Eternal Darkness (2002, GameCube)

To think that once I could not see beyond the veil of our reality... to see those who dwell behind.  I was once a fool.

So turn down the lights and find an excuse to call in sick to work tomorrow morning, we're checking out Eternal Darkness!


This game is about 10 years old, but it holds up really well.  When you start up the game Silicon Knights waste no time in setting the atmosphere.  A quote from Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven followed by a modified Nintendo logo then then the creepy voice telling that, "You too will come to understand fear, as I have."

There's the usual cutscene before the main menu, but as soon as you hit start you are plunged into the action. You play a young woman in what looks like a bedroom and you're surrounded by zombies.  You blast away with your shotgun until you run out of ammo.  As the skeletal zombies close in on you, a cutscene show you run to a door with a slot through the middle, much like a cell door.  You head a voice echoing down the hall yelling something about the darkness coming.  Then a ghostly image of an old man appears.

You wake up to a ringing phone, it's the police to tell you that your grandfather is dead.

After a long custscene setting the scene you finally get to play.  You start by exploring the house and eventually playing as a roman soldier, a Cambodian temple dancer, Two member's on Alex's family (grand father and an ancestor), and quite a few more.  I really want to avoid giving away spoilers, this game MUST be experienced to fully appreciated.  The music and background sound effect (like whispering) help to keep the setting properly spooky.

The storytelling here is truly awesome.  It is probably one of the most intricate stories that I've ever seen in a game, truly making so that you do not want to put the controller down.  The puzzles, unlike most puzzle games, have all the answers somewhere in the game o any sane person can solve it.  Far too many times I've been stumped and looked up the answer and found it to be something that no one in their right mind would ever think of, but not here.  Common sense and logical thinking will solve every puzzle.

The graphics, in my opinion, have held up surprisingly well over time.  They are a bit dated, but the syncing is really well done and they were so far ahead of the curve for 2002 that they don't look too bad for today.  The controls are a bit clunky, but that's pretty standard for CG and they're not so bad that they'll really ruin the fun.  

The gameplay is interesting.  In addition to the common health and magic bars, you have a sanity bar.  This is the fist game I've ever seen with a sanity bar and they really used it to it's fullest potential.  The lower the meter gets, the more the game messes you your head.  I mean you, the player.  It stars slow by making the walls breath, then bleed and the heads of the busts lining the hallway turn to watch you as you pass by.  Pretty tame right?  Yeah, then your sanity gets lower by the time it's depleted you'll be wiping the TV screen and swearing.  I don't want to damage your experience by spoiling it, but at one point, I jumped up from my set with a long string of profanity read to smash my controller, then the game let me know it was the sanity meter ("This can't be happening!").  

There isn't a whole lot of variety to the monsters, but this isn't a slasher game, it's a suspense/horror game.  The purpose is less about the challenge of play than it is about the truly awesome story they tell.  It is rare that I gush like this about a game, but it really is that good.

They only gripes I may have is that the levels get reused a but, but they are in different time periods and you can see that time has passed.  Movement can be a bit clunky, but, again, that's GC.  Also, like many CG games, there's a lot of reading.  The reading does help to set the scene and mood, but it can slow down the pace a bit,especially when things are intense.

I found a really good playthough here.  Lots of spoilers, so beware.  This game is about 10 years old, so it's probably a bit expensive (close to $70 on Amazon, the last time I checked) so this might be your only way to experience this.

I would love to see this ported to PC or a modern console.  Sadly, it looks like SK is having some financial issues right now, the the odds of that happening, or of a ED2, are pretty unlikely.  Even still, this game is AWESOME!  Sadly, I can't get images of this right now, but the link above will show you enough to get a good feel for the style of the game.