The Darkness follows the origin story (somewhat) and universe set out in the Top Cow comic series of the same name. When Jackie Estacado, a mafia hit man, turns 21, an old family curse rears its ugly head and he is possessed by an ancient evil known as The Darkness.
Now Estacado will use his newfound powers, as well as his extensive knowledge of guns, to take revenge on the mafia family that raised and betrayed him. Throughout the game, you will travel through various parts of New York and The Otherworld not only toppling your former employers, but also mastering The Darkness and imposing your will over this evil spirit.
Among the powers The Darkness bestows, there is the ability to impale your enemies on the tentacles, send out a tentacle in order to get to hard to reach areas, scout ahead or attack enemies, unleash a black hole that will suck up enemies in a small area, and summon Darklings.
You gain more powers as you progress through the game and each power you learn is stronger than the last, but uses more darkness power. Among these, the most interesting would be the Darklings. These are minions of The Otherworld that Estacado can summon to do various tasks like blow up lights, enemies (along with themselves) or just go crazy and destroy anything that gets in his way.
The Darkness also boasts a few multiplayer modes. Not only are the standard Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Capture the Flag available, but there are also a few more original modes to choose from as well. Last Darkling and Last Human games are basically the same, except whether or not most of the players are humans or darklings. In these games, one person is the Darkling/Human and only that odd-man-out can score when he kills. In order to become the Darkling/Human, you need to kill him and then you can start racking up the points.
