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It doesn’t happen very often that you pick up a game which you’ve heard almost nothing about and are completely blown away by it.
Games that good are usually talked about and become pretty mainstream. Therefore, when I picked up Eternal Darkness, which I had never heard of despite the fact it has been critically lauded , I was expecting a half decent survival horror and not much else. So, it was a pleasant surprise when it happened to be one of the best games I have ever played in my life and potentially paves the way for the definitive horror experience.
Alexandra Roivas has been contacted by the police to identify the body of her dead grandfather. Arriving at his mansion on Rhode Island, she becomes swiftly aware that the police have absolutely no idea where to begin looking for her grandfathers killer. So, she decides to explore the mansion herself, in the hopes of finding some clues as to what caused his death. In doing so however, she uncovers a conspiracy that extends back a millennia, concerns all mankind, and will push her to the very brink of insanity.
Sounds good doesn’t it?
It is: This game is as awesome as an octopus made of knives who can fly.
To begin with, the story itself is phenomenal and truly epic in scale. The game opens with a quote from Edgar Allan Poe, and this sets the mood for the game to follow. You can tell that the game developers took a great deal of inspiration from the short stories of Poe or Lovecraft (The Call of Cthullu in particular). The game is divided into 12 chapters, in which you will play with as many characters.
I was a little unsure about this aspect at first, as I thought it would not give me enough time to relate to any of the characters. However, with the exception of perhaps the first chapter, the game is challenging enough that you will have plenty of time with each one.
Every character comes from a different era and location, so you will find yourself playing as Roman centurions, Persian thieves, WWII journalists and even modern-day firefighters. It takes the full two thousand years to explain the grand narrative, which will give you an idea of the epic scale of the game.
The game itself handles exceptionally well. Being a survival horror, comparisons between it and Resident Evil will naturally be made. One place in which Darkness is massively superior is how well the game controls. Eschewing the tank controls from earlier Resident Evil games, the characters in Darkness move quickly and with fluidity. However, they are still made vulnerable to enemies as they have a level of endurance which, when it runs out, will cause them to slow down and gasp for breath.
The battle system is also an improvement from that of the early Resident Evils. A wide range of weapons are available to each character. Sometimes they are readily available, other times they must be found. Rather than just swinging your weapon randomly, or aiming sluggishly, you can now lock onto an enemy with the click of a button and aim for specific parts of their body with the analogue stick. This even factors into a tactical approach, as most enemies have weak points in different parts of their bodies.
As time goes on, you will also learn magick. It is this aspect that had frequently deterred me from picking up this game.
To the internet at large, am I the only person who feels their heart sink when they see a new game they’re looking forward to playing has ‘a massive 40 hour campaign!’ advertised on the box blurb?
Some of us have jobs, you know!
And kids!
And girlfriends!
…….personally, I don’t have any of these things, but I still don’t have other stuff to do!
At a certain point, a game stops becoming a game and becomes nothing but a time sink. Darkness was in danger of that, as the magick system is often described as being so intricate that it’ll take hours to master.
Luckily, for the benefit of the few oddballs like myself, this is not an aspect of the game that outstays its welcome.
It is a central part of the game, however, and well-integrated too. Magic systems are a big part of quite a few adventure games, and there is nearly always some kind of issue with it, whether it is either too simple or complicated, that the system itself is totally arbitrary or whatever.
Luckily, Darkness has none of these issues. It may seem daunting at first, when you see the amount of options at your disposal. But Darkness brings the player in slowly, making only a small number of these options actually functional at first. As you find more spells or magick runes (runes for spells are like bullets for guns) later in the game, you will find yourself more confident with using these abilities.
The system itself is incredibly deep. You create your own spells from a variety of raw materials. There are circles of power, which determine the strength of the spell. There is the spell allegiance, which determines what the spell will be most effective on. Then there are subject runes, which determine what to cast the spell on, and action runes, which determine what the spell does. A great deal of time will be spent investing in this system, learning the meanings behind the colours, numbers and shapes. As time goes on, you won’t even need to check your journal to see which spell does what, and when that moment arrives it is incredibly rewarding.
Then of course, there is my favourite aspect of the game. The players insanity.
Whereas most survival horrors will do their utmost to scare the players with jump scares, creepy atmosphere or monsters (not that Darkness is lacking in ANY of those categories), Eternal Darkness has a truly unique method which raises it from being a quality game to a masterpiece. As the player encounters more monsters and disturbing events, the looser their grip on insanity comes. Corridors begin to tilt to the side. Objects begin to move as if animated. And when you’re in the middle of a tough fight, the channel changes of its own accord.
You read that correctly. In a stroke of unparalleled genius, the game designers decided to break the fourth wall to really throw the fear into the player. Controllers pretend to stop working, fake glitches appear onscreen, all the while making you panic that you’ve broken it somehow. The first time this happens to you will be an absolute body blow to your nervous system.
I cannot stress enough how exceptional and unique this game is. It is excellently paced, with stellar gameplay, an epic story and quirky little tricks strategically throughout. Playing on the fear of the player, rather than the character as in most survival horrors, is inspired.
The graphics hold up well, unusual for an old 3D game, though it was only released in 2002, so this is to be expected. The only issue is the fact that the game itself does not balance its playful, break the fourth wall, nature with the creepy atmosphere. Over time, these moments are less shocking and more amusing, which results in the game getting less scary as it progresses.
This is an issue that can be fixed, as the Amnesia games have utilized the same system in a truly effective manner.
And while those games are more frightening, Darkness is infinitely more enjoyable to play.
So here’s hoping that Shadow of the Eternals, a sequel currently in development, is able to master this fine balancing act and become the most innovative AND most terrifying game of all time!