Darksiders 2 Preview

THQ and Vigil Games preparing to launch Darksiders 2 and it seems they are very keen on what they've made. Darksiders: Wrath of War stands out as one the best gaming experiences in recent times. With beautiful art direction, solid gameplay and one heck of a main character, this game truly deserves your time.

In anticipation of the sequel, we speak briefly to Jay Fitzloff, Associate Producer, to learn a bit more about the game before it hits stores on August 14.

ActionTrip: What was the biggest challenge when designing and establishing a character like Death?

Jay Fitzloff: Probably ensuring that he was distinct from War. Since both Death and War are these ultra-powerful entities, we caught ourselves giving them the same personality quirks or combat moves. There are naturally some similarities, but overall they come off as very unique.

AT: Are there any familiar characters returning from the previous game?

Death. Definitely Death. No question about it.

Yep, even Death has an inventory.

JF: Absolutely, but to even name them would ruin some surprises.

AT: Generally, what are the greatest differences between Darksiders and Darksiders 2?

JF: At their core, both games have the same basic design principles but Darksiders 2 just has a lot more depth. Every facet of the game - environments, character development, equipment, NPC interaction, side quests, you name it - is a significant improvement over the original.

AT: In terms of gameplay, what do you feel are the best elements of Darksiders (the original) and how important is to incorporate those elements into the sequel?

JF: We always felt that what Darksiders does better than any other game out there is combine combat, exploration and puzzle solving into a whole that's greater than the sum of its parts. So Darksiders 2 is a bigger and deeper game, but no matter what we added we wanted to keep that unique amalgam feel - and I think we succeeded.

AT: Tell us a bit about the maps and areas we'll be able to explore in game.

JF: We definitely have created much larger worlds in Darksiders 2 with more overworld to explore and side-quests to find, but we didn't want that size to come at the expense of visual variety. Each of our worlds is completely visually distinct. So much so, that once you've played the game I guarantee you could go back to all the screenshots we've used for press and name what area they're from. We want that magical feeling of seeing new vista and being in awe of your surroundings to be persistent throughout play.

AT: What sort of creatures are players going to encounter?

JF: Like the environments, we wanted to keep things continually fresh, so all the way through the end of the game we keep introducing new creatures to keep the players guessing. Even monsters you've met before will show up in a new form with new attack patterns, so combat becomes a combination of thinking and moving fast.

AT: From what we've gathered, Darksiders 2 is going to have considerably more loot than its predecessor. Explain a bit how the loot system works in this game.

JF: Though there's a few places in the game where we grant the player specific items, for the most part all the items you get in the game are randomly generated from creatures you kill or chests you open. Based on your current character level, items are assigned statistics and special abilities. It adds an interesting element - kind of a slot machine effect where you don't need to kill that group of monsters off in the distance, but then you think of what they could drop.