I like a good mopey indie game about feelings and stuff as much as the next person, but sometimes all you really want is to tear some asshole apart with a demonic tentacle and chow down on their still-beating heart.
The Darkness II delivers on that, essentially delivering the interactive equivalent of a Troma movie. The sequel to 2007’s The Darkness ditches the minor pretensions that game had at seriousness in favor of balls-to-the-wall action and style-based first-person combat broadly reminiscent of Bulletstorm.
At the end of that game player character Jackie Estacado had wreaked bloody vengeance on his enemies and become the new mob boss. This game picks up there, colliding straight-shooting gangster stereotypes and unknowable Lovecraftian monstrosities from hell.
Hearing these characters awkwardly acknowledge Jackie’s “…thing” tickles me, feeling a bit like seeing The Sopranos gang react to Tony sprouting hissing tentacles and bisecting a guy with a car door.
That goofiness extends to the gameplay. The environment is littered with props to grab and hurl at enemies, with a liberal auto aim making you able to impale someone on a hurled pole at the touch of a button. On top of your more diabolical powers there are your usual videogame selection of guns, all which can be dual-wielded in various combinations.
The campaign takes maybe four hours to clear and isn’t very difficult. Perhaps I’d have felt a bit short-changed had I bought this for full price on release, but right now just wanted a short sharp shock of fun and this delivered.
The graphics have also aged surprisingly well. There’s a very subtle cel-shading effect throughout the game, with smart texture work making the slightly dated models pop with life. Plus the lurid B-movie colour palette is a big improvement on the drabness of the first game.
The only real downer is that there’s a juicy-sounding co-op campaign that’s now completely defunct. Causing havoc in this game could only be more fun with a tentacled buddy at your side. The story also ends on a big cliffhanger that’s never going to get resolved, though at least it’s a silly one.
If this is knocking around the back of your Steam library give it a whirl. It’s brief n’ breezy, has solid mechanics, and nails the bizarre tone. I’m glad I finally got round to it.
Pixel Hunted 