Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem

"You too will come to know fear, just as I have."

I can say it! I can actually say it for the first time. A video game scared the crap out of me!

That might not be the best way to start a gaming review, but then again, Eternal Darkness is not your typical video game. So many survival games promise to bring the scare factor to a new level, and as far as I've seen, Eternal Darkness is the only game to come through with their promise. But I'll be the first to tell you that scariness alone does not make a good game, let alone an excellent one. And the folks at Silicon Knights (God bless their souls) wisely realized that. Enough with my endless chitchat, on with the review.

Storyline

Good Lord, where to begin here. The storyline here rivals the best games and movies of all time. Let's start with the basics shall we. (This all occurs in the games first few minutes, so I'm not spoiling anything, the story is just that deep)

College student Alexandra Roivas receives a phone call from the Rhode Island state police. An officer calls her to inform her of her Edward's (her grandfather) brutal, heinous death at his old mansion. What caused his death is an absolute mystery. Whoever or whatever did this left nothing behind for evidence. No fingerprints, no hair samples, nothing. Only the body remains. Furious about her grandfather's death and the incompetence on the police's part, Alex decides that she will discover the truth on her own. After searching the huge old mansion for some time, she finds a room with a large ''leather'' bound book known as the Tome of Eternal Darkness, and here is where the adventure begins.

The story is divided into twelve segments, or chapters. Each segment represents a chapter in the Tome of Eternal Darkness. One of the finest qualities of this game is that you do not play the entire game as Alex, but many characters throughout history. You get to play as a Roman soldier, a Franciscan monk, a Persian warrior, and a Canadian firefighter in the Gulf War just to name a few. For each chapter completed, Alex gains new knowledge of this strange phenomena and the truth behind her grandfather's death becomes closer to entering her grasp. You will have to play this game a couple times over to fully understand the game and the strange evil that is behind it all. Score: 10

Graphics

Some of the best the GameCube has to offer, no doubt. The characters are very well drawn and the 3-D environments they are put in are stunningly good. My favorite part of the graphics is that the character's mouths actually move with the words from their voices, a feature that is actually rarely seen. There's a reason this game got an ''M'' rating, and you'll soon realize why. Body parts flying, mutilations, and spraying blood come together in gruesome, yet incredible detail. The monsters in this game are very lifelike, making the game all the more enjoyable. Score: 9.5

Sound

Music to your ears good. The sounds in this game add much to the creepiness in this game. When Alex runs around the mansion, you constantly hear mysterious sounds and soft undertones like someone is there, but yet you see nothing. The sounds you make when slicing and dicing enemies and the realistic roars of pain from the monsters following the violence sometimes make you want to cringe (maybe even vomit if you really have a weak stomach). The music flows perfectly with the environment the character is currently in. The best however is saved for when your character is insane (more on that later). Horrific cries, screams, and laughter enter your character's head as their sanity lowers. The voice acting obviously was carefully managed by Silicon Knights, for it is very enjoyable during the cinema scenes. And some of the lines spoken by the characters are pure gold, such that you will be remembering for years to come. One certain character in this game you will want to listen to time and time again. Sometimes I will load the game up just to listen to the great talent brought in by the voice actors. Score: 10

Gameplay

I'm going to divide this section up into two subsections, for it would be rather confusing if I talk about them together.

Physical aspect

Silicon Knights did a wondrous job of paying attention to detail. Unlike many games of this genre, they hit the books and did incredibly extensive research to make sure that the environment you see is historically correct with the proper timeframe. And they did a sensational job. For example, in one chapter you control a messenger inside a cathedral around 800 AD. Normally you would assume that cathedrals would have stained glass windows. However, thanks to their research, Silicon Knights knew that stained glass windows were not available at that time, so therefore not used. Paying attention to little details such as that, including knowing which weapons were around at that time, makes this game a joy to play.

As I said earlier, you control one of 12 characters in a chapter of the Tome of Eternal Darkness. Your objective is to basically solve the puzzle about the situation in which your character just got himself/herself in. The objective is NOT, I repeat, is NOT about survival, like it is in so many survival horror games. The monsters in this game are merely a nuisance in your quest to learning the truth, and you find this out because unlike other survival horror games, there are way fewer enemies and they are generally easy to defeat.

As you encounter enemies, you also cast spells using magick powers that you obtain by possessing the Tome of Eternal Darkness and by collecting Runes and Codices. There are a total of 14 runes in all (13 are needed to complete the game). You cast a spell using the right combination of runes in either groups of three, five, or seven. It’s really, really hard to explain the magick system in a way that you would fully understand, so I’m not going to try to. It’s really confusing at first, but the game forces you to learn it in a hurry so you’ll catch on soon, otherwise you’ll die. Score: 9.75

Psychological aspect

This is what separates Eternal Darkness from all other survival horror games and quite possible every other game in history. For the first time, a game takes on the psychological aspect of the characters state of mind. How would you feel if you walked into a room only to find a skinned zombie whose only mission is to eat your flesh? Enter the Sanity Meter! Every time your character sees a monster, he or she loses a bit of sanity (some enemies take out more than others), and this is where it gets real interesting. When you lose sanity, the sanity effects kick in. Sanity effects are phenomena that happen in the game while your character goes deeper and deeper into insanity. Some of them are very humorous while others are very frightening. You see them through their state of mind. They cannot hurt the character physically, but your character does not know the difference between them and the real thing. The further your sanity drops, the worse the hallucinations become and the line between reality and fantasy becomes increasingly distorted. However, not all hope is lost. You have two ways of recovering your grip on reality. You can perform a finishing move on an enemy (after incapacitating it, give it a death blow), or cast a certain magick spell.

What makes this new denomination so unique is that not does your character go insane, it takes a toll on you as well (In Laments terms, you are directly affected by the game). Depending on the effect (I won’t give any away), you might be fooled by it as well. Sometimes an effect is so surprising and terrifying that it makes you jump out of your seat, making Eternal Darkness such a valuable and unique game. Score: 10

Replay Value

No two games experiences are ever alike. You’ll be wanting to play this game again and again. Besides, to understand the truth behind what you are seeing in its entirety, you must pass the game more than once. Playing it the second and third time around offers new experiences such as different enemies, new cinema scenes, and more. What’s more, you are given a new power for each time you pass the game. Score: 10

Overall Score: 10!

If you don’t like gruesome games, or don’t like games that suggest religious themes, then this isn’t the game for you. That said, whether you like horror games, adventure games, fantasy games, or mystery games, you will want to pick this game up because it greatly appeals to all of these gamers. Believe me when I say that if there is only one reason to buy a GameCube, Eternal Darkness would be the reason. Buy it now and you will thank me later.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 12/30/03