Abyssal Forge DLC for Darksiders II to be released on October 30

After THQ’s recent tease about a new downloadable content for Darksiders II, the company has revealed more information about it. According to Cinema Blend, the DLC, named Abyssal Forge, will arrive on the PC, Xbox 360 and North American PlayStation Network on October 30. The European PlayStation Network will see the release of the DLC a day later on October 31. It is set to cost 800 Microsoft Points on the Xbox 360 and $10 (approximately Rs 537) on the other platforms.

The DLC adds a new swamp region called the Shadow Lands. The Shadow Lands will also have two dungeons to explore and slaughter things in and will have high-end loot drops for you to gear up Death even further. According to the story, the Abyssal Forge uses the dark energies of the abyss to forge new weapons. The user of the forge – the Mad Smith – was locked away with the forge by his people in the Shadow Lands. The Smith has built an army with the forge which he plans to use wreak havoc on all the realms.

A new adventure awaits Death in the Shadow Lands

It was recently revealed that Joe Madureira – a veteran of comic books – has quit Vigil Studios. Madureira had a big part in the development of the Darksider series. "So long @Vigilgames @THQ," he tweeted. "Thanks for all the memories! @Darksiders was definitely a career highlight. Keep on kicking ass I'm a fan for life!"

Madureira had later elaborated on his Facebook page: "Farewell and best wishes to all my brothers and sisters at Vigil Games!" he said. "After seven long years and two hit games (Darksiders BABY!) I'm afraid the time has come for me to move on to new adventures.

"I could not be more proud of what we achieved, or the awesome people who helped build up this studio. I can safely say Vigil's future is in very good hands, so expect only awesomeness down the road. This feels surreal... I miss the place already."

The Darksider series deals with a rather loose adaptation of the end of the world scenario from the Bible. The main character in the first game was War, who is framed for kicking off the end of the world and is set to be punished by the Council. Players take on the role of War as he has to find out who was responsible for framing him, in a conspiracy theory that goes to the very top. The game was well received, though many panned it for derivation from games such as the Legend of Zelda series and God of War, among other things.

The second game, simply titled Darksiders II, had players take on the role of Death – War’s brother – as he tries to help out his brother from behind the scenes so as to prevent War’s punishment, as Death knows that War is the youngest and most innocent of the four brothers and would never start off the apocalypse. The game was well received by many, but was panned much more this time for its Diablo-inspired loot system, where you can outfit Death with a number of weapons and equipment which have randomised stats. Unlike the previous game’s action-adventure feel, Darksiders 2 places heavy emphasis on role playing game mechanics with levelling up and skill trees involved. Darksiders 2 was also much larger than the first game and consisted of several zones with different quest hubs.

Read our review of Darksiders II here.