When all of this THQ news started rolling in today, one of the first signs of trouble at Vigil was a tweet from Ben Cureton, combat designer on Darksiders. His simply read "Anyone looking for a designer? =)" Later, he was able to expand on his thoughts via a post on NeoGAF.

Head to the NeoGAF link above for the full text. Here's a condensed version of the message from Cureton:

The seats are empty.

We've all been on edge for the past couple months... and more so, the last couple weeks. I mean, I'm sure you can imagine what it's like to wonder if you will have a job tomorrow. Most of us here joked about it just to keep the mood light, but we all knew what could happen. Now I look around and I realize...it did happen.

...maybe you can imagine what it feels like when you read the list of who bought what only to discover your name is not on the list. Why? Did we do something wrong? Were we not good enough? Were we not worth 'anything?' Imagine that.

I can only say thank you to the fans of Vigil games. Your support means more than you can imagine. Your feedback (both positive and negative) gave us long-lasting insight that we will all take with us, wherever we may go. You are the reason we made Darksiders 1 & 2...and you are the reason we will continue to make games.

And with that... my seat is empty.

It's tough to see such a talented team get the shaft during the auction proceedings. Here's hoping the folks behind the Darksiders series are able to find new work in short time.