Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem. Forgotten diamond genre “Survival Horror”.

It is quite symbolic to start this review from the lines of the work of the famous American writer, since today’s object for reasoning, like the poem of Edgar Allan Poe, is saturated with mystery and mystical charm. I keep a bet that at one time many of you missed this game, and someone was completely unfamiliar with it until this moment. Still – exclusive for the little -known Nintendo GameCube in our area, and in the genre atypical for this console. Well, I firmly decided to correct this misunderstanding and tell you about one of the most amazing and underestimated representatives of Survival Horror. Are you ready to plunge into endless darkness?

Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem – the rare case when only one platform prevented the potential popularity, universal gaming love and religious status … Nintendo Gamecube. It is by no means the worst and, one might say, many simply did not take a worthy console seriously – most gamers thought the way that there was nothing worthy not to find anything worthy there, besides children’s fun. Partly, such an attitude was not unreasonable, because Nintendo positioned its multi -colored “cube” primarily as a means for family pastime, and only then for you and me – lovers of meat, hardcore and dark atmosphere. It is worth at least looking at the list of best sold titles for this console – and questions fall away by themselves. But how did these people be mistaken and nervously nervous elbows, seeing at that time an exclusive remake of the first Resident Evil steamed with the creation of Silicon Knights. Oh yes, I didn’t tell, but what kind of people are these and what they did ..

Small historical certificate
Independent Canadian studio Silicon Knights, founded by Denis Dyak in 1992, is known primarily by the fact that it was she who gave rise to a rather famous franchise Legacy of Kain, releasing the debutant of this series-Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain. In addition, she, together with one of the Konami internal studios, took part in the development of the remake of the first Metal Gear Solid with the Twin Snakes subtitle exclusive for the same GameCube. And it was their last successful work-the TOO Human, exclusive action-RPG for the Xbox 360, and the game in the Universe of the X-Men in the same genre, to put it mildly, did not shoot, leaving the “knights” at the broken trough. In 2012, the staff of employees decreased from 97 to 5 people-unfortunately, the company could not get out of the financial pit, and in 2014 it finally went bankrupt.

The production process of Eternal Darkness also could not boast of a stable move – the creation of an ambitious horror began long before the appearance of the platform on which it appeared in its finished form. Then it was unknown to anyone that GameCube generally exists and all the attention was paid to Nintendo 64. It was on it that the “silicone knights” planned to roll out their project for the display of the people, but, as it often happens, something went wrong-the studio decided to revise the priorities and transferred the development already to the next, “cubic” generation from large n. At first, the developers did not seek to create Survival Horror in his pure manifestation – in the early interviews of Denis Dyak, one of the key staff of the studio, stated that the initial goal was to create a psychological thriller with an accent with playing out with a human psyche, but later he and his comrades completed the concept, turning the Eternal Darknes intoA full-fledged horror-survivor of the old school, which he should be.

We’re All Mad Here
And yes, the term “old school” I attributed not to beauty at all. In Eternal Darkness, you will often observe the roots of the classic resident Evil, Silent Hill and Alone in the Dark – the notes of the latter are felt from the very beginning, when the difficult one throws you into a large mansion full of all mysterious and hidden from ordinary eyes. However, Silicon Knights borrow the ideas of brothers in the genre very skillfully, without sliding to outright secondary and parody-in 15 hours of pure gameplay I never wanted to cry out that somewhere I had already seen something in other Horror.

You know, now it is fashionable to stuff the consumer with unpleasant faces throughout the screen, squeezing out of him a fake sense of fear, but in Eternal Darkness such hackshots and obvious intimidation techniques simply do not work. The very concept of “Saspens” in the game is extremely subtle and it is achieved not by primitive methods, such as the same screamers, but by many triggers and psychological situations, when the player himself begins, he himself begins to doubt whether he sees before his eyes, or this is just the next game design. The game seems to tease a gamer who dared to sit down for it, flirting with him, slowly introducing his own subconscious into the labyrinth, in which the most incomprehensible things may happen. And believe me – you will repeatedly catch yourself thinking that you are crazy with the virtual protagonist on the other side of the screen. It’s all about the so-called reason of reason (or differently-sanity)-as you advance, you will now and then encounter various unpleasant circumstances, whether it is a gathering of monsters or sudden situations-triggers who are not in the best effect on the mental health of the “protege”.

Since they started talking about the use of a sanity scale, it is worth noting that our guest today is far from the first attempt to bring this element directly to the gameplay. The mental state of the game character, as an element of the gameplay, has been taking its story since the 1985th year-then the pioneer of this idea was the game on the Friday 13 film franchise from DOMARK, developed for the ZX Spectrum platforms, the Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC, in which several game characters were controlled, and not only the player had not only been to the player.defend against Jason Wurchiz, that very dangerous maniac in a hockey mask, but also monitor the mental state of the hero. As the protagonist sees more and more terrible events, the chance to run into hallucinations or Jason himself increased, and if you bring the scale of fear to the maximum, then the character completely died.

A little gameplay [Caution, creak in the first seconds]

This idea was also developed in later projects, for example, Clock Tower 3, Haunting Ground (ideological heir to the Clock Tower series), Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth and games from the Swedish Studio Frictional Games, including the first parts of Penumbra and the first partsAmnesia: The Dark Descent. Each of the above used the scale of the reason and made additional immersion in the game mechanics, but it was Eternal Darkness that did it better than all.

Oh yes, you will hear this damned phrase constantly if you do not follow the scale of the mind and timely increase its indicator with delicious finishing off or special spells, which I will talk about a little later. But I warn you in advance that it is quite boring and trivial to go through Eternal Darkness with such methods, because local Sanity effects-and this is what hallucinations in the game are called-happen, as expected, in the most unexpected and uncomfortable moments for the player. Let us recall, for example, amnesia – there the negative consequences of the psyche were limited only to sound and visual, such as internal voices and cockroaches running along the screen, respectively. Of course, there were a little more fatal outcomes – sometimes the hero can simply fall and lie down in the state of the vegetable for a couple of seconds, and then go as if nothing had happened.

In the case of the creation of Silicon Knights, the degree of absurdity is almost to the maximum – sometimes the level of psychedel becomes so running out that it begins to literally break out the fourth wall, and virtual glitches go far beyond the framework of ordinary hallucinations and are sometimes able to introduce the player into a stupor. Remember which video games are still able to cut down the image or sound right at the most crucial moment? And to notify the error of connecting the controller while terrible creatures shred you? Well, where without the ubiquitous science – only here they are very specific. In the sense that no one will throw a terrible woman on the whole screen, but the blue screen of death – please. Surprisingly, unexpected traps are in wait for the player even at the most seemingly harmless moments, like a rumbling on a game equipment – while you select the desired item or read a note, your protagonist can easily lose your hands and legs. And even his own head, when raising of which an unknown voice will begin to quote Hamlet William Shakespeare.

However, all this hellish carousel of madness and https://wizebets.co.uk/ surrealism fades compared to the simulation of the removal of preservations from the memory card of your GameCube. If, at the age of 7-8, instead of the first PlayStation, I had the aforementioned GameCube and a disk with this game, then I would have met the process of puberty with a couple of gray hair on my head.

Usually I am always used to starting the text with the description of the plot debate, but in the case of Eternal Darkness, I want to be as brief and non -informative as possible, since it is much more interesting and deeper than it might seem at first glance. With his chamber presentation in the best traditions of the genre, he manages to tell us an epic and large -scale history with a length of 20 centuries, and such a large temporary scatter is logically built, so it becomes even more interesting to observe what is happening, and the player will not have unnecessary porridge in his head.

The number of heroes is also atypical for Survival Horror-playable faces here are as many as twelve, and a separate chapter is devoted to each of them, which transfer you to one or another temporary era, whether it is an ancient Rome or the First World War. The characters themselves are parting a diverse setting and everything is like a selection – here you have a Persian prince, trying to get the love of a beautiful lady, and the Frankish monk, who was in the wrong place and not at that time, and even a kind of caricature of Jones Indiana. Moreover, the characters differ not only by external features, they are also controlled in different ways-one deftly wields the ax, the other fragile and relies exclusively for cunning, and someone is completely clumsy, but easily tolerates enemy attacks.

However, who is the main acting person, you ask you? And they are a pretty student Alexander Royvas and the plot unfolds around her. From the first frames, her nightmares session interrupts a sudden call from the police inspector, who reports an even more unpleasant incident associated with the heroine’s grandfather – Edward Royvas. The girl arrives at his estate, located in the state of Rhizen, where she finds the tormented corpse of Mr. Royvas and perplexed inspector. The organs of order by all means tried to understand what happened, and only WHO and now there – a long search for the hooks did not lead to anything, so the inspector decides to close the matter in bewilderment, as if he had not been. Full of anger from the unexpected tragedy and helplessness of the police, the girl firmly decides to reveal the causes of the death of a relative and, by solving a simple puzzle, Alexander discovers a secret room, where a certain “Tom of Eternal Darkness” is a kind of Pandora’s box, which is endowed with extraordinary magical skills. This volume looks like a vinaigrette of leather and bones, which should have scared away the heroine, but instead she began to read, from where she learns about his previous owners. On this I will end the description of the plot, since any further word carries a serious spoiler.

Unfortunately, the scriptwriters failed to keep up with the number of heroes, which is why their quality suffered somewhat. Do not expect the subtle and worked out characters of each character – for the most part, they are cardboard and even stereotypical. The main antagonist is a villain without fear and reproach, making his insidious plans to enslave the world, and the heroine turned out to be some kind of empty and sparkle. It seems to be the rudiments of courage in her, but it is extremely difficult to call her charismatic as a whole. These Silicon Knights plot misconduct compensate for the story with non -linearity of the narrative, however, the choice of the path that is important for further passage allows you to make three such ways at the end of the very first chapter, and if you all overcome them (that is, you will pass the game three times every way), then you will be tasty. What – I will not say, this is a big secret!

Back to the game process. As I said, it is a classic Survival Horror with all its attributes, such as a fixed camera, narrow spaces and a combat system in the spirit of “hit – departed”. But there are also significant differences. There are no points of conservation, so you can easily go to the pause menu and make a saves, but there were no restrictions – you can record progress only in the moments safe for the player when a couple of opponents are not adjacent to him in the same room with him. As a means for self -defense, a list of various cold and firearms is proposed. The second category, as expected, is forced to use carefully and not scatter the acquired in vain, since there are not enough cartridges.

The truth is in the combat system and some curvature. Sometimes the character does not want to do finishing, instead focusing on any subject. The fact is that button B at the “Kubovsky” gamepad performs a command of both finishing and detailed consideration of any places or items. Sometimes it was annoyed when, in critical situations, instead of a desperate fucking with a sword on an adversary, the hero carefully examined the table or vase. Aiming will also jammed wherever possible and impossible-the game loves to highlight the wrong enemy that I would like to kill first of all, which is why uncomfortable situations arise, especially in those rooms where one of the opponents also uses magic and can call an order of enemies.

Well, now the sweetest and most unusual part of the combat system is magic!

To activate certain magic bells and whistles, it is necessary to collect scrolls containing spells, but they will not work until the player finds the magic runes and the code that allows you to understand the language of these very runes and, as a result, read the spell in the scroll. Basically, runes fall out when the murder of certain enemies, and since the further path will be blocked by gold barriers and you will need a certain rune to suppress them, it is extremely difficult to skip any of them, or even impossible. With scrolls and codes, it was already a little more complicated, but it often turned out that I combined the runes I found and spells went much earlier than I found them in scrolls.

The very set of spells is quite diverse – here you will give you and your own little demon to call, and conjure protection, restore health, destroy the enemy magic barrier or create your own, detect hidden objects and so on. Most of the witchcraft skills are important for the plot, but a couple of spells still feels superfluous and their presence brings, rather, confusion than something useful and necessary. Probably, the authors simply did not have time to properly fit them into the main plot, but the work was still excellent, since the local spell mechanics are interesting to study and it does not look attracted by the ears. The use of magic will require the player the presence of mana, which is restored during running, which looks somewhat strange, because there will be cases when you need to conjure any of the spells, and the mana indicator is empty-in this case only a two-minute circular marathon will save you. But as for me, it is only a small drop of a tar in a barrel with honey.

However, there were not without pitfalls, since some opponents or power barriers require the study of other spontaneous elements that symbolize fire, water and earth. They work according to the principle of “stone-bum-bum”-the blue element of magical power grazes in front of the green, he, in turn, surrenders to the red and the red element is weak in front of the blue. There is also a hidden purple element, which the author of this article (that is, I) shamelessly walked, but judging by the successful completion, it acts as an additional cherry on the cake than the need. It is worth noting that any spell takes time to activate, during which the player needs to stand completely motionless and not make unnecessary gestures. Slightly moved to the side or hooked the enemy – the game will punish you and not a worked spell, and the lost part of mana. This forces you to act carefully and accustoms the fact that magic is still not a toy, and it needs to be used wisely.

Well, finally, a few words about which you definitely cannot do without any respecting old -wing horror – puzzles. As many could guess, they are tied both on finding various kinds of objects and ways of their application, and on the magic itself. However, the level of complexity of the riddles here is approximately at the level of school arithmetic school – by the middle of the game you will already intuitively feel what to do in a particular intricate situation and what subject or spell must be applied.

***
Eternal Darkness is a magnificent adaptation of Lovecraft myths in video games format, characterized by the qualities of real handmade – the originality and heap of fresh ideas. It is immediately obvious that Silicon Knights did not try to follow the trodden path, trying to create their own personal view on the established genre. Sometimes, in the process of passing, your memory will pop up the Silent Hill spirit, the mood of Alone in the Dark, pieces of Resident Evil and something little by adventure films … But how it is mixed together! Thanks to an interesting combat system, which is a kind of alloy between hand -to -hand and magical contractions, losing and well -presented plot, those situations that developers present, there is a whole thing without boredom and desire to put the game into a long box. But it is not recommended to rush with her, since Eternal Darkness is far from the dish that should be swallowed at a time. It needs to be carefully reinforced, chewed and not rush. My advice to you: go through the game thoughtfully, carefully inspect the environment and do not try to “run ahead of the steam locomotive”, otherwise you risk not catching the right mood and even truly unique sausage situations will fly out of memory with the plot.

Disadvantages, alas, have a place to be – some chapters turned out to be quite prolonged and teeming self -reproaches, the design of enemies is bored and there is no comparison with the same quiet hill, low difficulty closer to the finale is a bit of responsibility and fear for its virtual life. And I personally did not have any bosses at all from the word, although there is a chance that when choosing the alternative ways of passing the boss files will also change. However, in the ocean of advantages and original features, this is a small drop in the sea, and it pulls with a stretch for the minuses-you can always find fault with any aspect or gameplay element, but whether it is necessary?

Alas, not every good gaming product remains for a hearing long generation. Now Eternal Darkness is more like, rather, to the exposure of the Red Book, rather than cult classics – they seem to be respectful, but mercilessly drowned in the ocean oblivion. Which of the “connoisseurs” of the genre do not ask – most only clicks shoulders and perplexedly asks what kind of fruit this is and what it is eaten with. Of course, the status of exclusive for Nintendo GameCube played a role in low popularity and scared away the potential fan base, but it did not meet the light on it by the light.

I sincerely hope that this article prompted you to get acquainted with Eternal Darkness and, more pleasant, to pass it entirely at least once … It doesn’t matter exactly where – on a PC with an emulator on board or an original console. Because such games need to be known if your gaming horizon is much wider than promoted dummies and an endless series of second-rate jokes-one-day. Because they are much more worthy than they actually have!

Successful dives into darkness and do not forget that Diamonds hide everywhere – even where no one is looking for them!

In 2013, the authors of the original game, including the screenwriter, as well as the Denis Dyak project manager, gathered in the small creative team of Quantum Entanglement, and announced Shadow of the Eternals-the spiritual heir to the good old Eternal Darkness with the episodic model of distribution. The authors tried to go to Kickstarter and collect the necessary amount, providing the players with an impressive teaser on the Cryengine 3 engine, but … could not. The fundraising campaign suffered a deafening fiasco, but still did not destroy the project-in 2016, Denis Dyak published another teaser hinting at the ongoing development. Only now all the work is done by another studio, but consisting of the same employees.

Is this not a reason to think about who we are entering the money and why such creative and truly curious experiments remain in the shadow of low-grade slag?

Grateful postscript: Thank you, visitors Stopgame.ru, For reading my blog and leaving pleasant comments. This is very motivated and gives strength to continue to work on articles better and better. Of all five blogs (including this one), two have already fallen on the main page as the “best reviews of the week”. Let’s push for the third time – let people discover another excellent game for themselves!

Plaintous postpostskriptum:

Hey, why there is no page with this game on the site? I ask the editor to dive this annoying gap.