Darksiders: Wrath Of War - THQ Gamers Day '08 Preview

For a publisher that is widely perceived to have relied on licenses in the past, THQ certainly seem to be shifting some of its focus towards developing titles that are more original. The move was all the more evident at the publisher's recent Gamers Day with the likes of Baja, Deadly Creatures, and Darksiders: Wrath of War all on show.

In development at Vigil Games, Darksiders takes its inspiration from that most upbeat of Biblical books, Revelations, and the Apocalypse. Taking the role of War, one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, Darksiders: Wrath of War is a story of revenge and redemption, with the protagonist shaping up to be the near-epitome of an anti-hero. After all, how often is it that gamers play as the force responsible for tearing peace from the world?

The Dark Man Cometh...

Somewhat inevitably, Darksiders has been compared to the likes of Devil May Cry and God of War, although Vigil has confirmed that the game is more 'adventure/action' than 'action/adventure'. Throwing in the hallowed name of Zelda into the pot of Darksiders' description obviously adds a significant rod for Vigil's back, but that's exactly how they're pitching it. The pressure of bringing a successful new and original title doesn't seem to be concerning Vigil. Speaking to TVG during THQ's Gamers Day, the studio's Lead Level Designer, Ryan Stefanelli commented that, "THQ are stressing quality foremost, whereas many publishers would stress budget or ship date...We're definitely under pressure, but it's more internally. We want this game to kick a hell of a lot of ass...we're our biggest critics."

Regardless of whether Vigil are their own worst critics or not, the prospect of mixing the dungeon adventure gameplay of Zelda with the full-on action that Capcom and SCEI have achieved with the adventures of Dante and Kratos is certainly a compelling one...if the balance between depth and action is met.

Outlining the background to the game, Vigil's General Manager and co-founder, David Adams explained that War finds himself returning to Earth after the apocalypse, where he and the other horsemen were duped into bringing the end of the world earlier than planned. Having endured what's likely to have been the most humiliating experience in all his infinite life by falling for such a 'prank', War is brought down a peg or two further by getting stripped of his powers...save for the biggest sword seen outside of Devil May Cry. Obviously, that's not something that he enjoys very much, so the heavily armoured warrior sets out to do his duty and regain his former status.

After beginning the presentation with a Revelations quote (Chapter 6, Verse 4, if anyone's interested), the unveiling of a modern city as the game world firmly established Darksider's place in a stylised 'Saturday cartoon' fantasy universe. Continuing the age-old battle between angels and demons, War's slog through a 'post-end-of-the-world' world has the character visit an increasingly wart-torn world of buildings in various states of disrepair and damage, all the while battling against supernatural foes. Players having to face demons in a post-apocalyptic modern world? Hopefully Vigil will create a more compelling experience than a certain Hellgate did in 2007...

Open areas of the world, which allow War to explore the devastated Earth, are set to offer gamers the chance to face up to various minions and sub-bosses, but that's looking like a very superficial part of the experience. Epic dungeons seem to be at the heart of Vigil's vision, with Adams describing some that last over 90 minutes or more, including (as demonstrated) the catacombs of a church. Filled with the classic structure of puzzle-solving and rounded off with encounters against some sort of demonic bosses, Darksiders' dungeons sound like they're going to be walking into a well-trodden path.

As with all action/adventure protagonists, War's abilities will increase and improve as the game progresses, and players cause ever more chaos. In the case of the Darksiders' anti-hero, players will collect the souls of defeated demons and other foes. Sounding more than a little like Kratos' strategy to upgrade, Vigil has made one key difference: the souls are blue, and not red...

It goes without saying that we hope the upgrade system is expanded upon by the time Darksiders hits the consoles next year.

War, huh! What Is It Good For???

After a brief look at part of the city's husk, Adams and Co. shifted the action into another area of the game. Referred to as the 'Ashlands', a much more stylised environment than the near-normal cityscape shown earlier in the presentation, Vigil explained some of the boundaries in the game. Despite giving some freedom to players to explore, there will obviously be barriers to prevent War from travelling the known world on the fly. The Ashlands is a case in point. Populated by giant sandworms (that presumably have somehow managed to get off the Saturn moon seen in Beetlejuice), War's exploits in the Ashlands are ultimately fruitless without some help, namely, his faithful flaming-hoofed steed, Ruin. It seems that for all his past glories as the destroyer of worlds, War isn't the most nimble or speedy of characters, and can be quite easily caught up in the jaws of a sandworm or two. Enter Ruin, which is fast enough to evade the giant Annelida, and has powers of its own for players to upgrade along the way.

The prospect of charging through a game as one of the biblically terrifying Horsemen in an epically deep gameworld, is obviously something that sounds quite compelling. That said, Vigil is already making plans for the future of the franchise. A feature that was originally planned for Wrath of War the potential for four-player co-operative gameplay, which will allow gamers to assume control of each of the horsemen in all their ungodly, anti-hero glory, already sounds quite exciting. For 2009 however, War's adventure will be a sole one, AI demon horse aside. We are already crossing our fingers and hope that Pestilence, Famine, and the skeletal form of Death itself will make it in Vigil's follow up however - once they get the development of Warhammer 40k MMO closer to launch, that is.

Scheduled for release on Xbox 360 during the first quarter of 2009, with a broad launch date PlayStation 3 version to follow, Stefanelli also confirmed that producing Darksiders on Sony's machine has created its own set of challenges. Even fifteen months on from the PS3's launch, development issues still seem to be a problem, with the Vigil designer revealing to TVG that what many people say about PlayStation 3 production is true...though he concedes most of the "nightmares" are laid at the desk of the programmers. The additional lack of any commitment to discuss a potential release for the PS3 version is surely something for gamers to concern themselves over. After all, THQ canned the system's version of Frontlines: Fuel of War just weeks before its release, so the publisher certainly isn't afraid of taking drastic measures if one edition isn't quite reaching its potential on a platform.