Top Cow announces The Darkness 2

By Robert Purchese Published 28 July, 2009

But Starbreeze not behind the wheel.

Comic maker Top Cow has announced that a sequel to The Darkness is in development.

The news spilled from a panel at Comic-Con, according to Newsrama, where The Darkness comic author Paul Jenkins was named as game writer.

But developer Starbreeze will not return to make the sequel, according to studio boss Johan Kristiansson. He told vg247 that Starbreeze is "not involved in anything like that right now", but is "busy" working on two unannounced projects for EA.

The Darkness follows gangster protagonist Jackie Estacado, who is blessed/cursed with superpowers that speak in a creepy voice. The game appeared in summer 2007, and received healthy critical applause.

Head over our review of The Darkness to find out much more.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (19) Latest comment 3 years ago

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  • lunnyt00n #1 3 years ago

    Enjoyed the sp of the first one, but the mp was probably one of the worst games i have ever played for connection issues and lag.

    Will be interested to see how the second one works out.
    Edited by 1 at 28/07/09 @ 09:45

  • TeaFiend #2 3 years ago

    I am interested in who the dev's are this time around if Starbreeze are not involved.

  • Groovicron #3 3 years ago

    Darkness sequel?! Cool! Starbreeze not involved...... Ok interest gone.

    The storytelling of the first one was masterful. I'll be surprised if whoever gets it can match it.

  • dudefella #4 3 years ago

    Went like this: Darkness 2 YAY!

    No Starbreeze BOO!

  • Ninja_Tino #5 3 years ago

    It was a great game and everyone should play it considering it's £5 everywhere you go. My only gripe with the story is how suddenly you get the powers without any explanation (although I did know through the comics). Had some real memorable moments!

  • Groovicron #6 3 years ago

    I must confess to have missed that in my despair but still it was more then just the plot and dialog in the first one. The subtle manipulation of the first person camera, the quality of the virtual acting, a host of little touches like the loading screens.

    Original writer is good news. Lack of the original developer is still gutting.

  • woodnotes #7 3 years ago

    I really liked the atmosphere of the first game, Starbreeze nailed it. But it also felt like they spent a long time on the first half of the game, and rushed the second half.

  • Nylz #8 3 years ago

    Might be interested if Mike Patton does the creepy again. And as CountFapula said already, there are more capable studios out there. We'll see what they make of it.

  • Ranger101 #9 3 years ago

    I bought The Darkness because it was Starbreeze.

  • huckan #10 3 years ago

    Great news, my only gripe with the original was the constant tube travelling!

  • asphaltcowboy #11 3 years ago

    LOVED the atmosphere of the original. Hopefully whoever is taking this on can do the original justice!

  • TheTingler #12 3 years ago

    Hopefully they'll be a good studio behind this, not to mention a PC release this time (seriously, why did the first one not?), but no Starbreeze... yes, they aren't the only good developer that could do this licence justice, but there are plenty more crappy developers around too that'll do a botch-job.

    CountFapula, having a good writer, even one that passionately loves games, does not a good game make. See Clive Barker's Jericho.

  • Darren #13 3 years ago

    The Darkness sequel announcement... great news... Starbreeze are not coding it... not so great news. :(

    In fact, that last bit has just about put me off the sequel altogether because sequels that are made by different developers to the originals rarely (in my experience) measure up to their predecessors and tend to come across as inferior copies. Not always but most of the time they seem to. Look what happened to the MotoGP series on the Xbox 360 for example...

  • Monkey_Puncher #14 3 years ago

    While Starbreeze's shooting mechanics in a lot of their games could use some work, the atmosphere and the methods they use to tell stories in 1st person games are up there with the likes of Valve IMO.

    I'll keep an eye on this, but it's a real shame Starbreeze won't be in charge of the sequel.
    Edited by 1 at 28/07/09 @ 12:49

  • JensonJet #15 3 years ago

    Really loved the original. As others have said, it was extremely well presented and atmospheric. I agree with the Monkey_Puncher about the shooting mechanics. While the game had an excellent array of controls to adjust the speed and acceleration of looking and aiming, the game engine wasn't as accurate in this area as most. Good news about retaining the same writer, as the story and script, along with the voice-acting were second to none. I'll be interested to see which game engine is used, as the original looked pretty stunning generally. I can only imagine how good the sequel could be in the right hands (Infinity Ward) or how bad, in the wrong hands (Bungie)!

    Next to Liara in Mass Effect, the girlfriend in The Darkness was one of the most likeable and attractive virtual young women ever.

  • Ranger101 #16 3 years ago

    @Mappman - that was a 'feature' of the engine they used for Riddick/Darkness.

    A feature. :D

  • JensonJet #17 3 years ago

    Mappman, yes I noticed it. It's a replication of a wide angle lense in order to recreate an approximation of a little peripheral vision. It's a technique that's been used in other games, for example when playing the alien in Alien vs Predator. As for making me feel sick? Never. But I've heard of people that can't play first person shooters because it makes them feel a bit sick. I only feel sick if I attempt to read or play a game while being driven in a car.

  • ShinMegami08 #18 3 years ago

    Been waiting for this one!
    The storytelling in the first game was great. Man was I surprised when SPOILER died suddenly. Was one of the most intense moments in a videogame I have ever experienced. Great stuff.
    The MP was horrible. Tried it once and it was just a big disapointment.
    Sad that Starbreeze doesn't make it. Really a developer with a lot of talents!

  • SomaticSense #19 3 years ago

    No Starbreeze? No interest.

    It sounds harsh I know, but I've a feeling it's been passed to one of those inexperienced 'freelance-style' dev companies that seem to be in vogue at the minute.

    It's a shame as a Starbreeze Darkness sequel was one of the potential games I was hoping for.