GameCube’s ‘Eternal Darkness’ was a Masterpiece Of Creativity
Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem is one of the most creative games ever made. So why haven’t we seen more like it?
Not too long ago we took a look at some Playstation 1 games that are in desperate need of a remake or sequel. While writing that one up, I was toying around with other systems that could use that same treatment. And while the GameCube has a lot of games that never fully realized their franchise potential, one game stands far above and beyond the rest in that regard: Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem.
Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem
In case you’ve never played it, Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem is a third person psychological horror action adventure / puzzle game for the GameCube. You ostensibly play as Alexandra Roivas as she explores her late grandfather’s estate.
She explores the mansion, Resident Evil style, and finds hidden clues, keys, and journals. Each time she finds one of these journal pages, the game moves to take place at a different point in history, from ancient Rome, to Persia, to Cambodia, and more. Each of these settings tell the larger story of a war between ancient gods and man. It’s very Lovecraftian.
But, the story of Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem is not what makes the game great. The game is best known for its Sanity mechanic. Throughout the game, each time a monster spots you, you lose Sanity. As your Sanity starts to drop, the game starts to mess with you, the player, in very creative, 4th-wall-breaking ways.
It’s less often mentioned, but the spell and magic system was equally as creative. As you progress through the game, you could find spell runes which you could combine to create spells. However, at the start of the game, you don’t know how to combine these runes into spells. But, through some trial and error, and eventually educated guessing, you could create those spells before you had even “officially” discovered them. It was a system that rewarded creativity and exploration of the system. Until you think you accidentally exploded yourself from your low Sanity.
Any Chance of a Sequel?
For a time, there was Shadow of the Eternals, which was a spiritual successor to the game. But it never saw the light of day. The fanbase for Eternal Darkness is huge and any studio that chose to follow the franchise would get more money thrown at them than they knew what to do with.
In the era of Kickstarter and the strength of indie developers, I’m frankly surprised there isn’t more of this sort of creative design out there. 4th wall breaking media is popular. So many movies and TV shows play in that space, so why not video games?
My main worry is that there is a really good and similar game out there somewhere that isn’t getting the attention it deserves. But, I would also love to see a continuation of the story. I don’t want to spoil the ending(s), but even how you get the “real” ending is so creative.
Please, developers. Make Eternal Darkness 2. I need it so bad.
Author’s Note: The title was updated after publication. Mistakes happen. Whoops!
