Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem is a psychological horror action adventure, released in 2002 by Nintendo for the Gamecube. It tells the stories of twelve characters that span across the world and two millennia who have to deal with ancient forces of evil which have been trying to manifest themselves in our world. 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 & gladius to flintlock pistol and shotgun.
The game features an involved Magic 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.
Sound FX- the design of the audio in this game is superb, at once terrifying and at other times intriguing. Never played anything like it.
Replayability- the bleakness of the setting and the tediousness of the gameplay make this journey really only worthwhile once.
With amazing sound design, an intriguing story, and tons of accolades to it, I expected this to be one of the best Survivial Horror games ever made, and while I agree with most of it, I can’t overlook the tedious and easy combat and the overly complicated puzzles at some parts that hold this game back from being AMAZING to me- it was fun, and I’m sure for the time it was groundbreaking, but overall I was kind of confused by the story and underwhelmed by the gameplay- production was great though.
Score Breakdown
“The Tale”
Story- 7
Pacing- 8
Characters- 7
Originality- 9
Linearity- 6
Length- 8
Epicness- 7
“The Presentation”
Visuals- 7
Display- 8
Music- 8
Sound FX- 10
“The Mechanics”
Ease of Use- 6
Innovation- 9
Replayability- 5