The demo started off with a man talking to the main character, Jackie, saying that The Darkness doesn't belong to Jackie and that it belongs to someone who knows how to actually use it. At this time the screen is black and all you hear is the steady "TING" of metal on metal. Finally the screen brightens. We see the world through Jackie's eyes. He looks to his left, his hand impaled on a cross by a stake. To his right we see the other stake pierce flesh, tendons and bone alike. We finally get to see the face of the man who is doing this; Disfigured.
"Do you know who I am Jackie?" he says. The facial animations are amazing and could be honestly compared to L.A. Noire. We see that the art design has been changed to a "Comic book" feel, since The Darkness is based off of a comic why not make the art design just like the comic?
"Yeah, you're the crippled fuck down by the station." Jackie replies with his thick Italian accent.
The man laughs and we get to experience how the game's story is going to be presented. Don't worry, no spoilers in this demo.
We Flashback to a high end authentic Italian Restaurant and in front of Jackie is one of his friends leading him to his table. On the way, the man interacts with a few of the customers. "Hey, Frankie I took care of that 'thing' for you" and "Johnny! Great to see you back in town!" These interactions may seem small to some, but definitely make the game feel more real. After a moment, the man brings Jackie to a table and sitting there are two gorgeous women eagerly awaiting his company. "Bon Apatite" he says. Jackie sits down and mingles with the two girls. Out of nowhere blood splatters everywhere and we see that one of the girls has been shot right through the eye. The other girl screams and gunfire erupts. We are thrown into chaos; people screaming, bullets flying everywhere, glass shattering.
"Jackie LOOK OUT!" our friend from earlier yells as a van plows into the side of the building sending Jackie flying backwards. We look down at his leg; bloodied and ruined. Looking up our friend hands us a pistol and says "Don't worry Jackie I'll get you out of here, but you gotta cover our asses!" A Seemingly endless supply of mobsters dressed in work outfits pour into the restaurant guns blazing. Our friend begins to drag us back as we frantically try to shoot as many enemies as we can. The guns and the voices made that moment feel so real that I found myself turning my head and even trying to look beyond the screen to see if we were in the clear.
After an intense shootout we make it to safety in the kitchen. Inside we try to get out the back way, which is locked. "You guys smell that?" Jackie chimes in. There's a gas leak. "SEE YOU IN HELL JACKIE!" one of the thugs shouts as he throws in a lighter and the kitchen explodes in a hellish blaze. Miraculously Jackie survives. The door swings open and one of the thugs crouches down in front of our pistol. "Come on Jackie, come get it." crawling towards the gun slowly and surely. Finally making it to the weapon the man cocks his gun and aims it at Jackie's head.
At this point The Darkness makes itself present. "ENOUGH!" the serpent heads appear in the top corners of the screen and grabs the man. Tentacles lift Jackie up acting as a set of new legs. They lead us outside where a lot more men are waiting. The Darkness wraps around the man and pierces its head through his chest, paying a nice homage to "Alien".
A little later on we find ourselves in a subway station. The controls feeling smooth and similar to the first Darkness with a few added bonuses. Unfortunately we were not able to complete the demo due to a time shortage, but I was so thoroughly impressed that I got out and hugged Seth and said "Thank you!"
Of course no amount of words can make you feel the way I did and see the beauty that I saw, but take my word for it, this game should be going on your "Must Have" list. No release date has been announced but we can only hope for a demo later in the year.
