The Darkness II is a video game developed by Digital Extremes and to be published by 2K Games. The game is the sequel to 2007's The Darkness. The game features the writing of Paul Jenkins, who previously worked on The Darkness comics. Originally scheduled to be released on July 10, 2011 and then on October 4, 2011, it was delayed for both dates and instead was released February 7, 2012 in North America and February 10, 2012 in Europe for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
Gameplay
The Darkness II follows a similar combat template as the first game with the introduction of new features, such as a tactic dubbed "quad wielding," a technique which allows the protagonist Jackie Estacado to use both The Darkness and firearms simultaneously. There is a greater emphasis on the aspect of Darklings, with there now being only one primary Darkling who holds greater importance and is more involved in the storyline and who is useful in all situations; able to go to and lead Jackie to certain waypoints and show him important items during boss fights, and allow Jackie to use him to go into hard-to-reach areas and kill enemies at a distance, while looking through the Darkling's eyes. The Darkling is able to interact with the environment by using items such as a worker drills to attack and torture Jackie's enemies and he can also use standard weaponry such as pistols to attack or threaten them. Jackie can use the environment to his advantage, by using car doors as shields and parking meters to kill enemies. Unlike in the first game, Jackie can use both his weaponry and The Darkness in public places. The Darkness only disappears while in the light or for story purposes.
Each kill, heart collected and enemy urinated on add towards Jackie's 'dark essence', a substance that clings to people and objects that have come in contact with The Darkness, which can be used to make purchases from a tree of abilities from 'talent shrines', such as 'black hole' which allows Jackie to charge an enemies heart with energy and throw it to create a void of vacuum encased in darkness, the ability to see and attack through walls, 'swarm' which allows Jackie to summon a swarm of flies to disable and stun multiple enemies at once, and 'gun channeling' which gives Jackie unlimited ammunition and deals supernatural damage for a short period of time. The character and player feel more uncomfortable in light, with exposure to light resulting in blurring of vision occupied with a high pitched ringing. Light will be more of a physical threat as well with there having a 'light vs darkness' feel.
Vendettas
Vendettas is a mode where the player plays as one of 4 hit men who each have specific Darkness powers and go on missions for Jackie. The Vendettas campaign happens at the same time as the game's main campaign and focuses on securing dark relics from Brotherhood agents. The campaign can be played offline alone or online co-operatively with other people (there is no split-screen). There is also a hit list option where players can replay specific missions from the Vendettas campaign as well as new ones specific to the Hit List mode. Each character has their own upgrade tree.
Development
Visually, the game's textures are designed using a cel-shading technique, emulating the aesthetic of its graphic novel namesake. The style was achieved with the development artists hand painting the majority of the game assets, instead of relying on digital methods to create a comic book style.
Musician Mike Patton reprises his role as the voice of The Darkness, however Kirk Acevedo, who provided the voice of Jackie Estacado in the former game, will not be returning. In his place will be actor Brian Bloom.
Plot
Vendettas campaign
Single Player Campaign
The Darkness II takes place two years after the events of the first game. Jackie Estacado, the current wielder of The Darkness has used his powers to become the Don of the Franchetti crime family. He has been unable to shake the thoughts of his dead girlfriend Jenny Romano and has since, with the help of estranged occultist Johnny Powell and his study into dark essence, contained his supernatural powers, and now The Darkness "wants out in the worst way".
The game starts with Jackie talking to the player about his life and about The Darkness while sitting alone in a chair in a dark, seemingly endless room with a white and black tile floor. Jackie pulls out a pendant with a small picture of his dead girlfriend Jenny and the scene shifts to Jackie getting out of a car and entering a luxurious restaurant. Jackie sits with two blonde twins until one is shot in the eye and a van crashes through the window, killing the other twin and heralding the start of a full-scale mob war, which has clearly been orchestrated by some outside force. Jackie's leg is wounded and Vinnie, one of Jackie's mob associates, gives Jackie a gun to fend off the attackers while Vinnie grabs Jackie and drags him through the restaurant and into the kitchen. Jackie smells gas leaking from the propane tanks as Vinnie tries to pry open the door, just in time for one of the attackers to throw a flaming bottle into the kitchen and igniting the gas into a violent explosion which knocks Jackie back and sends Vinnie through the wall, though they both survive. On the verge of death, Jackie sees Victor, who comments that Jackie is "stronger than his father", Victor then tells one of his henchmen to keep pushing Jackie and then disappears. As Jackie crawls toward the hole in the wall created by the explosion, The Darkness encourages Jackie to "embrace The Darkness", Jackie then releases The Darkness, who then proceeds to slaughter the remaining goons.
While making his way through the streets and into the subway, Jackie begins seeing strange haunting visions of Jenny which beckon him to come to her. In the subway, Jackie avoids being hit by a train and makes his way onto the demolished tracks. He then sees another apparition of Jenny who tells him to dance with her. She then disappears as an oncoming train hits Jackie. The Darkness proclaims that Jackie will not die as Jackie wakes up in a strange dream-like world which seems to be some kind of heavenly hospital. There he sees Johnny Powell and his mob friend Tony, both of whom act strange. Jackie then wakes from the dream and realizes that The Darkness had taken possession of his body and slaughtered the remaining henchmen. He meets up with Fat Tony and makes his way back to his mansion.
At Jackie's mansion, he talks with his Aunt Sara about Jenny and Sara comments on how Jackie is becoming obsessive like his father, which Jackie denies. Through many quests, hunting down everyone involved in The Brotherhood. This quest eventually brings Jackie to an abandoned carnival and into a confrontation with Victor Valente, a mysterious figure who knows what The Darkness is and wants his power for himself. Victor is the head of an ancient secret society known as The Brotherhood, formed thousands of years ago by a saint for the sole purpose of protecting the world from The Darkness. However the saint became corrupted and now The Brotherhood wants The Darkness for themselves, once Jackie finally catches up with Victor through his quest, which includes being pinned in an Iron Maiden and had The Darkness siphoned out of him, he fights a Darkness Empowered Mr. Peevish, which after he defeats him, allows Jackie to collect enough Dark Essence to make a shell of his previous powers, but is not sentient and dead, because there is no spiritual Darkness to power it, once Jackie continues, he confront Victor in Jackie's old house and a battle rages between Victor and Jackie. After defeating Victor, Jackie takes the Siphon of the Angelus from Victor and beats him to death with it, and afterwards tries to stab himself with it, because The Siphon is the only way for The Darkness to truly die and be sent to Hell. Victor warned him that it will kill him and send him to Hell, but Jackie wants to die so he can be with Jenny, and so he takes The Siphon and impales himself. Jackie then wakes up in the mental asylum that The Darkness uses to trap him while his body is being repaired, after realizing that he is in The Asylum and not in Hell, Jackie freaks out and runs down the hall.
Jackie, then asks to see Jenny in The Asylum, but on the way there, the Darkling appears and gives him access to the rooftop. As they rush to the top of the building, the Darkling opens the roof door and light pours in and shoots the Darkling down the steps. As the Darkling begins to die permanently, it previously died within The Darkness and not the Human world, it gives Jackie its goodbyes and wishes him good luck. Jackie then runs to the edge of the roof and tried to jump off when Doctor Victor and Jenny come saying to stop. This is when the player must choose to stay with the fake Jenny in the Asylum or jump and send Jackie to Hell to free the Real Jenny. If Jackie stays, he will dance with Jenny to old music, in the middle of the asylum, and the game ends shortly after.
But if he jumps, Jackie goes to Hell to save the real Jenny. As he continues through a maze, killing strange monstrosities and collecting flesh versions of normal guns, Jackie eventually saves her, which leads to an emotional reunion as Jackie and Jenny embrace each other in joy. Jenny tells Jackie that, no matter what happens, she will always love him, but suddenly apologizes. Jackie is confused and Jenny suddenly flies out of his arms and transforms into The Angelus. Jackie tells her that he will not fight her and demands to know what she has done with Jenny. The Angelus tells him that Jenny is still in her somewhere and that, despite all the suffering he caused her, she still loves him. She tells Jackie that because of all the suffering he created with The Darkness and the fact that he is too powerful, he must stay in the abyss within The Darkness forever. She states that the world has lived to long without her light and that Jackie and The Darkness are now in Hell where they belong. She then flies away, trapping Jackie in the inner abyss. The game ends with Jackie screaming upwards in anger and terror as The Darkness closes up.
Demo
A playable demo (size 1.40GB) of the game has been released on January 17, 2012 (North America) on Xbox Live and is available to Gold members for the first week. A PC, PS3, Xbox Live Silver demo was released on January 24, 2012 (North America) and a day later in EU and Asia.
Reception
Reviews for The Darkness II are generally positive. PSM3 and Xbox World magazines awarded the game 8.1 out of 10 and said that the game is "Not perfect, but deeply satisfying to blast through." Both Official Xbox Magazine U.S. and Official Xbox Magazine UK awarded the game a 9 out of 10, with the U.S. edition praising the dark story, "excellent" combination of Darkness powers and gunplay, brutal finishing moves, and fun cooperative multiplayer, while criticizing the campaign's relatively short length and problems reviving allies in multiplayer and the UK edition citing "It's one of the best shooter-stories we've seen in years - justifying its own ludicrous nature in interesting and unexpected ways. If the ending didn't feel like such a cop-out, The Darkness II could have been on par with BioShock. As it is, the gripping narrative and wonderfully empowering combat mean you'll be talking about it for months after completing it." Playstation Official Magazine also gave the game 9 out of 10, stating "no graphic novel has been brought to life in such a deliciously gory manner, with offing goons turned an art form." Gameshark gave the game 9.1 out of 10, praising the heavy focus on storyline and the action packed gameplay. IGN gave the game an 8 out of 10, praising the visuals and gameplay, but suggested the game lacks polish and the story, while enjoyable, isn't as strong as the original. GameSpot gave it a 7 out of 10, which is currently the lowest rating given to the game, but GameSpot still praised the gameplay, story, skill tree, and sound. The negative aspects of the game, in their view, include the short campaign, predictable enemy A.I, unsatisfactory multiplayer and linear level design. Gametrailers gave it a 7.4 out of 10.
System requirements
Minimum requirements:
Microsoft Windows XP
Intel Core 2 Duo 2 GHz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+
1.5 GB of RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT 256 MB or ATi Radeon HD 2600 Pro 256 MB
DirectX compatible sound card
10 GB of free hard disk space
Recommended requirements:
Microsoft Windows XP
2.4 GHz quad core
2 GB of RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512 MB or ATi equivalent
DirectX compatible sound card
10 GB of free hard disk space
Developer(s) Digital Extremes
Publisher(s) 2K Games
Producer(s) Sheldon Carter
Designer(s) Tom Galt
Writer(s) Paul Jenkins
Engine Evolution Engine (Proprietary)
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Release date(s) NA February 7, 2012[1]
EU February 10, 2012[1]
Genre(s) First-person shooter
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer
Rating(s)
ESRB: M
Media/distribution DVD, Blu-ray Disc, download
(My Point Of View) After I play the game. THX! Comment ;)
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