"Gamecube's best horror game, bar none"

Whenever fans of the original Resident Evil or other survival horror games from the era start defending the horrible controls those games had, their main claim is that controls are supposed to be terrible, otherwise the game wouldn't be as hard or unforgiving, and therefore, not scary. I would argue then, that those games were never really scary, but rather made you nervous and tense at the thought of losing all of your progress because of a slip in the controls or a poor decision with your ammo. That, I consider to be an enormous flaw in the game's design. A true horror game is supposed to create an atmosphere, story, and experience that makes you genuinely terrified, not just tense because the monsters are strong. I remember playing through Resident Evil and not feeling the least bit scared whenever I was navigating hallways I had already cleared of enemies, which means that somewhere went terribly wrong with the design.

Eternal Darkness is the perfect example to counter all those in favor for the terrible controls. The game boasts the best, most fluid control I've ever used in a survival horror game, and guess what, the game's horror does not suffer one bit because of it. You aren't really scared of the zombies or monsters themselves, but rather the ideas and atmosphere that birthed them. This is a game that focused all of its energy in creating a story that is quite literally of epic proportions, as it spans throughout history and not just the present time. Compare it with the excuse plot that the original Resident Evil had, and you can clearly see the difference in their priorities. While Resident Evil wants to make their players tense up and jump at all the 'Boo!' moments, Eternal Darkness seeks to truly inspire a sense of fear in their players in a gradual way, focusing on the story and atmosphere above all.

The game's story centers around a woman named Alex Roivas, whose grandfather is murdered by an unknown assailant at the beginning of the game. Determined to uncover the truth behind the murder, she begins to explore the mansion and happens upon a demonic book called the tome of eternal darkness, which holds the stories of men and women who have come into dealings with the ancient gods. It is within the tome's stories that the mystery lies hidden, and throughout the course of the game you'll be experiencing the struggles of many different characters throughout history, all connected in a way to the murder of Alex's grandpa. It is a very Lovecraft-type of horror, the kind that involves shapeless entities, dark rituals, and the sort.

The writing and voice acting are notoriously superb. While the characters themselves get developed in so far as what their stakes with the plot are, the atmosphere created around them more than compensates for this. Edgar Allan Poe wrote that atmosphere was more important than character, at least when it concerned horror. I believe this is something the writers had in mind all the way through development, and in fact, one of Poe's lines from The Raven is quoted right at the beginning of the game.

As for the gameplay, you'll be controlling Alex and many other characters. The game dumps the whole 'tank' control that other survival horror games have in favor of a more free kind of movement. When not in combat, you'll be mostly searching for clues and solving puzzles akin to those found in old adventure games (the good kind). While in combat, you are able to use either melee or ranged weapons, and the weapons themselves vary a lot depending on the time period you're in. You can choose to target each enemy's individual limbs or head by holding the R-button. Since your characters are able to outrun the enemies most of the time, more emphasis is made on quick, hit-and-run techniques rather than full blown combat. It's all very fluid, natural, and it never breaks the flow of the game.

The types of enemies you'll encounter vary from straight up zombies to other sorts of eldritch-kinds of horrors. Depending on a decision you make very early on, the game will choose an alignment and will focus on targeting one of your three main attributes more than the others. A handy system of rock-paper-scissors is what you'll be using to counter aligned enemies and spells.

Speaking of spells, the game manages to create a very fun and unique magic system. Magical spells are learned by combining a certain amount of components. However, since spells are required to progress through the game, gathering the components isn't really a treasure hunt but rather made part of the adventure game-type puzzles throughout the game. Spells come in many varieties, like recovery spells, shield spells, reveal invisible spells, summoning spells, you name it. One problem I do have with the spells is that there's a particular one that manages to break the balance of the game a little bit. Fortunately, this spell is acquired late in the game and by that time you'll be more focused on the story than the actual combat.

Now, there's a huge aspect of the game I haven't touched yet: the game's famous sanity system that seems to be the most notable thing in it. I'm gonna be brutally honest here by saying that while the idea behind the sanity effects is very good for this type of game, I feel the game botched its execution. What could have been the game's most notable and scary aspect ends up being just a gimmick that seems the product of the game developer's rather than the product of the game's actual environment.

Let's elaborate on this. In this game, you have a stat called Sanity, which represents exactly that: just how sane your character is at any given moment. Sanity drops whenever you encounter enemies, and is recovered when you finish enemies off. Whenever you are low on sanity, the game starts pulling off tricks like reversing your controls, mirroring the rooms, making you very small, and other kinds of delutional effects that I admit are quite a blast to look at. The problem is that the very first spell you learn in the game is able to recover your sanity in a rather substantial way, and there's no real cost to doing this except a little magic, which replenishes itself over time. This means that the sanity effects are entirely optional. The only reason you could get to see a sanity effect is because you deliberately chose not to recover your sanity, and therefore, it is not scary, just a novelty that wears off. Another funny thing is, many of these effects actually try to trick you into doing stuff, or show you bizarre things on the screen with the purpose of questioning your own sanity. However, since the game actually tells you about the effects, and you got a big, green bar to indicate if you're prone to seeing them, you always know it's just the game messing with you.

If this game had rid itself of the sanity bar and make the effects occur naturally or randomly depending on the circumstances, it would not only have been much more subtle, it would've been scary. Good ideas, poor execution. Some people seem to like it alright though, and really, it doesn't hinder the game at all. I just see it as a missed opportunity is all. I must give props however, to two particular things the game does with the sanity system. The first is a very subtle tilt in the game's camera when you go low on sanity. You don't immediately notice it, but it serves the purpose of making you feel just how twisted things are getting. The other is another subtle change, but I'm afraid spoiling it here wouldn't be any fun. Suffice to say it's a clever way to handle the game's mechanics and the situation they're in.

Overall, I must say this is one of the true gems of the Gamecube, and an example that taking risks and focusing on story and atmosphere does yield very good results. If you have played a lot of other survival horror games, you'll notice this game to be more akin to an adventure-horror game rather than survival. It's certainly easier than Silent Hill or Resident Evil, but the point of the game is not challenge. The point is bringing across one of the most well done stories in gaming and making the players remember it with its rich atmosphere, superb voice acting, and fantastic controls. Do yourself a favor and pick this game up, you won't regret it.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/06/12

Game Release: Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem (US, 06/23/02)