• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

10th anniversary of The Darkness

The Darkness was among my very first demos when I got my PS3. I remember how engaged I was and how the game had these little unique details that I rarely saw in other games, such as the non-standard game over screens when you died or the monologues before each main chapter or location. It struck me how lifelike Jackie moved and acted during these scenes, the way he telegraphs his emotions with hand gestures. Hell, even the fact that the game loaded during the monologues was a mindblower for me.

My friend described the game as "A horror game, only you are the horror element." When I finally got around to buying it, I was amazed to find it had an incredible story backed with some of the best voice direction I'd experienced at the time, which continues to hold up today. As far as PS3 games go, The Darkness is my Max Payne 2 -- a classic that I come back to once a year.
 
One of my favourite games released last generation. Such a cult gem and established Starbreeze (now MachineGame who make the Wolfenstein games) as one of my favourite developers, especially of First Person experiences.

The atmosphere, storyline, voice acting and brutality/intensity were all so strong that they made up for any gameplay flaws (although tearing Italian America mobsters into itty bitty chunks or ripping their hearts out and then devouring them never really got old). A solid 9/10 game experience for me.

The sequel was surprisingly good despite the developer change but not on the same level as the first.
 

FoneBone

Member
Still one of the weirdest games to not receive a PC release. Especially considering Overkill had worked on PC beforehand.

Along with a number of other multiplatform games during that period (2007-10 or so), it came out at what was probably a low point for the PC gaming market. PC games at retail were dead or dying, and Steam was a shadow of what it is now.
 

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
To Kill a Mockingbird
was one of the best ingame surprises back then.

I enjoyed the sequel a lot, but there wasn't a whole lot out at the time. Back when Haze and Lair sounded awesome. Lol
 

SomTervo

Member
Amazing game, i miss old Starbreeze.

I loved how open The Darkness was - heard the sequel was way more linear so never played it.

Worth playing?
 

FoneBone

Member
Amazing game, i miss old Starbreeze.

I loved how open The Darkness was - heard the sequel was way more linear so never played it.

Worth playing?

It's a lot of fun with a neat visual style and better-than-average storytelling. I haven't played the original for comparison, though. If you have a PC, it's often on sale for pretty cheap.
 

Carnby

Member
For some reason I thought this thread was about the band.

Me too. :(

As the game, I only played part 2. I beat it in one sitting. I don't remember much. It was an alright game. The Darkness's voice sounded like a bad knock off of Raymond Watts.
 
I remember playing the first game very briefly, maybe just past the couch scene, which I really liked. Never got much further than that though.
 
All those sweet power-ups you got with The Darkness powers, like the tentacles that you could fling people around with, and the tentacle heads that you could sneak around and eat people with.

Also, remember the church scene? Pretty horrible stuff.
 

mebizzle

Member
Man, both of these games are fucking awesome. I'd love to see them get the Darksiders treatment with a new version on current gen.
 

dreamfall

Member
I loved this game so much. The loading screens with Acevedo's monologues were incredible, and just the macabre noir vibe they nailed from the graphic novels. I wish they'd do a PC adaptation so I could put the 360 away for good. Starbreeze really did wonders, happy to see Machcinegames became one of the premier FPS studios- such brilliant narratives alongside the best gunplay.
 

JTripper

Member
Absolutely love the first game. One of my favorites from last gen. Second one was a fun shooter but was a little too fantastical and action-based for me compared to dark street-level tone of the first.

Weren't you able to watch the entirety of To Kill a Mockingbird when you were with Jenny in her apartment?
 

Necron

Member
A lot of ex-starbreeze staff are working at MachineGames now (currently on Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus). I loved Riddick and The Darkness but never played the 2nd one due to the change in developer and graphical style. However, I think a lot of the influences seen in the Wolfenstein: The New Order (and The Old Blood) can also be seen/found in The Darkness - particularly in those quieter moments. Additionally, the tense scene in the train in Wolfenstein also reminded me of similar tense story-telling techniques from The Darkness.

Weren't you able to watch the entirety of To Kill a Mockingbird when you were with Jenny in her apartment?

Yes - there's hours of footage you can watch on the in-game TVs. Kind of incredible in hindsight.
 
One of the most atmospheric games of all time.

and of course they had to leave us with that cliffhanger ending from the 2nd game and 5 years later we are still waiting for a 3rd game.

That's why developers should never make cliffhanger endings to their games... just in case they couldn't make a sequel.
 

DukeBobby

Member
Me too. :(

As the game, I only played part 2. I beat it in one sitting. I don't remember much. It was an alright game. The Darkness's voice sounded like a bad knock off of Raymond Watts.

Mike Patton's Darkness voice sounded completely off in the sequel. It was much more menacing in the original.
 

stn

Member
I beat the first one when it released, liked it but eventually sold it. Now that I'm reading The Darkness comics for the first time, I definitely want to replay it. Never played the sequel. I'll buy both games if they ever go BC on XBone.
 

RionaaM

Unconfirmed Member
It's an excellent game, with a lot of personality and style. Discovered it by chance at a friend's one night, and we both fell in love with it. Still need to play the sequel.
 

Tokubetsu

Member
Mike Patton's Darkness voice sounded completely off in the sequel. It was much more menacing in the original.

Yep, voice acting in the first game was just another level. I also preferred Kirk Acevedo's of Jackie. Great experience.

Second game is alright, it's just almost an entirely different kind of experience though. If the first is a great 8/9 game then the sequel is still a solid 6 or 7. It just doesn't have any of that special sauce the first did.
 
A really good game, though I never beat it because I ran into a gamebreaking bug due to doing a side-mission too early and I was in a dead man walking state for long enough that I couldn't go back and fix it.
 

Joqu

Member
Real bummer it isn't available on PC like 2 is, I'd play them in an instant if they both were. I really hope it at least gets added to Xbox One BC at some point.
 
Man, I fucking loved this game so much when it came out.
D2 was ok, but this game still remains as one of fave games of all time.

The powers were really fun to combine with the gunplay, the VA was amazing and the phone number collectibles in the subway were really cool.

But 10th anniversary already!? And still no D3! Thanks OP, now I'm depressed... :'(
 

gstaff

Member
Had a chance to chat with Jens from Machinegames before he went on w/ Giant Bomb at E3 and was fun reminiscing about the game.

Loved the story telling in this game. Scenes involving your GF were so really well done and
devastating
.
 

Pyccko

Member
One of the first games I played on PS3. Hell of a game, lots of atmosphere. Man, I wish it had a PC port.
 

DirtyLarry

Member
I remember loving this game, but I also remember it was the game that (seemed to be the reason) I got 2 RROD's in a row. I was able to play other games no issues, but this game caused both consoles to get major artifacts and eventually just die.
In a way I appreciated it as it meant I got a replacement 360 before it was out of warranty (I do not believe it was extended yet but I am not sure there), but I also could not help but feel the game itself was responsible for the RROD which I know makes zero sense.
 
I really want to replay again sometime soon. I was enamoured by it when I just finished high school in the summer. It was honestly the most memorable moment that summer and I went to Disney World that year lol.

I'm patiently waiting for an 360 emulator for PC and this will be the first game I'll play on it. I loved the atmosphere and art direction in the WW1 segments. The game had sooo many little details too.

Fuck...I really want to replay it. I may have to dig out the 360 again....
 

yansolo

Member
How this never came to pc ill never know, the story was fkn awesome, it made you really get invested in the characters and what was happening.

The second one was even better. Give us a pc port and part 3.

I think they were even talking about a movie at some stage if I remember correctly, but nothing ended up happening.
 
The number of reviews that characterized the Hell levels as WWII-inspired was a scathing indictment of our education system. The Hell levels themselves were a scathing indictment of the level designers.
 
Fuuuucckk 10 years!?!? Bought this game day 1 when I was 16. Still love it to this day. Didn't like what I saw of the second so I avoided it til last year when I beat it, really damn fun gameplay and decent story, still didn't care for the change to cel shading tho.
 
Top Bottom