There is such a morbid tension now in the current state of the storyline.
Sands is gone - I hesitate to say 'dead', but at least gone for the time being. Darko has seemingly taken over DC operations and the whole of the continuing fight for Garnok's release.
We knew where Sands began and ended, for the most part. We knew what his morals were and that they were indeed existent, however fucked up in nature they were. Point is, he had some level of care for his ex-wife and family (and the new line that was updated a couple of years ago as we fly away with Justin on the starter "Now that HE (Garnok of Darko?) has seen you, you will never be safe on this island" just further leads me to believe that Sands was starting to 'wake up' from the trance Garnok had put him in). Sands also had a clear motive for his actions - doesn't make them right, but losing a loved one and spiraling is something anyone can acknowledge.
Darko on the other hand, is a complete unknown. Of course we know generally that he seemed much more extreme than Sands - he was the one who kidnapped Anne and threw her into 'hell', who attempted to murder Justin (in one of the most brutal ways possible), he was behind the Dark Horse serum experiments and the creation of the Nightmare Institute. Although this is more personal theory than anything, I really think Darko was either some sort of doctor or scientist before his stent with DC. Creating an institution for the study of what is essentially a mind and body-altering drug/steroid? There is so. much. potential. with his character.
All that being said, Darko is a much scarier villain than Sands could've ever been. Yes, I know he was a major creep in the older comics and SSL, but we have that motive there for him; we don't have one for Darko.
Darko is a wild card. We know he's willing to go to extreme lengths, but we don't know just how far he's willing to go, yet. I do hope they spend time working with and developing his character rather than just making him some goofy write off in the end. I love the game's concept of 'girl power' which was a fairly new concept in the video game sphere in the early 2000s, but unlike in SSL where the girl's had actual challenges that they overcame, SSO has started to go down the route of every other opposing character being completely incompetent so no real challenge is presented. We've seen the power the Soul Riders have - let them have actual challenges in the story.
