52) The Darkness (2007)

Based on a comic book series of the same name, The Darkness puts us in the role of Jackie Estacado, an orphaned hitman for the Franchetti mob family as he is targeted for assassination by his "Uncle" Paulie Franchetti who believes that Jackie is planning to take his place by force. We open with Jackie on his 21st birthday as an ancient demonic force makes it known that Jackie will now serve as its host, imbuing him with supernatural powers. At the time of release, The Darkness was praised for its storytelling and level design, and I remember having a few friends at the time who thought that it was, without doubt, the peak of gaming as entertainment. I found this assertion laughable at the time, and having finally played it, I find it to be even more so.

Most of the story, which is about as dark and edgy as one would expect of the time, is told to us via Jackie himself, sitting in darkness and trying his best to sound badass and mysterious. Instead, he comes across as emotionless and, at best, cringe-worthy. Without fail, every time he spoke or narrated, I couldn't get the image of Tommy Wiseau if he had been cast in a budget Matrix knockoff. Jackie's attempts to wax poetic are made hilarious in this regard, and more so given the fact that he had just turned 21. Though never shown, I have to imagine most of the other mobsters had to be rolling their eyes every time Jackie talked about a totally-for-real-you-guys experience with New York cabs.

As we proceed, Jackie begins to unlock his Darkness powers which primarily manifest as two ethereal serpents over his shoulders. They speak to him as though they're trying to corrupt him, though it doesn't seem to take much persuasion. Credit where it's due, Mike Patton delivers his lines excellently, lending a primal, otherworldly air to them. The first power we get is the ability to send the dark serpents out, allowing us to use them to sneak up on enemies and kill them instantly. We then have the option to devour their hearts, which we're never given a reason to not do. We also gain the ability to summon Darkness imps, though the AI is so piss poor for them that I rarely saw the point. The limitations of our powers are never fully explained, which was frustrating when I wanted to use them and just couldn't. At other times, I was able to use my dark serpents to clear out multiple rooms and floors in a building, but it was always nebulous as to what I should expect. You know, as you want in a first person shooter.

Jackie soon makes his way to his girlfriend's apartment, where she gives him one of the saddest birthday celebrations I've ever seen. Granted, she's also an orphan and had just recently moved into her place, so the it's the thought that counts. We have the option of sitting on the couch with her awkwardly for a few minutes, really feeling the slow burn of young romance, before we have to leave to murder a whole bunch of people. After some shenanigans, we get to see the brilliant storytelling on full display as our girlfriend, whom we got to spend all of ten minutes with, serves her ultimate purpose as the catalyst for our eventual revenge, but not before Jackie gets to cry emotionlessly and then attempt to take his own life.

I say attempt because our eldritch horror is having none of it. As it works to undo the sudden case of death, we find ourselves in a hellish wasteland version of World War I. Well, more hellish I suppose. Here, we get to see patchwork soldiers that seem damned to serve on the front for all eternity, as well as an ugly ass model of a horse and, most notably, Jackie's great-great-grandfather, Anthony Estacado. Anthony explains, as well are we're going to get, what The Darkness is. It turns out Anthony was the first to bring the curse into the family, and it manifests within males of the family line on their 21st birthday. I have several questions about this, but the game doesn't care to elaborate, thus I can't be bothered to care enough to dig deeper. The rest of the game is split between exploring the Hellish landscape in order to rid ourselves of or at least tame The Darkness, while also hunting down and taking revenge on those that wronged us.

The story, to me, comes off as equal parts discount Venom and bargain bin Spawn. While I feel this aesthetic greatly dates the game, as it's so mid 2000's it hurts, I found myself growing oddly fond of it. The story isn't good by any stretch of the imagination, and it leaves us with so many more questions than answers, but it has an odd charm to it. A lot of it comes down to some odd yet inspired choices in the game that help set it apart. Whether it be the ads we see in the subway, the bizarrely fun to watch programming that plays on loop on the interactive televisions, or the game's choice of collectibles, it's clear that a lot of love and attention went into this world. The collectibles, which are entirely superficial, became one of the highlights of the experience. You can collect outfits for the dark gremlins you can summon, which is oddly cute, or you can find a shockingly large number of phone numbers to dial. For no discernible reason, Jackie can call any number he finds on a random piece of paper, and the interactions range from sort of funny to a surreal humor that I was unprepared for.

The biggest drawback is, honestly, the gameplay itself. Enemy AI ranges from completely unaware to aiming at you through walls, and the friendly AI is just abysmal. The Darkness powers, while interesting, are wholly inconsistent in their use, and few of the guns feel satisfying to use. The level design, while not bad, is mostly forgettable, and the world seems largely empty most of the time. There were a few sections that were more frustrating than they really needed to be, and as funny as I found a few of the loading screens, featuring Jackie in his nondescript dark room, they got more than a little old by the end.

Despite the edgy try-hard vibes and the inconsistent gameplay, I found myself enjoying certain aspects of the game, and I can absolutely see what they were going for. Do I think it's a masterpiece worthy of the praise it received at the time? Not really, but like Tommy Wiseau's "The Room", there's a certain charm to the train wreck on display. It's hard to imagine a game like this being made today with the amount of heart and care that clearly went into it, even if I can point out a myriad of technical failures. Is it worth playing? It's hard to recommend. Is it worth watching and experiencing? Absolutely.