With its ability to mess with the player's mind, Eternal Darkness is one of the spookiest games of all time.
The story in Eternal Darkness is very unique and outrageously deep, feeling almost like you're playing a novel at times. Almost all of the characters are very well developed, and I developed an attachment to all of them as I was playing.
Eternal Darkness is an action game at heart, but what sets it apart from the rest is the inclusion of the "Sanity Meter". The Sanity Meter looks a lot the standard health bar, but it drains whenever your character sees a monster. As the Sanity Meter gets lower and lower, the game will toy with you, the player, making it seem as though the channel on your TV changed, or your character is suddenly walking on the ceiling. These effects are really creepy, because you don't expect them at all, and they happen all of a sudden. It also feels creepy once you realized you've been tricked simply because you can no longer "trust" the game. It's very hard to explain, but a very interesting addition to the game.
The graphics in the game are fairly good, considering the game is now five years old. The game REALLY shines with its sound, as the game gets spookier and spookier when you hear random screams in the ambient noise, or something else of that nature once your Sanity Meter starts draining.
The game is very well done, with one of the best story lines and some of the most interesting gaming conventions of all time. I highly suggest that you buy the game if you see it in stores. It's worth every penny.