For all those who have been curious about The Darkness II, 2K Games has decided to finally answer the age old question - what is The Darkness? Some gamers may not be familiar with the story of Jackie Estacado and his eerie ability to control (or be controlled by?) a horrible creature called The Darkness.

Jackie was a kid with nowhere to go who ended up caught in the middle of mob warfare, slowly working his way to the top.

One day The Darkness found him. The mob turned against him, worried they would no longer be able to control him with his new-found powers. We saw quite the display of these powers back at E3, enough to convince us that the visceral action of the first Darkness might well be trumped by its sequel. Unfortunately, despite the buckets of blood, the impressive finishing moves, and most of all - the quad-wielding! - the story was still mostly a mystery other than the trailer from a few months ago.

Those who have not played the first game, prepare for one intense, bloody recap as Johnny Powell explains the origins of Jackie Estacado and his fall from grace:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAdbaEHCGek

All caught up? Good. Now that his background has been established, it is time to look forward. There are a group of villainous types called the Brotherhood: they want The Darkness back. They lost control of it some time ago, a piece of information exposed during the demo at E3. As Johnny explains, Jackie now has nothing left to lose. He not only has to survive against the Brotherhood, but he will have to survive against himself.

The Darkness II fans will have to wait a little bit longer than expected, now that the release date has been pushed back into 2012. Digital Extremes is surely using this time to polish and perfect what already looks like a fun, violent, and well-acted follow-up.

The Darkness II unleashes on February 7th, 2012 for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.

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