XHitoshuraX
Banned
ETERNAL DARKNESS: SANITY'S REQUIEM
Note: What follows below is a complete rundown of the game. For the retrospective itself please see the second post.
Published by: Nintendo
Developed by: Silicon Knights
Genre: Adventure
Number of Players: 1
Release Date:
US: June 24, 2002
Japan: August 30, 2002
Europe: September 30, 2002
MSRP: $53.99
ESRB Content Descriptors: Blood, Gore, Animated Violence
Features: 16:9 Support, 480p Support, Dolby Pro Logic II, Memory Card
Introduction
Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, released in Japan as Eternal Darkness ~Manekareta 13-nin~ (エターナルダークネス ～招かれた13人～, Etānaru Dākunesu ~Manekareta Jūsannin?, lit. "Eternal Darkness ~The 13 Chosen Ones~") is a psychological horror video game originally planned for the Nintendo 64 but later released exclusively for the Nintendo GameCube, and largely inspired by (but not directly adapting) the works of H.P. Lovecraft. Developed by Canadian developer Silicon Knights, it was released on June 24, 2002 and published by Nintendo. The setting is centred around a mansion in Rhode Island, the home of the protagonist Alexandra Roivas' grandfather and the mysterious book she finds there.
Plot
Note: this section does indeed contain spoilers for the entire game.
The game revolves around protagonist Alexandra Roivas, who is investigating the mysterious murder of her grandfather Edward Roivas. While exploring his Rhode Island mansion, she discovers a secret room containing, among other odd items, a tome bound with human skin and bone. When she reads this book, The Tome of Eternal Darkness, she experiences a scene in the life of Pious Augustus, a respected Roman Centurion in 26 BC. Pious is led by mysterious voices to an underground temple, where he chooses one of three mysterious artifacts. The artifact transforms him into an undead warlock, the Liche, and makes him slave to one of three Ancients, powerful godlike beings whose "Essences" are incarnated as the artifacts. As the plot unfolds, it becomes clear that Pious is attempting to summon his Ancient into this reality, while the powerful fourth "Corpse God" Mantorok is bound on Earth already, helpless to stop it.
As the player discovers more chapters of the Tome, Alex finds herself reliving the experiences of several (player-controlled) individuals who have crossed paths with Pious or other servants of the Ancients over the centuries, and as a result come in contact with the Tome itself. While many of these individuals meet a sinister fate, their cooperation ultimately gathers the Essences of the three remaining Ancients in the mansion. Alexandra's own ancestors discover the long-deserted City of Ehn'gha beneath the family mansion, and powerful magickal machinery inside. Alexandra powers up this mechanism with the Ancients' essences, and summons a rival Ancient to fight Pious's.
While the two Ancients fight, Alexandra engages in combat with Pious with the aid of the spirits of his victims, ultimately destroying his Ancient's essence. It loses the fight above as Alexandra kills Pious. Then, realizing that the Roivases and their allies have just brought another powerful ancient into the world, Edward's spirit quickly sends the other Ancient back where it came from. He expresses pride in his granddaughter before he disappears.
After completing the game under all three alignments, it is revealed that all three ancients have been destroyed "All at once, separate and simultaneous, for the universe is made of many timestreams, many possibilities, all in harmonious synchronicity." Because he was bound, and not powerful enough to stop Pious Augustus himself, Mantorok manipulated the Roivas family, and other chosen ones, into completing the work for him. He orchestrates the deaths of all three ancients, in separate timestreams, and then connects them all, resulting in the annihilation of all three alignments. In the end, only the corpse god Mantorok is still alive, "languishing, festering somewhere in his hidden tomb, plotting".
Characters
Pious Augustus (26 BC) - A Roman Centurion in his late 20s, at war in the Middle East. He becomes the game's chief antagonist after being corrupted by one of the Ancients' essences while examining a ruins he stumbles upon. Alexandra Roivas defeats him in 2000 and destroys him forever.
Karim (565 BC) - A Persian swordsman, sent into the desert to find a treasure (one of the Ancients' essences) for his love, Chandra. Chandra, however, is not faithful. She is killed for her indiscretion, and her ghost warns him about the artifact's true nature. Although initially reluctant to believe her, he sacrifices himself so that he can watch over the artifact.
Anthony (814) - A Frankish messenger for Carolus Magnus, ordered to deliver a message to his liege, a message that consumes Anthony in some corrosive magick which alludes to treachery in store for the Frankish emperor. He learns that the monks are plotting against the emperor, but is too late to save him. When Paul finds him, centuries later, he rises as a zombie-like creature, under the control of the Darkness. Paul defeats him, prays for him, and takes his sword and a gem needed to proceed.
Ellia (1150) - A Cambodian slave girl and court dancer for Suryavarman II. She yearns for adventure after reading passages from the Tome. She is chosen to bear Mantorok's essence. Pious kills her, but she remains half-alive because it is inside her. Eight hundred years later, she surrenders it to Lindsey.
Roberto Bianchi (1460) - A traveling Venetian artist and architect, taken as a prisoner of war while roaming abroad. He is forced to work for a warlord (revealed as Pious Augustus in a pre-level cinematic), helping with the construction of the Pillar of Flesh by surveying the foundations. He acquires the artifact from Karim while surveying the monster-infested site, and when his work is complete, he is thrown into the pillar and buried alive.
Paul Luther (1485) - A Franciscan monk on a pilgrimage to see the holy relic, the Hand of Jude. He is detained in Amiens by the Inquisition on a pretense of suspicion in the murder of Brother Andrew. A custodian frees him, and helps him to find Brother Andrew's journals, which reveals that Andrew was killed to protect a secret: the dominant Ancient's Relic is hidden in the Cathedral. The Hand of Jude was a fake to lure victims to sacrifice. Paul ventures deeper into the Cathedral, finding a metal statue of the custodian near a door. Paul must "kill" the statue with a magical dagger to open the door, but as he does so he hears a wail from nearby, and finds the custodian has been killed with a similar dagger. Later, Paul finds the Black Guardian, and it kills him instantly.
Dr. Maximillian Roivas (1760) - A rich doctor in colonial Rhode Island, ancestor of both Edward and Alex. Something is amiss in the mansion he recently inherited from his father, Aaron, and Max is displaying symptoms of hysteria. Max eventually finds the city of Ehn'gha under the mansion, and after realizing how powerful the denizens are after barely defeating a Lesser Guardian in single combat, he attempts to warn the world, but fails. It is implied that he was committed to an insane asylum for that, but later revealed that he killed four of his servants, suspecting they were possessed by Bonethieves. Alex, surveying the room where the servants' remains lie sealed, notes that one of the corpses was missing its head, and that one servant was most likely possessed.
Peter Jacob (1916) - A field reporter during World War I, staying at Oublie Cathedral, which has been converted into a field hospital. He notices that people are mysteriously disappearing, and investigates the lower levels when monsters attack. He defeats the Black Guardian, and keeps the artifact for many years until he delivers it to Edward.
Edward Roivas (1952) - A clinical psychologist, Alex's grandfather, led to the Tome by Max's ghost. His servants are attacked by a dreadful presence, the Vampire. Edward eventually defeats it, and wipes out the garrisoned forces of Ehn'gha with a massive Dispel Magick spell from the city's nine-point spell circle (formed by the towers of the city). Years later, he is killed by a Lesser Guardian. Edward is the game's primary narrator, introducing each Tome chapter and narrating the epilogue.
Dr. Edwin Lindsey (1983) - An archaeologist exploring in Cambodia under the auspices of a mysterious benefactor named Paul Augustine. Paul Augustine, revealing himself to be Pious in disguise, tries to kill Lindsey, but he escapes and finds Mantorok's essence, delivering it to Edward.
Michael Edwards (1991) - A Canadian firefighter sent to extinguish the oil fires ignited by Iraqi troops in the Middle East after the Gulf War. An explosion at one well leaves him trapped in the Forbidden City as the only survivor. He receives the Essence of the ancient from Roberto and destroys the City with an enchanted plastic explosive at the bridge. A few years after his return, he meets up with Edward in the city at night. Mike gives Dr. Roivas a package, believing that he himself will soon be killed by the Guardians (however, he is alive when the player last sees him). The package's contents are unknown; the Essence and the Weapon of the Guardian of Light were later sent to Alex in a hastily wrapped and unmarked package dropped inside the mansion's front door, and the Tome of Eternal Darkness does not need to be delivered to the next recipient.
Alexandra Roivas (2000) - A student at a university in Washington. The game's main protagonist, she is investigating her grandfather's gruesome death. Finding the Tome, she reads about the past struggles against The Darkness, and of the plan to prevent Pious from summoning the Ancient. She narrates the conclusion as well.
Gameplay
Structure
Alexandra's part of the game, at the mansion in 2000, forms the hub. The player finds the book, and Pious's story, first. Then Alex finds the first Chapter Page, leading the player on to the next section of the game as a different character. This character's story provides plot exposition, and once complete, the player as Alexandra has knowledge, an object, or an ability which allows her to find the next Chapter Page, highlighting another character, and so on.
Alignments
The player chooses which of the three essences Pious attempts to claim at the start of the game. This determines which of the three Ancients he is aligned with, and subsequently which enemies dominate. The alignments have a rock, paper, scissors relationship, which is important in the player's consideration of his or her own magic use.
The Ancients are members of a species that existed before other life emerged from the primordial ooze. The relentless movement of ice and the continental drift and other "inscrutable" reasons bound the Ancients deep beneath the planet's surface, biding their time, waiting until the moment was right to return. The surviving Ancients are:
Ulyaoth God of the dimensional planes: his creations are tinged blue, and they specialize in magical damage. Ulyaoth has power over Chattur'gha.
Xel'lotath Goddess of the Mind and Madness: her underlings are tinged green, and have an affinity for affecting sanity (see below). Xel'lotath has power over Ulyaoth.
Chattur'gha God of physical strength and matter: his troops are tinged red, and focus on physical attacks and toughness. Chattur'gha has power over Xel'lotath.
Mantorok the Corpse God: God of Order and Chaos: the creator of the Tome of Eternal Darkness. Although it appears in the game to be in a position of inferiority (his only creatures are weak zombies), it is actually dominant over all. It created the equilibrium between the other three Ancients, making sure that they would be bound to fight against and destroy one another.
There appears to be a fifth alignment, colored yellow, that is not connected to any of the Ancients in the game. It was later confirmed by Denis Dyack to be the alignment of another Ancient that was not included in the game.
Magick
Unlike most games in the horror genre, Eternal Darkness offers magickal powers for healing, solving puzzles, and experimenting in combat. For example, it is possible for player characters to summon (and, if they wish, directly control) monsters like those they are fighting. This is achieved by a system of rune for the components of the spell and 3-, 5-, or 7-point "Circles of Power" which allow the runes to be scribed. To cast a spell, an alignment rune (fueling the spell with the power of one of the four Ancients), a "verb" or effect rune (describing the action of the spell) and a "noun" or target rune must be used. For example, the spell for recovering health consists of the alignment rune for Chattur'gha, the rune for "absorb" (Narokath), and the rune for "self" (Santak). As more runes are discovered, more combinations are possible, although not all have an effect. With a larger Circle of Power, "power" (Pargon) runes may be added to spells to increase the intensity of the spell. Runes and Circles gathered during a chapter are stored in the Tome of Eternal Darkness and available in all subsequent chapters, as well as the present day.
Sanity effects
The game's standout concept, patented by Nintendo (US patent 6,935,954), is the "sanity meter", a green bar on screen which is depleted under various conditions, generally when the character is seen by an enemy. It can be restored under various conditions, such as performing a "finishing move" on an enemy. As the bar becomes low, various effects occur, reflecting the character's slackening grip on reality. If the bar remains empty, further damage to sanity decreases the player character's health.
One effect which is consistently used is a skewed camera angle accompanied by whispers, cries, and other noises. The lower the sanity meter, the more skewed the camera angle and the louder the sound effects. Fourth-wall breaking effects include simulated displays with messages apparently produced by the TV or the GameCube; this does not affect gameplay unless the player misconstrues them as actual technical malfunctions and turns off or resets his or her system, thereby losing all progress since his or her last save. Though some of these affect the character as hallucinations or muscle control issues, and others break the fourth wall, being aimed at the player directly, all are temporary.
Silicon Knights co-developed, with Konami, a remake of Metal Gear Solid subtitled The Twin Snakes. 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.
There are many different sanity effects, the amount they last depends on each effect, and not all effects will necessarily be encountered during a given run through the game. A few more commonplace examples include:
Sounds, including women and children crying out of fear and pain, phantom footsteps, slamming doors, and the sound of a blade being sharpened, accompanied by the whimpering and screams of its victim.
Paintings turning to nightmarish depictions. For example, an idyllic mountain landscape turns to hell on Earth.
Walls and ceilings bleeding. Attacking them causes more effusion. Blood dripping from the ceiling can cause damage to the player.
When casting a spell, the player character's body above the waist violently explodes.
Appearance of large numbers of monsters that are not really there, and disappear when attacked.
The player character's head falling off. When picked up, the head begins to recite Shakespeare (specifically, Scene I, Act III of Hamlet).
Character or monsters shrinking or growing.
A version of the blue screen of death.
Statues and busts turning to look at the character. They turn back to original position when the character faces them.
Character whimpering and babbling to him or herself.
A "to-be-continued" message (leading the player to believe they have reached the end of the game) and promising continuation in a sequel game: Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Redemption.
Body parts systematically falling off one by one.
Character walking into a room from a previous or future chapter that uses the same location.
Character accidentally shooting him or herself while reloading.
Character entering a room on the ceiling; after a while the player finds him- or herself back outside the door used to enter the room.
Character sinking into the floor.
Entering a room as a zombie, forced to wander the environment in this form until destroyed (and thereafter reappearing at the room's entrance as though nothing had happened).
When trying to save, instead of the usual "Do you wish to overwrite saved data" screen, there is a "Do you wish to delete all save files" with the options "Yes" and "Continue without saving." No matter what you do, all files appear to be deleted.
A volume bar appearing (much like that on some televisions) that shows the volume increasing, decreasing, or being muted.
The word "VIDEO" appearing in the top-right corner in green text on an otherwise black screen, mimicking the "video" channel setting on most televisions when the game system is turned off.
Insects superimposed over the screen, making it seem from the players perspective that they are swarming all over the television.
A character enters a room and finds it full of zombies. An error message is displayed, claiming that the controller has been disconnected. Meanwhile, the zombies attack and kill the helpless character.
Upon entering the inventory screen, all boxes will appear empty and player will be unable to flip through the different pages, simulating a lock up.
Some sanity effects are character specific, relating to the individual's experience or fears.
Reviews
GameSpot 6/25/2002 9.4 out of 10 94.0%
IGN 6/22/2002 9.6 out of 10 96.0%
GameSpy 6/26/2002 87 out of 100 87.0%
Game Informer 7/16/2002 9.5 out of 10 95.0%
GMR Magazine 1/7/2003 8 out of 10 80.0%
Electronic Gaming Monthly 7/31/2002 8.17 out of 10 81.7%
Adrenaline Vault 7/26/2002 5 out of 5 100.0%
Game Rankings 9/1/2002 93 out of 100 93.0%
TechTV 6/27/2002 5 out of 5 100.0%
GameZone 6/24/2002 9 out of 10 90.0%
Sequel Status
Denis Dyack, designer of "Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem" and Too Human, said "absolutely yes" in July 2006 regarding the question of a possible sequel to Eternal Darkness in his Too Human IGN blog. He stated that Silicon Knights intended for Eternal Darkness to be a stand-alone game, but the company have always intended to make more games set in the Eternal Darkness universe involving the Ancients.A sequel has been announced but not the platform it will be released on. However, the game's end credits clearly state "ALL rights including the copyrights of Game, Scenario, Music, and Program reserved by NINTENDO" which confirms that Nintendo owns the rights to any sequels based on the first Eternal Darkness. However, Denis Dyack ended that exclusivity with Nintendo. It is also worth noting that some mainstream stores such as Wal-Mart have been stocked with new copies of Eternal Darkness as of March 2007, albeit at the original 2002 release price.
Videos
Full Game Runthrough: YouTube member Rain1024, has a complete run of the entire game avaliable in a few dozen videos. The quality is lacking in terms of audio and the video isn't spot on either, but it is certainly a fascinating look at the game.
Denis Dyack Retrospective: IGN has a retrospective of the game done entirely by Denis Dyack. Unfortunately it IS as terrible as it sounds.
. The voice work here is superb and the story is just plain Great.
