banger
What a fantastic game, that truly is an underrated little gem, and something that has never been attempted again.
There's so many cool little things about this game, I could type about it for hours. It's not without its issues which I'll get too, but the positives totally outweigh the negatives here.
First of all the atmosphere is great, the story is interesting, and the fact that you play as 11 different characters is super unique and cool. Each characters section plays a little bit different, and you're always left with something fresh in this 10+ hour game. This unfortunately leads me to one of my biggest complaints, as cool as the story is, the voice acting is god awful. Which shouldn't be a surprise for 2002, but it's super campy and 100% takes me out of the game which is unfortunate for such a great game otherwise.
The sanity meter is the star of the show here, and although it becomes really easy to raise it back up late game, you almost don't want too to see what twisted stuff they throw at you, and I never had stuff repeat on my playthrough either. Such an original awesome idea for a horror game, that's truly wild no one else has tried.
The map in this game sucks, another one of my big complaints, its practically useless, but otherwise the gameplay holds up pretty darn well. It's got a little jank to it but all things considered, I think it plays pretty darn good.
This is just such an awesome game, and one of the better horror games I've played in sometime. If you want something truly unique, you could do much much worse than Eternal Darkness. What a BANGER.
There's so many cool little things about this game, I could type about it for hours. It's not without its issues which I'll get too, but the positives totally outweigh the negatives here.
First of all the atmosphere is great, the story is interesting, and the fact that you play as 11 different characters is super unique and cool. Each characters section plays a little bit different, and you're always left with something fresh in this 10+ hour game. This unfortunately leads me to one of my biggest complaints, as cool as the story is, the voice acting is god awful. Which shouldn't be a surprise for 2002, but it's super campy and 100% takes me out of the game which is unfortunate for such a great game otherwise.
The sanity meter is the star of the show here, and although it becomes really easy to raise it back up late game, you almost don't want too to see what twisted stuff they throw at you, and I never had stuff repeat on my playthrough either. Such an original awesome idea for a horror game, that's truly wild no one else has tried.
The map in this game sucks, another one of my big complaints, its practically useless, but otherwise the gameplay holds up pretty darn well. It's got a little jank to it but all things considered, I think it plays pretty darn good.
This is just such an awesome game, and one of the better horror games I've played in sometime. If you want something truly unique, you could do much much worse than Eternal Darkness. What a BANGER.
IT'S ALMOST WIKTOBER, EVERYBODY
This game is actually insane.
I didn't really enjoy it that much, but I can't help but feel like it innovated so hard, that no game fully compares to it to this day. I feel like the most apt comparison to this game is Siren on the PS2, but infinitely less clunky and difficult. The game started out on the N64, using a special 64MB cartridge. Nintendo literally did not comprehend how their hardware was being used so effectively. John Nintendo liked what he saw, and wanted this on the cube, BAD!
Immediately, the games baits you into thinking it is a RE1 clone. The game makes fun of you for thinking this, and immediately turns you into a Roman soldier. Controlling different characters at different points in time with different weapons and stat lines. This is absolutely huge.
The Cambodian foot princess? She's weak. The melvin? He's scared. That fat guy? He has no stamina. Have fun! I won't, but it's pretty cool, not gonna lie....
Additionally, this game features sanity effects. I found myself intentionally throwing in order to have jacked sanity, but it was incredibly worth it, permanent Dutch angle included. One effect genuinely got me, as I was menuing and my save file started deleting. I genuinely believed I did something wrong. There was also a cool moment in the monastery, where all of a sudden bombs were going off and there were medical tents everywhere. Later in the game, it turns out this effect was basically showing me the same level but at a future point in time. I would reckon the game is 20% worse if you never experience the majority of them. This is the most talked about concept for this game, and for good reason. This system needs to be stolen and utilized more (no - not amnesia).
The magic is a bit...suspicious.. I don't like the rune gathering system, nor the spell creating system which needs done 3 times per run per spell, nor the use of spells for certain puzzles. At some point very early on, you have near infinite access to health, sanity, and magic - along with every melee weapon being powerful and more ammo than I could ever use. This eliminates many aspects that I enjoy about survival horror, making this game more an exercise of puzzle solving and story telling than surviving. This also effectively leads me to say that I don't really enjoy this game as a horror game, despite how horrific the beats in the story can be.
Also, fuck you for making me do the tower thing twice. I did not like these.
I don't think it lived up to any hype I had for it, and yet I still feel like this is a huge feat for the time and possibly to this day.
This game is actually insane.
I didn't really enjoy it that much, but I can't help but feel like it innovated so hard, that no game fully compares to it to this day. I feel like the most apt comparison to this game is Siren on the PS2, but infinitely less clunky and difficult. The game started out on the N64, using a special 64MB cartridge. Nintendo literally did not comprehend how their hardware was being used so effectively. John Nintendo liked what he saw, and wanted this on the cube, BAD!
Immediately, the games baits you into thinking it is a RE1 clone. The game makes fun of you for thinking this, and immediately turns you into a Roman soldier. Controlling different characters at different points in time with different weapons and stat lines. This is absolutely huge.
The Cambodian foot princess? She's weak. The melvin? He's scared. That fat guy? He has no stamina. Have fun! I won't, but it's pretty cool, not gonna lie....
Additionally, this game features sanity effects. I found myself intentionally throwing in order to have jacked sanity, but it was incredibly worth it, permanent Dutch angle included. One effect genuinely got me, as I was menuing and my save file started deleting. I genuinely believed I did something wrong. There was also a cool moment in the monastery, where all of a sudden bombs were going off and there were medical tents everywhere. Later in the game, it turns out this effect was basically showing me the same level but at a future point in time. I would reckon the game is 20% worse if you never experience the majority of them. This is the most talked about concept for this game, and for good reason. This system needs to be stolen and utilized more (no - not amnesia).
The magic is a bit...suspicious.. I don't like the rune gathering system, nor the spell creating system which needs done 3 times per run per spell, nor the use of spells for certain puzzles. At some point very early on, you have near infinite access to health, sanity, and magic - along with every melee weapon being powerful and more ammo than I could ever use. This eliminates many aspects that I enjoy about survival horror, making this game more an exercise of puzzle solving and story telling than surviving. This also effectively leads me to say that I don't really enjoy this game as a horror game, despite how horrific the beats in the story can be.
Also, fuck you for making me do the tower thing twice. I did not like these.
I don't think it lived up to any hype I had for it, and yet I still feel like this is a huge feat for the time and possibly to this day.
I originally played this game a number of years ago, and decided to play it with my girlfriend for Halloween 2022. You play as roughly a dozen different figures throughout history, with the connection between them being an encounter with a Lovecraftian force, ranging from the Roman era to the year 2000. I love games that cover large spans of time, and being able to see the effects that the earlier characters have on the later figures is very fascinating. Some are corrupted and become thralls of the dark God, some begin to oppose it, and others are merely innocent bystanders doomed to die. The combat is interesting, but rather rough. You are able to learn and cast spells in addition to traditional attacks, and the game even allows for the targeting of different body parts. It's a simple system, but can be a bit frustrating in the heat of the moment. The game is most famous for its sanity effects, where the lower the player's sanity is, the more fourth wall breaking effects can happen, such as pretending the game has been muted, or suddenly killing your character on screen, only to flash back. I didn't get too many of these in this playthrough, and while they are very shocking at first, they can become a bit annoying when you get a repeat. Overall, it's a little rough around the edges, but it's a very unique game, and one of the great hidden gems on the GameCube.
Underrated, forgotten masterpiece. One of the many highlights of the Gamecube era. We need a remaster.
Very original survival horror which aged surprising well. It's still amazing how fresh it feels with its odd gameplay elements and chilling atmosphere.
And having all those characters and time periods in the same tight 10-hour package ? Amazing.
And having all those characters and time periods in the same tight 10-hour package ? Amazing.
This game low key blows insanity bars have never been handled well enough to be substantial for an entire game and I still stand by that. and that not even bringing up the fact that the story makes zero sense
Bro really showed this bitches headless grandpa like “this shit crazy right” 😭
Not a particularly scary horror game, I'd say, but a very lovely one nonetheless. It's atmospheric, it's fun to play, it's got good puzzles, the story's good, even if you push the biggest selling point of the insanity effects to the side, which are indeed still pretty novel to this day, it's a very good game.
WIKTOBER LOG #0022 - ETERNAL DARKNESS: SANITY'S REQIUEM
This pretends to be a horror game, but it's actually Epic Mickey. I love the concept of the historic protagonists and the Eternal Champion, but the lineup feels at times more like the cast of Night at the Museum than a historical Epic (as in, the genre, not the Epic Games company that would later murder this developer in self defense).
This game is basically some people attempting to make a Resident Evil clone after playing the Psycho Mantis fight in MGS. That's cool. Problem: If you have ever played a videogame before, and don't deliberately try to keep low sanity, you will not see Psycho Mantis appear, and Psycho Mantis is worth about half the stars in any rating of this game.
It's quite a slog after a while because the combat and puzzles are insanely simple and you can basically just sprint past every enemy (you will do this once you've seen all 3 of the enemy types in the game - otherwise you are stupid and dumb). The only time I was scared in this game was when it tricked me into thinking I'd have to replay 20 minutes of it.
Despite this I still liked it. It's... cool... it's got... pizzazz... it might be... dare I say.. soul? Luckily for the NINTENDO SHITCU- the screen flashes white, a ringing fills your ears-ckily for the Gamecube, an interesting 7/10 is better than a bog-standard 9/10.
"AHHH IS THAT A .... F-F-F-F-FLOATING EYE ..!? THAT'S SO SCARY I'M GONNA GO INSANE"
What?
This pretends to be a horror game, but it's actually Epic Mickey. I love the concept of the historic protagonists and the Eternal Champion, but the lineup feels at times more like the cast of Night at the Museum than a historical Epic (as in, the genre, not the Epic Games company that would later murder this developer in self defense).
This game is basically some people attempting to make a Resident Evil clone after playing the Psycho Mantis fight in MGS. That's cool. Problem: If you have ever played a videogame before, and don't deliberately try to keep low sanity, you will not see Psycho Mantis appear, and Psycho Mantis is worth about half the stars in any rating of this game.
It's quite a slog after a while because the combat and puzzles are insanely simple and you can basically just sprint past every enemy (you will do this once you've seen all 3 of the enemy types in the game - otherwise you are stupid and dumb). The only time I was scared in this game was when it tricked me into thinking I'd have to replay 20 minutes of it.
Despite this I still liked it. It's... cool... it's got... pizzazz... it might be... dare I say.. soul? Luckily for the NINTENDO SHITCU- the screen flashes white, a ringing fills your ears-ckily for the Gamecube, an interesting 7/10 is better than a bog-standard 9/10.
"AHHH IS THAT A .... F-F-F-F-FLOATING EYE ..!? THAT'S SO SCARY I'M GONNA GO INSANE"
What?
Barely played at the time, wouldn't mind a good sit down with it.
I had nostalgia for this game as a kid where it scared me too much to get past the beginning. I decided as an adult to give the game another shot since I have always had it. I got to chapter 11 and put the game down. I hate not finishing games, but I decided I had enough and watched the last two chapters online, as well as the hidden ending after beating the game three different ways. For me, the game was just a struggle to keep playing after the beginning. It got so repetitive and boring. I am also not the biggest fan of history, so most of the game taking place in the past and the main character having to read up on it all wore on me.
Below are some other thoughts I had of the game:
1. The sanity effects were cool, but I have the opinion that you should not be able to use magic to heal it, as it removes much of the point of playing the game with removing the sanity effects.
2. Using magic was fun, but you start to feel invincible very quickly and I feel defeats the whole horror aspect of the game. The whole thing of having to set up the same spells for higher tier power you find I think was dumb to be honest.
3. The story to me became less interesting the longer it went on.
Below are some other thoughts I had of the game:
1. The sanity effects were cool, but I have the opinion that you should not be able to use magic to heal it, as it removes much of the point of playing the game with removing the sanity effects.
2. Using magic was fun, but you start to feel invincible very quickly and I feel defeats the whole horror aspect of the game. The whole thing of having to set up the same spells for higher tier power you find I think was dumb to be honest.
3. The story to me became less interesting the longer it went on.
Frankly overrated, despite the sleuth of people saying otherwise. The horror had no effect on me, the combat and "puzzles" were so easy that they became tedious by the end and replaying each level 3-4 times each throughout time with slight variations was not as fresh as it should have been. I appreciate the insanity system and always trying to keep my bar low for surprises, adapting to new playstyles and the writing, but overall it proved quite a slog, even compared to it's contemporaries.
A very unique and memorable survival horror game from the minds of the original Blood Omen, that sees you taking control of different characters throughout different periods in history. Where the game really shines is through its brilliant "Sanity Bar" gimmick wherein your character may lose their grip on reality over time as they deal with dangerous situations or encounter horrific enemies, and some crazy shit will happen that can break the fourth wall or psych-out the player in some smart, terrifying, and sometimes even humorous ways.
Nintendo needs to bring this franchise back already.
Nintendo needs to bring this franchise back already.
I'm a wuss, so I'd rather watch people play it than play it myself.
watched Ron
The sanity effects are cool, but it's boring that you rarely see them unless you are throwing intentionally. Trying to legit play with the systems in place is incredibly dull.
Eternal Darkness is a psychological and survival horror game that
was, surprisingly at the time, published by Nintendo to check the box of providing an exclusive adult game for its otherwise family-friendly console.
It started its development for the N64 but thankfully made its way to the GameCube, allowing the game to have better graphics and presentation.
The story is very good, spanning centuries during different key periods of making including the Roman Empire period, the Middle Ages, Gulf War, all the way to the present and deals with stories found within the Tome of Darkness.
Graphics and sound were very good for the time but the standout element from this game is the gameplay which combines classic survival horror combat with puzzle solving as well as fourth-wall-breaking sections triggered by the sanity meter. Some of these effects were great and actually caught me off guard at the time when I played the game.
In order to get the true ending, the game had to be finished three times and while the game largely remained the same, some of the magick summons were different.
Eternal Darkness is definitely a true hidden gem for the GameCube and I'm glad I was able to experience this game when it first came out to fully enjoy and grasp the psychological effects within the game. For horror fans, this is a must play due to the unique gameplay and presentation style.
was, surprisingly at the time, published by Nintendo to check the box of providing an exclusive adult game for its otherwise family-friendly console.
It started its development for the N64 but thankfully made its way to the GameCube, allowing the game to have better graphics and presentation.
The story is very good, spanning centuries during different key periods of making including the Roman Empire period, the Middle Ages, Gulf War, all the way to the present and deals with stories found within the Tome of Darkness.
Graphics and sound were very good for the time but the standout element from this game is the gameplay which combines classic survival horror combat with puzzle solving as well as fourth-wall-breaking sections triggered by the sanity meter. Some of these effects were great and actually caught me off guard at the time when I played the game.
In order to get the true ending, the game had to be finished three times and while the game largely remained the same, some of the magick summons were different.
Eternal Darkness is definitely a true hidden gem for the GameCube and I'm glad I was able to experience this game when it first came out to fully enjoy and grasp the psychological effects within the game. For horror fans, this is a must play due to the unique gameplay and presentation style.