eternal darkness game review
Eternal DarknessDIVE INTO ETERNAL DARKNESS
The door slams in a thud. A corridor where blood oozes from the walls. Lost. With only artifacts a relic from another world and a real 33 mm, him. I just escaped from a horde of zombies ready for a feast to which I did not invite myself. With a dry throat, I check that my colt is fully charged. A look: my arm is on the ground, my shoulder is nothing more than a geyser of blood. Paralyzed, I no longer even have the strength to howl the pain that paralyzes me. My left arm falls with a crash. Then my head explodes and my body falls to the ground, inert. A flash. "No, this is not real!". I hadn't even walked through the door ...
Silicon Knights on the attack
This hallucination is one of 45 programmed by Silicon Knights, the Canadian studio behind Eternal Darkness, and known worldwide for having launched the Legacy of Kain series on PC and PSone. Presented by caricature as a survival horror, and often mocked for its screenshots work in progress not necessarily very promising, Eternal Darkness is the culmination of four years of work in close collaboration with Nintendo. The time it probably takes for an apparently trivial N64 project to mature and become one of the spearheads of the GameCube. Because since you have probably already rushed to the verdict in a human reflex, you already know that Eternal Darkness is good. Now, from there to proclaim everywhere that the game is excellent and give it scores in tune as did the American players, there is still a slight step back. Because if the game of Silicon Knights is very solid, it does not mark a playful revolution as we have read here or there. On the other hand, and on this point no doubt is allowed: Eternal Darkness is indeed the psychological thriller announced."It's a Thriller Night"
When Denis Dyack, the brain behind the project, opposed Eternal Darkness to Resident Evil by his "deeper and more classic approach around a conflict between Good and Evil", we would never have imagined that its title would develop such an agonizing and worked atmosphere. If Resident Evil plays on the rope of surprise fear, and uses all the codes of the horror film like Romero (Night of the Living Dead, Zombie), Eternal Darkness does more in the fantastic way Lovecraft or Edgar Allan Poe, where the tension gradually rises to the climax where everything changes. Less scary than a Silent Hill for those who are absolutely keen on comparisons, the title of Silicon Knights remains a great monument of freaking out, with flesh and blood (flesh and bone) as the narrator likes to repeat. So much so that we come to wonder if the presence of the Nintendo logo during the opening sequence is not another hallucination. At least, the change of image of the Japanese giant in the West is taking place gradually, after the UFO Conker's Bad Fur Day and the exclusivity of the Resident Evil series. We are really dealing with a mature title, for three reasons. First the scenario, fragmented like a brilliant puzzle, which takes on its full meaning as the plot progresses. Then a soundscape that exceeds the imagination and will undoubtedly make a mark in console video games. Finally a principle of play where madness and reality merge. But are these two dimensions of Being so far apart? It is this reflection that invites us to dive into eternal darkness.Elected against the Elders
Eternal Darkness narrates the confrontation between 13 Chosen Ones chosen by Destiny and the Elders (Elders), a dynasty of supernatural beings who, despite their name, are not residents of lost retirement homes. These incarnations of the Demon dominated Earth from time immemorial, but mysteriously disappeared from the surface of the globe, plunging into a kind of hibernation in the heart of the planet. Chattur'gha the red dominates the kingdom of flesh and blood, worshiping death, destruction and sacrifice. Ulyaoth the blue is the king of magic and magic. Finally Xel'lotah the green reigns supreme on the Psychic, and dreams of a world of dementia. These three complementary deities were ostracized thanks to the powers of Mantorok the purple, the god of chaos. Millions of years later, around Antiquity, they are on the verge of waking up to reclaim their property, which has fallen into the hands of weak men. Taking advantage of the weakening of Mantorok thanks to the alignment of the planets, one of the three dreams of dominating the Earth alone. But 13 elected officials with no apparent link, living at different times, from Antiquity to the present day, passing through the Middle Ages and the First World War, will contradict the ambitions of the Ancients. Two thousand years of divine war for 13 characters that you will incarnate in turn. The young Alexandra Roivas, the red thread of the plot, will be the first character you will direct. Intrigued by the death of her ancestor in atrocious circumstances, she went to the family mansion on Rhode Island to unravel the mystery of her assassination. What she finds there will change her own destiny and that of all of humanity.A blood-chilling atmosphere
If the script of Eternal Darkness turns out to be rather classic by the director's own admission, the way it is treated is worthy of cinema. OK, this is not new in video games, and from Soul Reaver: Legacy of Kain to Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, we have already had titles that mix the pleasure of the eyes with the pleasure of the game. But with its ellispi, its consistency and a quest that spans the last 20 centuries, Eternal Darkness is almost stronger. Thinking about it afterwards, there was probably no more effective way to gently build up the pressure. So good that at the limit we would dare to say that the game is in the service of history. A tour de force. And besides, not to spoil the surprise, we will not reveal anything. Ah yes, just that the sound environment has never been so scary, and that all owners of Dolby Surround Pro Logic II compatible gear je-ne-sais-quoi will wet their pants. The so-called Steve Henifin, already composer of the music for Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen, will be able to renegotiate his contract upwards in the coming months as he is involved in the success of Eternal Darkness. Attention, we are not in the orchestral register at all costs, sound trumpets and violins. The soundtrack knows how to be discreet. Two thump drums accompany the entrance to the manor, then a vacuum and two more blows.A sound from beyond the grave rises and the player clings to his pad. Some more action oriented universes, like in Persia, are entitled to more classic but effective themes. And what about the songs accompanying the heroes in Amiens Cathedral, which became the time of a game a Temple of Curse. Particular attention has been paid to the sound effects, and this does not only concern the creaking of the doors. Footsteps, horrified cries, oozing blood, everything seems real. We also find this attention in terms of dubbing, one of the best it has been heard for a long time, provided by real American professionals. Some passages were even downright doubled in Latin, nothing like the atmosphere! It changes us Marseille accents lent to the Chinese generals of Kessen II. Certain aftershocks and intonations hit the target; "May the rat eat your eyes!" ("Let the rats devour your eyes!") Is seen from the echoes on the forums already a classic.
A game system worked
Classic is also the word that comes to mind to describe the game system. Because ultimately, under its appearance of psychological thriller, survival horror or whatever you want, Eternal Darkness is a simple action game where you slice the zombie between two easy puzzle solving and four round trips in narrow corridors. The combat phases obviously recall Vagrant Story, with the possibility of hitting enemies on several parts of the body, but in real time this time. To do this, simply lock an enemy with R and then move the analog stick according to the part of the body that is targeted (above for the head, neutral for the bust, etc.) and strike with A, with possibilities combos. With a little training, we will be happy to behead the zombies quickly one by one to avoid being chased. Because deprived of their orbits, the poor non-dead no longer see you. Then there's nothing like slicing them member after member until they fall. Fans of long-distance combat will also be able to use guns and other crossbows for the latter. Well done from all points of view. Fortunately, Silicon Knights did not just offer a butchery-style hack and slash, since the game has a welcome and really fucked up magic system, based on runes and summoning circles. This takes up the four elements of the deities, where Red beats Green, Green beats Blue, Blue beats Red and Purple dominates everyone. Many puzzles will ask to use such or such adapted spell.For example, it will break a blue magic seal with a green Dispel Magick spell (Editor's note: no, the k is not a typo, just a programmers style effect) or take control of an enemy red with a blue spell, etc. As the monsters also belong to these 3 elementary classes, you will have to know how to adapt your attack and defense spells accordingly and do not hesitate to turn back to prepare your spells. For the time that the invocation is complete and effective, the character must remain motionless. Not obvious when a horde of zombies approaches ... To discover the spells before finding a Codex on the ground giving the ingredients, you should not hesitate to combine different runes. The sequences are often logical and there are not a lot of possible combinations, so no need to rush on the walkthroughs. FYI, the game has 12 spells in all and 3 power levels. Obviously, the more powerful a spell, the more time it takes to summon. To be clear, the designer who designed this system was sober and efficient. Some developers should probably take inspiration from it in the future.
Sanity Meter on stage
The Sanity Meter is of course the big originality of the game, the one that makes the difference, commands respect, and should remain the hallmark of the likely Eternal Darkness saga. By dint of meeting zombies and other scary creatures, your character will lose ground in reality. His mental health bar will decrease with each exchange of glances with the ghosts, and the lower it will be, the more your character will be subject to various hallucinations all more excellent than the others. It would be inelegant to spoiler some of them, that of the intro being already sufficiently explicit to give you an idea of the possibilities imagined by Silicon Knights. Be careful, these can occur anywhere, even the most unexpected. Fortunately, each time your character will come to his senses at the last moment, shivering, screaming, shouting: "No, this is not real!". If this mental health bar stays at zero for too long, your character can lose life as soon as an undead stares at him. To find the path of reason again, three possibilities are offered: decapitate a creature before it makes you big eyes or finish it on the ground in a superb "Finish Him", use an alcohol bottle or a slab magic to regain his senses or, towards the end of the game, cast a spell. But ultimately, going crazy is so exhilarating that we would be ready to viciously leave the characters in their dementia to see new effects. Moreover, we could regret that this aspect of the game is almost under-exploited, and that Silicon Knights has remained very wise in front of the potential of such a system. Why not go further in explicit horror, gore or the unexpected? Why would the degree of madness not influence the course of the scenario? Who knows, many clues scattered throughout the game suggest that a sequel would already be on the program. So, Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Redemption, more hallucination or reality?Some flats
After this song of praise well deserved, let us come now to the black point on which the detractors of all edges will not be long in insisting. No, Eternal Darkness is not a graphic slap. For a "big" GameCube title, this may disappoint fans of technical performance, those who swear by bump-mapping and artifices galore. After all, the game had to come out first on Nintendo 64. This is no excuse, sure, but it can still be reported. And then some decorations, notably that of the cathedral, are rather impressive, thanks to classy light effects. Another reason for criticism: Character Design. Yes, the character design turns from medium to mediocre. Maybe that makes the actors in this tragedy more human, right? We can nevertheless regret a bit steep entertainment for the characters. Personally, I would also have liked the characters to have a more varied palette of movements, with rolls or even a jump command to solve a few puzzles based on platforms. Fortunately, these rather average animations are saved by very worked camera angles, which zoom in / out depending on the position of the character. So much the better. We will also hear, here and there, that the compression of the cinematic scenes is the work of a site steamroller, that the colors are washed out and that these sequences could very well have been produced in real time. It is true. But if Nintendo can save itself to release its game on 2 mini DVDs, it is not very serious either. And anyway, the game remains very honest for the current criteria on console, even if it does not bury the competition.No, if there were real criticisms to be made of Eternal Darkness on the merits, it would concern the lack of variety and the classicism of the whole. There are five to six types of enemies, very few bosses, and we visit the same scenery two or three times. The enigmas may change, the pieces may evolve, revisiting for the third time the cathedral of Amiens tends to leave you hungry. With 12 characters from different eras, you could expect to visit at least a dozen different places. On the other hand, revisiting the same places is part of the logic of the scenario. In addition, the game is very linear, the environments closed and if the puzzles are not necessarily complicated, we sometimes tend to go around in four to five pieces time to understand what the programmers expect from us. Bad language could even say that once the scenario put aside and the atmosphere out of the game, Eternal Darkness is really very limited and boils down to stupid puzzles and three spells, with a slight lack of punch. Finally, and there it is undoubtedly more serious, the feeling of fear soon subsides once the backup system is entered. It is possible to save when the rooms are empty, which, for the not very courageous players of which I am, slightly harms the difficulty. Especially when a defeated enemy does not reappear. Of course, it is always possible to impose a limit of backups, but the easy solution is so tempting that it will be necessary to show a real righteousness. Come on, don't bother gourmet three stars either, especially since the game is long (15 to 20 hours of play at the first game, and you have to finish it three times to have the last word of history), that the translation is beyond reproach and that it can be enjoyed from chapter to chapter as one of the best fantastic books ever written.
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