Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem (Second Take) Review

Projects that are in development for extended periods of time tend to either a) die, or b) suck. But once in a great while, a rare title comes along that questions the validity of the rule. Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem, a title that was in development for over 4 years, is one of those games. Developed by Silicon Knights, who recently created Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes and are working on Too Human for the Xbox 360, and also made the PS1 hit Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, and such PC strategy games as Steel Empire and Fantasy Empires, Eternal Darkness is a dark, intelligent adventure, with an epic story and epic gameplay to complement it. The attention to detail, the seamless blend of cinema and game, the artistic direction, the graphics, and the truly outstanding music all represent a quality that has been largely absent in most games this generation: immersion. Every element in Eternal Darkness aids in creating one of the most, if not the most, absorbing games of this generation.

From the moment you start playing until the credits roll, Eternal Darkness is gripping-never so frustrating that you want to stop playing, and never so easy that you can breeze through the game with no difficulty. The game demands that you keep playing for “just one more minute,” all the way through the 40+ hours of play.

Initially, one may perceive Eternal Darkness as a knock-off of the early Resident Evil games (excluding Resident Evil 4, which totally defies every convention of the series). Early on, this comment is not entirely unfounded–after all, the atmosphere is dark, the music is eerie, there are many moments of pure, unadulterated horror, the first level of the game is an abandoned mansion, and the first enemies you will encounter are zombies. On the surface, there are some similarities between the titles, but after an hour or so of solid playing time, you will notice that those are the only major resemblances. The differences are much more plentiful.

First of all, Eternal Darkness is completely 3D–the backgrounds are not pre-rendered, allowing a moving, dynamic camera–unlike Resident Evil; you will always be able to see exactly what you are fighting, with no cheap deaths caused by enemies you cannot see. Second, there are no load times between rooms. Ever. Not once during the game will a loading screen interrupt the pace. Third, the controls are much more smooth and finely-tuned. Non-existent are the robotic movements, clunky combat, and slow character turning times of Resident Evil. Eternal Darkness opts instead for more traditional, Nintendo-style controls, putting much more emphasis on exploration and combat than Resident Evil ever dared prior to number four.

Second, combat is extremely encouraged-a plentiful selection of melee weapons and projectile weaponry is at your disposal, all very easy to use, with an intuitive lock-on system. No longer will you worry about ammo, or being killed by the zombie in the next room. Health is also easy to obtain. Once you learn how to cast spells, you will also learn how to restore health; thanks to a renewing magic (as it is spelled within the game) system, you will not constantly be dreading death.

I could go on and on about the fundamental differences between these games, but you should know by now that beyond some cosmetic similarities, Eternal Darkness and Resident Evil are in completely different genres. Eternal Darkness is, at its heart, an adventure-RPG with horror elements, while Resident Evil is pure survival-horror. The former shoves all association with survival-horror institutions and gameplay mechanics out the window, for the better far, far more than for the worse. Now that you know this, you should also know what makes Eternal Darkness so innovative, beyond its accessible and easy-to-play approach to horror.

One of the most hyped-up elements of this game was the Sanity Meter. It works like this: along with your health and magic meters, you also have a similarly structured sanity meter. When you encounter an enemy, you lose a small amount of sanity as you would a small amount of health by injury-by killing and finishing off this enemy, you will recover most of your lost sanity. But the lower the meter drops, the more insane your character becomes. Strange things start to happen at this point. The camera tilts to odd angles, your character may begin frantically mumbling, the music is replaced by a horrific collection of noises–screams, gunshots, crying, stabbing, moans, and the like–and you begin to hallucinate. This is the main, and easily the coolest, draw of the system. Without giving too much away (these effects are best left to your own discovery-the shock value is reduced when you know what to expect), explaining these effects is somewhat difficult.

But to explain these effects succinctly, let’s just say that if something bad happens to your character, if something technical affects the gameplay, or if a cut scene seems oddly out of place, it may not really be happening. After the effect ends, the screen will go blank, and the protagonist of a particular level will say something to the effect of “This didn’t happen,” notifying you that what just happened didn’t really take place. This system is very unique, and one of the selling points of Eternal Darkness. Some moments are too predictable, and some effects aren’t particularly scary, but overall, it is pulled off with amazing success, and can only be improved on for a sequel. An interesting play mechanic that, on that basis alone, makes Eternal Darkness worth checking out. I’d love to say more, but this won’t let you down. It makes for some great entertainment, and you should see for yourself.

Innovation goes beyond that, though. Over the millennia that Eternal Darkness’s story takes place, you play as a character from a certain point in history-a Roman centurion from 26 B.C., a dancer in the court of Suryavarman II from 1150 A.D., a Persian nobleman from A.D. 565, an American doctor from the late 1700s, a 1950s-era psychologist, and more. Each struggles against the “darkness” with period-faithful clothing, period-faithful weaponry, and historically accurate fighting styles for each of the many different weapons you will find through the game. Also, these characters feel distinctly human. They are not the traditional badass supermen you find in most video games today. These men are normal.

Some are fat, some are strong of will or weak of will, some aren’t physically able to take on the darkness (some will go insane faster, some will run faster or slower, and some will get tired faster-it’s very dynamic), and many, at the end of their section of story, will die. It makes Eternal Darkness’s story and gameplay stand out from every other story-driven game available. This is something that you simply never see in games: characters that look and feel human. Even without significant attempts at individual character development, every one of the dozen people you will play as are unique, intriguing, and captivating personalities. And I do not say this irrationally-I genuinely mean it. Every person in this game is interesting, and one of them, Pious Augustus, is the single most awesome villain I’ve seen in a video game. I won’t say any more; that’s for you to experience yourself.

Eternal Darkness is a brilliant, brilliant game. If you’re willing to invest, what you will find is the deepest, longest, darkest, and in my opinion, the best game available for the GameCube. A lot of effort was put into this game–4 year’s worth–and it shows. Boy, does it show.