"I'm gonna KILL Praxis!"
If you thought Gol and Maia trying to infect the world with Dark Eco was bad enough, then well... You'll probably think Jak 2 is where they won. Of course, it's only far, far worse: With Jak 2 introducing far more vile and evil villains to the series, this is where the franchise takes a turn for the worse.
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- The entirety of the franchise by this point takes a turn from a lighthearted platformer to a more darker story-driven game, where we see Jak turn from an innocent teenager to a broken hero who has been tortured to no end. It is this character transformation which can appear jarring to most fans of the first game, and boy it gets worse by the end.
- The Opening Scene takes the content level up to eleven. First we see Jak chilling with his friends opening a Rift Gate, when all of a sudden a swarm of Metal Heads storm into their world, sending them into the far future. When they arrive, Jak crashes onto the ground, and is then arrested by a group of soldiers for no apparent reason whatsoever. Fast forward 2 years, he's hellbent on revenge, and probably has a fuckton of mental issues as well as trauma.
- The scene at the very beginning of the game where we see Jak tortured by Baron Praxis and Errol, with the implication of "executing" him later on as he's considered a failed experiment. Had Daxter never arrived in time, then Jak would very well be dead.
- Pretty much every time we see anything corrupted by dark eco qualifies in some way as well, up to and including Jak. While mutated creatures in the first game are seen, in the second game Jak finds entire swaths of wildlife teeming with Dark Eco. Not only has it contaminated their world as they feared in the first game, but it has become a source of income and fuel for humanity, which paints just how bleak their world became after the rift gate was opened.
- Dark Jak, for being... Well, Dark Jak. The page's picture needs no introduction.
- The boulder chase in the Tomb of Mar that at first seems to be a Shout-Out to Crash Bandicoot. What really takes the scare factor up to eleven is when a giant spider comes out of the bolder.
- The Tombstone puzzle in Mar's Tomb has fairly creepy "puzzle jingles" which the player must match to finish. By extension, the atmosphere in the tomb is generally pretty unnerving for some players, being very dark as one of the few places in the game with little NPCs or scenery.
- The revelation that the Precursor Stone, which Baron Praxis plans to use to destroy the Metal Heads once and for all, is powerful enough to destroy everything else in existence as well.
- The Metal-Pede chase with Sig. If you thought Aquatic Metal-Head squids were bad enough, then you're in for a big hit when you have to outrun a massive centipede with Sig.
- The Metal Head nest. You can see the decaying KG fortifications and vehicles from at least one failed invasion that was hinted at a few times previously, implying that it was the scene of a failed military campaign. It's also home to massive metal heads that can only be avoided (not killed), and the inside of the nest is made up of Meat Moss. The area itself is very desolate, irradiated, and creepy due to this, showing the "Hive" nature of the Metal Heads. Right before Jak makes landfall there to kill Kor, it's stated that the only reason he has a chance to succeed is because the bulk of their forces are busy attacking the city.
- The climax of the game where the metal heads break into the city, with the KG and Underground forces taking a last stand among the chaos. Doesn't help that hundreds are probably killed; with Vin being killed in a particularly horrifying way- Jak's radio giving a clue as to what really happened to him.
- Kor revealing his true form at the construction site includes a hideous face that even scares Jak.Jak: Kor! What's going on here?Kor: I'm sure you know...deep down in your darkest nightmares! We met before, remember? Everything is going exactly as planned. Heh, heh, heh, heh, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!
- Metal Heads, known to the Precursors as the Hora-Quan, in general are pretty scary because despite their appearance, they're very clearly not regular animals. They're utterly unlike the Lurkers because they're the enemy of all living things and simply cannot live in peace with whatever environment they inhabit. The Wasteland is full of them and that's why it's called...the Wasteland, a desert of ruined cities and destroyed landscapes that the Metal Heads have killed and consumed over the centuries. Some of the various subspecies of metal head are pretty frightening in their own way, like Metalpedes who are treated more like a force of nature than something you can kill.
- At the end of the Tomb of Mar, you're finally given some perspective on just how dangerous the Metal Heads truly are. They've been at war with the Precursors for millions of years and, in a partial answer to Samos' question in the first game, wiped them out almost to the last. The people of Haven City aren't dealing with a small colony of monsters, but an interplanetary horde that has already decimated an extremely advanced civilization.
- During the assault on the Metal Head Nest, it becomes clear just how dire the situation has become and will only get worse if Jak and Daxter don't succeed. We hear about the horrible nature of the Metal Heads throughout the game, but listening to Ashelin sounding almost resigned to their fate is what seals how harrowing it all really is.Ashelin: There isn't much hope now. With the Shield Wall destroyed, it's just a matter of time before the Metal Heads overwhelm us. You should just go through the rift back to your own time Jak, and get away from this horrible place. We'll hold out as long as we can. Farewell.
