I'm was about to start playing through this on PC (Amazon sale FTW). I own the original on the xbox 360. I dislike analog stick controls for shooters. Worth it to play through The Darkness (original) before I start a play through of The Darkness 2?

Yes. IMO a better game.

I tried, but the combat in the original is pretty lackluster. The most important parts of the first game are all story beats, so it might be more worth your time to just youtube some of the more important cut scenes and go to the second game.

The Darkness is a great game.

I don't think you need to but I do think that parts of the original Darkness make it worth playing through. If you really aren't interested in the idea, the recap should give you enough backstory to play the second one.

The first game is one of the best games of the generation. Haven't played II yet, but the original is just awesome. Play it for the sake of playing it, not simply because it comes before 2!

It might not have aged well, but I enjoyed The Darkness at the time. Just got done with II a week or two ago, and I was a little disappointed.

Yes, as it is the better game, maybe not from a strict mechanical point of view but everything else like design, story telling etc. is superior to part two.

It hasn't aged well, but everything else about the game is still great. I think you will definitely get more out of The Darkness 2 if you do play the original first.

You should read the comics while you are at it

Thanks for the advice, though it seems like we're split here. Maybe I'll start it up and see where it goes.

The only major theme that carries over is your relationship with Jenny. So no, Start with II if you want, you will not miss anything terribly important. While I see a lot of people here talking it down, I actually thought II was much more straightforward and well put together. The first one made an effort to feel open world, but failed because of how empty it actually was. I like Starbreeze as a studio and I thought the Riddick games were good, but the first Darkness left a lot to be desired. The art style and animations were pretty great though.

I played through it at the beginning of the year, the story is fantastic, second to none but the gameplay is workable at best and suicidally frustrating at worst.

I think you should play it, it'll give you a chance to give a crap about the characters.