The Darkness (video game)
Encyclopedia
The Darkness is a first-person shooter
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...

 video game, developed by Starbreeze Studios
Starbreeze Studios
Starbreeze Studios is a video game development studio founded by members of the demo group Triton, based in Uppsala, Sweden.-History:The company was founded in 1998, under the name O3 Games. In 2000, O3 Games merged with the smaller company Starbreeze Studios which was then based in Härnösand, Sweden...

 and published by 2K Games
2K Games
2K is a global developer, marketer, distributor and publisher of interactive entertainment software games. 2K Games is a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, which also owns Rockstar Games notable for the Grand Theft Auto series...

 for Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...

 and Playstation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...

. It was released on June 25, 2007 in North America and on June 20, 2007 in Europe. The video game is based on the comic book of the same title
The Darkness (comics)
The Darkness is a series of ongoing American comic books created by Marc Silvestri, Garth Ennis, and David Wohl and produced by Top Cow Productions. The comic first appeared in 1996 and enjoyed an initial period of relative success during the Top Cow/Image Comics boom of the late 1990s. However,...

. A sequel, titled The Darkness II
The Darkness II
The Darkness II is the upcoming sequel to 2007's The Darkness. It is being developed by Digital Extremes, published by 2K Games and written by Paul Jenkins...

 was announced and slated for release on February 7, 2012.

Gameplay

The Darkness features an Italian-American hitman for the mafia named Jackie Estacado as the protagonist. The game includes a range of modern-day weapons that become available over the course of the game. However, as a result of Estacado turning 21 at the start of the game, the powers of the Darkness are available to the player, with some powers not being unlocked until later in the game. The Darkness powers include summoning different types of imp-like "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.

Over the course of the game, Estacado also comes into possession of the "darkness guns" that are more powerful than many conventional weapons but consume some amount of darkness energy in order to fire. The darkness guns are held one in each hand, the one on the right being a small minigun, and the other is a sort "one hand cannon" that fires immensely powerful rounds. These Darkness powers cannot be used when Estacado is in a well-lit area but become more powerful in darker conditions; the player is able to shoot out lights to help increase the amount of dark energy available for their attacks. Additionally, by ordering the Darkness to consume the hearts of the victims of the attacks, the player can further increase the effects of the Darkness powers.

The game has several levels based on New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 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 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 full movie To Kill a Mockingbird
To Kill a Mockingbird (film)
To Kill a Mockingbird is a 1962 American drama film adaptation of Harper Lee's novel of the same name directed by Robert Mulligan. It stars Mary Badham in the role of Scout and Gregory Peck in the role of Atticus Finch....

 is shown if you choose to sit down with Jenny to watch TV during the single player story. MaximumPC called the scene "the most authentic instance of romance ever conveyed in a videogame". Also included is the full movie The Man with the Golden Arm
The Man with the Golden Arm
The Man with the Golden Arm is a 1955 American drama film, based on the novel of the same name by Nelson Algren, which tells the story of a heroin addict who gets clean while in prison, but struggles to stay that way in the outside world. It stars Frank Sinatra, Eleanor Parker, Kim Novak, Arnold...

 in the Grinder's Lane level. So is a full episode of Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon is the hero of a science fiction adventure comic strip 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 adventure strip. Also inspired by these series were comics such as Dash...

. The movie The Street Fighter
The Street Fighter
, literally Clash, Killer Fist!, is a Japanese martial arts film released in 1974 and produced by Toei Company Ltd. It was released in the US by New Line Cinema and became one of the first films to be a commercial success for the distributor....

 with Sonny Chiba is viewable, as well as cartoon shorts of Popeye
Popeye
Popeye the Sailor is a cartoon fictional character created by Elzie Crisler Segar, who has appeared in comic strips and animated cartoons in the cinema as well as on television. He first appeared in the daily King Features comic strip Thimble Theatre on January 17, 1929...

 and Gabby
Gabby (cartoon)
Gabby was a Max Fleischer animated cartoon series distributed through Paramount Pictures. Gabby was the town crier in the 1939 animated feature Gulliver’s Travels produced by Fleischer. Paramount and Fleischer saw fit to give Gabby his own Technicolor cartoon series, eight entries of which were...

. This was possible because these movies are in the public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...

.

Plot

The player takes the role of Jackie Estacado (voiced by Kirk Acevedo
Kirk Acevedo
Kirk Acevedo is an American actor. He is primarily known for his portrayals of Miguel Alvarez in the HBO series Oz, Joe Toye in Band of Brothers and FBI Agent Charlie Francis in the science-fiction series Fringe....

), with the story presented as a future-narrative on the present events observed by the player. On the eve of his 21st birthday, Jackie was targeted for assassination by the don of the New York mafia, "Uncle" Paulie Franchetti. While hiding in a cemetery bathroom, The Darkness (voiced by Mike Patton
Mike Patton
Michael Allan "Mike" Patton is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and actor, best known as the lead singer of the metal/experimental rock band Faith No More. He has also sung for Mr...

), an ancient force that has inhabited his family for several generations, awakens within Jackie and slaughters the remaining mobsters, with the benefit of Jackie beoming the possessor of seemingly unholy demonic abilities that feed off the dark. Using these powers, Jackie is able to survive further assassination attempts and track down Paulie, but not before Paulie and the corrupt police chief, Eddie Shrote, kidnap Jackie's girlfriend, Jenny Ramano (voiced by Lauren Ambrose). They take her to the orphanage where Jackie and Jenny grew up, and then they murder her and escape while Jackie is unable to stop them or save Jenny due to The Darkness deliberately restraining him, forcing him to watch her die.

He commits suicide out of sheer emotional stress. He finds himself in the Otherworld, the realm of The Darkness with patchwork undead beings in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 outfits fighting each other, and physical manifestations of The Four Horsemen. He meets his great-great-grandfather Anthony Estacado, who admits that it was he that brought The Darkness into the family, and tells Jackie how to free himself of The Darkness by invading the castle in the Otherworld and facing The Darkness there. Jackie is interrupted in his journey through the Otherworld and brought back to the living.

Once he recovers, he determines that he must dispose of Chief Shrote before he can face Paulie. Chasing Shrote to his apartment and then confiscating a briefcase containing illicit goods in Shrote's ownership and rigging it with an explosive, Jackie is able to lure Shrote out of hiding, but he is shortly captured. After overhearing about a shipment of drugs that a Chicago mob is entrusting to Paulie to handle, Jackie triggers the explosive, killing Shrote and his men along with himself. Jackie re-awakes in the Otherworld, and lays siege to the Darkness's castle with Anthony's help. Anthony 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 him 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. Jackie takes advantage of a solar eclipse
Eclipse
An eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when an astronomical object is temporarily obscured, either by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer...

 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 in a park, lying on a bench in Jenny's arms. Jenny explains that they are only allowed a few minutes to be together one last time to say goodbye. 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.

Reception and sales

The Darkness received favorable reviews from critics, with a score of 82 on Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...

. Most praised the single player campaign, the story, and the game's graphics across both platforms, but warned readers about unreasonably bad lag in multiplayer sessions and advised to ignore multiplayer altogether until a patch is released. The Darkness received the "Game of the Month" award in the August issue of Game Informer
Game Informer
Game Informer is an American-based monthly magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of popular video games and associated consoles. It was formed in August 1991, when FuncoLand started publishing a six-page magazine, free in all its retail locations...

. Hyper
Hyper (magazine)
Hyper is a multi-platform Australian video game magazine. Australia's longest running gaming magazine, it has been in publication since 1993, and was released the same month as the better known UK magazine Edge...

s Daniel Wilks commends the game for its "brilliant storytelling, looking great and excellent level design". However, he criticises for its "weak physics engine and some AI problems".

As of August 19, 2011, the Game Rankings
Game Rankings
GameRankings is a website that collects review scores from both offline and online sources to give an average rating. It indexes over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 games.GameRankings is owned by CBS Interactive...

 score for The Darkness is 83.38 (Xbox 360) and 81.74 (PS3). The Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...

 score was 82 (Xbox 360) / 80 (PS3).

The Darkness has sold over a million units worldwide.

Ban in Singapore

The censorship board in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

 banned the game for excessive violence and religiously offensive expletives.
The game had been scheduled for a July release before the ban. The game was later released in Singapore under an M18 rating in 2009.

Sequel

On February 8, 2011, the sequel
The Darkness II
The Darkness II is the upcoming sequel to 2007's The Darkness. It is being developed by Digital Extremes, published by 2K Games and written by Paul Jenkins...

 was confirmed for release in late 2011 for Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

, Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...

 and Playstation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...

. Later that month, record label Ipecac Recordings
Ipecac Recordings
Ipecac Recordings is an independent record label based in California. It was founded on April 1, 1999 by Greg Werckman and Mike Patton Ipecac Recordings is an independent record label based in California. It was founded on April 1, 1999 by Greg Werckman (ex-label manager of Alternative Tentacles,...

 confirmed that Mike Patton
Mike Patton
Michael Allan "Mike" Patton is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and actor, best known as the lead singer of the metal/experimental rock band Faith No More. He has also sung for Mr...

 will be returning as the voice of The Darkness.

On June 6, 2011, The Darkness II was given a release date of October 4, 2011. It has since been delayed and is now sceduled for February 7, 2012 in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 and February 10 for both United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

.

Soundtrack

Original music for the game was written by Gustaf Grefberg
Gustaf Grefberg
Gustaf Grefberg is a Swedish musician. As part of the Amiga scene, he is known under the artist name Lizardking, and much of his production is tracker music. He is or has been a member of the demo groups Alcatraz, The Silents, Razor 1911, The Black Lotus and Triton...

, a full-time audio designer at Starbreeze. Other than the credits theme, which is by Mike Patton's Tomahawk project, it is the only music actually playing during the game.

The unrelated licensed soundtrack includes:
  • "Try" - The 21st Impact
  • "7 Days" - Acid House Kings
    Acid House Kings
    Acid House Kings is a Swedish indie pop band. It was founded in 1991 by Joakim Ödlund and brothers Niklas and Johan Angergård .-History:...

  • "Say Yes If You Love Me" - Acid House Kings
  • "Once Bitten, Twice Shy
    Bedtime Prayers
    Bedtime Prayers is the second full-length album released by the Swedish melodic death metal band Blinded Colony. It is the only full album to feature new vocalist Johan Schuster, and also the first album under Pivotal Rockordings.-Track listing:...

    " - Blinded Colony
    Blinded Colony
    The Blinded is a melodic death metal band from Karlshamn, Sweden, formerly known as both Stigmata and Blinded Colony. They are currently unsigned and recording the pre-preproduction of their third studio album...

  • "Riverbank" - Pelle Carlberg
    Pelle Carlberg
    Pelle Carlberg is a Swedish singer/songwriter. He is a member of the band Edson and also records and performs alone as a solo artist. His music video for Riverbank appeared on an in-game television in the video game The Darkness.-Albums:*Everything...

  • "Open Casket (edit)" Closer
    Closer (band)
    Closer is an acoustic indie pop band from The Netherlands. Its band members are Roel Kessels as guitarist and lead vocalist, and Thomas van Geelen as cello player and backing vocalist. The band was formed in September 2006 by Kessels who had been performing as a singer/songwriter under the same...

  • "Grind & Rewind" Defleshed
    Defleshed
    Defleshed was a Swedish death/thrash metal band. The group was formed by Lars Lofven, formerly of Convulsion and Inanimate. They have released several albums on high-profile metal labels...

  • "Black and White" - Down and Away
  • "Shoot It In
    Lifetime Supply of Guilt
    Lifetime Supply of Guilt is the third album by melodic death metal band The Duskfall. The album was the band's first release through Nuclear Blast.-Track listing:# "Trust Is Overrated" − 2:12# "The Shallow End" − 3:16# "Break the Pact" − 4:53...

    " - The Duskfall
    The Duskfall
    The Duskfall was a Swedish melodic death metal band from Luleå, Sweden, formed in 1999. The band released four full-length studio albums and, shortly afterwards, disbanded in 2008.-History:...

  • "Zon" - dyF1.6
  • "A Nice Day" - El Caco
    El Caco
    El Caco is a rockband from Lillestrøm in Norway. Their manager is former football player Dan Eggen.El Caco is played on a music channel in the violent horror FPS The Darkness- Musicians :* Øyvind Osa, vocal, bass* Fredrik Wallumrød, drums...

  • "Substitute" - El Caco
  • "Die Toten Core" - F.K.Ü.
  • "Forever Train" - Frame
  • "I, Deviant" - Insense
  • "Pure and White" - Joy Serene
  • "Lucky Star" - The Legends
    The Legends
    The Legends are a Swedish pop band, distributed by Lakeshore Records in the US, by Labrador Records in Sweden and by Little Teddy Recordings in Germany....

  • "Last Injection" - M.A.N.
  • "The Hunt" - man.machine.industry
  • "To Hell and Back" - man.machine.industry
  • "Cruci-Fiction in Space
    Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death)
    Holy Wood is the fourth studio album by American rock band Marilyn Manson, released in November 2000 through Nothing and Interscope Records. The album marked a return to the industrial and alternative metal style of the band's earlier efforts, after the modernized glam rock sound of Mechanical...

    " - Marilyn Manson
    Marilyn Manson
    Marilyn Manson may refer to:* Marilyn Manson , an American rock musician* Marilyn Manson , the American rock band led by the singer of the same name...

  • "Later That Night" - Path Of No Return
  • "Empty Threats" - Searing I
    Black Lotus Records
    Black Lotus Records was an independent record label based in Greece that specialized in metal. After licensing an amount of new artists, Black Lotus Records surprised the scene by suddenly filing for bankruptcy and all announced titles are on hold indefinitely....

  • "Die 5 Times Times 5" - South Ambulance
    Labrador Records
    Labrador Records is a Sweden-based record label, specializing in indie pop and twee.-Current:*Acid House Kings*Club 8*Det Vackra Livet*[ingenting]*Johan Hedberg*The Legends*Little Big Adventure*The Mary Onettes*Pallers*Pelle Carlberg...

  • "Going Down" - Sparzanza
  • "It Won't Stop Bleeding" - Stained Red
  • "Captain Midnight
    Mit Gas
    Mit Gas is the second studio album by American rock band Tomahawk, released on May 6, 2003 through Mike Patton's independent record label Ipecac Recordings...

    " - Tomahawk
    Tomahawk (band)
    Tomahawk is an experimental alternative metal/alternative rock supergroup from the United States. They formed in 2000 when Fantômas, ex-Mr. Bungle and Faith No More singer/keyboardist Mike Patton and ex-The Jesus Lizard guitar player Duane Denison started swapping tapes with the intention of...

  • "Rendered In Vain
    Rendered in Vain
    Rendered in Vain is the second demo recording by Swedish melodic death metal band, Zonaria. This album was recorded at Black Lounge studios, Avesta, Sweden with Jonas Kjellgren of Scar Symmetry and would feature a guest appearance by Christian Älvestam. The song, "Rendered in Vain" would also be...

    " - Zonaria
    Zonaria
    Zonaria is a melodic death metal band from Umeå, Sweden, formerly known as Seal Precious. The band is currently signed to Century Media Records.-Background:...

  • "Summer's End (To Kill A Mockingbird)" - Elmer Bernstein
    Elmer Bernstein
    Elmer Bernstein was an American composer and conductor best known for his many film scores. In a career which spanned fifty years, he composed music for hundreds of film and television productions...


External links

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