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

The presentation and storyline, above all else, is where Eternal Darkness is at its best. After watching just the opening cut scene, it was apparent that this was a crowning cinematic achievement in video games-everything from the smooth, movie-quality camera movements, to all of the subtly revealed plot points make for one of the best, most well-conveyed stories of this generation. Compelling little historical details run throughout the game, and are closely tied-in to the story. As a history buff, I greatly enjoyed the many references to the past-mentions of Charlemagne, the Inquisition, WWI, and more; also worth noting are the Latin voiceovers in certain points in the game, where several conversations play out almost entirely in Latin. How cool is that?

These are small details, ones that you have to be looking for to notice, but they point out an underlying theme in Eternal Darkness-that the Ancients (3, or 4, or possibly 5; they are Godlike creatures that rule the world in secrecy) manipulated actual events in our past; maybe they killed Charlemagne, maybe they were involved with the Inquisition, with WWI, etc. It adds a down-to-earth element to much of the horror in this game-almost as if these supernatural events could actually happen because of their association with a known reality. It’s strange, and interesting, and difficult for me to translate to paper, but as I see it, the story of Eternal Darkness is one for the ages. If there were only one reason to buy the game, this would be it. It’s completely amazing. In terms of story alone, this is easily up there with the greats like Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy. In that sense, Eternal Darkness feels entirely unique, intelligent, and extremely involving from the narrative perspective. It’s too bad there aren’t more like it-this game showed me just how much potential video games have as a storytelling medium.

Taken by itself, the script is quite good, but another factor compliments it: the voice acting. There are hours and hours of it, and it is all very high quality. The actors here all seem to understand exactly the direction that the plot is taking, and they deliver their lines similarly; they can talk about matters demons and occult elements with tremendous conviction, and the vibe that they are reading their lines off of a script is nonexistent, contrary to most of the low-budget acting in games today. It really is quite an achievement for a game to have such superb acting; this is a trend that should continue. This should come as no surprise to the informed gamer; however, since these are mostly the same actors who voiced Metal Gear Solid (David “Solid Snake” Hayter even makes a few cameos).

Overall, the vision of Eternal Darkness is totally consistent (as opposed to a title like Starfox Adventures; was it Starfox or was it Dinosaur Planet?)–the themes behind the game, the artistic direction of the environments, the story; these are all flawlessly implemented, and I cannot derive a single complaint from any one element. This game would make H.P. Lovecraft proud. In terms of gameplay, only one thing can initially be said of Eternal Darkness: it really requires investment. For the first hour you play, perhaps for the first two hours, you are merely learning the rules of the game ahead. For those hours, there isn’t very much depth or reason to keep playing-in my opinion, this is what has deterred casual players, and become one of the causes of less-than ideal sales. Early on, it is easy to dismiss the game as a Resident Evil knockoff or hack-n-slash. The story, the sanity effects, the puzzles, music, boss fights, bizarre enemies, the art; simply put, none of these things really show themselves for some time. And that’s a shame because if you have the patience to learn the magic (that’s how it’s spelled in the game) system, follow the story, and immerse yourself in the gameplay, what you will eventually find is a truly amazing experience, filled with depth and subtlety.

One of the novel mechanics in the gameplay of Eternal Darkness is the targeting system, where you can attack four parts of a foe’s body: the head, the torso, the left arm, and the right arm. Slice off one arm, and your enemy’s attack power has halved. Slice off both arms, and your opponent cannot attack at all. Slice off the head, and while your foe will still try to attack you (after a brief and humorous animation where it feels around for its missing head); it will have a very low accuracy rate because of blindness and the inability to hear. If you can make a torso slice, only accomplishable with larger weapons, you will kill your foe on the spot. Some enemies have regenerating limbs, and some don’t have heads, which adds an unconventional strategic element to the game of determining how you should go about the attack. Some enemies will burn to death if hit by a torch, which opens up more techniques depending on the situation.

Combat in the game is interesting; it’s very reliant on thought and planning, rather than running into a room and constantly hacking your way to safety like in Devil May Cry. This is slower, and almost-certain death situations are very rare-rather, if you know how to play, you will almost always be able to survive with the proper strategy. Knowing how and when to use the plethora of melee weapons (all period-accurate, I might add) and projectile weapons is key-in narrow rooms and hallways, for example, larger weapons with a larger swing radius are impractical, in large rooms you may want to hold back from direct combat and use a gun or other projectile weapon. When fighting tougher enemies, you may want to enchant your blade with magic.

This brings me to one of the best aspects of the gameplay: the magic system. The magic system is primarily divided into 3 colors: red, green, and blue. These colors tie in to how you play the game, and what paths you choose as you play. Toward the beginning of the game, you will enter the “doom decision room,” where you will see three artifacts, one red, one green, and one blue, mounted on pedestals-you must pick up one of them. You may not know it then, but the artefact you select will change the entire game from that point forward. Without going too much into how these affect the story, I’ll say this: there are 3 gods that are the subject of the game. One of these gods is what the blue artifact symbolizes. Another is what the red symbolizes. The final is what the green symbolizes. Each of these “ancients” has different traits and personalities, and will each tie in to the story at a deeper and deeper level as you progress-depending on which artifact you chose. And which one you pick encounters what color of spells you will use, which spells you will use against enemies, and even the effects some enemies will have on you.

Now, the colors are also directly integrated into spell casting. Here’s how the system works: to make a spell, you must first choose the power level (there are 3 levels: 3 point, 5 point, and 7 point-a 3 point “enchant item” spell will last slightly less than half as long as a 7 point spell), and then choose the alignment (color). After that you choose from various runes, which perform a function when strung together properly (you can only select two function runes). For example, there is a “summon” rune that you can unlock. By combining it with the “item” rune, it does nothing. But if you combine it with the “creature” rune, you will summon a beast that is under your command-the power of the beast depends on the power level. You can make a spell more powerful by adding as many “power” runes as necessary (up to 4). On paper, this doesn’t translate very well. But there are many spells, each performing a unique task. For example, if you use the “enchant item” spell on your sword, it becomes more powerful. Beyond that, though, you can make the spell more powerful by increasing the power level (adding “power” runes to the spell equation) and finding out which color your assailant is weak to. If he is colored red, your “enchant item” spell should be green. This will make your attack much more powerful than it would have been without enhancement.