Dark Half

Dark Half is the first insatllmetn in the Dark Half series. It is developed by DECA and uses the Wartech 3.0 engine. It is released on Playstation 4, Xbox One and PC in 2015.

A sequel to the game was released two years later and was called Dark Half 2. It uses many influences from the first game, which set high standards fro the whole series.

Plot
The plot takes place on an unnamed island in the Carribean. The player takes control of Randy Mercer, an infamous CIA agent, who arrived on the island to hunt down an unknown arms dealer who has set up his network on the island. However, the landing went awry and he arrived in the middle of the enemy's camp. After trying to escape, Mercer is caught and held captive in the camp by a man named Rico, who works for the arms dealer. After Rico introduced himself, heleaves. Mercer then attempts to escape, burning down the whole camp. He succesfully escapes, but he turns into a killer.

After Mercer finds another camp full of prisoners, he decides to free them. He liberates the camp and sets free the friendlies, joining their side. One of them, a woman who's called Leah, says that Rico is Raul Vasco's main handler on the island, revealing the unknown arms dealer's name. Vasco has shipment full of weapons going to every war in the world, supplying all fighting sides.

When Mercer returns to the camp after multiple quests for Leah, Rico's gunmen attack the camp. Mercer is knocked out by a grenade blast and is taken to a special building on the island. He wakes up, seeing Rico. Rico lights up a sigarette, but throws it on the ground when he says that he doesn't smoke. He than grabs Mercer CIA files and leaves the building. Rico's men then poor gasoline on the sigarette, making a huge flame. Mercer kicks the gasoline bottle on the man who is set on fire. The other one tries to stop the fire, but his boot also catches on fire. After one drops his knife, Mercer grabs it and cuts himself loose. After he travels back to the camp, he finds it on fire. He then swears that he is going to kill Rico and Vasco.

Mercer searches the whole island for Rico, finding him in his compound in the middle of a lake. After a hard fight to reach Rico, Mercer is knocked out. He wakes up in a big cage, seeing thousends of man yelling at him. Rico stands in front of him with a knife. He says all kinds of things, like how stupid Mercer is by not doing his duty, that he was dishonored, that he wants redemption. But the most weird thing Rico says is that Mercer, can't kill himself. After a heavy struggle, Mercer stabs Rico in his chest. Suddenly, Rico changes into Mercer. Mercer falls on the ground. Mercer who lives looks at his hands, changing into Rico's hands. It is revealed that the player was Rico all along, fighting against Vasco's soldiers, while hunting Mercer for his redemption.

Rico and his loyal PMC's them try to destroy Vasco's organization by multiple search & destroy, sabotage and hijacking missions. However, Rico is hunted by almost every man on the island. When CIA forces enter the island, to find the dead Mercer, Rico joins the CIA to set up the plan to kill Vasco once and for all. Right when the plan starts moving in motion, the CIA betrays Rico, seeing him as a possible target. Driven by rage, Rico goes on an onslaught through the battlefield, finding and killing the CIA commander. After these events, the past of Rico is revealed.

Rico was a hostage of Vasco due a cruise hijacking where Rico worked. Rico was an european, named Rico after joining forces with Vasco for money and drugs. Rico, losing his memories of himself before the island, turns into a cold blooded, die hard operator in Vasco's network. But when Mercer escaped, Vasco held Rico captive and tortured him with waterboarding and other horrible things. Rico managed to escape in the same scene as Mercer did in the first scene, and all the things Mercer did, was actually Rico. His thoughts were so messed up, he saw himself as the enemy and replaced himself with the heroic warrior he thought Mercer was. After his hostile-side was killed, he saw that Mercer was the enemy. He continued his hunt for Vasco, however the CIA was also all qround tht island.

After multiple lone wolf operations, trying to regain grip on the situation, Rico met Hawke. He was a CIA operative and held Rico to his gunpoint. After Rico had declared his motives to Hawke, Hawke decides to go dark before the CIA find out his pact with the enemy. Hawke says that there was an asset in Vasco's network all along, but he can't do a thing. Hawke asks if Rico has knowledge about Vasco's location, but Rico denies. When CIA operators appear, Rico starts running after Hawke insists him to do so. He gave him his channel so they could have contact when he finds out Vasco's location.

After Rico searches the whole island, looking for supplies and weapons, he gets a call from Hawke, saying that Vasco is trying to make his way of the island. Rico them proceeds to the harbor where the CIA is destroying a ship. Rico tries to find Hawke, but he gets under fire of CIA troops. Suddenly, Vasco's shipment explodes, killing almost any soldier in the area.

Rico wakes up in a strange hut. Hawke is standing in front of him. He tells him that Vasco set up a trap and that he can do whatever he wants. Hawke saved Rico by dragging him out of the blast radius when he was knocked out. Hawke says that Vasco now runs all his weapons on this island, using the rivers as transport. Rico has to hijack a ship, trying to enter Vasco's secret safehouse. Rico travels to the riverside, while pursuing a ship. He succesfully hijacks it. He then uses the navigation to enter Vasco's safehouse. He finds the command room, finally finding out Vasco's compound, digged into the volcano. After a rough escape scene which alerts all guards. Hawke picks Rico up in a stolen chopper.

After flying all over the island, Rico mas the machine gun and fires at all troops on ground, emtering Vasco's airspace. They land, but Rico says that only he will step off and that Hawke has to leave. Hawke says that he will return after Vasco is caught, but Rico says that there is no catching him, only killing. Mhawke then reveals the motives of him, saying they want him alive. After Rico steps off, Hawke reminds him of the fact that he wants him alive. Rico fights his way to Vasco's private villa, but when he wants to enter Vasco's room, he is caught and tied to a chair with a bag on his head.

Moments later, the bag is pulled away. Rico is facing a video camera. Vasco and a room full of armed men are watching at him. Vasco tells him that if he wants to say something to his family, he has to do it now, revealing he knows Rico's origins. Rico refuses to, making the guards angry. Vasco laughs and unties Rico from his chair. He then pulls out his knife and cuts a cross in Rico's chest. He synically continues with talking about Rico's origins, saying how he changed into a killing machine. He then picks a little cilinder with a liquid, saying that that little liquid was the only thing to take him to that. He puts it into a nail and gives Rico the liquid via the nail into his blood. Rico goes crazy, entering a strange state like he did when he was Mercer. He hears multiple voices in his head while looking at his hands.

Suddenly, Rico punches a guard. Grabbing his knife stabbing another. After using one as a humanshield, he attacks Vasco. A knife fights between them starts when Rico throws away Vasco's gun. During the fight, guards try to stop them, but Rico kills them. After all guards are dead and Rico defeated Vasco, he gets his normal mind back. He pulls up Vasco, holding the knife against his throat. Suddenly, Hawke enters the room. Hepoints a gun at Rico. He says that if Ruco kills Vasco, he needs to kill Rico. If he doesn't, he can be reunite with his family. Rico can now choose if he kills or spares Vasco.

If he kills him, Hawke fires his gun, but Rico dodges the attack. He then throws the knife into Hawke's neck, killing him. A cutscene start with Rico living on the island, while being hunted by multiple armed forces. But despites that, Rico loves his life there, he says.

If he spares him, he releases grip on Vasco and Hawke walks towards him, saying that that is the right thing. A cutscene starts with Rico narrating his experiences on the island and how he feels now he hpis back in the real world.

Gameplay
Dark Half is inspired by the Far Cry-series. The game takes place in an open world, where the player has freedom to choose what to do at any moment, alongside a plot that only storywise progresses, but doesn't make much change to the freedom. Even when the player switches roles, from Mercer to Rico, the player keeps all his progress and skills throughout the rest of the game.

Gun handling is the same as many other DECA FPSs, however some basic survival skills are added, like gun jamming and extra inserted bullet capacity. When a player switches his gun for a weapon on the ground, he'll lose his weapon forever and needs to find it plus all attachemetns to get it back. To get new guns, there are enemy camps which have unique weapons and other weapons can be unlocked by doing special quests. Money also don't appears, instead when a weapon is empty, the player has to scavenge for bullets, pick up a weapon or switch weapons.

Enemies are now possible to act like the player, like performing takedowns, climbing object and use more advanced weaponry. Sometimes, when an enemy spots you, he doesn't shout to all his teammates. Instead, he tries to stealth attack you like the player would do. To determine how enemies act, is a random system integrated. Each enemy has a different level in four stats, bravery, experience, knowledge and physical stats. The numbers vary from 1 to 100 and how higher the number, how braver, more experienced, smarter and sportive the enemy is.

The player can develope his character by equipping weapons, but also upgrading skills. If the player succeeds a mission, he gets experience points. When gaining enough skill points, the player can unlock a skill in the skill tree. There are 3 skill trees which each having an unique speciality.

Gamemodes
Story missions - Missions following the storyline's progress.

Domination - Conquer or destroy outpost to dominate special areas and gain access to special things.

Dead or alive - Takedown HVI's to Vasco and have the decision to interrogate or to kill the target.

Arms deal - Intercept Vasco's weapon transport to collect weapons and attachements.

Characters
Rico - A former american worker on cruise ship which was hijacked and raided by Vasco's gunmen. Rico lost his memory and became a employer of Vasco's terror network, swifty ranking up. He is known as an antagonist in the beginning of the game, but is later revealed as the main protagonist. Rico is a reckless, brutal and powerfull warrior who has advanced experiences with firearms and combat. However during te story, he develops a side of himself that is driven by rage and revenge, the theme of Dark Half.

Randy Mercer - An infamous CIA agent who was send to the island to kill Vasco, but was killed by Rico in his mindgame. However during Rico's mindgame, the fate of Mercer is revealed as he was Rico in Rico's mind. Mercer was like Rico careless and reckless, but was also an horrible person.

Hawke - A CIA agent who was send with the main division to the island to execute the assault on Vasco's terror network. Hawke defected the CIA when he mwt Rico to execute his own plan to takeout Vasco. Hawke has however other motives than Rico, which determinds his fate after he holds Rico at his gunpoint when he has captured Vasco.

Raúl Vasco - An arms dealer and terrorist who has his own company set up on the island. Vasco is not much seen in game, but many rumours descripe him as a living nightmare with no weakness and no fear. He doesn't sell only weapons, but also let his company perform raids, hijakings and hostage taking. He recruited Rico as one of his gunman by giving him an unknown drug, using that to almost any soldier to punish. He is the main antagonist of the game.

Leah - A fellow worker on the cruise ship of Rico an one of his best friends. She was killed during the raid. In Rico's mindgame, Leah returns as a hostage, as he wants her to be alive. After Rico mindgame is over, she is only mentioned by Rico during his revelations.

Assault commander - The commander of the CIA operation. He appears twice in the game and only once in person. He contacts Rico when the CIA offers him a deal. He appears again, sitting at a bureau when Rico kills him.

Skill trees
The skills are divided into 3 kind of threes, the Predator, the Ghost and the Scavenger. The predator skills are fast killing and kill chain skills combined with other combat skills to kill as much people as possible. The ghost skills are for stealthy takedowns and sweeping undetected through area's. Also the ghost skills grant the player more agility and movement freedom. The scavenger tree grants skills to use outside the battle area, like crafting and looting items, but also health.

When the player has unlocked enough skills in one skill tree, the player is granted with a speciality. Each skill tree has his own. The predator does more damage, the ghost slows down time and the scavenger highlights important special things and has more health with a faster regan.

Predator
Takedown - Ability to perform a takedown on an enemy. Can be unlocked by default.

Gunsling takedown - Ability to grab the person on who you performed a takedown's gun and fire it at other targets.

Aimed reload - Reload while aiming down the sights of the rifle.

Sprint reload - Reload while sprinting.

Pyromaniac - Fire does 25% less damage on the player.

Instinct - Aim assist in a diameter of 1 meter.

Iron lungs - Hold breath longer.

Nimble fingers - Reload pistols, SMGs and shotguns 25% faster.

Nimble hands - Reload assault rifles, LMGs and sniper rifles 25% faster.

Steady aim - Hip fire accuracy increased.

Scrapper - Launcher accuracy increased.

Counter takedown - Ability to takedown an enemy who's performing a takedown on the player.

Line gunner - Shoot one-hadn weapons while zip lining.

Shoot & slide - Ability to shoot while sliding

Ghost
Distant takedown - Ability to throw a knife to takedown an enemy in the distance after taking down an enemy.

Death from above - Ability to perform a takedown on an enemy when jumping on him.

Death from below - Ability to perform a takedown on an enemy while swimming beneath him.

Dual takedown - Ability to takedown 2 enemies at once (does also apply to death from above/below).

Bag and drag - Ability to drag bodies.

Feather light - 25% less falling damage.

Blackout - Ability to shut down electricity in buildings.

Frog man - Swim twice as fast.

Dexterity - Climb and mantle objects 2x faster.

Tactical shooter - Fire while behind cover.

Backyard baseball - Throw back grenades.

Master chef - Cook grenades.

Ghillie - Less detectable in bushes.

Scavenger
Resupplier - Auto resupply same bullets from enemies.

Combat archer - Ready the bow faster.

Painkiller - Gain a second health slot.

Advanced painkiller - Gain a third health slot.

Extreme painkiller - Gain a fourth health slot.

Adrenaline - Restore health slots that are not empty twice as fast.

Rezurection - Restore empty health slots.

Zoology - Receive more items after skinning animals.

Payday - Receive more rewards after completing missions.

Strong biceps - Pump, cock or pull the bolt 50% faster.

Pickpocket - Gain more items after looting.

Sidearms

 * M1911
 * Makarov
 * P226
 * G17
 * .44 Colt Anaconda

Assault rifles

 * AKM
 * AK5C
 * FX-05
 * FN FAL
 * SG 553
 * POF P416

Submachine guns

 * Mini-Uzi
 * MP5A2
 * PP2000
 * KRISS Vector
 * MPK
 * PP19 Bizon

Light machine guns

 * RPD
 * M60A3
 * FN Minimi
 * PKM
 * MAG

Shotguns

 * Saiga 12k
 * MP133
 * SPAS-12
 * Model 1887
 * R780

Sniper rifles

 * SVD
 * Remington 700
 * L96
 * Zastafa M93

Special

 * Bow
 * Flare gun
 * RPG
 * Thumper
 * Flamethrower

Vehicles
In Dark Half is a wide variety of vehicles to ride on. They spawn randomly and can be in possession of enemies. The words highlighted in white, is the name appearence of the vehicle in-game.
 * Mitubishi Montero (SUV, 2nd Gen)
 * Volkswagen Passat (Sedan, B4 Variant)
 * Nissan Titan (Pick-up truck, 2005 variant) [MG Turret versions available]
 * Honda Civic (Hatchback, 6th Gen)
 * UAZ-469 (Jeep) [MG Turret versions available]
 * Honda CRF (Motorcycle)
 * Polaris Razor (ATV)
 * Patrol Boat Light (PBL, includes mounted MG)
 * Airboat [MG Turret versions available]
 * Kawasaki Jet Ski (PWC)
 * Zodiac (RHIB)
 * UH-1N Huey (Helicopter, includes mounted MG)
 * Beechcraft Bonanza (Plane)
 * Sportsub (Submersible)
 * Hang Glider
 * Zipline
 * Parachute
 * Wingsuit