could continue is promising. Nordic Games’ head appears to be in the right place. It is encouraging to see the company looking to retain the former team members of Vigil Games, who developed Darksiders and Darksiders II, to work on a potential follow-up. The series had a tremendous storyline that begs for a continuation. Questions need to be answered, and climactic battles need to be held between incredible forces.
If we do ever get to see Darksiders III, some specific things need to be done. Since the franchise already had to endure the bankruptcy of its publisher, Darksiders III really needs to be an all-or-nothing dramatic conclusion that delivers on all the promises of the original. Joe Mad’s involvement is an absolute necessity. The unique artistic style and creatures he designed for the franchise are among some of my favorite elements of the series.
While I enjoyed Darksiders II, the game felt like a step backwards in terms of story. Darksiders ended in a tremendous moment. The disgraced member of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, War, breaks free from the treacherous Charred Council. Despite the fact that War will be seen as an enemy of both the armies of Heaven and Hell, the Seventh Seal was destroyed, summoning his other Horsemen brethren. Unfortunately, Darksiders II did not continue off of that moment, and instead told a type of in-between story following War’s brother, Death. The expectations of the first game’s awesome epilogue were not fulfilled.
A new game would need to fully introduce and incorporate all four members of the Horsemen: War; Death; Strife; and Fury in the narrative. This means the game must be a true sequel to the first Darksiders. No more side stories to establish the other Horsemen in separate games. There might never be another chance to dilly dally around. The story must continue. Death succeeded in restoring humanity to the Earth, so it is likely that the Horsemen might have to unite with humanity to strike back at Satan, the Charred Council, and perhaps even the Heavenly Host. If there is time, use story DLC to show what Strife and Fury went through during the events of the original game.
As a new-gen game, Darksiders III should incorporate the entire Horsemen group as playable characters. When I say all-or-nothing, that means a massive, epic title where all of the Horsemen are available to play. I have been eager to play as Strife and Fury since I first saw their character designs.
The recent Darksiders news was encouraging, so hopefully there is hope for the franchise. Darksiders was a great melding of dungeon RPGs and hack and slash action games. It is a world I am avid to explore yet again.
Agreed DS3 needs to be huge.
Darksiders II
*Failures in: large environment, item/weapon modifications,
*Successes in: Storyline, gameplay, quality images and art
-large enviroment: waste of resources, when you can focus more on the storyline, character looks, cool combos (simple advancements like God of War)
-item/weapon mods: waste of resources, could be best used if they are considering doing a MMORPG
-storyline: The game needs to be longer than it ever has, and longer than most “long” games to accommodate for the stories of the other two horsemen.
-gameplay: [while I mentioned there was a waste of resources in large environment it doesn’t mean the gameplay was horrible] but still: more on the storyline even side stories, character looks, in depth art, cool combos (simple advancements like God of War)
Thanks for your comment and great feedback.
It’s simple all Darksiders III needs to be is more like the first game and less like the 2nd…That garbage loot system needs to go, everything about that was udder uselessness. They gave you so much trash in that game I just eventually stopped picking anything up.
Making the map smaller would be better also, not everything needs to be open world like the derps cry about, especially when there is nothing going on in that map to begin with, fighting the same generic enemies over and over does not make it open world or exciting….
Those damn sidequests need to go to, jesus were those stupid….Derp, derp I’ll help you derp, but only after you go retrieve these 5-10 things for me first. That game should have practically been called Darksiders II: Fetch quest edition
I agree it needs to be more like the first one.
However, since these games are part-RPGs, I don’t mind sidequests or fetchquests.
I think Darksiders went in the right direction with Darksiders II. I think the series needs to be more like an RPG rather than just a hack’n’slash like God of War. The series needs to stay unique and keep to what they started in DSII and also keeping a lot of what made us love the first Darksiders.
I actually strongly disagree. I do believe they should make an all or nothing game, but there are still too many questions that have to answered. I think elaborating on what Strife and Fury were doing behind the scenes. I think DSIII should introduce the ability to switch between both Fury and Strife at anytime in the game (similar to GTA V) and keep the same stat based weapon customization as DSII. I think what Darksiders could really improve on is adding a new genre style, such as stealth and give the story of the final two horsemen immense depth. You can’t make a game containing all four when you have not even introduced the other two horsemen. The story could take place before and during the destruction of the Kingdom of Man. I think adding stealth, plus the puzzle solving and combat would bring a new fun challenge to the series. You can’t make a game that tells the story after Darksiders I, because you don’t know if Death chose to bring back humanity or the Nephilim. I think a game about the other two would be the best way to go, from the standpoint of a fan that loves the lore of the series, like I do.