Watch On

Six years on from Darksiders 3 (and five from great but overlooked spin-off Darksiders Genesis), I’ll admit I’d started to think THQ Nordic had given up on the series. Not so, apparently—a new teaser tells us we should be “prepared to ride again”.

There’s not much to the video, first shown at the end of the THQ Nordic Showcase 2024—just a shot of the Charred Council (those fiery rock lads that order the Four Horsemen around), looking the same as ever. An accompanying Xbox Wire blog post, however, seems to confirm that this does indicate a new game is on the way: “It won’t be long until we reveal more about where the Darksiders series is going next, but for now, know this… the Four Horsemen will ride again.”

Huh, does that mean this sequel will feature all four of them, instead of focusing in on one or two on their own as previous games have? Maybe even letting you switch between them, or play them all together in co-op? OK, that’s all the baseless speculation I’ve got for this one.

The teaser also includes the logo of Gunfire Games, presumably indicating they’ll be developing this new entry. That does tarnish my excitement a little, to be honest—that’s the studio that made Darksiders 3, a game that was not only severely lacking in charm, but also tried to pivot to a soulslike feel at odds with its predecessors. I’d hate to see that be the direction of the series again.

But that was a long time ago, and in the years since the studio has put out the Remnant games, which are really good, and a great display of the kind of post-apocalyptic world-building a Darksiders game could benefit from. Hopefully an older and wiser Gunfire Games can take a better crack at it.

Personally, though, I do wish it had been Airship Syndicate on this. Not only did that team make Genesis, a smaller in scope but much more faithful sequel than 3, but it was also founded by members of the original creative team of the first two games (including artist Joe Madureira, who conceived the series’ distinctive look and style).

We can’t always get what we want, however, so Gunfire Games it is. At this point I just hope THQ Nordic can find some kind of new groove for Darksiders, whatever that looks like. It’s really struggled to build any momentum following the collapse of the original THQ and Vigil Games, but it feels like there’s still a lot of affection out there for it, and personally I’d love to get back to some demon-smashing at the end of the world.