Fascinating, creative, scary and incredibly smart. Eternal Darkness is one of the best horror games you'll play.
Alexandra Roivas, a young college student studying in Washington, is woken up from a dreadful nightmare by her bedside phone. After introducing himself on the telephone, Inspector Legrasse of the Rhode Island Police Department informs Alex that her grandfather, Edward, has been tragically murdered in his home. After taking the nearest flight out, Alex arrives at the scene, meeting Legrasse in person. Following breaking down at the sight of her beloved grandfather’s mutilated corpse, Alex demands that the police find out who did the act. Legrasse woefully admits that he has never seen the likes of this in all of his years on the force, and he doesn’t know where to start looking.
Two weeks later, frustrated by the incompetence of the police force, Alex decides to investigate the old Roivas mansion herself in order to find some clues. Upon her search, she stumbles upon the ancient Tome of Eternal Darkness. As she reads more and more of what the tome reveals, she slowly begins to understand that there are much more evil forces at work than what she originally suspected, and gradually becomes aware that not only she is in danger, but all of humanity itself.
In many survival-horror games, such as a good majority of the Resident Evil series, players are often frustrated in adjusting the way they point the control stick every time the camera changes, since it is always in proportion to the character, and not the viewer’s point-of-view. This, thankfully, is no the case in Eternal Darkness. When you tilt the control stick left, the character moves to the player’s left, not the sprite’s. After all, you’re seeing the scene from your eyes, not the character’s. This is especially helpful when it comes to combat.
The entire game is based around the Tome of Eternal Darkness and the various people and time periods inscribed in its pages. The player will be able to control several different characters, each with different strengths and weaknesses depending on their fitness, occupation etc. For example, if you are a firefighter, you will have a good amount of health since you have a very physical job. If you’re a monk, your faith will give you much sanity.
The weapons available are parallel with the time period you are playing in. When you are in ancient Persia, swords are the main tool for combat, whereas if you are in the middle of the first Gulf War, you will be treated with a powerful machine gun.
The game features a useful targeting system, in which you can target certain parts of your enemy to your best advantage. Since the enemies vary, you will be able to figure out which limbs to cut off first, or to take off the head immediately etc. depending on the abilities of that foe.
The music in the game is incredibly immersive, and it goes along with what is currently happening in the level. For example, when you are walking around your familiar home with friendly servants to greet you, some upbeat music is played as you explore your surroundings. However, once monsters are running rampant through the halls, the music will suddenly change to low, atmospheric sounds that get your heart racing.
The voice acting is surprisingly impressive. The actors and actresses seem really inspired by the games storyline (and they should be), and it really shows through in the emotions they show. From the intimidating cackle of a wicked villain, to the mindless stuttering and dribble of a madman, it is done perfectly. The well-done cut-scenes keep you wondering what is going to happen next.
What makes this game really stand out from everything else (and I’m sure many people would strongly agree with me), are the infamous sanity effects. In the game, you have three meters: Red (health), Blue (magic), and Green (sanity). The first two are pretty self-explanatory, but the sanity meter may need some explanation. When you see a monster, your sanity meter will go down a little. If you accidentally (or intentionally) kill an innocent, your sanity will drop considerably. Once your sanity meter is empty, these actions will affect your health instead.
However, that is far from what makes this feature so interesting. Keep in mind that when your sanity slowly goes down, you are literally going insane. So, when your sanity goes down a quarter of the way, you may notice some strange things starting to happen around you. The most common thing you will see is blood trickling down the walls, and sometimes dripping down from the ceiling. When it goes down the half, the screen will begin to tilt, and you will begin to hear strange sounds, like a mother and child crying. You may also see what appear to be one or two bugs crawling across your screen. Once your sanity is fully depleted, that’s where things start going haywire. You limbs will appear to be falling off, your upper torso will explode, you will slowly sink into the ground, your character will mumble and scream horribly to themselves, rooms will be flipped upside-down, and much more. Sometimes, the game will play creative tricks on you, sometimes even making you crack a smile. For example, I was playing the game and entered a room with extremely low sanity. I appeared in the next room surrounded by monsters, and I suddenly realized that I couldn’t move. The bottom of the screen said “controller 1 unplugged” as well. I began to panic since I hadn’t saved in a while, and literally burst out of my chair to try and fix the connection of the controller. After realizing that it was perfectly intact, I was ready to rip my hair out, when the screen suddenly flashed and I was back in the previous room, my character still mumbling to himself.
Eternal Darkness is sure to surprise you with its many tricks and traps, and even after you’ve played it for hours upon hours, chances are you haven’t seen anything. I have only listed a small fraction of things you can experience. The game does a fantastic job of blurring the line between fantasy and reality, and the fact that you can change your nemesis at the beginning of the game gives it much replay value, as it changes what enemies you face throughout the game, and even gives you new cut-scenes. The interactive storyline constantly evolves, and keeps you guessing until the very end.
If you are already a fan of horror games, or want to try one out, Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem will undoubtedly terrify and delight you, and overall amount to a fantastic work of art.