The Darkwatch is a time-honored institution with the singular mission of eradicating evil throughout the earth. They have just recently been successful in capturing the vampire lord Lazarus and are now transporting him back to the headquarters so that he can be questioned. During this time, an outlaw attempts to rob the train, but instead of finding riches, he releases Lazarus from his hold. However, this does not happen before the outlaw is bitten by the vampire lord. As Jericho Cross, a former bandit who has recently become the newest member of the Darkwatch, it is your responsibility to track down and eliminate Lazarus before you yourself become a full-fledged vampire.
Darkwatch is a first-person shooter video game that takes place in the Wild West and features otherworldly monsters. Use Darkwatch equipment that doubles as melee weapons, such as a revolver, two-fisted pistols, a crossbow (with dynamite connected to the bolts), and a Rail Rocket, to fight your way past reapers, undead riflemen, banshees, and other enemies. You can also use the explosives that you find along the journey to throw at the enemies and to blow up the barriers that they have set up. Along with more traditional weapons, Cross will also be able to obtain vampire powers, the type of which will depend on the path you take through the tale. If you make the decision to do what is right, you will be rewarded with abilities such as Silver Bullet, which boosts the damage of holy fire shots you take, and Vindicator, which brings chain lightning down on your foes. If you decide to take the path of evil, you will have access to two abilities: Blood Frenzy, which augments the potency of your melee assaults, and Soul Stealer, which allows you to steal the very souls of your opponents when they are at a distance. Whether you choose to be good or evil, you will always have the abilities of Blood Shield (which prevents you from losing health), Vampire Jump (which allows you to access regions that are difficult to reach), and Blood Vision (causes enemies, weapons and other important objects to glow). Your health will be replenished and your vampire powers will be restored whenever you kill a monster, and you will receive at least one Blood Cloud—and maybe more—in exchange.
In the single-player campaign, you have the option of playing either the story mode, in which you progress through the plot of Jericho Cross chapter by chapter or the Gunslinger mode (replay any level unlocked in story mode as either evil or good). At the conclusion of the mission, you will be shown your total number of kills as well as your accuracy percentage. If these are high enough, you will be able to unlock some movies and concept art.
You can compete against up to 16 other players online with Xbox Live, or you can play with up to 4 other people in split-screen mode. Death Match, Team Death Match, Capture the Flag, Soul Hunter (battle to collect Blood Clouds and be the first to fill your Blood Bar), and Team Soul Hunter is the many types of matches that can be played in multiplayer mode. You have the ability to change the settings for each individual match, including the game type, the map on which you want to compete, the total amount of time you have to play, the score limit, and the kill limit.
You can browse concept art unlocked through playing Gunslinger Mode, videos from Story Mode, and your statistics from both Story Mode and Gunslinger Mode by selecting Extras from the main menu.
