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Evidently, Darkwatch is a game that was heavily promoted and was to be the start of a franchise. That didn’t happen. A sequel was in the works but was eventually cancelled. I don’t remember seeing any advertisements for Darkwatch but then again, I was an unobservant teenager at the time so that doesn’t really mean anything. It wasn’t until years later when I saw videos of it online that I became aware of it and it caught my interest. As of this review, the game never made its way to PC and is exclusive to the sixth-generation era of consoles. Developed by High Moon Studios and published by Capcom, Darkwatch was released for PlayStation 2 and Xbox in August, 2005. For this review, I played the Xbox version. I have beaten this game once before and remember enjoying it so I’ve been looking forward to jumping back in.
The story opens in 1876 with outlaw Jericho Cross attempting to rob a train and unbeknownst to him, it’s transporting the vampire lord Lazarus Malkoth, an enemy of the Darkwatch, an organization that protects humanity from dark forces. Jericho’s actions result in Lazarus being released and biting Jericho, giving him the curse of the vampire. Jericho then joins up with the Darkwatch to help them combat the forces of evil and defeat Lazarus. But as he slowly turns into a vampire, he will have to make choices that will determine his alignment with either good or evil.
I would describe Darkwatch as a western with a dark twist. It conveys a dark tone with a touch of campiness and the result is a western horror title which was pretty unique for its time. The story, itself, is pretty good and the voice cast is comprised of some notable talent including Rose McGowan, Jennifer Hale, and Peter Jason. It is a shame the game didn’t spawn a franchise because there are some cool ideas here that I would love to see expanded upon. The art style, characters, enemies, and the atmosphere are all great. The core gameplay, itself, doesn’t really do anything we haven’t seen before in the first-person shooter genre, but the art style and brand of western horror definitely gives it an edge.
Darkwatch is a straightforward and action-packed first-person shooter. You run through environments blowing away foes. It is a linear game with very little reason to explore. As you progress through the campaign, you’ll have to make decisions that align with either good or evil and the choices you make will determine what powers you have access to and the ending you see. This, along with the multiple difficulty levels and unlockable artwork and videos, does add some replay value to the single player experience. Darkwatch does come with a multiplayer component but I didn’t get the chance to check it out.
The gunplay looks and feels great thanks to solid visual effects, dismemberment, and good weapon feedback. The weapons do look cool and there’s a good variety at your disposal. You can only carry two at a time and the arsenal consists of typical weapon types for the genre including a handgun, rifle, sniper rifle, shotgun, rocket launcher, crossbow, and dynamite. Jericho can also utilize vampire abilities like blood shield, blood vision, and vampire jump. The blood shield is like regenerating armor, blood vision zooms and highlights enemies, and the vampire jump is basically a double jump. And he only has access to these abilities in the dark and shadows. As you kill enemies and absorb their blood clouds, you fill up your blood gauge and when it’s full, you can activate one of multiple powers for a limited time. The powers are categorized as good or evil and they all have their benefits. From making your weapons inflict more damage to turning enemies into allies, most are pretty fun to use and experiment with. This, combined with the solid gunplay and cool weapons and enemies make for a fun action-packed experience.
There’s a couple of features in Darkwatch that I feel could have been fleshed out further; the Darkwatch Citadel and the sun. Once you reach the Citadel in the story, you are given the option to choose what missions to complete. You’ll end up playing through all of them but it’s cool being able to pick and choose. The game actually tells you to explore the Citadel. Unfortunately, the Citadel area you have access to is very small and there’s no real reason to explore. You choose a mission, choose what weapon you want to start the mission with, and off you go. After completing the three missions, the whole mission choice thing is never seen again. It also doesn’t matter what order you complete them in. They have no affect on anything other than progressing the story. It would have been cool if choosing a mission rendered another inaccessible and altered the course of the story or a character’s attitude or something. Maybe even specific rewards could be granted for completing certain ones. This kind of design would force you to make choices that result in different outcomes.
The sun is a feature that could have been utilized more often. The game explains to you that the sun will dispel Jericho’s powers which means he can’t use them. But this feature is showcased in very few missions. In fact, it’s only two. The one mission where the feature is introduced and another that is set in the daytime. I can’t say Darkwatch is a super challenging game, at least on Cowboy which I equate to the Normal difficulty level. But I think the sun feature could have added more challenge and variety to the experience. In the sunlight, Jericho has no blood shield or armor, he can’t use blood vision, he can’t double jump, and he can’t use his powers. That’s pretty significant and can make things trickier, more challenging. In the mission set during the day, he can move to the shadows to regain his powers and it forces you think a little differently in terms of your approach. But after this mission, the sun is never seen again.
Despite the underutilized features, Darkwatch is still a good time. The game pits you against numerous dark and undead forces including Bone Demons, riflemen, and banshees among others. You’re always outnumbered and different weapons are better against certain threats and that’s definitely a positive here, no weapon is ever rendered useless. Every so often, a Mark of Evil will emerge on the battlefield and these things result in enemies continuously spawning until they’re destroyed. While much of the campaign has you running and gunning, there are some set pieces that make for a nice change of pace. A couple that put Jericho on a horse and another has him driving a weaponized steamwagon and using it to mow down foes.
The environments are linear and it would be very hard to get lost. You’ll shoot your way around typical western-like areas but with a dark vibe. In addition to the good or evil choices you have to make throughout the story are Victims you come across. Jericho can release or absorb their souls which equate to good and evil choices respectively, albeit much less significant than the choices forced upon you throughout the story. Along with weapons and ammo, these Victims are the only reasons to explore but I found if you’re aiming to align entirely with good or evil from the get-go, most can easily be ignored because the story choices seem to grant you access to all the powers of your chosen alignment well before you reach the end of the campaign.
Darkwatch showcases a nice presentation with a cool art style and good visual effects. I love the weapon and enemy designs and the game does a great job utilizing the dark western setting. The tone and atmosphere remain consistent throughout the whole experience and there’s a good amount of visual variety. The soundtrack is also great, helping to drive home that dark western feel, complete with a remixed version of the main theme from the film The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. On the technical side, the game ran fine in my experience and I did not encounter any major issues.
I had a great time with Darkwatch and am only disappointed that it didn’t turn into a franchise. It doesn’t break new ground but everything it does, it does well. There are some features I feel could have been implemented better but as they are, they certainly don’t hinder the experience. Darkwatch is an action packed, run and gun first-person shooter with a dark western theme. You could also say it’s an action horror title. Whatever you want to call it, it’s good and very cool. The action is solid and the pacing is consistent and I think it deserves a sequel. Besides the fact the gameplay in general is fun and it would be cool to see more of it, there’s enough here in terms of story and worldbuilding that I feel a sequel to flesh things out even more definitely feels warranted. I want more dark western action and more of the dark world and characters.
I absolutely recommend Darkwatch. It’s a cool game with good gameplay and I think for its time, the western horror angle made it unique. It may not revolutionize the genre but it is a well made game with some interesting ideas. If you’re a fan of first-person shooters and own a PlayStation 2 or Xbox, Darkwatch is game you should definitely check out if you haven’t already.