‘The Darkness’ video game sequel shines light on London video game studio

Wielding dual weapons. Demon arms. A dark sense of humour. And a rich comic book pedigree.

Digital Extremes had plenty of reasons for taking on development of “The Darkness II” video game.

“It just seemed like an excellent opportunity for us.” said Sheldon Carter, creative director of the studio in London, Ont. “It’s our kind of game, the type of game we really wanted to make at Digital Extremes.

“We really wanted to make something that was a story-based shooter, it was something we’d been moving towards for a while. So we really were anxious to sink our teeth into it.”

The original game, from Sweden’s acclaimed Starbreeze Studio, was released in 2007. The first-person shooter tells the story of Jackie Estacado, who is targeted for death after failing to carry out a task for mobsters. But Estacado becomes imbued with the Darkness, a force that has inhabited his family for generations.

Payback ensues, with Estacado struggling to control the Darkness powers.

The sequel sees Digital, renowned for its work on the “Unreal” franchise, at the helm. Estacado is now a crime boss, mourning the death of his girlfriend. He has suppressed the Darkness, although things soon change as the game begins.

Carter says his team was drawn by the possibility of a story-driven drama. Not to mention the opportunities afforded by The Darkness.

The sequel allows the gamer to wield weapons via pair of human arms while using demon arms to grab foes and then execute them in a variety of gory ways.

Finishing moves include the torso smash, head or stomach whip, clean break, anaconda and wishbone. There are many more.

This game is not for kids.

“We had a huge amount (of executions) that we made and then it was just trying to figure out for game-play purposes how many were right and how may did we want to polish up,” said Carter. “But none of the ones that we cut did we cut because we felt they were too over the top or gory.

“It was actually more the other side, we were like ‘OK, you know we can be a bit more extravagant than this.'”

Hence the graphic crucifixion scene, no doubt.

The demon arms are easy and intuitive to use when it comes to committing mayhem. And that’s handy given the obstacles the developers have placed in front of the gamer.

The Darkness shuns light. So developers have come up with all ways of using it, from basic lights to enemies wielding spotlights.

And just when you think you have found the right weapon, you may run into a whip-wielding foe who pulls it out of your arms.

But you rarely find yourself out of options. You can always grab a car door and use it as a giant murderous Frisbee. Or grab a piece of rebar and use it as a javelin.

While the violence is no-holds barred, there is also story. How much of you want to sample is up to you.

“We kind of intentionally made this decision that we were going to make the player two paths of kind of enjoying the game,” Carter said. “There’s a path where you can kind of skip everything — we almost made everything skippable and just kind of just get to the part where you want to rip guys in half as often as possible.

“And then there’s the other path which is going and explore, go and talk to people and get that depth of interaction from the world.”

Carter likes both, but his heart clearly lies with the road that is filled with plot.

Violent as it is, at the heart of the game is a love story. For Carter, it balances the adrenalin of the action.

“We really tried to kind of push you and your experience in a lot of different ways in this game.”

With “The Darkness II” three years in the making, Digital Extremes and its 170 employees are now at work on a “Star Trek” game.