There’s little fighting back against them and simply walking around them due to how A: you need a flash, which obtaining feels like a chore because of what’s at stake and how other players may see the situation,band B: Its area is absurdly large and doesn’t even let you see WHAT TILE YOUR ON, and then the portals that will space you, likely round removing you. They aren’t interesting mechanically nor RP-wise, and are annoying to the point that I would have preferred literally any other anomaly crit. It’s easily the most annoying anomaly to deal with for everyone and anyone. Science can fuck up and it should lead to consequences however they shouldn’t be so annoying in their nature.
Main point being: Why would anyone want something that is outright designed to be annoying in the worst way possible? This Anomaly feels as if its an unfinished and make-shifted concept that was intended for a system that actually has darkness rendering.
Related: I Accidentally bombed arrivals once because I was wandering blindly in the dark as a syndi refugee who got teleported into space who found some c4 from a maints stash to get back inside because i had NO IDEA where i was
First off, i highly doubt a portal is gonna round remove you because they dont teleport you that far, you can still easily be found (especially with sensors on). Second, they are very easy to maintain as science has the ability to print flashes very cheaply. Third, unless you rolled as a sleeper agent or initial infected midround, then you were breaking the rules by bombing as a refugee. The ghost role explicitly states that you are a NON antagonist. That role is a CIVILIAN role.
Shadow anoms are easy to contain, you can just flash all the fog away (sci can make them), surround them in a 3x3 jail with normal glass block all paths at can let the fog free and with this you got yourself a free research points machine. if you see the anom out of control or going crit 1 minute after spawning then blame sci, not the anom.
With all this said i still do agree at getting spaced by the portal can lead to perma death. When those portals decide to tp you to space they usually put you in really dumb and not so obvious places and if you no get enough time to warn crew about your location and situation you may pretty much not be found if para is not doing they job (or if they are a syndie).
Ok I overstated a few things but my main points are about how the darkness anomaly isn’t fun at all and brings nothing RP-wise or mechanically aside from an excuse for science to let an anomaly go crit because it’s “harmless”
The portals are still stupid and make it impossible to get out of the darkness very often if they aren’t outright killing and round removing you (there’s like a 50/50 chance the paramedic is antag rolling, such is the nature of the role)
The darkness itself is unfun by blocking your vision except for a few pixels of yourself in the tile your on, where it even tries to obscure that and only people with flashes or literal explosives are able to clear it, and obtaining those flashes feels like a chore especially because of how little area is covered in total and how the shadows can so easily come back. And walking out of it is a massive issue because you literally cannot see the exit or where you came from and you can’t tell if your moving or not, especially if you underestimated the size of the darkness
Players being bad at their job can cause negative impacts on the station sure but it shouldn’t do it in the most annoying way possible, see just about every other anomaly
This parts just self defence: I wasn’t breaking the rules intentionally because I only used the C4 to try and get back inside the station (an emergency where my life was at risk) without being aware it was arrivals even
I think the darkness anomaly itself and all its spawns should be left alone, however I think teleportation in general should be reworked to at least TRY to push you onto solid ground instead of outside in space (also Ideally it should not debrain borgs, or at least push the brain somewhat near the body), because bluespace anomalies are tied for the worst anomaly in my book (alongside the electrical anomaly) simply because of how annoying they are to contain.