Two single-player campaigns are included in The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena. The first is a graphically upgraded version of The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, while the second, Assault on Dark Athena, picks up practically immediately after the conclusion of Escape from Butcher Bay, with Richard B. Riddick and Johns in hibernation on board a spacecraft deep in space. A band of renegade mercenaries tracks them down and takes them aboard their massive ship, the Dark Athena, where they turn people into mindless drones. Of course, Johns is too important a target to change, so they intend to collect the bounty on his head after he has liberated Riddick from the prison. Riddick, on the other hand, managed to elude capture and is now furious.
As in the original campaign, the player plays the character of Riddick and controls him through the ship’s hallways in traditional first-person shooter form. But Riddick isn’t the type to charge into battle with guns blazing. Instead, the dark is his ally. He uses his particular talent to see in the dark, sneak up on adversaries, and conduct an instant melee kill with whatever weapon he is currently armed with while hiding in the shadows. This applies to his melee weapons, which vary from his fists to the freshly double-carved blades known as “Ulaks” and to the more oversized items he’ll come across on his adventure, such as assault rifles, a mini-gun, etc. He can pick up a dead drone and use hers if he doesn’t have a gun. He’ll even take control of a full-fledged mech at one point in the single-player campaign to wreak havoc on the ship, as he did in Escape from Butcher Bay. If an attacker manages to strike the player, Riddick can refill his health with NanoMED health units. Because these have limited charges, he can renew them with NanoMED Cartridges distributed throughout the stages. The larger NanoMED health units improve his health indefinitely. Along the journey, he discovers bounty cards, equivalent to the cigarette packs Riddick gets in Escape from Butcher Bay, unlocking bonus content such as artwork or personal profiles.
The multiplayer option is entirely new to the game, allowing up to 12 people to compete against each other in various game styles such as Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, and Arena. Butcher Bay Riot and Pitch Black are two examples. While the first three are self-explanatory, Arena pits up to four players in limited spaces in one-on-one or two-on-two battles while the rest of the world watches and waits for their turn. However, Butch Bay Riot pits three teams against each other, with each group purchasing guns, ammo, and armor before each round. The guards, captives, and mercenaries do not battle each other simultaneously to bring the power node in the middle of the map to the opposing base. Instead, each group has a distinct foe. As a result, the convicts attack the guards’ base while the guards fight the mercs. The last game mode, Pitch Black, has everyone in a dark environment, with one player playing Riddick, who has dual blades and night vision, and the others playing mercenaries with only firearms and flashlights to hunt him down.
