The Darkness (video game)
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''The Darkness'' is a
first-person shooter First-person shooter (FPS) is a sub-genre of shooter video games centered on gun and other weapon-based combat in a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action through the eyes of the protagonist and controlling the pl ...
video game developed by
Starbreeze Studios Starbreeze Studios AB is a Swedish video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher based in Stockholm. The studios's notable games developed include ''The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay'', ''Payday 2'' and ''Brothers: ...
and published by
2K Games 2K is an American video game publisher based in Novato, California. 2K was founded under Take-Two Interactive in January 2005 through the 2K Games and 2K Sports labels, following Take-Two Interactive's acquisition of Visual Concepts that same m ...
for the
PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...
and
Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation ...
. The game was released in 2007 in North America and Europe and it is based on '' The Darkness'' comic book series published by
Top Cow Productions Top Cow Productions is an American comics publisher, an imprint of Image Comics founded by Marc Silvestri in 1992. History During the early years of Image Comics, which was founded in 1992, co-founder Marc Silvestri shared a studio with Jim Le ...
. A sequel titled ''
The Darkness II ''The Darkness II'' is a 2012 first-person shooter video game developed by Digital Extremes and published by 2K Games. The game is the sequel to ''The Darkness (video game), The Darkness'' (2007) and based on the The Darkness (comics), comic boo ...
'' was released in 2012.


Plot

The player takes on the role of Jackie Estacado (
Kirk Acevedo Kirk M. Acevedo (born November 27, 1971) is an American actor. He is primarily known for his work on television for the portrayals of Miguel Alvarez in the HBO series '' Oz'', Joe Toye in '' Band of Brothers'', and FBI Agent Charlie Francis i ...
), with the story presented through narration by himself. On the evening of his 21st birthday, Jackie is targeted for assassination by his "Uncle" Paulie Franchetti (
Dwight Schultz William Dwight Schultz (born November 24, 1947) is an American television, film and voice actor. He is known for his roles as Captain "Howling Mad" Murdock on the 1980s action series ''The A-Team'' and as Reginald Barclay in the ''Star Trek'' ...
) out of sheer paranoia that Jackie is after his position as the Don. As night falls, the Darkness (
Mike Patton Michael Allan Patton (born January 27, 1968) is an American singer, producer, film composer and voice actor, best known as the lead vocalist of the alternative metal band Faith No More. Noted for his vocal proficiency, diverse singing techni ...
) - an ancient demonic force which has inhabited Jackie's bloodline for generations - violently manifests and massacres his pursuers. With his new powers, Jackie gradually dismantles Paulie's drug and money laundering operations. In retaliation, Franchetti bombs St. Mary's Orphanage where Jackie grew up and has his main enforcer, Police Captain Eddie Shrote (
Jim Mathers James Mathers (born May 5, 1955) is an American cinematographer and director of photography. He is the younger brother of former child television star Jerry Mathers of '' Leave It to Beaver'' fame. Biography Mathers was born in Los Angeles, C ...
), kidnap Jackie's childhood girlfriend, Jenny Romano (
Lauren Ambrose Lauren Anne D'Ambruoso (born February 20, 1978), known professionally as Lauren Ambrose, is an American actress and singer. She performs in television, film, and on Broadway. Ambrose had television roles as Claire Fisher in ''Six Feet Under'' ( ...
), and take her to the orphanage to use for bait. Jackie hastily searches the building for her while the Darkness taunts him with his memories. When he finally reaches them, the Darkness restrains him and he is forced to watch as Paulie murders Jenny. While Paulie and Eddie flee, a grief-stricken Jackie commits suicide. Jackie finds himself waking up in the Otherworld, a hellish landscape controlled by the Darkness resembling the trenches of
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and inhabited by undead patchwork German and British soldiers at war as well as physical representations of the
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are figures in the Christian scriptures, first appearing in the Book of Revelation, a piece of apocalypse literature written by John of Patmos. Revelation 6 tells of a book or scroll in God's right hand tha ...
. There he meets his great-great-grandfather, Anthony "Tony" Estacado (
Kirk Baltz William Kirk Baltz (born September 14, 1959) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as the police officer Marvin Nash in Quentin Tarantino's film ''Reservoir Dogs''. Life and career Baltz was born in New York City, New York. He playe ...
), who explains that it was he who brought the Darkness into their family and that Jackie can be free of the curse by invading the Otherworld's innermost castle and facing the Darkness there. Once he recovers, Jackie determines that he must dispose of Eddie before he can face Paulie. After failing to kill him at his apartment, Jackie steals a briefcase containing illicit goods in his ownership from a
Turkish bath A hammam ( ar, حمّام, translit=ḥammām, tr, hamam) or Turkish bath is a type of steam bath or a place of public bathing associated with the Islamic world. It is a prominent feature in the culture of the Muslim world and was inherited ...
that is used as a front by his corrupt police officers, which he rigs with an explosive. Jackie sets up a meeting with him at Trinity Church, but ends up being captured by his men following a shootout. After overhearing about a shipment of drugs that a
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
mob is entrusting to Paulie to handle from one of his officers, Jackie triggers the explosive, killing Eddie and his men along with himself. Jackie re-awakes in the Otherworld and lays siege to the Darkness's castle with Tony's help. Tony is mortally wounded in the attack, but before he can tell Jackie the last steps needed to free himself from the Darkness, the spirit pulls him away. Jackie faces the Darkness and surprises it by willingly being taken by the Darkness's power, allowing him to fully control the spirit back in the real world. However, the Darkness tells him that while he has control now, each time Jackie takes a life, he will become more consumed by the Darkness. He lays an assault on the drug shipment, causing Paulie to flee to the safety of a lighthouse mansion for fear of retribution from the Chicago mob for his failure of protecting the drug shipment plus the fact that they see Paulie has become a liability due to his unstable nature and using his failure as pretext to get rid of him. Jackie takes advantage of a
solar eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of the Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six month ...
to raid the mansion and finally kill Paulie. The Darkness revels in Jackie's murderous spree, and fully envelops Jackie. In the epilogue, Jackie finds himself in a dream, lying on a park bench in Jenny's arms. Jenny explains that they are only allowed a few minutes to be together before they say goodbye to each other for the last time. Jackie tries to ask how, but Jenny just quiets him, allowing them to enjoy the last moments together before Jackie wakes back up with the screen fading to black.


Gameplay

The game includes a range of modern-day weapons as well as the powers of the Darkness, which include summoning four imp-like creatures called "Darklings" that can attack foes, using "Dark" tentacles to impale foes or break down walls, using "Creeping Dark" tendrils that sneak along floors, walls and ceilings to take out foes from a distance, and creating a black hole that sucks anything nearby into it. The Darkness powers cannot be used in a well-lit area but can be used in darker areas and under total darkness; the player is able to shoot out lights to help increase the amount of dark energy available. Additionally, by letting the Darkness consume the hearts of its victims, the player can further increase the effects of the Darkness powers. Over the course of the game, Jackie comes into possession of Darkness guns that are more powerful than conventional weapons but consume Darkness energy in order to fire. The Darkness guns are
dual wield Dual wielding is the technique of using two weapons, one in each hand for training or combat. It is not a common combat practice. Although historical records of dual wielding in war are limited, there are numerous weapon-based martial arts that ...
ed. The game has several levels based on
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
locales that players visit multiple times. A subway system allows the player to move between areas. While the main plot is primarily linear, requiring the player to visit each area in a certain order, the player can undertake side missions by speaking with
non-player characters A non-player character (NPC), or non-playable character, is any character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster o ...
that wander the subway stations. Completing sub-missions earns the player a "collectible" phone number which can then be used at any phone to unlock additional game media; collectibles can also be found scattered throughout the level. The Otherworld levels feature collectibles in the form of unposted postal mail that the player can deliver when back in New York City in order to unlock the content. In the game, the film ''
To Kill a Mockingbird ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' is a novel by the American author Harper Lee. It was published in 1960 and was instantly successful. In the United States, it is widely read in high schools and middle schools. ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' has become ...
'' is shown; the player is able to watch the entirety of the film if they remain motionless in that particular part of the game, while the character's girlfriend falls asleep by him. ''
Maximum PC ''Maximum PC'', formerly known as ''boot'', is an American magazine and website published by Future US. It focuses on cutting-edge PC hardware, with an emphasis on product reviews, step-by-step tutorials, and in-depth technical briefs. Componen ...
'' called the scene "the most authentic instance of romance ever conveyed in a videogame". Also included is the film ''
The Man with the Golden Arm ''The Man with the Golden Arm'' is a 1955 American drama film with elements of film noir directed by Otto Preminger, based on the novel of the same name by Nelson Algren. Starring Frank Sinatra, Eleanor Parker, Kim Novak, Arnold Stang and ...
'', a full episode of ''
Flash Gordon Flash Gordon is the protagonist of a space adventure comic strip created and originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by, and created to compete with, the already established ''Buck Rogers'' adve ...
'', the film ''
The Street Fighter ''The Street Fighter'' (Japanese: ザ • ストリート • ファイター, Hepburn: Za Sutorīto Faitā) is a 1974 Japanese martial arts film produced by Toei Company Ltd., originally released in Japan as . It was released in the US by New L ...
'' with Sonny Chiba, and cartoon shorts of
Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by E. C. Segar, Elzie Crisler Segar.Gabby.


Development

In March 2005,
Majesco Entertainment Majesco Entertainment Company (formerly Majesco Sales Inc.) is an American video game publisher and distributor based in Hazlet, New Jersey. The company was founded as Majesco Sales in Edison, New Jersey in 1986, and was a privately held company ...
obtained the publishing rights for the game, but later sold the rights in December that year due to financial troubles.
2K Games 2K is an American video game publisher based in Novato, California. 2K was founded under Take-Two Interactive in January 2005 through the 2K Games and 2K Sports labels, following Take-Two Interactive's acquisition of Visual Concepts that same m ...
then obtained the publishing rights in March 2006, releasing the game in North America on June 25, 2007. To promote the game, a five-issue comic book mini-series retelling the game entitled ''The Darkness: Level'' by writers Paul Jenkins and David Wohl was released from December 2006 to June 2007. The mini-series was collected into a trade paperback in October 2007.


Reception

''The Darkness'' received "favorable" reviews on both platforms according to the
review aggregation A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
. '' Hypers Daniel Wilks commended the game for its "brilliant storytelling, looking great and excellent level design". On the other hand, he criticised its "weak physics engine and some AI problems". ''
Famitsu formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the fo ...
'' gave the former console version a score of two eights and two sevens for a total of 30 out of 40. 411Mania gave the
Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation ...
version a score of 8.7 out of 10 and called it "the kind of shooter that I enjoy. It is built around more than just shooting. It gives you a wide range of powers with which to play. It gives you people to interact with. It gives you a story that is worth caring about. And it makes you feel as if you are The Darkness itself. However, because of the relative brevity of its content, some basic bugs and flaws that are still present, and the minor annoyances of the controls of Jackie's powers, it is far from perfect. This is pretty much a must play shooter, if not quite the classic I was hoping for". ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' gave the game a favorable review and said that "part of
he game's He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
charm is its wealth of extravagant, often irrelevant detail". ''
The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'' gave it a C and called it "an overreaching, frequently clumsy genre hybrid with moments of brilliance". ''The Darkness'' has sold over a million units worldwide. The
Media Development Authority The Media Development Authority (abbreviation: MDA) was a statutory board of the Singapore Government, under the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI). History MDA was formed on 1 January 2003 by the merger of Singapore Broadcasting ...
of Singapore previously banned the game for excessive violence and religiously offensive expletives.


References


External links

*
Starbreeze page2K Games page
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