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A Supernatural Journey through Time

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: August 12, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Eternal Darkness is simply stunning on so many levels. The graphics are gorgeous and the sound is phenomenal. I felt like I was having an out of the body experience throughout playing this game. If you are at all interested in the supernatural, witchcraft, allegory or mythology this game will delight. In terms of movies, think Sherlock Holmes meets Edgar Allan Poe meets Dracula meets Poltergeist meets Stargate meets the Mummy meets Raiders of the Lost Ark meets Thirteen Ghosts...you get the picture. It beats the heck out of another mindless, hackneyed Night of the Living Dead/Evil Dead (Brain Dead!) dull-fest.
I have played other "survival horror" games such as Resident Evil and Silent Hill 2 based on my initial experience with Eternal Darkness but none could hold a single candle to this game. The variety and depth of the characters and settings, along with the kaleidoscope visuals and hypnotic Dolby Surround soundtrack/effects will take you on quite a ride. Have no doubt, you WILL jump out of your skin and want your mommy at times!
Unfortunately, the controls do share dissapointing similarity with other "survival horror" titles, but even here the game outdoes the others. Overall, however, this game provides one of the best overall videogame experiences I've ever had. I'd pay twice the full price for this one.

Not for children!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: June 21, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I used to play horror video games such as Resident Evil, Parasite Eve, and many others. However, all those games are baby games compared to this one. Eternal Darkness is in a whole other level of horror games. The graphics are decent, and the gameplay is ok. But the real deal is the horror experience. Sometimes you see blood coming out of the walls, a bunch of enemies surround you, your character's head suddenly blows up, the t.v.'s volume is turned down, and many other things. All of this stuff are things that happen in the game to make you feel fear, but they just disappear. The storyline is one of the best I've ever seen. This game may not have excellent graphics and the gameplay may not be the best; but if you're looking for a horror game, then Eternal Darkness is the best choice. I remember I used to play this game around 1:00 A.M., that is the perfect time to play this game and feel its creepiness. I really recommend this game for those hardcore gamers, it is worth it the money and the time you spend playing it.

Creepy

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: October 08, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I just beat this game and it was pretty fun. It took me 14.5 hours, which is moderate. There's a little replay value, because there are some variations of cutscenes and monsters depending on the Ancient you choose as your enemy in the beginning. There are four Ancients: Ulyaoth, Xel'lotath, Chattur'gha, and Mantorok. Each has it's own personality. You can't choose Mantorok, because he's separate from the other three. He's the Overseer. The other three have one Ancient that they're strong against and one that they're weak against, kinda like elements in pokemon.

Your spells are based on the three magic types - body, mind, and spirit. A blue spell will be stronger against a red enemy and weaker against a green one. Monsters of different types will fight each other, so it's nice if you have two enemies kill each other. Red is aligned with physical power, blue with different realms, and green with insanity. To create a spell, you choose the type, the desired affect, and the subject. It's a pretty interesting setup. There's some logic behind it, not just random words. You can eventually tell what kind of spell an enemy is using against you and react accordingly. You have to unlock spells, and you can get spells to do things like summon a monster to fight for you or create a shield. Spells use up blue energy. There's also a meter for health (red) and sanity (green). More on sanity later.

The combat is a little slow. If using a weapon, the swing or rate of fire is usually slow, because many weapons are old, like single-fire pistols or a heavy medieval sword. You leave yourself pretty vulnerable. Attacking is just hitting a to attack. You can target different body parts, like chopping off a zombie's arms, to leave them completely defenseless. That's fun.
To use a spell, you'll have to wait several seconds while the words are spoken. If you're interrupted, the spell stops. So it can be difficult if you're low on life and you're trying to use a spell to heal, but the enemy keeps hitting you. You can get stuck in a downward spiral until you die, which can be frustrating.
If you keep dying, you are forced to watch the cutscenes over in the first play-through. That will get old fast, and waste much of your time. After you play through once, you can skip most cutscenes, but that isn't much comfort if you're stuck on a boss the first time and he keeps killing you.

On to the story. The Ancients are sealed away (or something like that) and one of them is trying to get free. It's wreaking havoc and building it's power, and if it is freed, it will be the end for humanity. But, people throughout history are working to prevent that. You play as various characters, from a page of the Middle Ages to a doctor in the colonial era. Each of them are wiped out by the evil god's minions until only one person stands in their way - Alex Roivas. Her grandfather was the latest in the fight against the darkness, but he too gets killed. She must use the Tome of Eternal Darkness, read the stories of the people who came before her, and collect the essences of the other three gods to stop the enemy Ancient.

The puzzles in Eternal Darkness are pretty light. Things like match a certain object to the appropriate pedestal, or use the correct spell on an obstacle. If you're looking for deep puzzles, you won't find them here.

A cool thing about this game is the sanity meter. As it gets lower, you'll see sanity effects. At first, it's just a trickle of blood here and there on the walls. Then the screen begins to tilt. Eventually, it'll look like your TV or GameCube is doing strange things. Your volume will go down or the game will tell you that your controller is unplugged when it clearly is not. You'll try to cast a spell and your upper body will explode. Then the character will snap out of the illusion. It's pretty interesting, and sometimes it'll creep you out a little. Once, I was in the Roivas mansion, and my sanity was down about a third of the way. I went into the bathroom and checked the tub, and saw my character in a bath of blood, dead. There was a flash and a sudden scream. I jumped a little at that one. This game is definitely a bit scary.

Overall, this was a unique and enjoyable game. I recommend it.

Boring after the first playthrough

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: February 13, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I started a new game in Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem the other day. When this game came out, all the reviewers talked about how it was the Greatest Game Ever, and how unique and cool and fun it was. And for the first playthrough, they are right on. I played through the game with a deliberately low Sanity Meter just to see all the different insanity effects. And the storyline was complex enough to be interesting through the whole game.
But on the second playthrough? Not so great. Skip the cutscenes, strip away all the insanity effects (since you've seen them all several times over by now) and you're left with a bland, slow-paced and quite linear action-adventure game. For me it's way too easy and at times very annoying (those stupid Trappers keep teleporting me, gaaaah). Underneath the sanity gimmick, this game is seriously lacking in gameplay meat. There are only three different types of enemies (which come in 3 variations each) that you'll see across the entire 10 hour playtime, and killing them off doesn't take any great strategy - R+up, A. Repeat. I certainly don't have enough interest to play up to the repetitive ending part where you have to backtrack nine (!) times. And there is (I think) one lone unlockable feature: beat the game three times over and you're given the ability to play through with unlimited life, mana and sanity. Whoopee.
Don't get me wrong: this game is a trip the first time through. If you haven't played it, you owe yourself a rental. But it's too bad this game doesn't hold up on multiple plays. No other franchise has yet duplicated the Sanity Meter, but the rest of the game's mechanics have been refined in a half dozen games since ED's release.

Good Stuff

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 8
Date: September 14, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This is a good game. I bought it and then I played it. Fun was had by all.

Great game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: June 29, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I bought this at BestBuy, and it is NOT another RE type game, not even similar. You start in the present time, exploring a mansion for clues to your grandfathers mysterious death. You find pages(chapters) of the Tomb of Eternal Darkness. You go to various time periods and various characters, and battle zombies(several types), and collect runes that you use to cast spells and enchant items. This game is way too complicated to explain, so JUST GET IT. It is a great game that has a nice and clear storyline. Graphics are very nice, only a few cut-scenes are slightly "blocky". At first the spells and runes will seem VERY complicated, but once you gain the magical ability, the game clearly explains everything. You need a codex to read a rune before you can use it. The "sanity meter" is a nice touch to the game. When you are a Roman Warrior(Pious), at the end of the level, you choose an artifact to claim. Whichever you choose is the "alignment" of the game, I cant even begin to spell the words. I would get the guide too, unless you are REALLY good at puzzles and fighting tactics. Bottom line: GET IT...there are 3 completely diffrent scenarions.

Better than Resident Evil

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: June 30, 2002
Author: Amazon User

You may disagree with me but I do think both games are very good. In fact, I was itching at [a local store] last night trying figure out which one to buy. But after careful consideration I chose Eternal Darkness knowing that Resident Evil 0 and Resident Evil 4 were coming to gamecube ... When I got home, I popped in the game disc and started playing. I was amazed how good the game is. It's not just a RE clone, the puzzles are much more harder, and the game was more thought out. (Jeez, they spent 5 years developing this great game so you'd expect a really good game.) The graphics aren't as good as Resident Evil's, but who cares about how good graphics are, it's all about fun. This game delivers more fun than imaginable. The most fun is slicing off which body part you want to on the monsters. This game makes you think... ...

Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requim

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: November 02, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Eternal Darkness is a very good game that people should at least rent. The graphics aren't the best out there, but they are good enough. The sound and music make up for the alright graphics. The game uses sound effects to scare the player. I won't say what kinds of sounds the developers used, because that would ruin the surprise. I am a huge fan of survival horror games, and the good thing about this game is that it tries to do something very different, and actually does it really well. The game's most unique feature is the sanity meter. If the player does not keep track of this and let's the meter go dangerously low, the character will start to go insane and experience hallucianations. I won't say what happens at this point either, because that will also spoil the surprise. The combat is also really good. It's much faster paced and more fun than other survival series out there such as Resident Evil and Silent Hill. Playing the game first time through took me about twenty hours, which is a good amount of time for a survival horror game. Right now I'm playing through it again because I believe there are three different endings. The second time through this game will take anyone a shorter time than it took to beat it the first time. But overall I'd say that this game is defenitely worthy to be in any gamecube owner's library, so at least give it a rent before you buy it.

Look out Resident Evil...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: January 07, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Yet another reason to rush out and buy a GameCube, "Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem" includes the player on a level never before touched by video games. The reason for this is the sanity effects, which can mess with gameplay or even controls or the TV itself. There's no telling what they'll do, but finding them out is half the fun. The other half is the constantly interesting story that leaps from time period to time period. Unlike "Resident Evil," you're able to hack and shoot your way through the levels without worry of conserving ammo or things like that. "Eternal Darkness" is an endlessly exciting game with thrills and chills abound.

The Best Survival-Horror game Gamecube has seen yet!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: July 15, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Without a doubt the best game of it's genre, Eternal Darkness without a doubt beats Resident Evil in every category. It doesn't have the blood and gore Resident Evil does (although it does have a lot of it), it has a better storyline, better game control, and it keeps the zombies coming. In Resident Evil, you can walk through the entire game and not see half as many zombies as you'd see in this masterpiece. The monsters are ultra ferocious and keep coming with their head and 1 arm off. Some even grow limbs back. You can disable zombies quickly by targeting their head and cutting it off. The innovation is the Sanity Meter. This works just like health and may affect it. When you encounter a zombie sanity is lost. When it is low or depleted, you hallucinate. Limbs fall off, walls and ceilings bleed, your head comes off and recites Shakespeare, your TV may shut off or mute, and it also says your controller is out. Throw in a twist of magic and spells, and you've got a great game. There is also a lineage portion. You are in the Roivas family, a cursed family destined to protect the world from Eternal Darkness. You go from a Roman Centaurion to a modern person. The game in a few words...imagine "Back to the Future", Chris Redfield, "Night of the Living Dead", and Harry Potter combined. This is the new age of survival horror, and it's going to be that way until some other game like Resident Evil could miraculously knock it off the throne.

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