The Darkness II Hands on Preview

The Darkness II Hands on Preview

There was a demo of The Darkness II available for play at PAX East this year and I had the wonderful opportunity to get my hands on all of its gory glory. The demo showcased the beginning of the game in a pre-alpha build.

At the start of the demo you are placed in the shoes of a familiar face from the original Darkness game, Jackie Estacado. Throughout the demo you never leave the first person perspective, even during cut scenes the player has complete control over the movement of Jackie’s head so you can scope out the surrounding areas. When I finally got my hands on a controller I found myself groggy in a small, dark room. Two other characters are in the room with Jackie, one is a deformed man whose body looks as if it had been burned severely from head to toe. The other character was also male but without the deformities of what you learn is his ally. This character however at the start of the demo is literally crucifying Jackie to a board with railroad spikes. When I turned my head to the left and watched the man slamming a railroad spike through the palm of my hand with a hammer, I knew this was going to be a wild ride.At this point in the demo the deformed man explains to Jackie that he wants to obtain the Darkness that’s inside of him, and he also informs us that the Darkness will only leave its current host with the willful passing from that host. In the middle of the room with the three men is a stand with a strange looking case on the top of it. Into the case is flowing a dark essence from Jackie’s body, and this is the way the deformed man attempts to steal the Darkness from within Jackie, but as previously mentioned it will only leave its current host if it is passed on out of free will from that host. The deformed man then proceeds to “persuade” Jackie into giving up his dark powers. The other man in the room then rolls a TV stand in front of Jackie that starts playing a movie, and at this point the screen goes hazy and Jackie flashes back to earlier point in time.


The flashback brings Jackie to a restaurant where he is greeted by a man that refers to him as ‘boss’ and the same man then proceeded to lead me to my own private table in the back of the restaurant. Already sitting at the private table were two girls that ask Jackie if he remembers them, to which he replies “Sorry ladies, I didn’t recognize you with your clothes on.” The girls respond with a giggle and then in an instant the girl sitting across from Jackie on the right takes a bullet in the back of the head from the window. The bullet is immediately followed by a van crashing through the wall into the table that Jackie is sitting at. When Jackie finally came to he looks down to see that his right leg has been burned and mangled, so there is no way he can walk. The man that led me to the table is now at Jackie’s side and hands him a pistol and tells him to keep the now fast approaching enemies off of their backs. The man then proceeds to pull Jackie through the restaurant and that’s when I finally took full control (almost) over Jackie.