Your exploration of the Eternal Darkness begins here.
There are 12 playable characters, who vary from Romans to current day fire fighters. Each have their own feel and unique set of weapons (based on their time period), but of course share some items as well. The controls are tweaked to perfection. Up is up and down is down, no running into ominous walls for any of these 12 characters. The Combat system is rather nice as well. Anybody, whether small impressionable tike or old mature adult, can enjoy the malicious fun of chopping off specific parts of a monster. With the click of the R button you can target a near by monster, by pressing up, down, left, and right in combination, you can select either of its arms or head(s). Another feature, which without you could not get very far in the game, is Magick. Throughout the game you will find runes. You can combine these runes in combinations of 3, 5, and 7 to created different spells. As well as different versions of these spells (red, green, blue, and purple), each have individual properties. These spells heal, summon, damage, reveal, enhance, and more.
Magick is used to solve puzzles, a lot more times than not. I hate to admit it, but quite a few puzzles drove me to an online walkthrough. Not to say that these puzzles will drive you crazy or even close, but many of them you just need to master the magickal abilities and think through them logically to solve.
What will drive a person insane is the Sanity Effects. This is my personal favorite part of the game and is very original. Along with your Health and Magick bars you will find a green bar, which reflects your sanity. Once this meter drops, you start to experience numerous effects that are rather bizarre. For example, walls may start bleeding or the game will make it look like bugs have landed on the screen and are walking around (which is rather annoying). There are also scripted insanity effects that give you a quick scare and kind of make you laugh after you find that you fell for another one of their tricks.