History VideoGame / DarkSeedII

* SequelDifficultyDrop: The game has far more coherent puzzles, fewer ways to stumble into instant death or making the game unwinnable, and perhaps most importantly you no longer have strictly limited time to do what you need.

* HappyEndingOverride: The first game ends with the Ancients driven off, Mike okay, and Mike seeming to develop a friendship or more with the local librarian. This game starts with Mike's life ruined by the horror of the first game and Mike suspected of murder.

* TheGhost: The Ancients. They get referenced as the UltimateEvil threatening both the Dark World and Earth, but they spend the entire game slumbering in their spaceship until its blown up at the end. You never see any of them during the game. [[spoiler:Unless Jack is an Ancient in which case, you were dealing with one from the very beginning.]]

* VideoGameLives: It's never explained well in-game, but every time a friendly Dark Worlder dies, Mike gets an extra life. Frustratingly, the first life you get is required to complete a puzzle, and if you lose it before completing the puzzle, then you're stuck in the Dark World forever.

* UnwinnableByDesign: A particularly nasty instance. Upon your first visit to the Dark World, [[spoiler:you are given an extra life by the death of the Keeper of the Light. If you die before seeing a privileged worker sentenced to death (or if you don't find his data card in the Hall of Death), you won't be able to get the data card without dying again and getting a game over]].

* PixelHunt: Less so than the first game, but there's still several items that are nigh-impossible to find without a guide.

* UnwinnableByDesign: A particularly nasty instance. Upon your first visit to the Dark World, [[spoiler:you are given an extra life by the death of the Keeper of the Light. If you die before seeing a privileged worker sentenced to death, you won't be able to get the data card without dying again and getting a game over]].

* UnwinnableByDesign: A particularly nasty instance. Upon your first visit to the Dark World, [[spoiler:you are in effect given an extra life by the death of the Keeper of the Light. If you die before seeing a privileged worker sentenced to death, you won't be able to get the data card without dying again and getting a game over]].

!!Yes, trope. Life is so weary:

A year after the events of the first game, Mike has suffered a nervous breakdown and moved back to his childhood town of [[DeepSouth Crowley, Texas]] to recover. While there, he reconnects with Rita Scanlon, his high school sweetheart. However, after a high school reunion, she's found decapitated in a park. Mike is almost immediately suspected of the crime, and to make matters worse, he's started to have very familiar nightmares. To clear his name and figure out the real culprit, Mike has no choice but to travel back and forth between Crowley and the Dark World to take care of the Ancients once and for all.

The game starts after the events of the first game, where Mike Dawson moves back to his hometown of [[DeepSouth Crowley, Texas]] to clear up a mystery surrounding the murder of a girl he once dated after deciding to sell the mansion in Woodland Hills. However, Mike's been battling a case of mental breakdown following his encounter with the Ancients and go live with his mother for the meantime. Later on, the town suspects that Mike may be the murderer behind Rita's death. To clear his name and figure out the real culprit, Mike has no choice but to travel back and forth between Crowley and the Dark World to take care of the Ancients once and for all.

* UnwinnableByDesign: A notable instance. Upon your first visit to the Dark World, [[spoiler:you are in effect given an extra life by the death of the Keeper of the Light. If you die before seeing a privileged worker sentenced to death, you won't be able to get the data card without dying again and getting a game over]].

* UnwinnableByDesign: A notable instance. Upon your first visit to the Dark World, [[spoiler:you are in effect given an extra life by the death of the Keeper of the Light. If you die before getting the data card you are revived, but stuck because you ''have'' to die to exit after getting the data card, and without the extra life at that point you get a game over.]]

* GainaxEnding: Whoever can explain coherently ''what the '''fuck''' happened'' in the ending, step right up. LetsPlay/{{Slowbeef}} [[http://lparchive.org/Darkseed-2/Bonus/ has interviewed one of the writers and]] [[ShrugOfGod he admits that they intentionally left it ambiguous]]. [[spoiler:Either Mike stopped the Ancients from taking over the world and discovers that Jack is not only the Shapeshifter, but his own Dark World counterpart... or the Dark World was really made out of Mike's crazy imagination and Jack is his other identity, implying Mike has Dissociative Identity Disorder. Either way, [[ShootTheShaggyDog Mike is killed with a knife to the back and is framed for the murders]].]] [[spoiler: Or the events of the first ''Dark Seed'' actually ''did'' happen, but the whole affair drove him mad.]]

%%* DerangedAnimation: The digitized characters in ''Dark Seed II''.

The sequel to ''VideoGame/DarkSeed'', ''Dark Seed II'' was only released for North American gamers in 1995 and 1996 for Microsoft Windows and the Macintosh, respectively. The game got ports released for Japan via the Sega Saturn and the [=PlayStation=]. Unlike the previous game, there was voice dubbing done in Japanese.

The sequel to ''VideoGame/DarkSeed'', ''Dark Seed II'' was only released for North American gamers in 1995 and 1996 for Microsoft Windows and the Macintosh, respectively. The game got port released for Japan via the Sega Saturn and the [=PlayStation=]. Unlike the previous game, there was voice dubbing done in Japanese.

The sequel to ''VideoGame/DarkSeed'', Dark Seed II was only released for North American gamers in 1995 and 1996 for Microsoft Windows and the Macintosh. The game got port released for Japan via the Sega Saturn and the Sony Playstation. Unlike the previous game, there was voice dubbing done in Japanese.

* AnyoneCanDie: The first game actually didn't kill anyone off, but the second...oh Lord. [[spoiler:Not necessarily in order: Mayor Fleming, Dark World Paul, Dark World Hank, Goth, Slim, Doc Larson, Jimmy Gardner (comatose, anyway), Paul, Mike's mom ([[MindScrew maybe]]), Dr. Sims, and Mike Dawson]].

* CruelTwistEnding: In the sequel. [[spoiler:Mike kills the Behemoth and blows up the Ancients' spaceship...only for Jack to wake him up in Dr. Sims' office, with Dr. Sims himself lying dead on the floor with a knife in his back. Then it gets weird.]]
* DarkerAndEdgier: The first game, despite its dark art, was not that ''dark'' and had a HappyEnding, where good defeats evil. ''Dark Seed II'', on the other hand... [[spoiler:not only killed humans off, unlike its predecessor, but had a high death count and a total DownerEnding.]]

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Attempted in ''Dark Seed II'': Jack only appears every now and then to talk or help out and then leaves as abruptly as he showed up. [[spoiler:The only time he interacts with the other characters is when he punches out Jimmy, which only Slim and Mike witnessed and the former claims it was actually ''Mike'' who punched him. Later on this indicates him as the Shapeshifter as several characters tell Mike about the Shapeshifter's ability to temporarily come into the Regular world.]]
** [[spoiler: Mike's first nightmare in ''Dark Seed II'' ends with him seeing a reflection of himself turning into the Shapeshifter. And then later you realize that everyone in the game's regular world has a Dark World counterpart - except for Mike himself... and Jack.]]
* GainaxEnding: Whoever can explain coherently ''what the '''fuck''' happened'' in ''Dark Seed II'''s ending, step right up. LetsPlay/{{Slowbeef}} [[http://lparchive.org/Darkseed-2/Bonus/ has interviewed one of the writers and]] [[ShrugOfGod he admits that they intentionally left it ambiguous]]. [[spoiler:Either Mike stopped the Ancients from taking over the world and discovers that Jack is not only the Shapeshifter, but his own Dark World counterpart... or the Dark World was really made out of Mike's crazy imagination and Jack is his other identity, implying Mike has Dissociative Identity Disorder. Either way, [[ShootTheShaggyDog Mike is killed with a knife to the back and is framed for the murders]].]] [[spoiler: Or the events of the first ''Dark Seed'' actually ''did'' happen, but the whole affair drove him mad.]]
* HappyEndingOverride: The first game ends with the Ancients driven off, Mike okay, and Mike seeming to develop a friendship or more with the local librarian. The second game starts with Mike's life ruined by the horror of the first game and Mike suspected of murder.

* LameComeback: In the second game, after an argument with Rita, Mike's comeback is 'Hope the boogeyman gets you!' ''Really'', Mike?
* MundaneUtility: In the second game, Mike acquires a bio-mechanical machine gun and a magnetic crossbow. What does he use them for? [[spoiler:Cheating at carnival games]].
* NonIronicClown: The clown at the entrance to the carnival in ''Dark Seed II'', though grouchy, doesn't seem to be evil or creepy in any way. This is in contrast to the rest of the carnival itself, which prominently features Giger art in the attractions.
* NoSympathy: In the sequel, ''no one'' seems to care about Mike's problems. Pretty much everyone treats him poorly, insults him, provokes him and impedes his efforts to solve the murder. Mike's own mother is remarkably hard on someone who has serious psychological issues and who is the prime suspect for the murder of his friend. Notably, the only person who seems to treat Mike with any genuine respect is Jack, [[spoiler:who is actually the Shapeshifter and is manipulating Mike.]]
* OnlyIdiotsMayPass: In the sequel, the locked closet in Mike's bedroom [[spoiler:contains another portal to the Dark World. And isn't locked at all. [[LiesToChildren Years ago, his mother tricked him into thinking it was]]. Still, you can never open it until the deception is revealed]].

* SequelEscalation: ''Dark Seed'' was a simple little game that you could complete in about an hour, [[GuideDangIt if you knew exactly what to do]]. ''Dark Seed II'' on the other hand...
* SequelHook: [[spoiler:''Dark Seed II'' ends with Jack ominously implying that the Ancients will make a third attempt to conquer the world. An especially odd example because by that point the Ancients are ''all dead''.]]

* StopPokingMe: In ''Dark Seed II'', repeatedly talking to characters without advancing the plot will cause them to get annoyed with you. And you don't want to annoy the Dark Worlders who have guns...
* UnwinnableByDesign: A notable instance in the second game. Upon your first visit to the Dark World, [[spoiler:you are in effect given an extra life by the death of the Keeper of the Light. If you die before getting the data card you are revived, but stuck because you ''have'' to die to exit after getting the data card, and without the extra life at that point you get a game over.]]

* WaxingLyrical: As if the ending wasn't already balmy enough, at the end of ''Dark Seed II'' [[spoiler:Jack/the Shapeshifter]] suddenly paraphrases Music/TheBeatles when he explains his true nature: [[spoiler:[[EvilTwin "I am you, and you are me, and we are all together!"]]]]

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