Our full review of Silicon Knights' psychological thriller. By Matt Casamassina Updated: 24 Nov pm. 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.
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 s 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.
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.
The combat system, one of our biggest gripes with early builds of Eternal Darkness, has come together fairly triumphantly. Players can equip their characters with all sorts of destructive weapons, from historically correct swords and blades to real guns, crossbows, blow-guns, pistols, shotguns and countless others that we couldn't possibly detail. The sheer variety is impressive, but perhaps more so is that each weapon affects not only the enemy, but also the player differently.
Bigger swords, will, for example, slow the swipe of a small character's swing down, and so on. Some weapons may also conflict with walls in closed environments so players will have to wisely choose which sword to use in certain situations. It all becomes a part of the game's strategic element, a pulsating, tangible thing that is hard to miss. Further improving on the combat aspect of the game is the ability to target specific body parts of foes, something that players will also learn and need to do properly to remain a success.
Immediately targeting and slicing a zombie's head off, for instance, will immediately render the beast a non-threat, as it will be unable to see or find the player afterward, and will instead walk around the immediate area aimlessly. Some monsters take more damage in specific spots, and gamers will slowly but surely learn these weak points. Indeed, one character is able perform autopsies on the enemies after they are killed to discover their weaknesses, another example of Silicon Knights' overwhelming attention to detail.
That's not to say that the combat system is perfect though. Some collision gap problems still persist, though they are not nearly as troublesome as they once were. By this, we mean that when a player slices an opponent with a sword, there is the occasional error in which it does not look as if the blade really connected. Worse still, when some enemies are killed, they drop to their knees and fall down, and occasionally they actually fall through the body of the player.
This serves to take the gamer out of the universe, even if momentarily. These collision problems are not an issue as they are not commonplace, but a notable drawback all the same. The combat system is totally connected to the use of magick, or spells and enchantments, in the game, which are every bit as important, if not more so.
Basically, as players make their way through the adventures, they acquire runes that form various magicks. That is the very simple explanation of how it works -- it's actually much more complex, but for the purposes of this review we'll keep it slim.
There are three primary colors of magick: red, green and blue, or RGB if one prefers. Red spells work against green spells, green take out blue, and blue conquer red. It's this formula that is the base for the amazingly detailed and satisfying magick system. Gamers can perform just about any spell they'd like, from enchanting a sword or gun so that its more powerful to shielding themselves, putting up magick walls that enemies can't walk through, dispelling these same types of enemy walls, and more.
It's possible to cast a spell to transform into a trapper, a small scorpion-like beast that shoots out a ray of energy, and then take the animal to spots on levels that the regular character might be too big to go through. Similarly, players can cast magick to turn into a zombie. Supporters only Letter from the Editor: Feast and famine The only thing worse than not enough games is too many of them. Or is it? Supporters only Like what we do at Eurogamer? Support us! Subscribe today and gain access to our ad-free reading experience, exclusive features, and more.
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User Info: tobenator. User Info: Kefkafanatic. First time it will most likely last you hours. However, you have to play the game 3 times to complete it. You'll probably halve your playing time after each play though, though, the game should last you hours at least. User Info: DarthKarim.
This is kind of misleading. You only have to beat the game three times to get the best ending, playing through once is fine for normal purposes. What's cool though is each playthough of the three times is subtly different the enemies change , so there's definitely an incentive to replay. User Info: msterchief.
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