The darkness was a gripping game by which you discovered the story of Jackie, his struggles, and his hidden secrets. The narrative, visual, aural, and gameplay design all created a world unlike any others. It presented a compelling tale by which every aspect of the design was used to enhance the atmosphere and quality of the game to create a timeless classic that can be considered one of the best shooters, stories, or games of it time.

The darkness II demo was recently released, and it presents a game with drastically different visuals, similar sound design in terms of music, but a game where every other element seemed to be for the worse. The blood particularly is an extremely odd shade of reddish orange, and every shot, stab, or attack poops it over the ground splattering the environment with what appears to be pumpkin goop. Maybe it is shading or a lighting effect that produces visuals by which the blood appears to be Jello-like and pouring out in 50 lb batches per bullet.

The weapons feel extremely loose, to the point where lowering the sensitivity all the way still results in an experience where the aiming is so imprecise that aiming when dual wielding is more than immensely difficult. The crosshair ends up so large that it feels like a formerly extremely precise pistol is now a shotgun at 100 yards away. It is a good thing to note here that the hit boxing is extremely varied. Some enemies go down with a single shot to the chest, arm, leg, etc. while others take 4-6 shots to the chest. This appears to depend even more on the weapon used, for instance the Uzi resulted in around ½ of a clip per enemy death rather than the singular bullet of the 1911.

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The visual style feels as if the world of the darkness takes place in a bright, cheerful, well-lit, alley with gobs of “blood” spurted around the environment. Directly contrasting with the first game is a cell-shaded visual style, detracting from the serious tone of the first game. The lighting alone is enough to cause me to question whether this game was remotely designed for the darkness. In the first game every advertisement, vending machine, and light-bulb caused the darkness powers to cower away and present a weak and easily defeated Jackie. The sequel presents a cheery, bright, colorful environment whereby nothing seems to bother Jackie and his powers apart from spotlights. Stupidly, the game has skyscrapers lighting up the alleys and streets and light-bulbs that cannot be shot due to mesh coverings. It is the same asinine design from F.E.A.R. where you can shoot the lamp mounted on the ceiling to make it rotate and move around, but you cannot actually destroy the light-bulb itself. This atmospheric lighting detracts from the game to a point, where I said earlier, it makes me question whether or not it was even designed for the title in question.


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There was another thing that deeply concerned me. In the darkness powers, there is one which aims the guns for you. Tell me, when is a game that aims or plays itself a game? Clicking is interaction, sure, just like turning on the T.V. is interacting. It is one more thing in the sequel to directly contrast with what the initial design of the series. That does not mean to say the developer cannot edit or adjust the game in any way, but simply that if the majority of the game is different, it is not the same game. In the past such games have been side stories, retellings, or relaunches of the series, not sequels.


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The audio has sync issues, the overall feel of the game is different, the main antagonists was annoying more than anything, and all of this amounts to a game whereby I am torn between purchasing a sequel to one of my “best of all time” games or simply passing it based on the developers poor decisions. It is kind of like when you wait 10 years for that next movie in the franchise, and it ends up being Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Time will tell, but if so, R.I.P. The Darkness.