Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem

"Eternal Darkness: The best game out, but not the best game ever."

Eternal Darkness has been on the minds of Nintendo gamers for at least four years now. Eternal Darkness has received much hype, and it lives up to it. Eternal Darkness is the reason to own a Gamecube. If you have a Gamecube, then pick this game up right now. If you are thinking about purchasing a Gamecube, then this is a sufficient reason to get one.

The games action revolves around solving puzzles and slaying enemies. Eternal Darkness’ puzzles are not as difficult as Resident Evil’s puzzles; most of the time you can solve the puzzles by looking through your items, using spells, and examining objects around the room. An observant eye will go far in Eternal Darkness. Unlike Resident Evil, you don’t have to backtrack much to find items. Though seemingly simplistic, the game provides a satisfying experience.

What makes Eternal Darkness different then any other action/adventure game is the incredibility deep and historically accurate story. The game opens in Alexandra Rovias’ dorm where she learns of her grandfather’s murder in Rhode Island. When she arrives in at the Rovias Estate, she sees the gruesome scene. She vows to stay in Rhode Island until the murder is solved; the police were unable to do so. Two weeks after the murder Alex decides to search the mansion for possible clues. After Alex solves a puzzle, she unlocked a secret passage to a hidden study. In the study she discovers The Tomb of Eternal Darkness, a history of humanity’s struggle against an ancient evil. How is her Grandfather involved with this book; did they kill him? This is just the beginning of the enthralling story.

Eternal Darkness is truly mature, in the most adult sense. The game is social critique in the truest form; human drives such as greed are put center stage. The character’s are true to life, there is not a clear-cut line between good and evil. Even the games most prominent bad guy seems to be sympathetic to heroes caught in his path. The game’s story does not always provide a happy resolution to each character’s chapter. Some meet grim ends, one even become evil himself. Silicon Knights also touches on many taboo subjects that I will not go into.

Like I said Eternal Darkness is historically accurate, mainly because of Silicon Knight’s very learned writers and programmers. In the 800’s stain-glass was non-existent, therefore when you go into a Cathedral in 814 AD there are no stain glass windows. All the weapons in the game are accurate to each time period. In the 20th century you can holster a Smith & Wesson Model 37, take hold of a Remington M-870 shotgun, or pull out a Glock 17.

To be honest the combat system amazed me; its better then what would be expected out of an ordinary action-adventure. You can target specific limb on the upper body. Generally it is wise to go after the head, but in some cases you might have to do something different. While you can attack without targeting the enemy, you will defeat any enemy quicker by dissecting them with the targeting system. Since the early stages of this game’s development the Sanity Effects have been the most talked about aspect of this game. If I were to reveal any specific effect, I would ruin the shock you will get when seeing them. Every time you see an enemy a percentage of your sanity is taken away from the sanity meter. When one-third of your sanity is gone you will begin to see some modest sanity effects. As more sanity is depleted, the sanity effects will become freakier. If you kill an enemy, some of your lost sanity will be restored. This feature is not just for fun; they will seriously affect your gameplay. Keeping a straight head is a must if you plan to complete the game.

The magick system plays a major role in the gameplay. You can enchant and repair items, recover sanity and health, reveal the invisible, summon various creatures, and shoot out magical beams. When you use a spell some of your magic from you magick meter will be used. You can refill the meter by simply walking. To be honest the magick system is the greatest aspect of the gameplay, though the Sanity Effects get the most praise.

Eternal Darkness’ graphics and sound are among the best on the Gamecube. The character models are a little blocky, but the lip-syncing is excellent. The excellent looking levels overshadow the minor character model problem. The use of fog in the game is excellent; it gently follows across the floor. The lighting effects are amazing. When you summon a spell, the magic erupts into a display of multicolored lights. The slight rays of light that come through windows panes looks just like Microsoft did it [with their mad Photoshop skillz]. To top it off, the game never falls from its 60 fps frame rate.

The length of the game is a little disappointing, but a fun experience nonetheless. If you want to see the ultimate ending, you need to beat the game three times. Though it might seem useless to play basically the same game three times, it plays perfectly into the games story.

Eternal Darkness is one of the best next-generation games available on any system right now, but it is far from perfect. The games replay value seriously hurts the score, and the game’s graphics is somewhat of a mix showing. At any rate, Eternal Darkness’ shortcomings are outweighed by its great story and generally satisfying gameplay.

Final Comments

Graphics: 8.5
The Eternal Darkness's graphical showing is almost botched by the blocky models, but the dead-on lip-syncing and huge, well textured levels put this title among the best offerings on the Gamecube.

Sound: 9.0
Eerie, very eerie. Every sound you hear is so real, so precise. The slow foot steps you hear, or the soulless moans of a drowned zombie will raise the hairs on the back of your neck.

Gameplay: 8.0
Unfortunately, Eternal Darkness is not served in large helpings, but I enjoyed every second of it. There aren't many games out on any next-generation system that has as satisfying gameplay as Eternal Darkness. It is enjoyable from the start to the finish.

Brilliance: 9.0
Eternal Darkness provides the best use of the Gamecube technology right now. The FMV movies are a little grainy, but that is due to the high compression Silicon Knights used to fit all of this game on one disc. The sound and in-game graphics are not effected by the compression, so I have no complaints.

Replay: 7.0
The only saving grace for this game's replay value is that you have to replay the game two times to unlock the epilogue and the other little features.

Overall: 8.0
Even though Eternal Darkness is a great game, in some aspects it is a victim of hype. Many people have expected too much out of this game, and have been disgusted. It is a great game, but not a groundbreaking game that will usher in a new age of gaming. Eternal Darkness is a distugished game among the current Gamecube library; certainly worth a purchase for any current Gamecube owner and a tempting reason to pick up a Gamecube.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/04/02, Updated 08/04/02