According to developer Vigil, the original Darksiders would have featured four player co-op, with each player taking on the role of each of the The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
According to Darksiders II lead designer Haydn Dalton, “Originally, Vigil wanted to do a four player co-op game. Realistically, though, we didn’t have much console experience and it was a whole new genre for us. So instead we went down the less risky route and focused on a single one of them.”
Vigil was considering co-op in the sequel, Darksiders II, but thought better of tampering with the formula, but may consider it for the future. “I don’t think there’s anyone here that likes Darksiders and doesn’t like the idea of causing destruction with three buddies,” Dalton noted.
This would, of course, fundamentally change gameplay.
“The puzzles would have to change quite a lot, because we design them with a single person’s perspective in mind," Dalton explained, "Co-op puzzles would be a whole new challenge for us, and how the game would work if someone decided that they wanted to play by themselves.”
Darksiders II is due to be released in August for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
