The Darkness 2 is a “beautiful nightmare,” says 2K Games boss.
After years of rumors, 2K Games has finally announced that 2011 will see a sequel to the 2007 shooter The Darkness. The game will continue the tale of former mafia hitman Jackie Estacado, who gained malevolent supernatural powers on his twenty-first birthday, and racked up a few deaths in the process.
The Darkness 2 takes place three years after the events of the first game. Jackie is now the head of the Franchetti family, and has avoided using his powers as much as possible. The situation soon changes however, when an attempt on Jackie’s life erupts into a full-scale gang war. The Darkness uses the situation to re-emerge, apparently setting Jackie on a path that will lead him to hell and back. 2K has brought award-winning comic book writer Paul Jenkins on board to write the story. Jenkins also helped to write the first game, as well as many issues of The Darkness comics.
2K president, Christoph Hartmann, described the game as a “stylized and beautiful nightmare.” Marc Silvestri, co-creator of The Darkness comics, said fans of the comics had nothing to worry about. “Us fans have come to expect the worst,” he said. “And sometimes we get it. But not with The Darkness 2. Yeah, call me biased, but this second installment of Jackie Estacado’s epic saga is – in my humble opinion – one of the most brutally cool games I’ve ever played.”
The game will apparently differentiate itself from other shooters through its light and dark mechanics, and the fact that players will be able to “Quad Wield,” which is like dual-wielding, but with more limbs. As you can see from the screenshot – which is the currently the only image of the game – The Darkness 2 also sports stylized visuals that looks like the designers have infused the first game with the art style from Borderlands.
Sadly, Starbreeze Studios won’t be returning to the series. Instead, development duties will fall to Digital Extremes. Digital Extremes has worked on a number of high-profile games, either pitching in on the multiplayer aspects – as with BioShock 2 – or porting games to the PC – as with Homefront. It’s solo games are few in number, but include the likes of Pariah and Dark Sector.
The Darkness 2 is scheduled for release on Xbox 360, PC, and PS3 in the Fall.
