Dark Seed II

Storyline

After his previous victory over the Ancients, Mike Dawson’s mind snaps under the weight of what he witnessed in the Dark World. He retreats to his mother’s house in Crowley, Texas, hoping a year of quiet will restore his sanity, but nightmares and gaps in his memory persist. Then, following his high school reunion, his girlfriend Rita is found dead. Crowley’s bumbling sheriff, Butler, immediately pegs Mike as the killer. With only his friend Jack on his side, Mike tries to prove his innocence while seeing therapist Dr. Sims, who triggers strange visions of the Dark World and the townspeople under hypnosis. When Mike stumbles onto a portal to the Dark World hidden in a carnival mirror maze, he realizes the Ancients are back and scheming to take over Earth.

In that twisted realm, Mike meets the Keeper of the Light, one of three beings who once kept peace there before the Ancients arrived. Dying, she tells him he must wreck the Ancients’ power generator before it fuels their Behemoth, a creature that can suck all life from Earth and feed it to them. Mike later finds the imprisoned Keeper of the Scrolls, who reveals the Ancients sent a Shape Shifter to Earth. This agent killed Rita and stole her head to use her brain cells in the generator. Mike starts hunting for the missing Light and Sword in the Dark World, while back in Crowley he tries to unmask the Shape Shifter. His suspects include lecherous coroner Doc Larsen, Mayor Fleming, Sheriff Butler, and local thug Jimmy Gardner, all of whom had ties to Rita. But the case unravels when Larsen and Fleming turn up dead, stuffed into the Ancients’ generator, and Gardner lands in a coma after a brawl with Mike and Jack. In the Dark World, Mike learns how the Ancients have already drained nearly all life from the planet.

Development

The game's producer was David Mullich, with Raymond Benson handling the script, dialogue, and puzzles. Benson's work was inspired by David Lynch's Twin Peaks. H.R. Giger again licensed his art for the series and proposed using industrial catwalks for Dark World travel.

Release and reception

The Sega Saturn saw the Japanese release of Dark Seed II on August 29, 1997. Famitsu critics warned it wouldn't appeal to everyone. While Hirokazu Hamamura praised its "unparalleled originality" and two reviewers found the story compelling enough to continue, others cited a poor translation and frustrating navigation. One critic concluded the game suited players willing to meticulously search every screen area.