Vigil Games was planning to add cooperative multiplayer, last two Horsemen to Darksiders 3

Vigil Games was planning to add cooperative multiplayer to a third installment in the Darksiders series had they retained control of the IP, former Vigil creative director Joe Madureira told IGN.

The Darksiders games, along with more than 150 other titles, were acquired by Nordic Games in April at the close of the THQ bankruptcy auction. Prior to the purchase, Vigil had been brainstorming story and gameplay ideas for what could have been Darksiders 3, including the addition of the remaining two Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

"It was always our hope to do a full four-player co-op game, with all four Horsemen playable," Madureira said. "It's possible we could have pulled it off. I would have liked to introduce Fury and Strife. I know many fans feel robbed that they never got to play the last two Horsemen."

Madureira said the studio was considering a storyline in which the Horsemen travelled to Hell to battle Lucifer as part of a larger plot in which they would struggle to regain their freedom.

"There was also an idea to do crazy ‘western' type story, where the Horsemen are mortals after the rebirth of Mankind, sort of an alternate future," he added. "But neither idea got very far."

Madureira said that he is "unsure" about Nordic's purchase of the IP and his feeling on the games are strongly bound to the original development team.

"I'm not sure how I feel about the Nordic purchase to be honest," he said. "I have sort of a ‘wait and see' attitude about it, as I'm sure many people do. I'm not sure if I'd want to get involved with it or not.

"A lot of my love for the IP is also wrapped up in the people we had at the studio and the stuff we created together," he added. "But I've learned to never say never. If it's cool, and I have time, I'd consider it. But my involvement couldn't be what it was before. I'm moving on to new things right now."