The Darkness II Review - New Game Network

It has been almost 5 years since the atmospheric and emotionally involving The Darkness was released. With a new visual style and development team behind it, The Darkness II looks to continue the franchise and its unique setting and mechanics. This is a title that offers much of the tightly controlled and engaging action of the original, with a visual style that emphasizes the series’ comic book roots and violence to match. And though it never quite reaches the highs of the original, this is none the less an engaging sequel that can be fairly easily enjoyed by newcomers and at least appreciated by diehard fans.

As a direct continuation of the story from its predecessor, the game does an adequate job of recapping the events of the original game. Obviously, since this is a sequel, beware of spoilers. Players assume the role of Jackie Estacado, now two years after the events of the first game, when Jackie has suffered the loss of his girlfriend Jenny, exacted revenge on his mobster family and has taken the helm of the criminal organization. He has also managed to keep the Darkness (an entity which has granted him demonic powers) locked away, not letting it take control of his actions. However, when he is suddenly ambushed, the Darkness has to be released in order to save Jackie’s life and exact revenge on his attackers.

As events unravel, Jackie finds himself on the heels of an organization known as the Brotherhood. Led by a scarred man named Victor, the group seeks to capture Jackie and capture the Darkness for their own use. Jackie, meanwhile, is fighting not only the Darkness but also his own inner demons and memories of Jenny that seem very real. Overall, the plot is engaging, with multiple twists and turns and some rather emotional situations. While it is more dramatic and imaginative than most shooters, it never quite reaches the same impact as the memorable scenes of the original – in fact, many of the plot elements will seem eerily familiar to fans. It seems as though the game follows roughly the same scenarios and events, just with a different spin and new set of characters. This makes it accessible to newcomers, but fans may be a bit annoyed. There are also two endings – but one is so illogical and disappointing that fans will hopefully see the clear choice when the time comes.

The open world concept in has been replaced with a much more linear level design in The Darkness II. There are no more side quests, no exploration of dark city streets, instead simply following a linear series of events much like other modern shooters. It’s a change in gameplay design that’s easy to criticize, with better pacing being one of the very few redeeming factors. At the very least, The Darkness II does have some fairly open environments, so it is not a hallway shooter for the most part.

One of the main selling points of the franchise remains the quad wielding mechanic, essentially allowing players to dual-wield light weapons and also use their demon arm abilities at the same time. It’s a system that works very well, and has been further fleshed out for the sequel. Controls feel tight and responsive, allowing you to get out of some very tricky situations against challenging opponents. The AI is skilled, divided into ranged and melee types, and with a wide number of special abilities that change as you progress through the game and face increasingly challenging foes. Starting off fighting fairly helpless human mobsters, you’ll eventually face off against elite Brotherhood soldiers with a number of abilities such as carrying portable light sources and whipping weapons out of your hands.

Enemy numbers increase with story progression, and the game infrequently puts the player into a room with a single task of surviving the next few waves of attackers. These sequences can be fairly frustrating, requiring multiple restarts as your darkness powers lack any real crowd-clearing attacks. There are a few boss fights in the game as well, but they are hardly memorable and play out in a simple manner (but to be fair, they are indeed firefights, not QTEs).

As mentioned earlier, Jackie is able to dual wield any combination of light weapons – submachine guns and pistols. He also has a slot for a two-handed weapon, such as an assault rifle or shotgun. All of the weapons in the game feel fairly similar, but still pack a good punch and feel satisfying to fire. Taking weapons from falling enemies remains a necessity to keep your arsenal replenished. The real tools of the trade though are the Darkness’ demon arms.

The twin snake-like creatures make a return from the original game with some new tricks but also some removed functions. Players are no longer able to separate from the body and explore the world/solve puzzles through the eyes of the snake, though that ability is replicated through the sections where you play as the darkling. On the other hand, players can use the Darkness to grab objects in the environment to use in combat as shields or as throwable weapons. The Darkness is able to attack enemies directly within range as well, with player-controlled directional slashes potentially slicing them or sending them into the air. Consuming hearts of fallen enemies remains a staple of the game.

The Darkness II features an expansive RPG-like character progression system. With each kill, depending on how creatively it is performed, players earn dark essence points which can be redeemed on a very wide variety of special skills. By spending points at special upgrade beacons, players can unlock new abilities – from improving weapon efficiency to significantly expanding the darkness powers. Powers range from vortexes – which can suck in enemies – or distract them with the swarm. Some key abilities actually allow the player to perform executions on enemies in order to benefit – by grabbing a vulnerable foe, players get a choice of health, ammo, or other bonuses that they wish to receive by performing the execution. This adds an actual reason (beyond the gore) to perform executions during battle.

A key area for a game titled The Darkness is, of course, the conflict of light and shadow. While the original played very much like Splinter Cell at times, with sharp contrast between lit and dark areas, The Darkness II throws it away in favor of a more relaxed system. There are very few pitch-dark areas in the game, instead everything is clearly visible and light sources simply stand out in the environment a bit more than other props. It’s a change that goes a long way in reducing any atmosphere that the game was hoping for. Rather than being a passive and strictly a source of inconvenience, it is now a weapon in the hands of the Brotherhood that isn’t contained within a defined area. Light can be apparently harmless as you come across light bulbs, and there is no way to tell which sources of light will actually impact you. The Brotherhood takes full advantage of the medium, using light grenades and mobile projectors in order to corner and disorient the player. In contrast to the original game there are no hard lines or edges where the darkness begins and you can feel safer. This change in the system works because of the game’s new linear and combat-focused design, but some fans will likely miss stealth elements of the original.

It could be said that many of the gameplay changes that have been mentioned so far are due to the game’s completely revamped style. While The Darkness was an ordinary looking title, the sequel has completely changed up the visuals and now looks very much like a comic book with a cel-shaded art style. The newfound style doesn’t save the game’s textures from looking sub-par at times, along with a rather narrow field of view. With new visuals, as mentioned earlier, much of the atmosphere is lost. Save for a few locations that are specifically meant to be haunting, most of the game feels rather uninvolving. Many levels feel uninspired, such as parking garages and warehouses, and some are actually similar to those in the original game, like the subway station. Essence earned for each kill pops up right on your screen (though can be thankfully turned off), enemies glow with x-ray effects when they are vulnerable to an execution, and the lighting effects are not what they used to be. On a brighter side (get it?) when the player is under assault from light grenades or projectors, the screen blurs and whitens with great effect, inducing a feeling of extremely urgency to get to cover. The executions are brutal, with a variety of ways to dismember your unlucky enemies – and since performing these has a direct benefit for the player in form of health or ammo, there’s always a good reason to do them.

In addition to the relatively short single player campaign, the game offers an online cooperative option called Vendettas. Up to four players, assuming the roles of four distinct characters, can play through a variety of the scenarios. All four characters come with their own personalities, and perhaps more importantly, unique skill mini-trees and darkness weapons. Events which take place in Vendettas actually have a rather strong narrative, accompanying the events of the single player campaign. Most of the missions disappointingly boil down to fighting your way to a destination and defending it for a few minutes from waves of enemies. The online play is smooth and games can be joined in progress, or you can play offline if so you choose. With four even moderately skilled players, the Vendettas campaign is also disappointingly short, at well under two hours at most. There are also a few Hit List missions, but they are neither longer nor any more interesting.

Much of the game is well presented. The voice work for the Darkness itself is excellent, with Mike Patton once again providing the voiceover. Jackie’s voice actor Kirk Acevedo has sadly not returned, and was replaced with Brian Bloom who does a good job but not quite as strong as the Kirk was. The Darkling (now an actual, singular character instead of just a Darkness-spawn minion) starts out crude but evolves to actually be one of the more memorable and sincere personas. An accompanying soundtrack for the game is moody and smooth in tone, but doesn’t particularly stand out.

If The Darkness was a diamond in the rough, the sequel is a more polished, but slightly less valuable gem stone. Players, those new to the series in particular, will no doubt appreciate the unique mechanics, visuals, and overabundance of gore with solid shooting mechanics. However, those who have experienced the original Darkness will likely feel a bit let down by linear progression, déjàvu story elements and loosely defined light mechanics. The Darkness II, then, is a game that most can appreciate, and while some will be more pleased than others, it’s an adventure worthy of your time.