The Darkness sequel uncloaked - Report

Top Cow's infernal comic The Darkness found a welcome home in the gaming sector in 2007, courtesy of 2K Games and Starbreeze Studios. A first-person shooter, The Darkness managed to draw critical praise on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in the face of competition from such classics as Halo 3, Call of Duty 4, and The Orange Box.

Unfortunately, not much has been heard about the gaming future of Top Cow's franchise since The Darkness launched. That changed yesterday, though, as Top Cow announced at Comic-Con 2009 that a second game is in development. According to entertainment site Newsarama, information on the game remains sparse, with the comic company saying only that comic scribe Paul Jenkins (Spectacular Spider-Man, Vol. 2, Hellblazer) will pen its script.

However, it appears that Starbreeze won't be returning for The Darkness 2. Speaking to UK gaming site VG247, Starbreeze CEO Johan Kristiansson said, "I heard that there were talks about a Darkness sequel, but Starbreeze is not involved in anything like that right now. We are busy on two projects together with EA." Those two projects are Project RedLime, which was announced in February 2008, and a game based on Robert Ludlum's novels, revealed in February 2009.

It also remains unclear whether 2K Games will return as publisher on The Darkness 2 and when the game is expected to be completed. When contacted by GameSpot, a 2K Games representative offered a succinct, "no comment." Top Cow had not responded to requests for comment as of press time.

Lastly, Top Cow's panel yielded one other nugget of news related to The Darkness. According to Newsarama, Top Cow president Matt Hawkins revealed that a live-action film based on the comic is in development. Details on the project were light, with Hawkins only saying that Scott Stuber Productions (The Kingdom, The Break-Up) was attached to produce.