If you’re looking forward to Darksiders II and don’t want to miss out on a single ounce of content, you’ll want to take some time to play through the original if you haven’t already, as having a save file for Darksiders will earn you bonus content in the sequel.
According to the official Darksiders II blog, those who played the first game will get two exclusive in-game rewards. The first is the Pauldron of the Horsemen, which is an armor item that gives Death a stat increase. In addition, those that have managed to complete the original game in its entirety will get the second item, a scythe called the Chaos Fang, which boosts the amount of damage the player can inflict on their enemies.
The game determines your progress by the trophies/achievements you have amassed, so be sure you’ve earned all that you can before Darksiders II launches on August 14th.