Darksiders‘ War may have his hands full with combat and puzzles, but the game’s Creative Director has art for the remaining three Horsemen of the Apocalypse in case, y’know, they ever need a sequel (or DLC).
Joe “Joe Mad” Madureira, best known for his work as the artist for Uncanny X-Men during those Wacky ’90s, lent his talents to Vigil Games’ excellent Darksiders as the Creative Director. But while the game stars War, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, one has to wonder – what happened to the other three? Were they just sitting on their asses waiting for their buddy to get the game done? Why didn’t they lend a hand?
Well, those questions may not be answered, but we do know what they look like. Madureira told VG247 that he’d already designed the other three Horsemen, and publisher THQ then sent the concept art over. While we caught a glimpse of all four together, this is the first we’ve seen them up close, and the remaining three are all clearly vintage Joe Mad-style.
Unlike the traditional Four Horsemen – War, Pestilence/Conquest, Famine, Death – the Darksiders quartet is War, Fury, Strife, and Death. It seems to me that you’d have a bit of overlap there with the first three, but hey, what do I know? I’m not a Horseman – I can’t even ride a horse.
Death looks like you’d expect, complete with skull mask, raven, and scythe. Fury is the token female of the group, featuring impossible anatomy and using (naturally) a whip, whereas Strife opts for a tattered gunslinger cloak to match his awesomely oversized revolvers. Interestingly enough, War already uses two of these weapons – the scythe and the revolver – in the game itself, so I wonder if the remaining Horsemen are pissed at him for taking their schtick. (And check the full-size art out at the original VG247 link, by the way!)
The art is cool, and very emblematic of that silly-and-yet-awesome over-the-top 90s grimdark aesthetic that Joe Mad does very well. If Darksiders does well, he told VG247, the developer “would love the chance to work on a sequel.” So maybe War’s three buddies will show up after all. Four-player coop, anyone?
Published: Jan 12, 2010 04:18 pm