I’VE SLEPT ON THIS FOR OVER A DECADE. BIG MISTAKE!

I’ve had this game for over a decade, and now that I have given myself the objective to demolish my backlog, this was some of the most fun I’ve had in a while.

POSITIVES:
+Gameplay+
The gameplay runs fast and aggressive, while begging the players to avail themselves of all of their abilities. A useful characterization would be a more streamlined Doom Eternal. Instead of hiding in cover or running or gunning, you are encouraged to go into encounters with violence of action. You will get out of cover, deploy your crowd control swarm, headshot a couple of enemies, grab a third one with your demon arm and execute him to regain health, grab the black hole you’ve created from one of the headshots and throw it at a group of enemies, then grab and throw an object at a third threat and finish it off with your guns. It can be slightly awkward until you get into the rhythm, but once you’re in, this game plays like a sonata, especially on New Game +.

I misjudged the progression system while playing on the hardest difficulty on my first playthrough. Thus, I got stuck on a fight or two, but once I got a meaningful damage upgrade, I just slaughtered my way through. The best part is that while some enemies have higher health on the highest difficulty, they still don’t feel spongy because their moveset is varied enough to keep fights intense and relatively brief. You’ll only see health bars on bosses and I love that. The upgrades you get all bring notable changes that serve to enhance the variety and intensity of your build, but are ultimately a system that ensures that you don’t get overwhelmed and learn to use your abilities gradually and comprehensively.

+Graphics+
The graphics of the game are incredibly nice. I played in 1440p and was running consistently at 180fps or above (my screen is limited to 180, so I didn’t really pay attention). The simplicity of the geometry lends to this performance, but the wonderful thing is that the art style of the game renders the lack of geometry detail irrelevant.

+Art Style+
The game looks gorgeous, as if you are on the comic book page itself. Rarely has cel shading been used so well. The atmosphere is consistently enthralling and helps the player get sucked into the story. The contrast between bright interiors in the game’s intermissions wonderfully offsets the dark and visceral visual themes that they will experience throughout their descent into the depth of The Darkness’ black ichor filled world.

+Story+
All I knew about The Darkness before I played this was the voice of the entity going “JAAAAACKIEEEEE…” in the trailer. I was very pleasantly surprised that despite its short length, the game manages to tell a story that is passionate and poignant. Instead of a two dimensional main character, we get a non-remorseful criminal literally tortured by a demon, who at the same time deeply cares about those close to him. His at moments maniacal rage still give ways to tenderness and care for his loved ones and the cast of characters, whether they are there to meaningfully complement his personal journey or comic relief are wonderfully written.

+Characters+
They fall broadly in two categories. The first are the characters that are played straight and that are central to the story. I was surprised how much gravitas they manage to have, given how beautifully silly the comic ones are. It’s great to have a gentle moment with the character’s aunt, who’s concerned about him, and then moments later walk to another part of the house and hear a couple of mob scumbags busting each other’s balls or telling jokes.

NEUTRALS:
=Bosses=
The bosses are varied in abilities, and fights rely on you being a good shot and utilizing the resources in the battle environment. On Don difficulty, you won’t have much of an opportunity to hide yourself in a corner and pick at the big baddie. Instead, you are expected to control the battle space, dodging and neutralizing ads to gain resources, and attack the bosses or perform a given fight’s mechanic. I only got stuck a couple of times for more than a couple of tries, but that was because I hadn’t invested in damage skill (I was chasing achievements).

=Side missions and activities=

There’s little side content to be had but it is good. Apart from the main missions, you can interact with people to get even more story and character lore. Some of the most entertaining moments came from the insane lines that some of them say. Throughout the game there are a couple of brief mini games that aren’t anything special.

Once you’re done with the main course, there’s a smaller side experience in the Vendetta and Hit List modes. Those support up to 4 player co-op, however the servers seemed dead to me, so I soloed the content. The Vendetta mode includes a small campaign that is a bit mid. It’s fun to get additional lore and story, parallel to the main one, but the cut down ability trees for the Vendetta characters don’t feel that good after Jackie’s, even though that makes total sense lore-wise. The Hit List missions are even more compact, with not much of a story behind them. It should be noted that not all encounters seemed to have been designed with one player in mind. They are possible, but might frustrate you at higher difficulty levels.

=Collectibles=

I wanted to make a special note on these. There are only 29 and you’ll probably need a guide, but they are rewarding because they each come with about a minute-long description by Johnny, and I found most to be fun listens, to intersperse some of the adrenaline

=Music=
The score is unobtrusive and I found myself paying attention to it only a couple of times, when it was being used for emotional context of a scene. There are couple of lovely moments using non-original tracks.

=Playtime=

My first playthrough, where I gathered all the collectibles, consumed every possible line of dialogue and was fighting on the highest difficulty, while learning the game stretched to a tad over ten hours. In my second, on the highest difficulty and NG+, while only doing the main dialogue, I got it down to slightly less than five. While brief, the game is intense, which for me is enjoyable. I would much rather have a game that goes hard for five hours than one that stretches those five to twenty with tedium.

CONCLUSION:
I have no doubt that fans of story-driven FPS games will enjoy this one. I loved the world and story, and the gameplay was scrumptious. It’s a slightly chiller Doom with mob stuff instead of hell stuff and it’s extremely enjoyable. If you’ve ever considered trying it out, I heartily recommend The Darkness 2. It’s a steal at it’s current price, and a no-brainer on the insanely low sales it gets on Steam (3 euros at the time of writing).