When comparing Darkwood vs Portal 2, the Slant community recommends Portal 2 for most people. In the question“What are the best games on Linux?” Portal 2 is ranked 1st while Darkwood is ranked 83rd. The most important reason people chose Portal 2 is:
While Portal 2 requires focus and logic, it does not punish players for causing a bit of mischief. The instant respawn system means trolling your friend will affect almost nothing in the game, as there are no in-game setbacks when you die. Being able to stop at any point in the game to just goof around is great for releasing some steam, even when it is at the expense of your co-op partner.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Beautiful top down graphics that illustrate a creepy and murky world
Darkwood is a top down game that has dark murky graphics with misty fog that fit the mood really well and awesome lighting effects from the players flashlight.
Pro The random generation of the game makes it all the more terrifying, as you never know what will come next
The game is really dark, has a lot of atmospheric tension, and is randomly generated to keep it from being to predictable. This way the player never knows what will happen next, which ups the element of surprise by quite a lot.
Pro Extremely replayable thanks to the random generation of the game
The maps are randomly-generated, adding extra replayability value since you never know what you will find with every new game.
Pro Optional permadeath makes for an easier time for those that want it
If you die and don't want to start from the beginning losing all of your progress you don't have to.
Pro Immersive sound effects suits the game and its creepy environments well
Sound in horror games can really make the difference on whether it’s scary or not and Darkwood's has really awesome sound.
Pro Co-op does not punish when you want to goof off with or troll the other player
While Portal 2 requires focus and logic, it does not punish players for causing a bit of mischief. The instant respawn system means trolling your friend will affect almost nothing in the game, as there are no in-game setbacks when you die. Being able to stop at any point in the game to just goof around is great for releasing some steam, even when it is at the expense of your co-op partner.
Pro Huge selection of user-generated content that should appeal to any use-case
The game has more than 60,000 co-op puzzles created by users through the Steam Workshop and through mods. Because it is user-generated content, the quality and size of these puzzles vary widely, including everything from simple, one-off chambers to full-fledged expansions with high-quality stories, voice-overs, and new gameplay elements (for example, Mel). By having such a selection of content, there should be something that appeals to just about anything someone is looking for.
Pro Entertaining and well delivered voice acting
Voice acting for Wheatley the AI robot is done by Stephen Merchant (Extras, The Office UK, Life's Too Short) in humorous fashion. His delivery is well executed on all dialogue. On top of this specific experience, the rest of the voice acting of every other character in the game is performed just as well, in part due to the fact that the dialogue was written in a funny smart and entertaining cool fashion. This makes for a top quality listening experience that shows a lot of care was taken with the acting of the game.
Pro Creates a sense of accomplishment through a high level of teamwork
Game is shit
Pro Challenging puzzles that require creative thinking
Pro Witty and funny character driven story
Four major characters drive the single player poop campaign, and they are amazing. Three of which have explosive personalities, bring humor, suspense, sadness, and empathy. The other being Chell, who doesn’t speak but her interactions with the rest of the cast make her all the more mysterious and interesting. Most of the time you don’t even see or directly interact with the characters, but that just shows how great and cool they are.
Pro Cross-platform co-op
As long as both players have a Steam account, the co-op is able to be played even if one user is playing on the PS3 while the other is on a PC.
Pro Well implemented tools that improve teamwork
Pro So large in scope that it takes multiple playthroughs to see everything
Portal 2 is larger in every way when compared to the first title, from the longer and more detailed story to the larger levels and new game mechanics. This makes for a title that will last 8-9 hours minimum, with many elements that are worth revisiting, not to mention the co-op section of the game, which is separate from the single player story.
Pro Versatile selection of co-op multiplayer
It’s possible to play a multiplayer game for free online using the Steam servers, as well as locally on your machine using split-screen (the second player must use a gamepad controller if playing locally). This keeps the multiplayer options versatile to any players needs.
Cons
Con May start to feel extremely tedious
It's very hard to find valuable gear in this game. Most of the caches the player finds will be filled with items that can be crafted into useful gadgets, and even they are very rare.
Not having good gear means that you will be dying a lot, especially in the early stages of the game, since you will be venturing to find anything you need while being practically defenseless.
While pretty fun at first, scouring the map with little to no protection will start feeling pretty tedious soon enough.
Con Poor tutorials
The short tutorials in the game do not do a good job of explaining certain aspects of the game such as cooking or leveling.
Con Main co-op campaign is short
The co-op campaign in Portal 2 is about 4 hours long for experienced players, meaning it could be beaten in a just a couple days. With almost zero replayability, this makes the game feel incredibly short. Luckily, hundreds of hours of user-generated content is available.
Con It's already on every coop list since 2011
Con Steep co-op learning curve
Although the single-player campaign features a gradual learning curve, co-op offers no mercy. The puzzles start off hard and only get harder. It’s highly recommended that you play through single-player first if you are not familiar with Portal's mechanics.
Con Sense of accomplishment is often onesided
Con Frequent motion sickness trigger
Con Late game single player can be quite difficult
While the single player learning curve is quite gradual, late game the puzzles can become quite difficult, sometimes leading to the player being stuck for long stretches of time. While not impossible to solve, some creative thinking will need to be done in order to finish.