However, it was later announced that Deathspank was returning for a third game entitled, The Baconing, abandoning the protagonist's name in its title.

DeathSpank has received generally positive reviews from critics, who cited influences from both the Monkey Island and Diablo games.

DeathSpank features advanced dialog options, similar to LucasArts' Monkey Island series which play a large part in unfolding the game's story.

The game also features a local cooperative mode, in which the second player takes the role of Sparkles the Wizard.

[4] He travels with a wizard known as Sparkles, and the duo seek to claim The Artifact and rid the land of evil.

The victory is short lived, however, as a group of henchmen who serve the evil Lord Von Prong steal The Artifact and all of DeathSpank's equipment.

After a lengthy journey with several side quests throughout various locations, DeathSpank faces off against Lord Von Prong.

[7] During the 2009 Penny Arcade Expo DeathSpank was showcased at the Hothead Games booth, with live gameplay being demonstrated by staff, along with examples of story elements, and dialogue trees.

Gameplay enhancements based on feedback from the console versions include an equipment comparison function, a treasure chest feature in each town and major area, a new streamlined user interface and more.

[15] Gilbert and Kauzlaric created a rough design for the game and pitched it to publishers for over four years without success.

Thierry Nguyen of 1UP.com enjoyed the character's interactions, and noted, "a sort of deadpan absurdity where pretty much anything [...] gets said as naturally as we would discuss the time of day.

"[32] Eurogamer's Dan Pearson felt the humor was borderline irreverent and said, "I can't help feel I'm not really part of DeathSpank's target audience.

"[28] The reviewers from Australia's Good Game said they "liked [DeathSpank's] rolling countryside effect, so you feel like you're walking around a small planetoid filled with pop-up 2D sprites.

"[33] Joystiq's Randy Nelson lauded the visual and audio design of the game, and stated, "[it] resonates with charm created by artists, animators and Gilbert's own writing.

"[31] Randy Nelson of Joystiq noted that the game was diverse in its puzzles, adding that the developers strayed from stereotypical quotas such as killing a certain number of enemies.

[30] IGN's Kristine Steimer disagreed, and noted that due to experiences in past Gilbert-designed games, she expected more quests which included puzzles.

"[29] Martin Gaston of VideoGamer.com later stated that DeathSpank "all feels a bit diluted, as if a single drop of Diablo and Monkey Island has been added to an entire gallon of water.

"Chaining attacks is exceedingly satisfying, experimenting with various weapon combinations nearly as addictive as finding them in the first place" stated Chester[39] Some reviewers noted that the addition of cooperative gameplay, while welcome, was unbalanced and underdeveloped.

[28][31] GamePro's Will Herring disagreed and stated that the second player's character "won't steal the screen from the titular lead, but the option to team up and complete the game with a friend is a fun and worthwhile distraction.

[42] It continues where DeathSpank ends, and features the use of ranged weapons such as machine guns and rocket launchers.

It will be the first DeathSpank title not to feature the titular character in its name; it has been reported that this has nothing to do with the departure of Ron Gilbert from Hothead Games.