Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem review

Pure insanity!

Review written by
steddy bear

Silicon Knights really outdid themselves on this one. Eternal Darkness looks to avoid the survival-horror cliches by offering something completely new. In Sanity's Requiem, the protagonist Alex Roivas is investigating her grandfather's death. She finds the Tome of Eternal Darkness and (surprise!) reads it, which (another surprise!) of course, kind of curses her.

The omnipotent camera view of this game gives a very clear idea of what's going on. Very rarely throughout the game did I find my line of sight blocked by a wall.

The controls are smooth, who hasn't dreamed of targeting and severing zombie limbs of their choice from the walking corpses' bodies? It works like a charm, although I would've liked to have been able to move while targeting.

Each character's "exclusive" weapon provides new animations for 'FINISH HIM' style kills. These never cease to make me smile, watching the blade of my Kukri impale the freak.

The environments are distinct, although there are only three, and they feel different each time you play as a new character. They are beautifully rendered, and for an early Gamecube game, they're probably the best from the time.

The insanity animations, as well as the crazy monster art styles, seem intended to be the drawing point of the game. Although I won't give many away, the one that surprised me most was when, in the midst of battle, my screen went blue, giving me nothing but "VIDEO". I rushed to the screen to check my wires, when suddenly my game popped back on, right where I had left off. Rest assured, this happened to me more than once, and got me every time.

One of the best aspects of the game is the phenomenal music! When insanity first bites your meter, you begin to hear whispering mutters in the background. This gave me chills. The VO work is done well too.

All in all, Eternal Darkness is a rare Gamecube exclusive horror title, and it deserves more credit than it gets. An intriguing story, well-drawn characters, and phenomenal music put together a horror masterpiece. Now if they'd only release Sanity's Redemption... or am I completely insane? (Play this game. Then you'll get it).