The Darkness 2, an FPS with an extra pair of limbs and a sense of empowerment as you rip though car doors as shields and rip enemies limb from limb. It’s been 5 years since the original darkness came out which was a console exclusive but it now comes into the hands (or tentacles) of pc gaming.
The Darkness 2’s combat really brings something new to the table, as nothing is as terrifying as the demon-infested mobster Jackie Estacado, who has many arsenals to his side including a variety of pistols, shotguns, random world objects and assault rifles. But the game changer comes as you release the kraken…. wait, I mean the two piranha-faced tentacles which you learn later on as the manifestations of the ancient darkness which sets its home in Jackie’s body, who is the current host.
The story of the game is its strong point as you try to get to grips as you lost the love of your life, seeing hallucinations of her as you progress through the game. As you progress through the game the story-focused scenes come into place comparatively less intense moments before ramping it back up with the next epic fight.
With the past years of current shooters finding room to add plot dialogs between gunshots, this game allows you to talk to the Franchetti crime family, learning the emotions and traits of each character while seeing their counter-part in the asylum giving the game a more meaningful play though.
But with many games the main downside is it feels like a done experience after completing it, offering a new game+ mode after completion which allows you to keep all the earned abilities but to fill out the gaps in the skill tree and to find the hidden relics which offer the backstory of the game, but apart from that there isn’t much else to offer.
As you go around creating up new ways of dismembering your foes, you can spend your gained experience evolving your new powers from eating people’s hearts to throwing a vortex of death leaving no survivors behind. As your companion known as a “Darkling”, a cockney-voiced imp who acts as a wingman, ripping the throats of unwary guards while hiding in the shadows and sprawling though vents to find hidden paths.
Overall, The Darkness 2 lives up to its name as stepping into the light strips you off your powers, so after years of the supposed “realistic” military shooters it’s nice to see something different coming out from the darkest parts of our mind. Offering a big story twist, hours of chest ripping action and other guilty pleasures this game is definitely worth it.
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