Death Becomes Darksiders II

THQ brought Death to E3, literally. The new action-adventure game, Darksiders II, tells the story of a second Horseman. The original game focused on War. By introducing a new protagonist developer Vigil Games is opening up a new arsenal of moves and weapons. Han Randhawa, art director at Vigil Games, talks about what’s in store in this epic sequel in this exclusive interview.

Can you explain where this sequel takes place in the Darksiders mythology?

We’re trying to introduce another character into the whole mythology of Darksiders by focusing on Death. For us, this is a very big franchise and we want to make sure that people delve deeper into every aspect of Darksiders. You don’t just get the same repeating elements. We don’t have another War game. We really didn’t want to do a sequel, which was just another skin of Darksiders I. There’s a big part of the story to tell, and this is just the next segment of that story.

What separates Death from what people are used to having played War in the original?

Death and War are very different characters. Not only just in the visuals, but also the way you play him. War is a very stoic, no-holds barred, battering ram of a character. As you play Death, you’ll find that he’s a lot more agile. We’re pushing much more of the puzzle element with the traversals, hence you get this very agile-looking character. We wanted to build upon these different aspects of each of the Horsemen, just so you get a sense of the fact that they have different skills and attributes to bring to the group. We’re also introducing something that we wanted to do on Darksiders I, but we didn’t have time for, so there are more heavy questing and role-playing elements and you can customize your character more.

What’s going on from a story perspective?

We’re trying to reveal a little bit more about how Darksiders takes off and sets the groundwork for what’s about to happen next. You get to see Death on his journey to try and clear War’s name. You actually encounter War in this game and there are a lot of things that are going to get tied together like how do the Nephilim work in here and how do the Horsemen tie in.

What does Death’s horse, Despair add to the gameplay?

He’s absolutely crucial to this game, especially with certain bosses because you have to be able to maneuver out and maneuver back in, so there is a strategy involved. The horses give you an edge in certain bosses. There probably will be a couple more bosses and things revealed yet. We haven’t finalized plans of completely everything, but there’s a lot more interesting things to see still.

When will people be able to play Darksiders II?

Darksiders II will be out this summer. It will be on Xbox 360, PS3, PC, and Wii U.