'DeathSpank' sequel arrives late September, just two months after first game

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DeathSpank, the latest game from esteemed video game designer Ron Gilbert of The Secret of Monkey Island fame, is to be joined on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 by its sequel, DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue on September 21 and 22 respectively.

The first game followed in the footsteps of the boisterous knight DeathSpank, sending players upon various quests across a land filled with combat, caricature, comedy and color in search of a mysterious artifact, earning a solid 79 percent score on review aggregation sites Metacritic and GameRankings.

The sequel brings back DeathSpank's over-egged bravado, once again in the form of a downloadable action adventure, but adds more modern weaponry to the original's medieval setting, as well as a choice of two secondary characters for the game's co-op play mode.

Bringing out the next game so soon is a little surprising, but, given the success of the first and the apparent savings involved in doubling up on development timing, not altogether out of the blue.

One of Ron Gilbert's ex- Monkey Island colleagues, Tim Schafer, is also exploring similar avenues with Costume Quest, a Halloween-themed console download based on tech developed for the earlier Brütal Legend.

http://www.deathspank.com/