Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem (Nintendo GameCube, 2002)

Starting off, this is one of those games that you NEED a tiny light source to play it so it doesn't creep you out and freak out constantly. By that, I mean you should play this in the dark and in a completely silent atmosphere. If you've played Illbleed on the Dreamcast, DE is both a survival horror and kind of on-the rail horror except it's done correctly and actually creepy.
The rest of the review may have a few spoilers.

The gameplay is okay, the combat is a bit wonky where if you're not facing the character directly you may be smacking the wall or missing completely; if you actually target your enemy however(R), that issue is fixed. The controls are easy to get down.

The actual gameplay and concept is really creepy and amazing, and the game builds up its own atmosphere. The developers really did a good job recreating a creepy scenario perfectly to involve the player. You have the insanity meter, a magick meter, and a health meter. The more scared you become and paranoid the more insane you become. Slowly after a while you'll start to be aware that the screen is actually tilted or theres blood dripping onto you.

During your first run, you probably will get scared a few times.

As I have an older TV, the settings went crazy a few times and I was confused whether I was sitting on the remote (it was across the room) or if the TV just died out while I was playing. The background music really pulls you into making the moment scarier than it actually is. You're in a dark tunnel and with a torch, is there a huge enemy on the other side? Is theres a wave of zombies on the other side? Maybe you should head back to heal yourself before moving forward. Once you're back to playing the main character you will begin to get more and more paranoid of moving within the huge mansion. You manifest your insanity through the character. I'm pretty sure if you find a fatal weapon you wouldn't automatically equip it and go to the bathroom, would you? I made Alex do it, because you just never know if something will show up.

The story in itself is interesting as well. You're Alex, and trying to unravel the mystery behind her grandpa's death. You're in a huge mansion with tons of history which you begin to unravel slowly. Technically you do have an objective, but you take the place of several different characters in different time periods. Each one has it's certain abilities, it's quirks, it's disadvantages and his own different background and objective. It's fun noticing how you create a dynamic character from testing his/her endurance or attacking everything that moves then realizing thats probably not a good thing.


The only thing I didn't like about it is that if you run long enough, you might as well walk to your next destination because your character will be too tired to run. The other is a certain system with spells that is mentioned but not really outlined unless you play with every option.

There is a Spell system after you get a certain rune so you can upgrade your abilities, problem with that is that the elements need to be inserted in a certain order or it won't work. Unless you look up a FAQ/ask a friend,you won't have any way to find out how the system really works until you flail around long enough for it to work. Also you choose your difficulty while you're playing and don't even realize it, so be careful and pay attention to detail before you miss something vital.

Give it a shot if you're a flexible gamer. Have fun!

I haveve never really enjoyed horror games before. Normally they're extremely bloody and gory, the controls are difficult to get used to, and scary due to tedious jump scares rather than thrills. However, Eternal Darkness is none of these. Instead of being bloody and gross, it focuses more on getting in your head and messing with you.

Story

The story follows Alexandra Roivas, a woman in her early 20s who gets a call saying her grandfather has been murdered. Actually, murdered is the nice way of putting it. More like he has been completely ripped to shreds. The police cannot figure out what happened, and Alex decides to investigate herself. What she finds is a history spawning over 2,000 years, and the few people who single handedly fought back the darkness threatening to destroy humanity. I really enjoyed the story in this game, although much of that has to do with the fact that I love history. I will not spoil much, but throughout the game you are introduced to a cast of about 12 playable characters from different time periods, and they are all interesting and well thought out.

10/10

Graphics

The characters look sort of blocky and dated, but the environment look great. Every place you go is well detailed, and looks like it really existed in that time. Spell animations look nice, and enemies look creepy enough to get the job done.

8/10

Gameplay

Eternal Darkness has some awesome gameplay, and it is made better due to the great controls. One aspect of combat that I enjoyed was that you can target specific areas of the enemy. Like if you chop of their arms, they cannot attack you. Or if you chop of a zombies head, it will just wander around aimlessly. It adds a bit of strategy to the game.

Now before I mentioned that the game messes with your head. That is all thanks to the innovative sanity meter. Unlike other games, your characters cannot keep seeing zombies and expect to stay calm. Whenever you encounter enemies, your sanity meter will lower a bit. If it gets too low, I will not spoil it for you but things get crazy. Trust me, you have to play this game on low sanity. It makes the game so much more fun.

10/10

Sound

I also like how Eternal Darkness has much more of a soundtrack than most horror games. Instead of just creepy background noise or no music at all, the game features actual music. And it is pretty catchy. There are some great tunes that are very memorable.

The game also has great voice acting. Every voice actor did a great job, and when you play the game be sure to listen to the autopsies when you unlock them. They are fantastic.

9/10

Conclusion

Eternal Darkness is a must own game for any horror fan. Granted it is not as scary as most horror games, but it is still full of plenty of scary moments. Great voice acting, easy to use controls, memorable story, awesome soundtrack, this game is just fantastic, and more people need to play it. Absolutely check this game out.

Final verdict: 9.5/10

I am a huge fan of Silicon Knights. Their games always have a level of detail and quality that lets you know that this game took a lot of effort. Eternal Darkness is another fine example of why I became a fan of them. For a game released in 2002 it has a high number of cinematic scenes and superb gameplay. The targeting system was new for it's time and works like a charm. The story is engaging and it is like no other horror game out there. Instead of relying on zombies to scare the player it uses a history throughout a period of time as a psychological thrill. Definitely worth the buy.

I could write a book of this game, but instead i will save you time and mine just to mention that not not only is this the best horror game of all time, but it only loses to Zelda -games when i try to think what is the best game ever made...

-What makes Eternal Darkness near the perfect experience?
Well, first of all it is completedly unique when compared to almost any video -or computer game ever, and not only that but everything it does it does flawlessly...

The game is a bit like so called episode horror -movies, but in game form, but unlike movies, all the stories and chapters of the dozen of different characters you play on history of the mankind are tied together so well that at the end of the day Eternal Darkness feels like you are having more that ten times of the content in it when compared to other titles on the market.

And not just any content, but something that is so incredibly desinged, paced and executed that most of the time you find yourself wondering why the other games out there can not match the ambition of this title, nor make even justice to their own ideas, when Eternal Darkness makes it seem like a kidsplay to create ultimate gaming content that goes beyond you wildest dreams...

What is to play Eternal Darkness Sanity`s Requem from Silicon Knight and Nintendo, anyway?
-It`s better to not ruin your surprise, but just don`t expect anything like Resident Evil or other horror games. Instead, you will be treaten psychological mental jaw dropping combination of Zelda type of dungeons with storyline and moments that will scear the hell out of your mind!

-Is Eternal Darness a perfect game just like Zelda: The Ocarina Of Time or Twilight Princess you ask?
Umm, no, but it comes to damn close, just happens to be lacking overwold and outdoor enviroments as well...

However, like previously mentioned, this is an essential purchase for any gamer, particulary those who are seeking better alternative for the likes of Shadowman, Castlevania or Indiana Jones And Infernall Machine...

SCORE(S):

PRESENTATION: 10/10

GRAPHICS/VISUALS: 10/10

SOUND/MUSIC: 10/10

GAMEPLAY/PLAYABILITY: 10/10

CONTENT/ENTERTAINMENT: 10/10

TOTAL SCORE: 99% (5 OUT OF 5)

So I've read nothing but good reviews about this game, which is why I was excited to buy it at the local game store and put it in my GameCube. However, instead of the excitement I thought I'd feel playing this, I felt VERY disappointed.
You're the granddaughter of a recently killed professor and you're trying to find out what killed him. You progress by finding pages to a "Tome of Eternal Darkness", which takes you back in time to others who have possessed it, from Ancient Rome to the 1950s, and take control of each character, each with unique abilities, weapons, and storyline.

Sounds fun? Well, it would be... had they not had the N64 standards in mind when they finally released it.

The graphics, level layouts, and overall design of practically everything in the game is more suited to older consoles, like the N64, NOT the GameCube. Most of the game is dedicated to lengthly "find the object" or "kill the monster" quests, with a scattering of mind-numbingly simplistic puzzles to add to the "fun". You have the same monsters throughout the game, all of blue, green, and red zombies which you simply hack repeatedly to kill. Spells play a large role in the game, but they're so repetitive and so lengthly to cast, you'll be begging for the monster to die or the force field to be the last you dispel. Corridors are mostly full of a lot of nothing or the zombies that take forever to kill off, and a LOT of backtracking is needed in this game... And the sanity meter that you probably heard of that you want the game for, the effects don't happen often enough to give any excitement...

Overall, if it was released during the height of older consoles, I'd probably be singing a different tune, but it's a HUGE disappointment for fans of Resident Evil and Silent Hill and other fairly recent survival horror games. It can all be put in one word: DATED. If you want a good Lovecraftian game, as this game tries to be, I'd recommend you spend your money on "Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth" and leave this rotting on the shelves.

If you do buy it, then stay away from the bathtub...