Introduction

2007's The Darkness is a first-person shooter by Swedish developers Starbreeze Studios. You probably remember that Mike Patton voices the title character and nothing else. It's adapted from the comics created by Marc Silvestri, David Wohl, and Garth Ennis as a spin-off of the Witchblade series, and they are some 90s-ass gritty anti-hero bullshit. The video game, written by Paul Jenkins, sidesteps a lot of the grossest stuff from the original run of the comics, only to fall face-first into a steaming pile of new gross stuff, so strap in.

Our story revolves around Jackie Estacado, a hitman for the New York City mafia who is marked for death on the very same day that he inherits an unfathomable power. This twist of fate will lead to a night of not only killing and eating mobsters, but also going on dates, helping old ladies, and making prank phone calls as we explore the rich open world of five deserted blocks of NYC. This is going to be a 100% LP in which we will get all 100 collectibles and complete all sidequests, but I'll try to keep the detours from wrecking the pace of the story, and all the extra content will be put in the thread and in bonus videos so you can ignore it if you want.

Spoiler Policy
No discussion of upcoming events from the game, tagged or otherwise. Talking about the comics is encouraged, although the big and/or weird stuff from the comics should be spoiler tagged, like anything about Hope Pezzini

CONTENT WARNINGS: Sadistic graphic murder, gore, slurs, suicide

Updates (Playlist)
Chapter 1-1
Chapter 1-2
Chapter 1-3 Bonus 1
Chapter 1-4

Chapter 2-1
Chapter 2-2

Chapter 3-1 Bonus 2
Chapter 3-2
Chapter 3-3 Bonus 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5-1
Chapter 5-2 Bonus 4
Chapter 5-3

Extra Content

Concept - Jackie 1: One of the very first concept sketches of Jackie.
Concept - Jackie 2: A more clean-cut Jackie concept, with a bunch of demon heads.
Concept - Jackie 3: A demonic Jackie in a red coat.
Concept - Jackie 4: Another demonic Jackie, this time all in black.


Concept - Jackie 5: Jackie in regular clothes
Screen - Jackie 1: Screenshot of an early Jackie character model still in development.
Screen - Jackie 2: Another early Jackie model screenshot.
Screen - Jackie 3: The outfit of Jackie changed a couple of time during development, this is one example.


Screen - Paulie 1: Promotional screenshot of Paulie.
Screen - Paulie 2: Promotional screenshot of the Paulie character.
Screen - Paulie 3: (same as above)
Screen - Paulie 4: (same as above)


Screen - Mob 1: Screenshot of a mafia character.
Screen - Mob 2: (same as above)
Screen - Bum 1: A screenshot of a character.
Screen - Bum 2: A character model of a homeless person.
Screen - Character 1: A character model of an ordinary citizen.
Note: There is no "Character 2"


Concept - Darkling 1: Early Darkling character sketch.
Concept - Darkling 2: The Darkling design.
Concept - Darkling 3: A demonic Darkling head.
Concept - Darkling 4: The Darkling portrait.
Concept - Darkling 5: A full figure Darkling. In the beginning they were very humanoid like this one, but gradually turned more and more animal-like.


Concept - Darkling 6: Darkling with a very fashionable shirt and tie.
Concept - Darkling 7: Another mood piece of a Darkling posing.
Gamestop Darkling: You've unlocked a special Darkling outfit by calling your Gamestop phone number. You will see it when you summon a berserker.
European retailer Darkling: You've unlocked a special Darkling outfit by calling the number you got from buying the game at a European retailer. You will see it when you summon a berserker.


Concept - Otherworld 1: Architectural Otherworld sketch.
Concept - Otherworld 2: The Otherworld castle gate design.
Concept - Otherworld 3: Concept art for the Otherworld castle.
Concept - Otherworld 4: The starving horse, an Otherworld landmark.
Concept - Otherworld 5: An Otherworld environment sketch.


Concept - Otherworld 6: An Otherworld environment sketch.
Concept - Otherworld 7: Early environment concept for the look and feel of the Otherworld.
Concept - Otherworld 8: Interior design for an Otherworld building that was never used.
Concept - Otherworld 9: Concept of an Otherworld gate that was never used.
Concept - Otherworld Environment: Otherworld sky and environment concept.


Concept - Soldier 1: Sketch of an Otherworld soldier.
Concept - Soldier 2: A demonic Otherworld soldier.
Concept - Soldier 3: A faceless Otherworld soldier.
Concept - Soldier 4: The face of an Otherworld soldier.
Concept - Allied Soldier Costume: Costume design for the allied soldiers in Otherworld.


Concept - Ancient Guns 1: Alternative concepts for the Ancient Guns that Jackie finds in the Otherworld.
Concept - Ancient Guns 2: The ancient guns that Jackie finds in the Otherworld.
Concept - Underwater 1: We had initially planned for an underwater part of the Otherworld campaign, but this idea was later abandoned.
Concept - Underwater 2: An underwater setting never used in the game.


Concept - Otherworld Birdman 1: An Otherworld landmark.
Concept - Otherworld Birdman 2: The Birdman, an Otherworld landmark.
Concept - Hills Cross 1: A grizzly Otherworld landmark.
Concept - Hills Cross 2: Design for the crucified family, this one is pretty close to what you can find in the Otherworld.


Concept - Monster 1: One of many monster designs we were playing around with at the start of the production.
Concept - Monster 2: One of the many monster designs considered for the game.
Concept - Monster 3: Another abandoned monster design, affectionately called Meatface.
Concept - Monster 4: A side view of the Meatface monster design, later abandoned.
Concept - Monster 5: Monster design.


Concept - Monster 6: Sketch of a fearsome monster called Shlogg.
Concept - Monster 7: Another concept drawing of the Shlogg.
Concept - Monster 8: Early development monster design.
Screen - Shlogg 1: Screenshot of the Shlogg monster.
Screen - Shlogg 2: Screenshot of the Shlogg monster.


Concept - Angelus 1: Sketch showing the Angelus, a character that never made it into the game.
Concept - Angelus 2: An alternative design for the Angelus, never used in the game.
Concept - Angelus 3: Concept for the Angelus character.
Concept - Angelus 4: Concept design for a character called Angelus, later abandoned.
Concept - Angelus 5: Alternate Angelus costume design.


Concept - Angelus 6: An Angelus, ready to strike. Later abandoned.
Concept - Angelus 7: An angelus character with noteable similarities with the original TopCow design.
Concept - Angelus 8: Effect concept for the Angelus character.
Concept - Angelus 9: Profile of an early Angelus character design.


Concept - Paulie: Paulie, the main antagonist in the story.
Concept - Eddie: Concept of Eddie, the chief of police.
Concept - Sarah: A concept of aunt Sarah.
Concept - Character: Female character concept.
Concept - Art: Artwork typically found in the homes of old people.


Concept - Demonhead: A demonhead design.
Concept - Darkness: An inspirational piece intended to set the mood.
Concept - MP Health: A multiplayer health boost concept.
Concept - MP Health 2: Concept art of the multiplayer health boost item.
Concept - MP Armor: Concept art for the multiplayer armor item.


Concept - Turkish Baths: An environment concept.
Concept - Fortress: Layout and design of the Otherworld castle.
Concept - Boat: Layout and environment design for a game location.
Concept - Boat Interior: Interior design for a game location.


Concept - Level 0 Cover: The cover for The Darkness: Level 0 comic book.
Concept - Level 0 Panel 1: A panel from The Darkness: Level 0 comic book, with the initial sketch and the finished art.
Concept - Level 0 Panel 2: (same as above)
Concept - Level 0 Panel 3: (same as above)
Concept - Level 0 Panel 4: (same as above)


Concept - Cover 1: Promotional art of Jackie and the demonheads.
Concept - Cover 2: Promotional artwork and magazine cover for the game.
Concept - Cover Design 1: A cover and mood piece for a design document.
Concept - Cover Design 2: (same as above)
Concept - EC cover 1: A Darkness game magazine cover.
Concept - EC cover 2: (same as above)


Note: There is no "Dev Screen 1"
Screen - Dev Screen 2: In-development screenshot of game architecture.
Screen - Dev Screen 3: (same as above)
Screen - Dev Screen 4: (same as above)
Screen - Dev Screen 5: (same as above)
Screen - Dev Screen 6: An early game screenshot.


Concept - Darkness Mode: The demonheads, in first person view, along with some fog and light effects. This is what we started with to evolve the look of the Darkness mode.
Concept - Creeping Dark: A concept for the Creeping Dark ability.
Screen - Development Bug 1: A curious bug. A lot can be said about a man from the size of his hands.
Screen - Development Bug 2: A violent and weird bug.