With a garish and brightly colored comic book aesthetic, The Darkness II somehow looks more visually dated than its predecessor five years its senior, having abandoned the harsh shadows and blaring lights that defined that title’s atmosphere.. To its credit, it is quite ugly, and that does fit the moral sensibilities that this franchise trades in, but this entry as a whole does lose the more subtle warmth that distinguished the first game, perhaps best exemplified by the new gravel laden drawl of Jackie’s recast voice actor. Admittedly, the wackier villain, more involved lore, and the more bombastic twists and turns of the plot make for a more enjoyable pulp experience, but one that lacks the sharper texture and memorable flavor of Starbreeze’s take on the franchise. After giving into his vengeful urges at the end of the prior game but putting them under wrap between titles, Jackie Estacado is back on his bullshit and using The Darkness in order to defend his found mafia family and to cope with the loss of his girlfriend, Jenny. Any emotionally grounded storytelling the game might have achieved concerning grief and addiction is thoroughly undone not only by the sheer ridiculousness of the game’s descent into the mythically fantastical, but also by a hammy post credits scene introducing an extraneous cliffhanger. Still, I must admit that the core conceit of the franchise, deploying fucked up monster powers as the world’s most emo mob boss, is enough to make plot decently enjoyable.

Where The Darkness II unambiguously improves over the original and fully embraces the joy of fucked up monster powers is, famously, in the gameplay, which sees the Darkness appendages streamlined from a rotation of singular powers into a constant presence that allows for fluid transitions from quad wielding, to grabbing and throwing environmental tools and weapons, and viciously devouring the hearts of one’s enemies. Still, there are downsides to combat that prevent *the game from realizing its full potential as a shooter, the most notable of which are the clashing systems that lead to combat rhythms with mismatched tempos. On one hand, the game encourages rushdown because eating hearts both restores health and grants experience points, and on the other, it encourages precise stop-and-pop shooting thanks to how disabling being in the light is, and the necessity of shooting out all of the sources of artificial light in an arena. Further frustrating are levels that feature a combination of shield enemies, which require Darkness powers to defeat, and light wielding enemies, which disable your Darkness powers. It adds up to be an excessive amount of friction for a game that is trying to be most appreciated for its base pleasures. Still, it’s definitely more approachable than the original, and its own merits is a solid enough roller coaster for those who want to unleash hell and fury upon hapless video game enemies for a few hours.