The Darkness 2

Some of the most popular video game franchises are those based on successful comic book series. The Darkness and its recent sequel The Darkness 2 can easily attest to that.The dark, brooding supernatural crime universe of The Darkness has garnered much praise both as a graphic novel series and as a video game series. Its compelling stories and relatable characters offer a uniquely engaging experience, an experience that is further explored in The Darkness 2.

The heart of The Darkness video games rely in its interesting storytelling. Being one of the more story-driven games, The Darkness manages to find a strong balance between intense action-oriented gameplay, and powerful and immersing storytelling. The Darkness tells the story of Jackie Estacado, a mobster that suddenly finds himself being targeting by a rival gang, and the strange supernatural force that the gang possesses. Soon enough, Jackie becomes the new host for the dark evil force, and becomes blessed (or cursed) with menacing demonic abilities.

The real strength of The Darkness 2 is the way that these demonic abilities play on the typical shooter dual-wielding mechanic. At its heart, The Darkness 2 is a first-person-shooter (FPS) but it is actually much more than that. In most FPS games, there is often a dual-wielding ability, in which the player is allowed to choose two different weapons for each hand, and attack the enemies according to these weapons. The Darkness 2 brings a new twist to it by allowing the player to have monstrous demon arms in addition to the player’s two human arms. In this sense, the dual-wielding mechanic is taken to an entire new level, where a strong harmony of simultaneous melee and gunplay is achieved. In addition to this, the player is given a large library of abilities that provides easier and more gruesome kills as well as a more exciting experience.

The Darkness 2 is not without its flaws however. Although the story is well-told, there are those that argue that it is not as compelling or interesting as the story from the original game. A slight lack of graphical polish as well as frustrating enemy AI also hinders the experience.

Despite its miniscule flaws, The Darkness 2 manages to remain fun, exciting, and thrilling with its enticingly fresh and outrageous gameplay and its stunning storytelling.