They took them off the case before DS1 Warmastered was even announced, I'm pretty sure they were removed due to the backlash.
The most ridiculous part of all of this is that Gunfire is made up of ex Vigil staffers. How do the original devs screw up their own game this badly?

Not a problem, but as of right now, I think anyone is better off playing the original version if they have it. I find it rather galling that the original DS2 wasn't included as a bonus for anyone who buys DE after the fact. Considering DS1:WE does have the original and is a solid port, you'd think the least they could do is offer everyone a copy of the original DS2.

With the release date of the third game being next year (though I have an insane amount of doubt toward it and suspect it will be pushed into 2019) it's not unreasonable to believe that Nordic had them working on it when the Warmastered release was announced.

I still agree though, the focus should have been getting the remaster to what they claimed it would be (vs. in working order for "most", with fringe cases going ignored) before someone made the decision to give the greenlight on development of the third game at all.

Just checked and I don't have the original version of Darksiders 2, which I absolutely assumed would be included with the DE. Really strange that they chose to remove it. In this case I really, really hope that they end up fixing the game before I get to playing it.

Gameplay footage.
On console I think.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pk_D2NSdOvA

Pre-alpha or not, there's no way they haven't been working on that for quite some time now. The cynic in me wants to believe not long after the Deathinitive remaster at the earliest.