Developer Silicon Knights' psychological thriller Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem has been in development for a long, long time. The title, which travels gamers through the depths of time and challenges them to complete quests using a dozen different characters, began its life as an N64 game, but was cancelled and switched over to GameCube as Nintendo's next-generation console matured. Nintendo and Silicon Knights worked on the project for two years more, enhanced it considerably, added new elements, tweaked and fixed controls, blew out graphics, sound and other aspects. All of this while gamers eagerly, and sometimes impatiently, waited.
But the wait is finally over and the good news is that it's all been worth it. Eternal Darkness is the truest testament to proper development time and commitment. The game grabs hold of players and doesn't let go, captivating with its brilliantly crafted storyline, its mesmerizing visuals and scenery, its character development and more. These details are only equaled by the title's polished controls, combat system and beautifully conceived magick system, which will bait and hook gamers beyond anything else. Add in the element of surprise through "insanity effects," one of the title's more interesting exclusives, and a long and satisfying adventure and the result is something very special.
Resident Evil, this game is most absolutely not. What it is, however, to dedicated players who fully explore its length and intricacies, is one of GameCube's absolute best games, and indeed one of the greatest titles we've ever played.
Keep reading to find out why in our nearly spoiler free review of the game.
The Facts- Gripping, mature storyline spanning over 20 centuries
- Innovative insanity meter adds new level of unpredictability to gameplay experience
- Advanced, dramatic camera system
- 12 playable characters
- A host of historically accurate weapons
- Unique enemy targeting system enables players to dismember specific body parts of enemies
- Deep and engaging magick system enables for a wide variety of spells and enchantments
- Quick combo system for high-action situations
- Superior 3D engine includes bump-mapping, radiosity light maps, ray-traced light maps, volumetric fogging, 24-bit color, 640x480 resolution running at 60 frames per second
- Detailed animation system including reactive animations, facial animations, and more
- Full-motion video sequences
- Moody sound effects and well-composed musical scores presented in full surround sound
- Exquisite attention to detail ranging from Latin voiceovers to historically accurate fighting styles
- Over 50 hours of gameplay with alternate gameplay paths
- Dolby Pro Logic II supported
- Progressive scan mode supported
- 16x9 widescreen mode supported
- Requires 15 blocks to save on a GameCube memory card
Gameplay
Eternal Darkness is not a game to be entered into lightly. Players expecting to jump into the title and reap all of its benefits within a half hour are in for a disappointment. On the other hand, committed gamers will be treated to a long, epic adventure filled with surprises, unpredictable twists and turns, scares, and a magnificent sense of accomplishment, both from a completion sense but also from a character development standpoint.
The story follows Alexandra Roivas, a young, beautiful woman whose grandfather's body has just been found in his dark and moody mansion, bloodied and torn apart, his head missing. When she learns that the local police have been unable to uncover any clues regarding the obvious murder, she decides to take matters into her own hands. It's when she arrives at her deceased relative's mansion to investigate that the tale of Eternal Darkness truly begins.
We're not going to give away a single plot development. But there are a couple of facts about the game players should know. First, the storyline and related quests span time itself -- a period of some 20 centuries to be specific. Players will take on the role of 12 different characters through the ages, from a Roman Centurion to a priest during the period of the Inquisition, a hunter and collector in the 1980s and even ancestors of the Roivas family line. Each character in the game has a point and a place relative to the overall storyline, which slowly unwinds and unravels as players make progress.
At first glance, players may shrug Eternal Darkness off as a Resident Evil clone, a prejudgment that couldn't possibly be further from the truth. Sure, the two franchises share a third-person view in common, and admittedly Silicon Knights' title also features some zombies, but beyond these similarities the efforts are surprisingly different. Eternal Darkness delivers a much deeper experience than Capcom's survival horror series has ever conjured in any of its games. Control, which coincides with true 3D worlds versus 2D pre-rendered ones, is undeniably tighter, enabling gamers to run and turn swiftly and accurately without worry of the robotic limitations associated with Resident Evil. But beyond this, players have access to much, much more, including weapons and items, of course, but also a wide assortment of magick, which we'll detail below as it's so important to the adventure. It's all intertwined flawlessly and as a result the play experience feels much more polished.