[1]In the News That I Missed Category, 2K Games [2] announced earlier this month that The DarknessTM II, currently in development at Digital Extremes [1], will feature “Vendettas,” a fast-paced, violent and narrative co-op experience that takes place parallel to the single-player story. Playable for up to four friends, Vendettas lets consumers choose one of four characters – all with their own unique Darkness weapon – and begin their dangerous and bloody journey. Designed as a team-focused, mission based experience, Vendettas explores the crucial role each character plays in Jackie Estacado’s campaign to defeat the Brotherhood.
Interwoven into key points of Jackie’s single-player narrative, Vendettas expands the universe of The Darkness II by branching off into unique, parallel missions, while connecting thematically to the core single-player story arc. Four players can collectively immerse themselves in the lore of The Darkness II, and explore a variety of environments not found in the main story. Adding to the destruction and mayhem, Vendettas will also feature a new Hit List mode, which allows players to repeat their favorite campaign moments or wreak havoc in brand new scenarios.
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RK48GrpBnVI]
Vendettas will also offer varied, intuitive combat with multidimensional scenarios for the four characters. Each individual possesses unique combat styles that will help shoot, smash and disembowel enemies in the most brutal and diverse ways. Designed to pick-up-and-play, gamers have their choice among the following wielders of dark power:
- Inugami: Wielding the mythical Kusanagi samurai sword rumored to have killed ten thousand innocents, Inugami is a dark and mentally unstable character with revenge-driven motives against The Brotherhood and their allies for the slaughter of his entire family. He can also use a swarm of miniature demons to attack and immobilize his enemies.
- Shoshanna: Shoshanna is an ultra-efficient agent for Mossad, the Israeli Intelligence Agency, who was sent to New York to combat a spike in Brotherhood activity. Her obedience and devotion to her superiors makes her a perfect operative, and she harbors a passion for hunting and destroying evil in the world as part of her legacy. Shoshanna wields the Arm of the Night, a powerful weapon fueled with Dark essence and the power to fire multiple rounds of gunfire at one time.
- Jimmy Wilson: A product of inner-city Glasgow, Scotland, and a notorious alcoholic, Jimmy believes The Brotherhood is simply another form of the Hated English that persecuted his family in the past, and he travels to New York to torment them to the fullest extent. He wields the Dark Axe, and has the ability to summon Darklings that he commonly refers to as “Little Jimmys”.
- J.P. DuMond: A former doctor from New Orleans, DuMond is burdened with guilt for using a form of Louisiana Voodoo to heal his patients. The use of dark magic drew the attention of The Brotherhood, an organization which J.P. is now forced to combat in order to halt their pursuit of evil relics. J.P. wields the Midnight Stick and can pull enemies into an anatomy-crushing vortex when he tosses his Box of Tricks – a black metal box filled with dark power – into an open area.
The Darkness II is the sequel to the million unit-selling 2007 title, The Darkness, and brings a unique new combat mechanic through Quad-WieldingTM, which will allow players to slash, grab, and throw objects and enemies with two Demon Arms while simultaneously firing two weapons. The game is layered with thematic elements of dark versus light, steeped in deep and twisted storytelling, and maintains the stylistic violence visualized through a hand-painted graphic noir technique, true to its comic book origins.
The Darkness II will be available for the Xbox 360®, PlayStation®3 and Windows PC on February 7, 2012 in North America and February 10, 2012 internationally. The Darkness II is rated M for Mature by the ESRB.