The Dark World is a group of alternate forms of stages in Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories.
Most story stages have a Dark World version, keeping the layout but containing different enemies and Geo Effects to drastically increase its difficulty. Dark World stages must be unlocked individually, by performing certain actions in its regular version.
Note that while the Dark World itself remains unlocked through New Cycles, stages must be unlocked again.
In Adell Mode only, there's rewards for clearing a certain amount of stages:
- 10 stages: Requisite for Extra Stage 11 (VS Zetta)
- 25 stages: Requisite for Extra Stage 12 (VS Baal)
- 30 stages: Requisite for Evil Academy Stage 2 (VS Raspberyl)
- All stages: Obtain an Usagi's Journal
Unlocking the Dark World
First the player must hit the 5 switches hidden throughout the main hub, causing Friday MK II to appear:
Talk to Friday MK II repeatedly and she'll ask you twice if you're sure, starting a battle if you accept both times. Friday Mk II is a level 100 enemy, so fighting her is not adviced unless the player has beat the story. Upon defeating her, she will stand next to Friday (the regular Dimension Guide), offering access to the available Dark World stages.
Note: Be careful when battling Friday MK II, as all NPCs remain on the battlefield as neutral units and could end up killed. If this happens, a grave will appear in place of the killed NPC (much like Proxies in Disgaea 1) and their functions will be inaccessible. If this happens, simply save and reload your game and all NPCs will be back.
Unlocking stages
Only the first stage is available by default, and all other stages are unlocked by performing certain actions. Beware that in some cases the player will be instantly warped to the Dark World stage once the condition is met, undoing progress in the regular stage. Because of this, it's not recommended to unlock the Dark World before beating all story stages, as the player may see themselves accidentally transported to a stage they cannot beat.
Adell Mode
| Stage | Unlock | Warp |
|---|---|---|
| 1-1 | Available from the start | No |
| 1-2 | Finish the stage without taking damage | No |
| 1-3 | Take damage from an enemy | Yes |
| 1-4 | Kill a Green Skull (Your own or the enemy that appears during revisits) | Yes |
| 2-1 | Clear the stage in 2 turns | No |
| 2-2 | Clear the stage in 1 turn | No |
| 2-3 | Clear the stage without moving more than 8 panels | No |
| 2-4 | Lift a character | Yes |
| 3-1 | Reach turn 12 | Yes |
| 3-2 | Destroy a Geo Symbol | Yes |
| 3-3 | Make a tower of 5 or more characters | Yes |
| 3-4 | Do not use the Throw command | No |
| 4-1 | Destroy all Geo Panels | Yes |
| 4-2 | Combine 5 enemies | No |
| 4-3 | Combine all enemies | Yes |
| 4-4 | Reach turn 31 | Yes |
| 5-1 | Allow an ally unit to be killed | Yes |
| 5-2 | Clear the stage using 4 or less characters | No |
| 5-3 | Make a tower of 8 or more characters | Yes |
| 5-4 | Kill all enemies using only tower attacks | No |
| 6-1 | Make a tower of 10 characters | Yes |
| 6-2 | Clear the stage using 6 or less characters | No |
| 6-3 | Combine all enemies | No |
| 6-4 | Clear the stage using only 1 attack | No |
| 7-1 | Destroy all Geo Panels | Yes |
| 7-2 | Clear the stage without taking damage | No |
| 7-3 | Throw an enemy into an ally that's already lifting an enemy | Yes |
| 8-1 | Throw an enemy into an ally that's already lifting an enemy (Warning: This stage appears last in the episode's stage selection despite being fought first) |
Yes |
| 8-2 | Destroy all Geo Panels in a single chain | Yes |
| 8-3 | Destroy the moving "No Entry" Geo Symbol | Yes |
| 8-4 | Kill all enemies using only normal attacks | No |
| 8-5 | Clear the stage without taking damage | No |
| 8-6 | Fill the Bonus Gauge to level 5 or more | No |
| 9-1 | Move to an elevation of 64dm | Yes |
| 9-2 | Clear the stage without moving more than 11 panels | No |
| 9-3 | Fill the Bonus Gauge to level 2 or more | No |
| 9-4 | Move to an elevation of 82dm (on top of the center serpent) | Yes |
| 10-1 | Combine at least 5 enemies | No |
| 10-2 | Destroy all Geo Panels | Yes |
| 10-3 | Deal 500+ damage to a single enemy with one attack | Yes |
| 10-4 | Fill the Bonus Gauge to level 3 or more | Yes |
| 11-1 | Clear the stage without taking damage | No |
| 11-2 | Clear the stage without destroying any Geo Panel | No |
| 11-3 | Deal 1000+ damage to a single enemy with one attack | Yes |
| 11-4 | Clear the stage using 4 or less characters | No |
| 11-5 | Kill all enemies using only normal attacks | No |
| 11-6 | Clear the stage without taking damage | No |
| 11-7 | Kill all enemies using only tower attacks | No |
| 12-1 | Combine all enemies | Yes |
| 12-2 | Clear the stage without destroying any Geo Panel | No |
| 12-3 | Make a tower of 9 or more characters | Yes |
| 12-4 | Make a tower of 3 or more characters | Yes |
| 12-5 | Clear the stage using only 1 character | No |
| 12-6 | Deal 2000+ damage to a single enemy with one attack | Yes |
| 13-1 | Clear the stage without taking damage | No |
| 13-2 | Deal 2500+ damage to a single enemy with one attack | Yes |
| 13-3 | Destroy all Geo Panels | Yes |
| 13-4 | Deal 3000+ damage to a single enemy with one attack | No |
Axel Mode
| Stage | Unlock | Warp |
|---|---|---|
| 1-1 | Available from the start | No |
| 1-2 | Deal 2500+ damage to a single enemy with one attack | Yes |
| 1-3 | Make a tower of 5 or more characters | Yes |
| 1-4 | Combine all enemies | Yes |
| 2-1 | Clear the stage without destroying the Geo Symbols | No |
| 2-2 | Combine all enemies and capture the resulting one. | No |
| 2-3 | Reach turn 21. | Yes |
| 2-4 | Move to an elevation of 48dm(on the rock behind the leftmost Gunner) | Yes |
| 3-1 | Kill all enemies using only tower attacks | No |
| 3-2 | Kill all enemies using only normal attacks | No |
| 3-3 | Clear the stage using 3 or less characters | No |
| 3-4 | Allow an ally unit to be killed | Yes |
| 4-1 | Destroy a Geo Symbol | Yes |
| 4-2 | Clear the stage in 1 turn | No |
| 4-3 | Clear the stage without moving more than 10 panels | No |
The Dark Sun
The Dark Sun is an additional hazard present in all Dark World stages. At the end of each turn, the Dark Sun will trigger one of various effects depending on the stage (often negative, but sometimes beneficial), and the player can see the list of upcoming effects by selecting an empty panel. Each stage has a Dark Sun Level (from 1 to 50 stars), serving as an overall indicator for the difficulty of the stage as well as the Dark Sun's HP.
Ascend
While in the Dark World, units gain access to the Ascend command, which makes the unit sacrifice their life to damage the Dark Sun. Dealing enough damage will destroy the Dark Sun, removing its effects for the rest of the battle.
Some enemies can be set to Ascend after a certain amount of turns, indicated by a sign on top of them with a sun symbol and a number. This does not damage the Dark Sun, and will instead add the level of that enemy to the level of all other enemies on the map. If an ally unit with Felonies uses Ascend they will also increase the level of enemies instead of hurting the Dark Sun, although the added levels will be equal to their number of Felonies rather than their own level.
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