14 DAY TRIAL // Darksiders II is set to be released in less than three months and the development studio working on the game believes that the experience accumulated working on the first title in the series allows them to create a much better and streamlined game.
David Adams, the general manager at Vigil Games, told Gamasutra, “We do usability tests, but at the end of the day, you've just got to use your judgment. With usability tests, you get a lot of information that's only partially useful, because people... they'll get mad at one thing, even though it's something else that's screwing them up.”
He went on to relate an anecdote about the first game in the series, with a focus group that developed a very negative opinion of the entire experience, from gameplay to story, simply because they were forced to spend one full hour in an area that required only about 10 minutes to complete.
Adams added, “So we fixed that, so they got through there quicker, and suddenly they loved everything else. Changed nothing else - 'The story's great, I love the main character, the art looks awesome!'”
Darksiders II is not an actual sequel and will take place during the same time frame as the first title.
The developers at Vigil Games are making Death the star of the experience, allowing him to explore a number of fantastic worlds while War is dealing with the situation on Earth, which involves both Heaven and Hell.
Players will get a better combat experience, with Death a nimbler fighter than War, and there are more dungeons to explore and more loot to find and equip.
Darksiders II will be released on the Xbox 360 from Microsoft, the PlayStation 3 from Sony and the PC on June 26 in North America and on 29 in Europe.