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Jeez, and I thought For One More Day was bad... Some stories... Thank goodness they kept that stuff out of the games far as I’m aware.
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Feb 4, 2018 22:11
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BioEnchanted posted:While we are on the subject, isn't that inconsistent? It was established during this discussion that the Darkness is passed on at the moment of conception, killing the original host, so Jackie wouldn't be around to do that. It's considered a loophole because it wasn't actually Jackie doing the sex or conception. It was the darkness using his unconscious body to do it. Thus it's not part of Jackies family contract that the Darkness gets passed on to his child. Also, I think the Darkness requires male children, while the Witchblade and the "Light" are primarily females. So yeah, this magical baby was conceived by both her parents being date-raped by the Darkness.
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Feb 4, 2018 22:25
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Do all the collectibles look like shiny pieces of wastepaper? I suppose they fit in the urban environment better that way, at least.
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Feb 5, 2018 04:31
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All the collectables we get in the city are folded scraps of paper with an obscured phone number on them (each of these has an actual number you can dial on the phone to unlock them at any time, but those numbers aren't anywhere in the game so that's technically cheating). About a quarter of the collectables are of an alternate type that we'll start seeing in the next chapter.
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Feb 5, 2018 04:49
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Update: Chapter 1-3 I recorded this and the previous video together and intended to release them as a single update, until I realized that made for over an hour of video. They complement each other nicely, though, with much less substance and much more action in this update. Bonus 1 This also brings us to our first bonus video. If you need twenty minutes of bizarre writing and voice acting in your life, you're in luck! This includes an update to our Extra Content, which excludes the full comics that get unlocked because they'd be near-impossible to rip from the game and might qualify as being  . So far, we've unlocked the first issue of the series, the first issue of the second volume (upon which this game is based), and The Darkness: Level 0, a tie-in prequel book released to promote the game. See the second post for all the random poo poo we've got so far, arranged as cleanly as I could manage with developer notes transcribed.
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Feb 8, 2018 05:05
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It's funny the reason I dislike the comic*, and to a lesser extent the game, is because Jackie is a mopey piece of a poo poo who the authors believe can be redeemed of being a piece of poo poo simply because bad things happen to him. Despite being a piece of poo poo. So the plot wavers between histrionic tragedy and Jackie monologuing about it and then him killing everything in sight. It's kind of hilarious how tone-deaf it is in a way. * note there are way more reasons to dislike the comic
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Feb 8, 2018 06:21
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The game has the advantage of a lot of players not know who he is at all so all you really know is that you've got 2 guns, 2 tentacles, you're a member of the most obvious mob ever but now they're shooting at you, the police are hilariously corrupt and shooting at you, and you've got a nice girlfriend. That orphanage bit is really easy to miss, I certainly didn't catch it at all.
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Feb 11, 2018 02:21
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Surely there must be a point along the long and elaborate journey that ends with you frantically screaming at another man to blow up an orphanage that you might stop and wonder, am I going too far? Is this all worth it?
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Feb 19, 2018 23:51
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Glazius posted:Surely there must be a point along the long and elaborate journey that ends with you frantically screaming at another man to blow up an orphanage that you might stop and wonder, am I going too far? Is this all worth it? Not in the world of anti-hero villains! Update: Chapter 1-4 And they say romance is dead. If you haven't yet, take a moment to review the Content Warnings in the OP. All of them will be in full effect from here on out.
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Feb 20, 2018 05:58
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RIP Tentacle mobster 19XX - 2003? He Never Scored
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Feb 20, 2018 10:02
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You kind of mention it in the video, but it's really weird that Paulie knew that a random phone call from a phone booth happened to be Jackie so he could launch into that tirade without even saying hello or asking who it is.
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Feb 21, 2018 07:28
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Scaramouche posted:You kind of mention it in the video, but it's really weird that Paulie knew that a random phone call from a phone booth happened to be Jackie so he could launch into that tirade without even saying hello or asking who it is. He has caller id and has set up all payphones to read "Jackie"
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Feb 21, 2018 19:32
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Scaramouche posted:You kind of mention it in the video, but it's really weird that Paulie knew that a random phone call from a phone booth happened to be Jackie so he could launch into that tirade without even saying hello or asking who it is. It certainly brings to mind a consistent problem with the plot: Paulie is always a step ahead, even though he's just a blustery evil prick with a modicum of power. He had no way of knowing Jackie'd go after Dutch Oven Harry, yet worked out a showy way to take advantage of the situation, then pulled off a perfectly-timed clubbing of Jimmy to preemptively set up his revenge for an attack that was still in the process of occurring. Shrote even lampshades it a bit during the showdown, which does little to alleviate the problem. They just needed a way for Paul Jenkins' pet villain to stand a chance against The Darkness and it feels very contrived.
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Feb 21, 2018 20:38
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Agreed regarding plot contrivances. Still though the missions to come... they’re full of awesome action. Your LP is bringing back some great game memories, Fiendly. Keep up the good work! I just thought of this- it’s established the Darkness is screwing with Jackie’s psyche to mold him into its preferred host. Who’s to say it hasn’t been taking control of Jackie when he doesn’t know it (mental blackouts) and blabbing plans to Paulie to set up the plot contrivances? And once it has Jackie where it wants him, it stops and let’s things happen as they will. Or maybe that was too much thinking ahead trying to justify a messed up script...
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Feb 21, 2018 22:48
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"The Accidentally Stoned Nanny - Almost Like A Musical"
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Feb 22, 2018 00:05
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The Darkness isn't very bright. I suppose by definition it can't be, but still. What did it think Jackie was going to do?
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Feb 25, 2018 07:15
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Kacie posted:The Darkness isn't very bright. I suppose by definition it can't be, but still. What did it think Jackie was going to do? In my head I always thought of it as Jackie's grief being so overwhelming that The Darkness couldn't stop him like he did a few moments earlier.
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Feb 26, 2018 08:22
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Kibayasu posted:In my head I always thought of it as Jackie's grief being so overwhelming that The Darkness couldn't stop him like he did a few moments earlier. There is a bit of an established thing on the comics that wielders of the various magic powers (there's a dozen others besides a The Darkness) can do impossible stuff with/to their powers during moments of emotional distress. Sorta like how every story with magic has a part where the hero breaks established rules because they really want to.
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Feb 26, 2018 11:45
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Why doesn't anyone in this game react to Jackie having weird murderous tentacles growing out of him at any point, save for the very start? Hey why doesn't Jackie himself even seem to do this? You'd think it'd be all he'd ever talk about. But nope, just another day for ol Jackie.
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Feb 26, 2018 13:02
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Am I alone in feeling disappointed that Nino and Mikey died so soon? They seemed really interesting. The voice acting for the game so far has been really fun to listen to, although Jackie sounds more like a dude in his 30's than somebody who just turned 21. I vaguely remember finding a few issues of The Darkness when I was younger. I think the gay sidekick dude suggested Jackie try screwing other men, and Jackie got super pissed at that. I think there was also a workaround in that Jackie could create people via the Darkness, or beings that looked exactly like people, and since they weren't human he was free to make a hot chick for him to being without worrying about pregnancy. The whole thing felt silly. At first it seemed a bit interesting, because normally you got the dude who would have a love interest to bang, but this time if he impregnates a woman he'd going to immediately die. But he got so upset that he couldn't have meaningless sex without risking his life, and then a solution is immediately presented with the Darkness just manifesting a hot chick in a weird elaborate masturbation thing. Unrelated to that, but I've always wondered why things such as The Darkness that are harmed by light have no problem possessing glowing eyes or other parts. Where's that light coming from?
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Feb 27, 2018 01:53
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Zeniel posted:Why doesn't anyone in this game react to Jackie having weird murderous tentacles growing out of him at any point, save for the very start? Hey why doesn't Jackie himself even seem to do this? You'd think it'd be all he'd ever talk about. But nope, just another day for ol Jackie. This was so egregious that I honestly thought they were setting up for a "The Darkness is all in Jackie's head" twist until Shrote just casually mentions "demon poo poo" in his Bond villain speech. Bricoleur posted:I vaguely remember finding a few issues of The Darkness when I was younger. I think the gay sidekick dude suggested Jackie try screwing other men, and Jackie got super pissed at that. I think there was also a workaround in that Jackie could create people via the Darkness, or beings that looked exactly like people, and since they weren't human he was free to make a hot chick for him to being without worrying about pregnancy. The whole thing felt silly. At first it seemed a bit interesting, because normally you got the dude who would have a love interest to bang, but this time if he impregnates a woman he'd going to immediately die. But he got so upset that he couldn't have meaningless sex without risking his life, and then a solution is immediately presented with the Darkness just manifesting a hot chick in a weird elaborate masturbation thing. There's so many solutions to the celibacy clause, the fact that the one that talks Jackie down from suicide is discovering The Darkness can make living sex dolls for him is very telling. Not only is that whole thing a bad avenue to go down for storytelling, it never even gets explored and only exists to set up even more uncomfortable trash. Luckily, once Garth Ennis stopped writing the books, they stopped bringing this stuff up except as a joke, and as far as I know, Jackie never successfully makes a supernatural sex slave for himself. Bricoleur posted:Unrelated to that, but I've always wondered why things such as The Darkness that are harmed by light have no problem possessing glowing eyes or other parts. Where's that light coming from? It does show a lack of creativity when they make a "not like the rest" character, then fall back on classic design elements even if they make no sense. Also, I had to avoid pointing this out in the video because it took me out of the scene, but The Darkness is holding Jackie right in front of a very bright light for like 3 minutes during the villain confrontation, so it's really only vulnerable to light when it wants to be it seems.
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Feb 27, 2018 02:49
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Fiendly posted:This was so egregious that I honestly thought they were setting up for a "The Darkness is all in Jackie's head" twist until Shrote just casually mentions "demon poo poo" in his Bond villain speech. "Yawn, another spree killer trussed up by his own heart-eating shoulder tentacles. What? I work homicide. You want me to run down the weirder poo poo I've seen? This morning?"
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Mar 4, 2018 02:06
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As one of the people who played The Darkness while knowing absolutely nothing about the comics, I'm finding all this chat about them to be pretty enlightening. I remember enjoying the shooter-plus-murder-tentacles gameplay, and the goofy mafia dialog, even picked up the sequel during a Steam sale a couple years back and had a good time there. I think what impressed me most about The Darkness, though, was that it contains several complete movies, plus some music videos and cartoons. Like, To Kill a Mockingbird is really good, so I just sat there and watched the whole thing while I was at Jenny's place. The novelty of watching a movie inside a video game made up for the screen being very small.
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Mar 16, 2018 00:22
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Sorry to leave everyone hanging on the horrible events of the latest episode for so long, I'm sick as hell right now and haven't had much time or energy to work on anything, nor the voice to record commentary. Doing everything I can, and I hope to be back on track as soon as possible.EclecticTastes posted:As one of the people who played The Darkness while knowing absolutely nothing about the comics, I'm finding all this chat about them to be pretty enlightening. I remember enjoying the shooter-plus-murder-tentacles gameplay, and the goofy mafia dialog, even picked up the sequel during a Steam sale a couple years back and had a good time there. EclecticTastes posted:I think what impressed me most about The Darkness, though, was that it contains several complete movies, plus some music videos and cartoons. Like, To Kill a Mockingbird is really good, so I just sat there and watched the whole thing while I was at Jenny's place. The novelty of watching a movie inside a video game made up for the screen being very small.
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Mar 16, 2018 01:30
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Max Payne had a lot of lore, but it was more explored with overarching plots you could follow on TV screens in the second game than the first. The first game had the shows Address Unknown and Lords & Ladies appear on one TV screen each IIRC, and while in the second game there were several TV screens with each show and you could follow a plotline of the season by checking them out in succession. There was some blatant discontinuity at times, but that was part of the charm. You also explored a funhouse of horrors level based on Address Unknown. Captain Baseball Bat Boy was a similar thing in the Max Payne games. First game, there were a few comics devoted to the character you could find scattered around. Second game, there was an animated show you could follow on the TV screens similar to the other two shows (there was also a new show called Dick Justice that was not directly referenced in the first game), and a couple characters were obsessed with the cartoon and collecting memorabilia based on it. In the third Max Payne game, Captain Baseball Bat Boy could still be seen on several TVs, but I don't think there was an overarching plotline to it. Max Payne also made up all its TV show Lore. The Darkness got other people's work and spliced it in. I look forward to you getting back to the LP when you can, and doing the sequel also. The first game was better IMO in terms of story and some of the battles we'll get into soon and later are events of which I have fond memories. The sequel... well, I want people to know what I mean when I say I'm sorry we'll probably never get a third game (and I'm not spoiling it either!). Plus I trust your skill to keep it interesting & fun to watch throughout.
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Mar 16, 2018 02:03
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achtungnight posted:Max Payne had a lot of lore, but it was more explored with overarching plots you could follow on TV screens in the second game than the first. The first game had the shows Address Unknown and Lords & Ladies appear on one TV screen each IIRC, and while in the second game there were several TV screens with each show and you could follow a plotline of the season by checking them out in succession. There was some blatant discontinuity at times, but that was part of the charm. You also explored a funhouse of horrors level based on Address Unknown. Dick Justice was the name that one of the mercs in the final levels of Max Payne 1 gave to his gun. Though I think that itself was also a joke referencing the dumb names they came up with for Max Payne before Max Payne. The TV shows in Max Payne 2 (which were just still pictures changing on a TV) also occasionally served to reinforce the themes of the main game or hint at future events, the protagonist Lord of Lords & Ladies eventually being betrayed by his brother for example. Address Unknown highlighting the paranoia from basically everyone Max knows from the criminal world constantly switching allegiances and motivations.
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Mar 17, 2018 07:31
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Update: Chapter 2-1 In case anyone was worried, the LP hasn't died with its protagonist. Finally time to find out how that's possible. I also said I'd come back to explain the series reboot that occurred in Darkness comics because I was waiting for Jenny's death to happen in the game first. Now's a good time to get to that for anyone who's been following the comic spoilers in the thread so far. So this game series is largely based on the second volume of the comics, which ran from 2002 to 2005 and is the volume in which Jackie and the wielder of the Witchblade have a daughter named Hope. In the most recent volume from 2012, an entity called The Survivor tries to collect the 13 artifacts (which includes the Darkness and Witchblade and all sorts of other weird items that grant people power) and kill Hope to build his own universe because that's apparently a thing that happens when you do that. Jackie defeats the Survivor, but too late and the universe is already fading into nothingness, leaving the Witchblade to kill their daughter (not Jackie as I previously said), which gives Jackie the ability to make the universe the way he likes it. Turns out, the way he likes it is with Jenny having never died and instead becoming the mother of his child, who is Hope from the previous universe. You wouldn't believe how Jackie fucks up this new universe a few issues later, but maybe I'll get to that in another spoiler post.
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Apr 19, 2018 22:35
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As for how the games mess up the universe with insane action and crazy twists... I’ll let the LP show that off. Welcome back! Good to see you!
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Apr 19, 2018 23:07
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Ah, the Great War. All the despair, misery, and cruelty that a growing young creature of dark intent needs. Or... whatever the Darkness eats, anyway.
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Apr 22, 2018 18:08
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I know WWI was a special kind of hell but I don't remember reading about the literal manifestations of the biblical apocalypse on a battlefield  Part of me misses the kind of hidden collectible in this level but another part most definitely does not.
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Apr 24, 2018 04:32
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This WWI section is really compelling. Kudos to the character designers and their representation of suffering of the soldiers and Famine. This is my favorite section of the game thus far, and I was ready to go right on to the next part (alas now I must wait). Nazis don't exist yet, though. Hun and Fritz would have been one of the many choices of pejoratives for the German & Austrian-Hungary Central Powers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huns#20th-century_use_in_reference_to_Germans --Nazi not being a pejorative per se, but close enough in use.
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Apr 25, 2018 04:05
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Super late comment and no one will care, but those pistols are Mausers, not Lugers 
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Apr 29, 2018 08:42
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Update: Chapter 2-2 Wow, another update? I'm spoiling you folks. Truth is, like Jackie, I've been in hell, but perhaps he can find a way out...
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May 18, 2018 05:54
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I appreciate the Comic Lore bits- I know the Darkness originated in comics, but I was always more into the videogames. Ah, the Lightkiller. My favorite Darkling! 
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May 18, 2018 15:21
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Hell is a sewer level. Even to The Darkness.
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May 20, 2018 05:29
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Ha, didn't even realize that Hell technically includes a sewer level. That explains why the pump room segment and ensuing climb out of there are pretty terrible
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May 20, 2018 20:29
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Friend of mine kept recommending this game, but I never got around to playing it. Now I can see what I missed - it looks fun! Thanks for showing it off! One question about your gameplay style: you said in an early video that devouring a heart restores your Darkness energy iirc. But it is also the shield for your health, right? So why don't you devour more hearts mid-combat? I saw the prompt pop up multiple times during the tough shooting sections and you just kept ignoring it while the shots ate away at the Darkness and eventually your health. Also, the enemies wouldn't come back and backstab you. Just curious if I'm missing something...
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May 25, 2018 20:38
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Gonna venture a guess that it's because you can't shoot during the animation which equals sitting duck time.
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May 25, 2018 23:28
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Simply Simon posted:One question about your gameplay style: you said in an early video that devouring a heart restores your Darkness energy iirc. But it is also the shield for your health, right? So why don't you devour more hearts mid-combat? I'm afraid I can't speak to what my exact mindset was at the time of recording since it's been quite a while (recorded the entire Hell chapter in one sitting), but sometimes I simply either don't notice a prompt or miss the window when I'm moving during combat. The interruption to aiming mentioned above is a definite factor as well, you can shoot while eating a heart but most of the screen is covered and parts of the animation will move the gun and make you miss, so unless my health is dire, I don't bother. I also have it in my head that eating all available hearts is a boring and visually uninteresting grind that I try to minimize in the videos, but if it's a matter of life or death I'll definitely make an exception so that probably isn't part of it.
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May 26, 2018 00:54
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Update: Chapter 3-1 Back to the real world to chase a foe and learn about an awful new plot point. We also learn about another of those oddly-similar-to-Splatterhouse plot points in the bonus video. Bonus: Bonus 2 Plus we got 39 new scraps of concept art. Here are the only ones actually worth seeing:     And here's all the rest - Extra Content:        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. 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 4: The starving horse, an Otherworld landmark. Concept - Otherworld 5: An Otherworld environment sketch. Concept - Otherworld 6: An Otherworld environment sketch. Concept - Otherworld 9: Concept of an Otherworld gate that was never used.         Concept - Soldier 2: A demonic Otherworld soldier. Concept - Soldier 3: A faceless Otherworld soldier. Concept - Soldier 4: The face of an Otherworld soldier. 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 - EC cover 2: A Darkness game magazine cover. Concept - Level 0 Panel 4: A panel from The Darkness: Level 0 comic book, with the initial sketch and the finished art.      Concept - Sarah: A concept of aunt Sarah. Concept - Monster 1: One of many monster designs we were playing around with at the start of the production. Concept - Monster 8: Early development monster design. Concept - MP Health 2: Concept art of the multiplayer health boost item. Concept - Demonhead: A demonhead design. Concept - Angelus 8: Effect concept for the Angelus character.      Screen - Mob 2: Screenshot of a mafia character. Screen - Jackie 2: Another early Jackie model screenshot. Screen - Paulie 4: Promotional screenshot of the Paulie character. Screen - Bum 2: A character model of a homeless person. Screen - Character 1: A character model of an ordinary citizen. Screen - Shlogg 1: Screenshot of the Shlogg monster.    Screen - Development Bug 2: A violent and weird bug. Screen - Dev Screen 3: In-development screenshot of game architecture. Screen - Dev Screen 4: (same as above) Screen - Dev Screen 5: (same as above)
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Jun 21, 2018 21:01
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