The Darkness (computer game)

The Darkness

Studio

Starbreeze Studios

Publisher

2K Games

Senior Developer

Jens Andersson (Lead Designer) , Paul Jenkins (Author)

Erstveröffent-
lichung

June 2007 (Xbox 360)
July 2007 (Playstation 3)

platform

PlayStation 3 , Xbox 360

Game engine

Starbreeze Engine

genre

First person shooter

Game mode

Single player , multiplayer

control

Gamepad

medium

DVD-ROM , Blu-ray Disc

German

information

German version cut. Unabridged version indexed.

The Darkness is a first-person shooter for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 developed by the Swedish company Starbreeze Studios and published by 2K Games in 2007 . It is based on the comic book of the same name, The Darkness .

action

The player takes on the role of Jackie Estacado, scion of a family whose blood line is crossed for generations by a demonic force that generally only "the darkness" (English: The Darkness ) is called. Exactly to the day on his 21st birthday, this demonic power takes over Jackie and gives him supernatural abilities. Jackie, who is supposed to be killed on this day by the killers of the New York gangster Paulie Franchetti, causes a slaughter among his executioners and begins armed with the forces of darkness and genre-standard weapons to destroy the Franchetti organization. Franchetti has Jackie's old orphanage destroyed in revenge. Franchetti's executor also murders Jackie's boyhood partner and friend, Jenny Romano. Jackie, who was prevented by his demonic power from saving Jenny, commits suicide out of sheer grief. He wakes up in the so-called Otherworld, a World War I hell riddled with trenches, where he meets his great-grandfather Anthony "Tony" Estacado, who reveals to him that he has brought the curse on the family and what Jackie has to do to get back to achieve one's freedom.

The voice of darkness is spoken in the original English by Mike Patton , singer of the band Faith No More .

Gameplay

The Darkness is a level-based first person shooter . Both regular firearms and the supernatural powers of darkness are available as weapons.

development

Emergence

After finishing work on The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay , Starbreeze and the American publisher Majesco Entertainment announced the development of a console game for the next generation of consoles in November 2004. In March 2005, the game was revealed as a software adaptation of the comic book The Darkness . However, since Majesco's financially faltering, the publisher sold the publishing rights together with those of Ghost Rider in December 2005 for eight million US dollars to an initially unnamed publisher, who in March 2006 turned out to be Take Two or its publishing arm 2K Games .

synchronization


role	English speaker
Jackie Estacado	Kirk Acevedo
The Darkness	Mike Patton
Paulie Franchetti	Dwight Schultz
Jenny Romano	Lauren Ambrose
Cpt. Eddie Shrote	Jim Mathers
Anthony "Tony" Estacado	Kirk Baltz

Age rating, indexing and changes to the German version

The international version of the game contains anti- constitutional symbols (swastikas), which can only be found in the free-to-play comics. These cannot be seen in the regular course of the game. In Europe, this only applies to the Xbox 360 version, as the PS3 version appeared later and the meanwhile was used for the subsequent removal of the swastikas in the EU versions.

The USK approved the game in the cut German version from the age of 18. An unabridged German-language version was published in Austria and Switzerland bearing the PEGI logo (18+). The uncut versions are now indexed and may therefore still be sold to adults in Germany, but no longer publicly advertised.

The following changes have been made to the cut versions:

Removal of blood splatters and stains (also affects level design and cutscenes), as well as the blood effects of the Darkling moves
Removal of the damage textures
Removal of burning and writhing enemies
Defusing the ragdoll physics
Defusing the impaling with the demon arm
Torn hearts were replaced by souls (corresponding animations were not adjusted)
Reduced from 27 to 20 decisive moves
Removal of the prohibited bonus content (option remains, content has been removed and replaced with a "Loading ...")

reception

The game received positive reviews ( Metacritic : 82 out of 100 (Xbox 360) / 80 (PS3)). The German magazine GamePro awarded a rating of 93 out of 100 possible points. 4Players rated The Darkness with 86%.

The Darkness II

Tom Galt (Lead Designer) , Paul Jenkins (Author) , Sheldon Carter (Director)

Erstveröffent-
lichung

February 2012

platform

PlayStation 3 , Xbox 360 , Windows

Game engine

Evolution engine

genre

First person shooter

Game mode

Single player , multiplayer

control

Gamepad , keyboard and mouse

system advantages
preconditions

Dual-core processor with 2 GHz, 1.5 GB RAM, 256 MB graphics card (from Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT or ATI Radeon HD 2600), 10 GB storage space, Windows XP (SP2) or newer

medium

DVD-ROM , Blu-ray Disc , download

language

German

copy protection

Online activation via Steam

Age rating

USK

PEGI

information

German version cut. Unabridged version indexed.

On February 8, 2011, publisher 2K Games officially announced The Darkness 2 . The successor was developed by Digital Extremes and was released on February 10, 2012 in Europe for Windows PCs, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The German USK version was also shortened by the manufacturer, as in the first part. The story of the game was rewritten by Paul Jenkins. Unlike its predecessor, the game does not offer an open world and relies on colorful cel shading graphics instead of realistic optics. The trade press rated The Darkness II mostly as good, but the successor couldn't keep up with the debut. The Metascore is between 77 and 80. Despite positive ratings, the game sold rather disappointingly, which is why a planned DLC was discontinued. The development of a third part is therefore questionable, although the plot ends openly ( cliffhanger ).