Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem

aka: ED, Eternal Darkness: Mawa Kareta 13jin
Moby ID: 6825
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Description official descriptions

Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem is a psychological thriller epic starring the adventures of twelve characters that span across the world and two millennia. From time immemorial the forces of evil from beyond have been trying to manifest themselves in our world, and it is only through the actions of these forgotten heroes that the world has been saved from being overrun. Chapters take place in Ancient Rome, Persia, the Middle East, and modern-day Rhode Island. Throughout the game, the protagonists will have access to several weapons appropriate for their era, from bastard sword and gladius to flintlock pistol and shotgun.

The game features an involved Magick system, which allows different spells to be created through the combination of runes. These spells can attack enemies, dispel illusions, and heal both the body and items.

Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem also has a unique feature called Sanity. If an enemy sees a character, their Sanity meter drops. When Sanity gets low, hallucinations begin to plague the character. Walls bleed, voices whisper from nowhere, the camera gets disoriented. Sanity can be restored by dealing a finishing move on a dying enemy, or with spells or some items. Aside from this, characters also have health and mana meters.

Spellings

  • エターナルダークネス 招かれた13人 - Japanese spelling
  • 이터널 다크니스 - Korean spelling

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Screenshots

Promos

Credits (GameCube version)

119 People (96 developers, 23 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 90% (based on 77 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.9 out of 5 (based on 108 ratings with 9 reviews)

The One That Changed Me

The Good
You're always gonna read about games that everyone loves. The Mario's; the FFVII's; the Halo's; the GTA's; the Captain Novalin's; these games just work and they work pretty much everybody. Then there is the small pantheon of games that only a few people played, but those who did hold them up as the greatest of all time. The Maniac Mansion's; the ICO's; the Chrono Trigger's; the Revolution X's; lesser known to the masses, but revered by those that love to play them. Eternal Darkness is definitely a classic game that sold disappointingly, but hopefully will garner enough positive attention to warrant a sequel. Moving beyond that, for every video game fan, there is an even smaller list of games that just simply change you. Every so often, and I mean once every six years or so, you play something that just engrosses you in its perfection. An experience, whether story-driven, graphics-driven, reality-driven, that simultaneously punches you in the gut and gives you an orgasm. A video game so original, so polished, so infectious that you devote extra time to it, you think about it when you're not playing it, and you tell everyone with working ears about it. Eternal Darkness is that game, for me. I bought it, on a whim, at a Blockbuster in December of 2002 (mind you, this is a good six or seven months after renting it, not really doing much after the first level, and forgetting about it); I played it non-stop through the end of January. Everything about this game appealed to me: analog control scheme, brilliant/engrossing story, convincing voice-overs, great urine-inducing soundtrack (you find me one person who claims they didn't piss themselves the first time they hear that heavy-breathing, whispering effect that happens about every 45 seconds, and you've found the deaf man I've been looking for), beautiful graphics, cherished characters, what's not to like? Sure, "survival horror" fans gave a unison, "been there, done that" shrug, and I say to them, you're stupid. You're a big, fat stupid-head who eats pretzels. Aside from the perfect list I've already given, I submit to you the most original aspect of the game: the sanity meter. This device is worth alone the purchase of the game. Every time you see a monster, your sanity lowers; as it lowers, you start to see things. Your character enters a room and spontaneously disembodies himself; you see images of yourself lying in blood in the bathtub; blood drips from the walls. And, when your sanity gets ridiculously low, gone is the environment messing with you/your character, and the game starts to mess with you/the player. Volume meters pop up, controller error screens bark at you, the image goes blank; if this isn't genius to you than we're not going to agree on much. I like models over CGI in Star Wars, anyday. I think just because they crap out another Mega Man game, I don't have to buy it. I think Blood Work is a decent film (and there's really no one who agrees with me there, so that one's kind of exempt). And I think anyone who hates Eternal Darkness without giving it a chance is a total douche.

The Bad
Pronouncing the villians' names.

Not getting five minutes to blow crap up with Pious' staff (If I were Matel, I'd be pissed).

The advertisement for an Eternal Darkness sequel only being part of the illusion-based sanity effect and not being pronounced a reality...yet.

The Bottom Line
Like Final Fight, but with less crap and more gooder.

GameCube · by Jeff Clawson (6) · 2003

Take a step into the Darkness

The Good
The story opens with young Alex Roivas receiving a call to identify her grandfather's body-- he recently experienced a mysterious death that left him as nothing more than a pile of bloody flesh. Alex vows to search the old mansion for clues, and in doing so, uncovers a dark family secret: a huge book in her grandfather's study attracts Alex's attention, and it is through this book, the Tome of Eternal Darkness, that the story unfolds.

Your avatar changes as you complete each chapter of the Tome. All the characters come together to tell of the Tome's historical accounts, and the purpose behind the book itself.

Though the concept of basing a game around a book instead of its characters is certainly unique, it's not ED's strongest selling point. That would be your Sanity Meter--a glowing, green vial that tracks how kooky your character's mind becomes after you are attacked. When your sanity begins to fade, the game will do things to mess with your mind: tilt the camera, make you see dripping blood from the walls, and make you appear upside-down in a room--and those are some of the milder effects. The stronger, more brain-tickling pranks will genuinely make you angry, frustrated, frightened, or confused: the TV will appear to suddenly shut off, or your character will spontaneously split apart, for example. ED is survival-horror done right: you're dropped into monster-ridden territory with limited weapons, a magickal book, and only your wits to guide you. It's not anywhere near as difficult as Resident Evil, and the fact that you play through different periods of history with an alternate-universe twist gives ED a lot more credit in my book.

With copious amounts of blood, gore, death, references to the occult, and plenty of creepy- crawlies and scary moments, this is very much a grown-up's game--but MAN, what a great game it is! For all those momentarily fed up with kiddie games on the 'Cube, snatch this treasure up from the video game store's bargain bin and put some hours into it--you won't be disappointed.

The Bad
The game in my opinion was too short (perhaps 13 hours long). They should let you play scenes again.

The Bottom Line
I mean, really? What can you say about a videogame that truly transcends its medium?

Eternal Darkness is a masterpiece of storytelling. The best way to describe it is as an interactive novel. I was hooked. I didn't stop playing until I finished the baby.

There were great moments, like there are with any piece of cinema, when the use of music, dialogue and story subversion created moments so exhilarating and original, that it suddenly becomes incredibly sad that it isn't going to reach the wide audience that it so deserves.

Go. And buy it now.

GameCube · by SiriusCrane (8) · 2007

Great, now I'm scared of my TV

The Good
Things weren't going well for Alex Roivas. Her grandfather was murdered in his mansion and the police were baffled by the horrific crime. Alex was sure that the clues to her grandfather's death lay somewhere within the mansion's walls so she's checked every nook and cranny for any information. And then, in a hidden room, she found a book: the Tome of Eternal Darkness. The Tome of Eternal Darkness does two things: it gives its owner magic powers and shatters their senses.

Eternal Darkness follows the adventures of twelve playable characters who discover the Tome, the existence of otherworldly beings, and the struggle to save humanity. Taking place over a staggering 2000 years, Eternal Darkness trots the globe with the best of them and is a terrific third-person adventure just this side of survival horror. After Alex discovers the Tome, she reads the first chapter, "The Chosen One" about Roman Centurion Pious Augustus.

Pious's level introduces the Dark Gods and their minions. There are three gods vying for supremacy: Chattur'gha, Ulyaoth, and Xel'lotath. Each one has a difference color associated with them: red, blue, and green. Red is also the color of the life bar, blue of the magic, and green of the sanity. There is an important connection here. Each dark god has their own school of minions including the traditional walking dead, gigantic Horrors, somewhat innocuous Trappers, and Bonethieves who like to hide inside people.

After Pious's level, Alex finds a clue about where the next chapter page is hidden in the mansion. This model follows for each of the chapters in Eternal Darkness, with the level in the past revealing more of the story and Alex gaining new spells and gaining more hints about her grandfather's death. With this new information, Alex can uncover more of the story, and what a story!

By all rights, Eternal Darkness shouldn't work. The chapter structures are repetitive and there is a tendency to revisit the same locations over and over again. It's formulaic, but effective, with enough interesting characters, interesting spells, interesting puzzles, and interesting variations of the same area to hold the player's interest. For instance, the first time you visit a French church, it's as Anthony, a young man trying to warn Charlemagne about a cosmic conspiracy. Six hundred years later a monk is at a cathedral in the same area, during the time of the Inquisition. Four hundred years after that, a journalist is stationed at the cathedral, now converted to handle the wounded from the First World War.

The characters are also not variations of the same skin. Portly Maximillian Roivas waddles around his mansion, but doesn't have the best sanity (he can perform quick autopsies though). Karim, a Persian adventurer, is a strong fighter with good health, but isn't as fast as Ellia, a Cambodian dancer. Michael Edwards isn't the best magic user, but his firefighter physique gets put to good use. Each character has their strengths and weaknesses, their skills and abilities.

I hesitate to call this a Survival Horror game, even though it hearkens back to the original Alone in the Dark. You usually have more than a flashlight and a .45 and there's a devastating magic system to learn. Also, you usually aren't outnumbered enemy-wise. Jumping back to weapons, I found melee weapons to be much more effective than ranged weapons, so I never worried about ammo. The game does have its scares, but it has a more effective sense of foreboding.

Each dark god has their own school of magic: red, green, or blue. Runes found by the adventures can be connected together in a circle of power, under one of the dark gods' schools, to create a spell (and add it to the Tome of Eternal Darkness). You can create a spell through trial and error or uncover a scroll that lists the required runes, and experiment with the different magic schools to see what the different effects are. The colors trump each other (and there's a hidden school that trumps everything). Understanding the color system makes life much easier—since you can enchant weapons, create magical shields, and unleash magical attacks it is nice making them as effective as possible.

There's a reason why the subtitle is "Sanity's Requiem". If your health bar drops, you die. If your magic bar drops, you can't cast spells. If your sanity bar drops, you go nuts—gloriously, ravingly bonkers! Not only does your character hallucinates, seeing blood dripping from walls, monsters which aren't there, shooting themselves while reloading, and more, but <u>you</u> hallucinate, too! Your TV turns off or switches video modes, the controller stops working, saved games are erased… psyche. Talk about a game playing you.

The Bad
Just two complaints: let me replay levels and let me skip cutscenes (one section has a long cinematic coupled with a tough battle).

The Bottom Line
Eternal Darkness is as Lovecraftian as they come, but it opens with a Edgar Allan Poe quote. Either the Cthulhu cultists are holding on the copyright or this is Roger Corman's Edgar Allan Poe's The Haunted Palace all over again. Anyway, this is one of the great games buried on an iffy platform. This is horror gaming at its best with twenty hours of fresh gameplay compared to the scant handful of hours you can spend in Silent Hill or Raccoon City. I highly recommend borrowing a GameCube to play this game.

GameCube · by Terrence Bosky (5397) · 2004

[ View all 9 player reviews ]

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Eternal Darkness appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Ancients

Each of the Ancients is represented by a colour, which is the colour of their alignment as well as their Magick and their creatures.* Ulyaoth, God of the dimensional planes, is Blue. * Xel'lotath, Goddess of the Mind and Madness is Green. * Chattur'gha, God of physical strength and matter is Red. * Mantorok the Corpse God or God of Order and Chaos is Purple (though sometimes Black).

However, there is also"neutral" Yellow Magick present in the game. According to Denis Dyack, a designer of the game, this actually represents a fifth, unrevealed Ancient.The fact that yellow is the complementary colour of purple may also indicate that this Ancient is diametrically opposed to Mantorok.

Canada

Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem is the first game to be developed fully by a Canadian developer, inside Canada, and published by Nintendo Of Canada (NoC). As a result, it was released in Canada two days before the U.S.

Development

Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem was originally planned to be one of the last games released for the N64. Once it slipped that release, it was scheduled to be a GameCube launch title and be shipped in October 2001. It didn't make that date and was once again rescheduled for release in February 2002. It still didn't make that date and was finally released in June 2002. Because it was in testing for so long, the in-house testers at Nintendo began calling it "Everlasting Darkness."

Fourth wall

Silicon Knights co-developed the remake The Twin Snakes of Metal Gear Solid with Konami. Given that series' fondness for breaking the fourth wall, Silicon Knights reused some of the Eternal Darkness sanity effects, such as the tilting floor effect, during the player's battle with Psycho Mantis. Eternal Darkness is also one of the games recognised when the character attempts to "read the player's mind" (which consists of reading the contents of the system's memory card). Breaking the fourth wall in such a manner is a notable stylistic similarity between games developed by Silicon Knights and those developed by Hideo Kojima.

Inaccuracies

In the manual when describing Dr. Maximillian Roivas, they put the date and setting of "A.D. 1760 - Rhode Island, USA." Not only is it glaringly obvious that the United States not even exist at that point, but Rhode Island didn't even join the Union until 1790! Oops! The developers, Silicon Knights, are Canadian.

Names

Alexandra's family name, Roivas, is savior spelled backwards.

Ratings

This was the first Nintendo only published game ever to receive a ESRB Mature rating. Conker's Bad Fur Day and Perfect Dark are older Nintendo games that also carry a Mature rating but it can be argued that they were co-published by Rare.

References

  • This game has several homages to classic horror and fiction writers. As if the Edgar Allen Poe quote on the intro wasn't enough, the guy who speaks to you on the beginning of the game introduces himself as Inspector Legrasse... and there is an Inspector Legrasse on H.P. Lovecraft's tale The Call of Cthulhu. The setting being on Rhode Island is another tip of the hat to Lovecraft's place of birth.
  • Mantarok, the creature encountered by Ellia, is the keeper of "The Ancients". An obvious reference to Lovecraft's Yog-Sothoth, who is the keeper of The Great Old Ones. Also they both coexist in multiple planes of reality.
  • While playing as Alex, check the stack of books in the study, to find another reference to classic horror tales, including Poe and Lovecraft.
  • One of the sanity effects has the character's head falling off and quoting Shakespeare, more specifically Scene I, Act III of Hamlet, the famous "To Be Or Not To Be" speech.

References to the game

In Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, magazines called ED Magazine can be used to distract guards. The magazines show Ellia on the cover and a centerfold of Alex Roivas when used, two characters from Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem.

Title translation

The translation of the Japanese title in English is "Eternal Darkness: Call of 13 People".

Awards

  • 4Players
    • 2002– Best GameCube Game of the Year
    • 2002– Best GameCube Action Game of the Year
    • 2002 – #2 Best GameCube Game of the Year (Readers' Vote)
  • GameSpy
    • 2002 – Day of the Tentacle (Cthulhu) Award (GameCube)

Information also contributed by CaptainCanuck, Jiguryo, lasse, Mark Ennis, MasterMegid, Mike Turner, Sciere and Shadowcaster

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by JPaterson.

Additional contributors: Apogee IV, Sciere, Alaka, gamewarrior, Patrick Bregger, Rik Hideto, FatherJack.

Game added June 27, 2002. Last modified January 17, 2024.