Darksiders II - Interview Feature

If some of Darksiders' gameplay elements felt a little... familiar... at least it can't be denied that it had a visual style all of its own. Joe Madureira (of Marvel Comics fame) crafted a distinctive look for his Zelda/God of War hybrid and it paid off, with the first game in the series shifting over 1.3 million units. With a sequel looming on the horizon, TVG sat down with Daniel Isaac McGuffey, Creative Manager for THQ, to find out more about parallel time-lines, Death, and the Apocalypse.

 

Let's talk about the setting of the game. Why have you chosen to set it at the same time as the first one?

We want people to understand that the Darksiders world is much larger than what they saw in Darksiders I, which all happened on Earth. There's a complete alternate dimension - which we showed a little of today - in the Abyssal Planes, and we want to really explore that, and also set up what's to follow with the four horsemen. We do want to get them all in eventually, but we feel it's really important to showcase each of them one at a time, and show you what makes that character special, show you their motivation, show you their tool-set, how this character moves; traverses; interacts with the world, so the best chance to introduce Death was within that time-frame because of his motivation at the moment, which is to redeem his brother. We didn't want to completely remove War from the story either and just make it completely Death focused because we know people found War endearing and we want to connect the two together, so that's part of the reason why we're doing it in a simultaneous time-frame.

So will you be revisiting some of the events of the first game from another perspective, and meeting up with War as you go through?

Without divulging too much, yeah, there will be some crossover, and you will get a little more insight into what happened in Darksiders I via Darksiders II.

In terms of the new mechanics, what sort of new puzzles can we expect?

We do want to bring back some of the items you had in the first game. You saw the Ghost Hook, which functions a lot like the Abyssal Chain only it has some of Death's sort of signature traversal added to it, so he can get more mileage out of it and use it in different ways. However, he can also use it like War could, so you can use it in combat, pulling enemies towards you, or pulling yourself towards enemies. We wanted to refine the gear experience, so while there were six pieces of gear and a bunch of passive abilities you could get in Darksiders I, this time what I will say is, there will be only three gear items but they will change, evolve and level-up so that they will gain abilities as you go along. We want to keep players from having to go back and forth between menus equipping items; we want you to have the full tool-set available to you at all times once they're all made available to you, and be able to switch between them very fluidly without having to equip and unequip items. So while initially it seems like there will be fewer, they're much more nuanced and robust than what you were able to play with in Darksiders I.

So what are those three gear items? Are we talking equipment or weapons?

Well some of them will function as both, so they will all have a primary function but some of them will have a combat function as well. You saw the Ghost Hook, I don't think we're talking about one of the other ones yet, but there will be a return of the Portal Gun, so the Void Walker will be returning, but it's going to have a lot of different functionality that we didn't see in Darksiders I - it's definitely getting an upgrade.

How extensive will the customisable loot and armour be?

It's super extensive. War had the Trimmer Gauntlet, and Death's Scythe - essentially two different secondary weapons. We want to give the player a chance to get into combat in exactly the way that they feel comfortable with. So if they want to use really light weapons where they can get into combat and do a lot of damage up close, then we want to offer them those; if they want to do really heavy damage with much slower weapons, we want to offer them those. So we have multiple classes of weapons: we have axes, maces, we have melee weapons - which resemble gloves that have claws on them - we have hammers, different pole-arms, broadswords, and those will all have different effects on them. You can expect to see a really vast selection of weapons that will even get different benefits based on the armour that you equip. So there will be sets that you can find - you can find sets of armour that have weapons that correspond and vice-versa.

So will you be able to carry all those through into the multiplayer?

Into multiplayer? We're not talking about multiplayer at the moment.

But there's going to be multiplayer?

I don't think we're quite talking about what we're doing yet with the connected elements.

Can you talk about co-op at all?

We do have a few different things planned, but right now it's just not something we're talking about.

So you've mentioned that there will be other characters, other than Death, in the game - we've got War - is there going to be Fury as well, is that right?

Fury and Strife are the other two horsemen, and we're not talking about what their significance is in the game yet.

See I always thoug

ht it was Famine and Pestilence...

Part of Joe Madureira's involvement is that he has a remarkably different take on things. If I were to tell somebody to draw a tree and Joe to draw a tree, what he does is not going to look anything like what anybody else would do, and that's what he brings to the game. He's going to make Death and War look different to what anybody else would've imagined, and likewise, these guys - Joe and some of the other guys at Vigil - didn't think that Pestilence and Famine sounded like cool characters to play as, so Strife and Fury just fit more into the universe.

So obviously the game's going to be on Wii U as well - can you talk at all about the unique features that that version's going to have?

The team's still designing those. Because the hardware's so early and the team's only had a very limited time to work with the hardware, we're still determining what the most beneficial things to provide for the Wii U user-base will be, but it certainly will have most likely different interface capabilities than all of the other SKUs will have.

There's been talk about possibly releasing a comic book and a movie based on the series. Is there any more news on that?

There most certainly will be a comic book, and as we get closer and closer to the launch of Darksiders II you'll be hearing more and more about that. At THQ - I don't know if you know Danny Bilson, or THQ's mantra... it's one of trans-media - supporting games with products that make sense. Whether that be a movie or a comic book, we want to pursue those options as long as Dan... you know, obviously Darksiders is a game of incredible mind-share and quality; the art, the universe, is something the team works very hard on. So, if a movie makes sense, and upholds the vision of Darksiders, and makes sense in the grand scheme of things we'll do it. If it were just a play for publicity or revenue, it's not something that interests us. We're going to do it when it makes sense to do a Darksiders movie, but yeah, if those elements come together then you can expect to see one.

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Darksiders II Preview

Darksiders II is a sequel in space rather than time. You play as Death rather than War, at the same time, in a different place. And who wouldn't like to be Death for a while? Reaping and pillaging is why we play games after all. To sate our repressed barbarous desires; to smash open an other and smear his blood across our naked chest. To have cool scythes.

Death approaches a huge bell atop a barren, craggy outcrop. He takes a moment to admire his jet black locks in the sheen of his scythe before arcing round to slice the bell into two juddering halves. An enormous floating fortress of rock and dread descends into view, as a pair of monstrous skeletal wyrms unfurl ahead of it.

War is a bit slow and lumbering anyway. A bit of a tank; good for soaking up blasts and crushing civilians, but not exactly nimble; not like Death. One minute you might be queuing up for bacon croutons in Lidl, the next - fatal heart attack. That's stealth. And if you were Death (are you?), you'd also be a bit miffed if your brother (War) got banged up on false pretences for a crime that wasn't really his (ending the world early). You might even set out on a quest to clear his name. In fact you will (did/are), in Darksiders II.

Summoning his undead steed, Death leaps down upon the serpent's rocky back, and charges toward the fortress.

Death is considerably more agile than his brother, scurrying up and along walls to reach far off ledges, and swinging across chasms with his whip-like Ghost Hook. In combat, Death fades and counters; he can't block - he doesn't need to - and relies instead on sneaky evasive manoeuvres to outwit his opponents.

Comparisons to God of War (combat) and Zelda (puzzles) were made with the first game, and they will certainly be made with the second. Despite its unique visual style (courtesy of X-Men comic artist, Joe Madureira), Darksiders is a series which perhaps borrows more than it innovates. Vigil are certainly making a much bigger game this time around however, with each of the four realms in the sequel containing as much dungeon content as the whole of Darksiders I. A central town (such as the fortress Death is currently charging towards) acts as a hub in each realm, populated with a range of NPCs offering side-quests and the promise of rare loot.

Bursting into the throne room, Death demands an audience with The Lord of Bones.

"My lord is busy tending his realm," cackles his skeletal aide.

"You must bring back the head of his champion to earn his counsel."

"I shall embark upon... the fetch quest," sighs a dejected Death, before trudging to the Champion's Arena and glaring at a statue with a few missing horns.

"O  frabjous day! a fetch quest within a fetch quest. Guess I'd better go get those missing horns to summon this bloke, that's how it normally goes after all. Ho hum. Off to this conveniently placed dungeon over here I suppose."

 

The dungeon we we

re shown featured a few simple puzzles (e.g. rotate laser emitting statue to hit receptor across room) and a fair amount of good old-fashioned scrapping. Death wields his dual scythes with aplomb, occasionally fusing them into a single weapon when ending a combo to deal more damage. Brief flashes of his full 'Reaper' form occur during combat, and a range of magical 'Wrath' abilities allow Death to cause damage from a distance, like summoning a flock of eyeball-pecking crows. In addition to his scythes, Death will have access to a huge range of weapons throughout the adventure - including axes, spears, broadswords, and gloves with spiky bits on. Loot pick-ups (with the exception of quest items) are randomised, with foes dropping various unique stat-boosting pieces of armour. Darksiders II will also feature a full skill tree, allowing you to customise Death to your preferred play-style as you level-up. It won't be possible to max-out the skill tree in every direction, so you'll need to tailor your armour-bonuses, skills, and weapons to create a synergistic combination - choosing defense boosting armour and skills if you favour a slower hammer weapon for example.

As the final horn slotted into place, the arena floor began to tremble. A trail snaked its way through the dust towards the reaper. But it was no match for Death. He tore the skull-worm out of the ground before it could strike, felling it with a single sweep of his scythe.

In addition to the array of weapons and armour available, Death will gain access to three pieces of equipment during the adventure. Although the first game had six such items, each piece of gear in Darksiders II is said to have multiple functions and a far wider range of uses. Death's Ghost Hook allows him to latch onto high points and swing through the air, but also functions as a hook-shot, reeling in enemies or pulling him rapidly towards gargantuan foes. The Void Walker, which generates portals, will also be making a return, albeit with significantly revamped functionality.

The silence was all too brief. Before Death stood the champion, a mighty Golem formed of rock and bone. The beast roared with rage and, ripping out its own head and spine, lashed out - obliterating the gallows Death had been standing on moments ago. Death answered with a flail of his own, latching onto the beast's detached cranium with his Ghost Hook, and sent the Golem crashing into the ground.

Vigil is remaining extremely tight-lipped about any potential multiplayer modes, but have hinted that Death might cross paths with the other Horsemen of the Apocalypse on his travels. Although the ending to Darksiders I suggested the possibility of co-op in a sequel, comments from the developers seem to suggest that this might be something they're saving for a later title in the series - and given that Darksiders II runs parallel to the first game, its ending isn't all that relevant anyway. There's still much work to be done at this early stage - adding the promised in-town npcs, and building many of the side-quests and bosses - but the distinctive Marvel-esque aesthetic is already confidently established,

with chunky, colourful character models striding through the game's intricately sculpted, monumental environments. Hopefully Vigil will be able to come up with some distinctive gameplay to compliment Darksiders' distinctive visuals by the time it ships.

"So I'll just finish off this fetch quest then shall I..?"

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