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

  • γ‚¨γ‚ΏγƒΌγƒŠγƒ«γƒ€γƒΌγ‚―γƒγ‚Ήγ€€ζ‹›γ‹γ‚ŒγŸοΌ‘οΌ“δΊΊ - Japanese spelling
  • 이터널 λ‹€ν¬λ‹ˆμŠ€ - Korean spelling

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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

An enjoyable 3rd-person adventure with a twist, but not going to become a classic.

The Good
Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem features gameplay spanning two thousand years of history, from the year 2 B.C. to 2000 A.D. You start as Alex Roivas, and your objective is to find who or what murdered your grandfather in the family mansion in Rhode Island. Along the way you will discover the dark secrets of the family and save the world. The game is divided into chapters, which are part of the Tome of Eternal Darkness, a chronicle of the saviors the world has never known about. During a chapter you will play as the chapter's character. Between chapters you play as Alex, and attempt to find the next chapter page.

The variety of characters and locations is enjoyable, as are the various weapons that each character uses. The magick system is truly unique and suprisingly intricate, while the game also introduces the concept of sanity. Each monster you face subtracts from your sanity, and as you gradually go insane your character begins to hallucinate. Walls begin to drip blood, ammunition appears on the floor, bugs crawl on your screen, and perhaps you even turn into a zombie. The music adds perfectly to the tense atmosphere, which builds to the final confrontation of good versus evil.

The Bad
Unfortunately, while a figure of sixty hours of gameplay has been lobbed about, that is far from the truth. The first time through the game may take you about twenty hours, but the puzzles do not change from game to game, only the cutscenes. Also, the puzzles are the weakest chain in the game. Most consist of countering one magick type with another, and once you've figured out the basic idea all the rest are ridiculously simple. However, the most egregious example of the puzzles takes place late in the game where the player is forced to repeat a puzzle that was completed in a previous chapter. There is no change, simply the same half-hour long repetition. Additionally, some players will find the total lack of extra ammunition for the guns irritating in the extreme. Finally, while it doesn't particularly effect gameplay, by the time you watch your fortieth bone and paper zombie spurt several gallons of blood you'll be thoroughly sick of the whole thing.

The Bottom Line
If you want an H.P. Lovecraft style romp through history, slashing monsters at every turn, this game is for you. If you'd prefer a more straight forward hack and slash, or a Tomb Raider style blaster, you're better off steering clear of this game.

GameCube · by Shadowcaster (252) · 2002

Eternal Darkness is the Gamecube's gift to fans of Cthulu.

The Good
Eternal Darkness is an excellent game of the horror genre, putting it at the same level as the Silent Hill series. While the production is not nearly as terrifyingly real as the SH series, ED has several unique features that make most Cthulu fans smile.

One of the most interesting is the Sanity meter. It measures how well grounded your character is with the 'real' world, and anytime that you encounter mystical and unnatural beings, your sanity will decrease. The most interesting feature about the lack of sanity is that it has a direct correlation to how the game interacts with you. Whereas in other games, it might simply be considered another attribute, along with health and mana, in ED, it affects gameplay, by creating illusory monsters, fake rooms, and strange video errors.

The storyline, about an ancient evil rising from beyond time and space, is a classic one, and they didn't do it wrong in ED.

The Bad
There are chapters of the game where you are dangerously under-equipped. Without proper guidance, those places can be very difficult and repetitive, as you replay the same scenes over and over again, in order to find a way through it.

The Bottom Line
A great game if you are a fan of Lovecraftian Horror. If not, then it is just a good game in the horror genre.

GameCube · by kawaii (18) · 2003

[ 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.