Privateer 2: The Darkening
Release Date	December 1996

Wing Commander Privateer 2 was created in the wake of Wing Commander III as the cinematic video step up for the Privateer subseries. Erin Roberts developed the game with a more modest budget in the UK. The main character, Ser Lev Arris, was played by Clive Owen. He was supported by Christopher Walken, David Warner, Jürgen Prochnow, Mathilda May and John Hurt. The game took place about 120 years after Wing Commander IV in an isolated pocket of space known as the Tri-System. Planet Anhur was been home to humans for some two thousand years, and the locals independently developed faster-than-light drives from the Confederation. The futuristic setting lets players utilize advanced jump gates, short-range time travel devices and massive cargo haulers. In addition to the traditional build-up phase and story portions of the game, Privateer 2 peppers the experience with random cinematic mini plot missions. Certain upgrades are only available once these subplots have been completed, and entire character arcs are explored with recorded video cutscenes separate from the main story.

Copy

U.K. box, front cover

Original U.K. Release

NAME: Ser Lev Arris

AGE: 30

DIAGNOSIS: Anterior Amnesia

U.K. box, back cover

RECENT HISTORY:
Ser Arris's condition was probably caused by accelerated
depassivity from a long artificial sleep, after being
pulled from the wreckage of a recent Cargo ship disaster at
Mendra spaceport. After a satisfactory physical recovery,
the subject was kidnapped in a violent attack on the
hospital resulting in a number of fatalities. The subject
seems to have escaped his kidnappers, and is now in
possession of a spaceship, trading and fighting his way
across the galaxy, seemingly in search of his lost
identity.

Deluxe Edition (U.S.)

Inner flap

U.S. box (Deluxe Edition), left inner flap

U.S. box (Deluxe Edition), right inner flap

THE ULTIMATE SPACE COMBAT TRADING EXPERIENCE

You regain consciousness, and the unfamiliar
faces around you inform you that you've lost
your ship in an accident. You're new to the
cutthroat world of Tri-System privateers, and
now your only order of business is survival.
You've got just enough credits to afford a new
ship, but it's going to need upgrades if you
expect to live long. The sector is full of
people willing to do business, but who can be
trusted? Legal or not, it's time to trade, travel,
and battle your way through a place where
high risk means high yield and those with the
brass reap the rewards.

Back cover

U.S. box, back cover

A new FACE...
A new PLACE...
A new STORY...

Strap in tight and jump into
the ultimate space combat
trading experience!

In Privateer 2, there are no rules.
You can fly over 100
different missions in
18 different ships.
Check out whatever you
want ― unique planets,
space stations, bars,
prison pits and more.

But without money, you're nothing.
Ship upgrades,
loadouts, repairs,
wingmen, information
― everything here
costs money. You'll
have to hunt, trade,
and fight to get it.

Only the fastest and most savvy survive.
Incredible new space
combat engine enables
hi-speed battles between
bands of pirates, greedy
police, desperate
privateers and you.

Strategy Guides

Development

Concept Art

• The never-used box cover for 'Privateer: The Darkening'! The file, dated May 13, 1996, proves once and for all that Electronic Arts once seriously planned to release it without the '2'.

Storyboards

• Download the PDF of all the P2 Storyboards HERE

Box Contents

Here's something a lot of people don't know: different versions of Privateer 2 featured readically different manuals! It's strange but true - the original UK release came with a "Crius Hospital Rehabilitation Guide" and an in-universe "Guide to Space Travel"... while the American version came with a single booklet, "Your Guide to the Universe". Well, it's time for the walls to come back: thanks to the scanning efforts of Kris Vanhecke and myself, now everyone can have both manuals!

• The American version here (13 mb, PDF)
• The British set here (15 mb, PDF)

Documentation

• As it is in Heaven: A Guide to Space Travel
• Astravin Medical Centre Crius Hospital Department of Neurology Rehabilitation Guide for Anterior Amnesia

Cutscenes

Privateer 2 Videos! Single zip file (730 MB)

More Privateer 2 Videos!

We've located 'Tape B' from Origin's Privateer 2 video archive, which adds most of the videos not already in our archive (except, somehow, the introduction). Here's the roster:

• Uncle Kashumai 1 (24M, .m4v)
• Uncle Kashumai 2 (8M, .m4v)
• Uncle Kashumai 3 (23M, .m4v)
• Auntie Maria Gabriel 1 (12M, .m4v)
• Auntie Maria Gabriel 2 (2M, .m4v)
• Auntie Maria Gabriel 3 (6M, .m4v)
• Auntie Maria Gabriel 4 (6M, .m4v)
• Joe the Bartender 1 (3M, .m4v)
• Joe the Bartender 2 (3M, .m4v)
• Joe the Bartender 3 (3M, .m4v)
• Joe the Bartender 4 (6M, .m4v)
• Joe the Bartender 5 (6M, .m4v)
• Joe the Bartender 6 (4M, .m4v)
• Joe the Bartender 7 (5M, .m4v)
• Joe the Bartender 8 (8M, .m4v)
• Joe the Bartender 9 (4M, .m4v)
• Joe the Bartender 10 (6M, .m4v)
• Melissa Banks 1 (17M, .m4v)
• Melissa Banks 2 (13M, .m4v)
• Melissa Banks 3 (9M, .m4v)
• Melissa Banks 4 (12M, .m4v)

Press

• The Darkening - Article about Privateer 2 from The Times
• Back in 1996, PC Zone magazine produced a special 20-page Privateer 2 preview booklet. It interviewed all aspects of the team, including programmers, the guys behind the full motion video... even the sound engineer! It was a beautiful magazine which featured many early screenshots. Download the PDF HERE

Credits

see Privateer 2 credits

Privateer 2: The Darkening development team! Take a close look at the details, too--there's an area on the wall for each Tri-System planet! Special thanks to the always-graciou

• Back Row: Mark Goldsworthy, Phil Meller, Paul Hughes, Tony Stockton, Nick Goldsworthy, Jason Reeve, Adam Medhurst, John Miles, Erin Roberts

• Front Row: Paul Chapman, Nick Elms, Mike Cottam, Chris Battson, Dan Blackstone

You've seen their picture take a look at their cartoon equivalents

Companies

• Blessed Aquawine
• Blessed Brew Bar
• Central Intelligence Service
• Chirichan Pirate Clan
• Crazy Eric's Ordnance Emporiums
• Crius Hospital
• Crius Net
• Crius Off-Planet Control
• Galactic Gourmet Hotel
• Hilda's Commodities Brokers
• Holy Museum of Hom
• Interplanetary Aid
• Jincilla Pirate Clan
• Kappa Laboratories
• Kindred
• Kiowan Pirate Clan
• New Crius Examiner
• Papogod Pirate Clan
• Rampant Robot Bar
• S.N. Transports of Delight
• Shadow Play Bar
• Shernikov Medical Equipment
• Sinners Inn
• Smitchell's D-Drive Doctors
• Spacey's Ultra Malls
• Surgeon's Blunder Bar
• Taffin Reclamation Inc.

News

People

• Alberto Fossa
• Angus Santana
• Bernice Barlow
• David Hassan
• Dimitri Avignoni
• Hugo Carmichael
• Jan Mitorr
• Janna Frevel
• Larn Regis
• Louissa Phillips
• Maria Filippa Gabriel
• Melissa Kathryn Banks
• Nelson James Ramirez
• Pemtur Douglas
• Ralph McCloud
• Reginald Arthur Bray
• Rhineheart
• Ronald Henry Bray
• Senator Veklyn Ames
• Sheila Nabokov
• Tamessa Shuna Ames
• Veldon Kashumai
• William Maddox
• Xavier Shondi
• Yvan Loomis
• Zakariah Skintight

Planets

• Anhur
• Athos
• Bex
• Corinthias
• Crius
• Desolia
• Destinas
• Hades (planet)
• Hephaestus
• Hermes
• Janus IV
• Karatikus
• Leviatha
• Massanas
• Ostinia
• Petra
• Serca
• Terrel

Ships

Player Ships

Light

Straith	Aurora	Velacia	Drakkar	Duress

Medium

Shaman	Jendevi	Skecis	Skecis Mk II	Kalrechi	Heretic

Heavy

Karnenan	Icarus	Freij	Freij Mk II	Danrik	Faldari	Faldari Mk II

Cargo Ships

Gea Transit	Gea Transit Mk II	Ogan	Ilia	Ilia Mk II	Monolith

Military Ships

ML1b	ML2b	ML3b	ML4X

Destroyer	Carrier	Dreadnought	Prototype	Transport

Pirate Ships

Jincilla Clan

Skull	Veldor	Tacon

Kiowan Clan

Vector	Leighat	Krell

Chirichan Clan

Demon	Heron	Testmos

Papagod Clan

Tembler	Ecantona	Ashearer

Weapons

Guns

Missiles