''Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem'' is an

action-adventure The action-adventure genre is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Typically, pure adventure games have situational problems for the player to solve to complete a storyli ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

developed by

Silicon Knights Silicon Knights was a Canadian video game developer. Founded in 1992 by Denis Dyack, the company was headquartered in St. Catharines, Ontario. They started developing for computers such as the Atari ST and IBM PC compatibles. After 1996, they mo ...

and published by Nintendo, using themes of

psychological horror Psychological horror is a subgenre of horror and psychological fiction with a particular focus on mental, emotional, and psychological states to frighten, disturb, or unsettle its audience. The subgenre frequently overlaps with the related subge ...

and

cosmic horror Lovecraftian horror, sometimes used interchangeably with "cosmic horror", is a subgenre of horror fiction and weird fiction that emphasizes the horror of the unknowable and incomprehensible more than gore or other elements of shock. It is named a ...

. Originally planned for the

Nintendo 64 The (N64) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo. The successor to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, it was released on June 23, 1996, in Japan, on September 29, 1996, in North America, and on March 1, 1997, in Europe and ...

, it was switched to the GameCube for development and released on June 24, 2002. It is the first M-rated game published by Nintendo as well as their first game released after

Satoru Iwata was a Japanese businessman, video game programmer, video game designer, and producer. He was the fourth president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Nintendo from 2002 until his death in 2015. He was a major contributor in broadening the app ...

became President of Nintendo. While the game features similar gameplay mechanics to that of ''

Resident Evil ''Resident Evil'', known in Japan as is a Japanese horror game series and media franchise created by Capcom. It consists of survival horror, third-person shooter and first-person shooter games, with players typically surviving in environments ...

'', it distinguishes itself with unique features, such as "sanity effects". In the game, players take on the role of several characters as they battle a powerful entity who seeks to enslave humanity. ''Eternal Darkness'' was widely praised by reviewers and won numerous awards but was not a commercial success. A direct follow-up to the game was cancelled by Nintendo, who was the publisher and owned the game's copyright and trademark, and Silicon Knights a decade later went bankrupt and disbanded. Attempts by the game's writer and director

Denis Dyack Denis Dyack (born July 24, 1966) is a Canadian video game developer and the CEO of Apocalypse Studios. He is also the former president of Silicon Knights, and is a video game designer, writer, director and producer. Dyack directed '' Blood Omen: ...

to make a spiritual successor entitled ''Shadow of the Eternals'' failed both of their Kickstarter campaigns, leading to the project being placed on indefinite hold. In the years since ''Eternal Darkness'' release, it has been regarded as one of the

greatest games of all time This is a list of video games that multiple reputable video game journalists or magazines have considered to be among the best of all time. The games listed here are included on at least six separate "best/greatest of all time" lists from differ ...

, as well as one of the best

horror games A horror game is a video game genre centered on horror fiction and typically designed to scare the player. Unlike most other video game genres, which are classified by their gameplay, horror games are nearly always based on narrative or visual pr ...

ever made.

Gameplay

The game is conducted from a

third-person perspective Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the ...

. While the gameplay operates similar to ''

'' fighting monsters and solving puzzles to further explore a location ''Eternal Darkness'' maintains notable differences in gameplay style, some of which distinguished it from other

survival horror Survival horror is a subgenre of survival of the players as the game tries to frighten them with either horror graphics or scary ambience. Although combat can be part of the gameplay, the player is made to feel less in control than in typical ac ...

games of its time. An in-game map tracks a player's bearings. The inventory system stores weapons and items that can be used to solve puzzles, some of which can be combined with other objects, even enchanted with magick, for different effects. Combat focuses on a simple targeting system. Players may attack in a general direction, or lock-on to an enemy to focus on individual parts of its anatomy. Decapitating most enemies effectively blinds them. There are many classes of enemies the player must either defeat or avoid. Each class also comes in a few varieties, and subtle differences between each variety exist as well, having slightly different appearances and traits. Some of the more common enemies, such as zombies, vary very little in appearance, usually only changing in the hue of their skin and other aesthetic identifiers, but have notable behavioral differences such as replacing lost limbs with "phantom" facsimiles. Enemies such as Guardians, meanwhile, tend to vary quite significantly. The narrative of the game's story switches between two phases. The main phase focuses on a series of chapters in which players take control of a new character each time. The other phase focuses on Alex exploring the mansion in order to find chapter pages and other items in order to progress and acts as an intermission. The game boasts twelve playable characters, split between four distinct locations, and from different periods of time, at times in anachronic order. Each of these characters are different in terms of the game's three main parameters health, sanity, and magick and have access to a small selection of weapons that they can use in combat, though what they can use is determined by the time period that they lived in. For example, characters from the more ancient eras are restricted to mostly melee weapons such as swords, with the occasional crossbow or throwable. Meanwhile, characters from the colonial era onwards have more access to ranged weapons, including modern-day firearms. The story features multiple paths that can be taken at the end of the first chapter. This choice not only determines which of the game's other three antagonists are aligned to the plot, but it also has subtle effects on the gameplay in chapters and intermission periods. Some changes include slight differences in puzzles and items, but most changes revolve around enemy placement, which will determine how the player engages them. This can even have an effect on the relative difficulty of the game in certain situations. Red tinted enemies aligned with Chattur'gha, for example, are tougher than their counterparts and deal the most physical damage, making that story path a kind of unofficial hard mode. After the game is completed down one path, it becomes unavailable in future playthroughs, until the player completes all three paths. Magick can be used by most characters and consists of spells that can be used to damage opponents, protect characters and heal them, and be used to solve certain puzzles. The player is also able to assign spells to buttons for quick-use during the game. After discovering a spell it can be used in subsequent chapters and intermission periods. All spells are fundamentally affected by what alignment rune associated with a different Ancient is used to power them. The game incorporates four types Red (Chattur'gha), Green (Xel'lotath), Blue (Ulyaoth), and Purple (Mantorok). Each alignment affects spells on a specific parameter. On top of that, they operate on a

rock-paper-scissors Rock paper scissors (also known by other orderings of the three items, with "rock" sometimes being called "stone," or as Rochambeau, roshambo, or ro-sham-bo) is a hand game originating in China, usually played between two people, in which each p ...

principle of gameplay. All spells require the player to combine a series of

Rune Runes are the letters in a set of related alphabets known as runic alphabets native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were used to write various Germanic languages (with some exceptions) before they adopted the Latin alphabet, and for specialised ...

s together in order to cast them. Runes can be freely experimented with by the player. This robust mechanic of experimentation has been praised by game critics as unique, and something that sets the magick system in this apart from most magic systems of most other game titles. The other distinctive gameplay aspect comes from "Sanity Effects", the game's standout concept that Nintendo patented. Upon beginning the game's second chapter, players must keep watch on a Sanity meter a green bar which decreases when the player is spotted by an enemy. As the bar becomes low, subtle changes to the environment and random unusual events begin to occur, which reflect the character's slackening grip on reality. While minor effects include a skewed camera angle, heads of statues following the character, and unsettling noises, stronger effects include bleeding on walls and ceilings, entering a room that is unrealistic before finding that the character never left the previous room, the character suddenly dying, and

fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this ''wall'', the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. From the 16th cen ...

breaking effects such as "To Be Continued" promotions for a "sequel", and simulated errors and anomalies of the TV or GameCube. While the latter does not affect gameplay, they can be misconstrued by the player as being actual technical malfunctions.

Story

Setting

The story of ''Eternal Darkness'' takes place over four principal locations which the game skips back and forth between. They include an underground temple complex called the Forbidden City, in

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

; a Khmer temple in Angkor Thom,

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...

; Oublié Cathedral in

Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; pcd, Anmien, or ) is a city and commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in the region of Hauts-de-France. In 2021, the population of ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

; and the Roivas Family Estate in

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...

, which leads to an ancient underground city named Ehn'gha beneath the mansion. Each time a location is visited, it is done so in a different time period, spanning from 26 BC to 2000 AD. Each different era and character offers a different periodic and personal perspective on the location.

Plot

The chapters found in the game are not discovered in chronological order. Instead, to make the narrative more dramatic, each chapter jumps around the timeline of the plot. However, despite the overall story skipping back and forth through time, the chapters do follow chronological order within their respective locations. This is because each setting also has its own contained story. In 2000 AD, Alexandra Roivas finds herself returning to her family's estate in Rhode Island after her grandfather, Edward Roivas, her only living relative, is found brutally murdered. Two weeks after returning, the local police have gotten nowhere with the investigation, Alex decides to investigate the mansion for clues, and stumbles upon a secret room containing a book bound with human skin called the ''Tome of Eternal Darkness''. Deciding to read it, she finds it contains accounts of various people in the past, beginning with the story of Pious Augustus in 26 BC. Pious, a respected

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

military commander, is sent to

Ancient Persia The history of Iran is intertwined with the history of a larger region known as Greater Iran, comprising the area from Anatolia in the west to the borders of Ancient India and the Syr Darya in the east, and from the Caucasus and the Eurasian Step ...

to locate an important relic. Lured away from his men by mysterious voices, Pious found himself venturing into an underground temple complex called the Forbidden City. He comes across three artifacts. Each possesses the essence of powerful godlike beings referred to as "The Ancients": Chattur'gha, Xel'lotath and Ulyaoth. Upon attempting to touch one of the artifacts, Pious finds himself corrupted by its power, whereupon he pledges his allegiance to the artifact's Ancient and begins working on summoning them into the universe. The remaining two artifacts that Pious did not claim were put out of Pious' reach. One of the other artifacts represents the Ancient that is stronger than Pious', and the other represents the Ancient weaker than Pious'. The artifact representing the weaker Ancient remained in the Forbidden City. In 565 AD, a young swordsman named Karim, ventures to the Forbidden City to locate a treasure for a woman that he loves. Upon finding it, he sacrifices himself in order to guard it. Pious returns to

in the Middle Ages to construct a Pillar of Flesh at the Forbidden City, as part of his master's plans. In 1460 AD Roberto Bianchi, a Venetian architect traveling through the region, is captured by Pious under the guise of a warlord. While under

involuntary servitude Involuntary servitude or involuntary slavery is a legal and constitutional term for a person laboring against that person's will to benefit another, under some form of coercion, to which it may constitute slavery. While laboring to benefit anothe ...

, he encounters the spirit of Karim, who entrusts him with the artifact in his possession. Roberto attempts to warn Pious of the dangers within but is thrown into the tower, becoming part of its foundation along with many others. Centuries later in 1991 AD, a Canadian firefighter named Michael Edwards works with his team to extinguish several major oil fires in the Middle East, following the end of the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

. After an explosion killed his entire team and trapped him in the Forbidden City, he is approached by Roberto's spirit, who gives him the artifact and instructs him to take it to the Roivas Family Estate. Michael then moves to destroy the Forbidden City with a magickally enhanced bomb. A few months later, Michael delivers the artifact to Edward Roivas in secret, telling him that he "won't last a night". The artifact representing the stronger Ancient is moved, by Pious, to Oublié Cathedral, in

, in order to prevent it from being used against him. First, though, Pious orders the assassination of

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first ...

, so his movement cannot impede his plans. In 814 AD, a

Frankish Frankish may refer to: * Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture ** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages * Francia, a post-Roman state in France and Germany * East Francia, the successor state to Francia in Germany ...

messenger named Anthony, who stumbles upon the plot, travels to the then small monastery in order to warn him of the danger to his life. Despite Anthony's best efforts, he arrives too late to save him and dies from the spell he was afflicted with. When the location is reconstructed into a Cathedral long afterwards, Pious summons a creature called the Black Guardian, to protect the artifact that could defeat his master. In 1485 AD a

Franciscan , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

monk named Paul Luther, visiting the region to view a holy relic at the cathedral, finds himself accused of murdering a fellow monk by the local Inquisition. Attempting to clear his name, he encounters the Black Guardian, which promptly kills him. In 1916 AD, During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Oublié Cathedral is converted into a field hospital. Peter Jacob, a field reporter making accounts about the war, notes that patients have been disappearing of late. Venturing into the catacombs, he finds himself encountering the Black Guardian and defeats it, recovering the artifact it was guarding. Decades later, Edward is visited by a now elderly Peter who gives an account of his experience in Amiens before handing over the artifact in his possession. While the other two artifacts are fought over between Pious and several unwitting souls, the "Corpse God" Mantorok, another powerful Ancient that can oppose Pious' master, has an artifact of its own. In 1150 AD, Pious travels to a temple in Angkor Thom,

in order to deal with Mantorok. A young Khmer slave girl, named Ellia, finds herself trapped within the temple at the same time. While trying to find her way out, she is approached by one of Mantorok's servants, who entrusts her with the task of protecting the Ancient's essence within her body. Pious kills her shortly after. Centuries later in 1983 AD, Dr. Edwin Lindsey, a noted archaeologist, ventures to Cambodia on an expedition to explore the temple. After nearly being killed by Pious, who disguised himself in order to accompany him, Edwin finds Ellia's body and is entrusted by her spirit with Mantorok's essence, which he eventually delivers to Edward a few weeks later. Alongside the struggle to claim the powerful artifacts of the Ancients, the Roivas Family Estate in

, U.S. holds secrets of its own. In 1760 AD, Dr. Maximillian Roivas, a

colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 au ...

ancestor of Alex and her grandfather, inherits his father's mansion in Rhode Island and decides to investigate its secrets. He soon finds a large cavern beneath the mansion, containing an ancient city within called Ehn'gha. He returns to the surface to get help, only to be considered delirious, and is sent to an asylum for the rest of his life. In 1952 AD, Dr. Edward Roivas, a clinical psychologist at the time, inherits the Estate. Finding his way underground, Edward discovers the city incorporates magick machinery and uses it to greatly damage the city with a powerful destructive spell. Knowing this is not enough, he decides to research what he can within the Tome for the final battle. After decades, however, Edward is violently murdered by one of Ehn'gha's "Guardians". Alex, having learned all she can from the Tome, decides to finish the fight. Recovering the artifacts from within the mansion, she soon ventures into Ehn'gha and uses them with the city's machinery, in order to summon a rival Ancient to fight Pious' master. Alex then engages Pious in combat, aided by the spirits of those written in the Tome, eventually defeating him and destroying the essence of his master, who is defeated by its rival. Edward's spirit then acts quickly to use Ehn'gha's mechanism to send back the summoned Ancient before it can cause any harm to the world. After completing all three story paths, Edward Roivas narrates a revelation; all three paths are revealed to have occurred simultaneously in separate timelines. One of Mantorok's spheres of influence happens to be chaos, and with it, the ability to subtly manipulate time and space. It turned the other three Ancients against one another in mutual annihilation and merged the timestreams into one complete victory. Now only Mantorok remains, slowly dying.

Development

When

began work on ''Eternal Darkness'', their intention was to create a game "that was in the horror genre, but not categorized as survival/horror", with then later labeling it as a "

psychological thriller Psychological thriller is a genre combining the thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting. In terms of context and c ...

" during an early interview with IGN, as opposed to, what they referred to as, the " B-movie horror plots" of ''

''. At the same time,

remarked during an interview about his decision to design the game with the intention of "messing with people's heads", after being inspired by media reports. The game was initially planned for the

and to feature several characters, including "a Special Forces commando deep behind enemy lines", with the developers showing off the early builds during the 1999 E3 Expo; Silicon Knights later changed their mind and rebuilt the game in order to make it a launch title for the

Nintendo GameCube The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the Wii ...

. It never made it as a launch title, as development was delayed. The game was written by Denis Dyack and Ken McCulloch. The music and sound effects of ''Eternal Darkness'' were composed by Steve Henifin. The soundtrack was made exclusively available through ''

Nintendo Power ''Nintendo Power'' was a video game news and strategy magazine from Nintendo of America, first published in July/August 1988 as Nintendo's official print magazine for North America. The magazine's publication was initially done monthly by Ninten ...

'' magazine, with the disc containing 14 tracks from the game, many of which are extended versions of those heard in the game. The game features voice-overs from several actors, some of whom are most notable for providing the voices of characters in the ''

Metal Gear is a series of techno-thriller stealth games created by Hideo Kojima. Developed and published by Konami, the first game, ''Metal Gear'', was released in 1987 for MSX home computers. The player often takes control of a special forces operativ ...

'' and ''

Legacy of Kain ''Legacy of Kain'' is a series of dark fantasy action-adventure video games primarily developed by Crystal Dynamics and formerly published by Eidos Interactive, then Square Enix Europe after 2009. The first title, '' Blood Omen: Legacy of Kai ...

'' series, and include: * Michael Bell *

Earl Boen Earl Boen () is an American retired film, television and voice actor, best known as criminal psychologist Dr. Peter Silberman in ''The Terminator'' (1984), '' Terminator 2: Judgment Day'' (1991), '' Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines'' (2003) and ...

Cam Clarke Cam Clarke is an American voice actor, known for his work in animation, video games and commercials. Among his notable roles are Leonardo and Rocksteady in the 1987 ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' animated series, Shotaro Kaneda in the 1989 ...

Neil Dickson Neil Dickson (born November 26, 1950) is an English actor, who has worked extensively in both American and British film and television. Biography At the age of five, Dickson contracted poliomyelitis, but he was fortunate enough to make a comp ...

* Richard Doyle *

Greg Eagles Greg Eagles (born October 28, 1970) is an American actor. He voiced the Grim Reaper in Cartoon Network's '' Grim & Evil'' and its spin-off ''The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy''. He also voiced Captain Bob and Sketch Pad on HBO's Canadian-Am ...

Paul Eiding Paul Eiding (born March 28, 1957) is an American actor and instructor, best known for his voice roles as Colonel Roy Campbell in the ''Metal Gear'' series and Max Tennyson in the '' Ben 10'' franchise. During the 1970s, Eiding was a prolific c ...

Kim Mai Guest Kim Mai Guest is an American voice actress of European and Vietnamese descent who is known to speak fluent French and Italian. She is best known for her role as Mei Ling in ''Metal Gear''. Selected filmography Voice roles of Animation Anime ...

Jennifer Hale Jennifer Hale is a Canadian-American voice actress. She is best known for her work in video game franchises such as ''Baldur's Gate'', '' Mass Effect'', '' Metal Gear Solid'', '' BioShock Infinite'', '' Metroid Prime'', ''Overwatch'', and '' Sta ...

David Hayter David Hayter is a Canadian-American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. He is well known as the English-language voice actor for Solid Snake and Naked Snake in the ''Metal Gear'' video game series. He wrote the film ''X-Men'' and co-w ...

William Hootkins William Michael "Hoot"Austin Mutti-MewseObituary: William Hootkins ''The Guardian'', November 14, 2005, accessed December 13, 2012. Hootkins (July 5, 1948 – October 23, 2005) was an American actor, best known for supporting roles in Hollywood b ...

Philip Proctor Philip Proctor (born 1940) is an American actor, comedian and a member of the Firesign Theatre. He has performed voice-over work for video games, films and television series. Career Of the four members of Firesign Theatre, Proctor has had ...

Rino Romano Rino Romano is a Canadian actor. Career He is known for his work as Batman in the animated series ''The Batman'' (2004–2008), Spider-Man in '' Spider-Man Unlimited'' (1999–2001), and the video games ''Spider-Man'', '' Spider-Man 2: Enter El ...

Neil Ross Neil David Ross is a British-American voice actor and announcer. Noted for his Trans-Atlantic accent, he has provided voices in many American cartoons, most notably ''Voltron'', '' G.I. Joe'', and ''Transformers'', as well as video games, incl ...

Paula Tiso Paula Tiso is an American voice actress. Tiso works in many niches of voiceover including promo, radio imaging, and commercial as well as video games and narration. She has narrated the true crime ID channel series ''The Devil Speaks'', as ...

Cut characters

Joseph De Molay, named for

Jacques de Molay Jacques de Molay (; c. 1240–1250 – 11 or 18 March 1314), also spelled "Molai",Demurger, pp. 1-4. "So no conclusive decision can be reached, and we must stay in the realm of approximations, confining ourselves to placing Molay's date of birth ...

of the real Knights Templar, appeared in numerous demonstration versions seen during development of the game, and was playable for visitors to the 2001 E3 demo. There is material showing Joseph in both the Forbidden City and Oublié Cathedral. The game's launch was delayed in 2001, as the developers were forced to change the

Arab world The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...

setting in a quarter of the game's levels. Writers Dyack and Ken McCulloch were forced to drop the use of Joseph De Molay within these levels, following the events of 9/11, as it was believed that his character and setting would have created the potential for controversy for referencing the

Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...

so soon after a major terrorist attack. They instead created Karim, a whole new character unrelated to the

, for the new setting of the levels. In addition to these changes, the developers also decided to ditch the use of a fifth Ancient in the story, but retained elements of the fifth alignment for use in the finished game. The fifth alignment's primary color designation was yellow. In-game, yellow appears on unaligned runes and disintegrating enemies. Though the Ancient itself was excluded, its role in the story was repurposed and added onto Mantorok's, which is why Mantorok plays both a superior and inferior role to the other three Ancients, implying that the unnamed yellow Ancient was going to fulfill one of those two.

Release

''Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem'' was first released and published by Nintendo on June 24, 2002, in North America, October 25 in Japan and November 1 in Europe. It was the first video game published directly by Nintendo, rather than a

third-party developer A video game developer is a broad term for a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large ...

, to be rated M (Mature) by the Entertainment Software Rating Board.

Short films

In 2002, Nintendo and Hypnotic, a film entertainment company, established a filmmaking contest in which contestants submitted ideas that would be later funded into short films if selected. Hypnotic also purchased the rights to produce a film or TV series based on the IP. The contest looked for ideas that evoke the same kind of

that the game intends to evoke, but the films were not directly based on the ''Eternal Darkness'' characters or storyline. The contest drew over 500 submissions. Ten finalists were selected and were granted $2,000 each to produce their respective short films. The grand prize for the contest was $20,000, and was selected by a panel of industry experts. The finalists were unveiled between May 23 and July 4, 2002. A second prize, the viewer's choice award, was awarded on the basis of its popularity among the online audience. The grand prize winner of the contest was

Patrick Daughters Patrick Daughters (born 1976 in Berkeley, California) is an American music videomaker and commercial director currently signed to Anonymous Content. Daughters is a graduate of Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Maryland. While still in colleg ...

, for the film ''Unloved''. The viewer's choice award went to the film ''Cutting Room Floor'' by Tyler Spangler and Michael Cioni. Other videos featured on the official website included ''Article Number One'' by Julian Cautherley, ''Dinner with Kip'' by Chris Schwartz, ''Del'' by Chris Milnes, ''Suburban Nightmare'' by Christopher Reves, ''Darkness Visible'' by David McMillan, ''Corner of the Eye'' by Peter Hunziker, ''Carnal Noise'' by Francisco Aliwalas, and ''<<'' (pronounced "rewind") by Rich Gallup.

Reception

Reviews and sales

''Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem'' received a near-universal critical acclaim upon its release, with aggregated review scores of over 9/10 at both GameRankings and

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

. Upon review,

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

gave ''Eternal Darkness'' one of its Editor's Choice Awards and, in its review of the game, stated: "Simply put, an amazing achievement that shouldn't be overlooked. Games do not come any better than this". ''Eternal Darkness'' sold less than half a million copies worldwide. In Japan, the game has sold 17,748 copies as of December 31, 2006. In Canada, the game sold 20,000 copies.

Awards

''Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem'' won many awards, including the "Outstanding Achievement in Character or Story Development" award at the

6th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards The ''6th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards'' is the 6th edition of the Interactive Achievement Awards, an annual awards event that honors the best games in the video game industry. The awards are arranged by the Academy of Interactive Arts & ...

presented by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences in 2003, where it was also nominated for "Console Game of the Year", "Innovation in Console Gaming", and "Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction". ''

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

'' named it the best video game of June 2002. At

's Best and Worst of 2002, it was awarded "Best Sound on GameCube", "Best Story on GameCube", and "Best Graphics (Artistic) on GameCube"; the game was also nominated for "Best Music on GameCube", "Best Action Adventure Game on GameCube", and "Game of the Year on GameCube". GameSpy's Game of the Year Awards gave it their honorary "Day of the Tentacle (

Cthulhu Cthulhu is a fictional cosmic entity created by writer H. P. Lovecraft. It was first introduced in his short story " The Call of Cthulhu", published by the American pulp magazine ''Weird Tales'' in 1928. Considered a Great Old One within the p ...

) Award".

Retrospective

In 2006, ''

'' ranked ''Eternal Darkness'' as the 101st top game on Nintendo systems, while the readers of

had it voted as the 96th best video game of all time on all systems; in 2009, ''

Official Nintendo Magazine ''Official Nintendo Magazine'', or ''ONM'', was a British video game magazine that ran from 2006 to 2014 that covered the Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, Wii, and Wii U video game consoles released by Nintendo. Originally published by EMAP as '' ...

'' had it listed as the 48th best Nintendo game. The game was ranked as the seventh best game for the GameCube by ''

X-Play ''Xplay'' (previously ''GameSpot TV'' and ''Extended Play'') is a TV program about video games. The program, known for its reviews and comedy skits, airs on '' G4'' in the United States and had aired on ''G4 Canada'' in Canada (and briefly on Y ...

'' in 2006, as the fifth best GameCube game by IGN in 2007, as the tenth best GameCube game by

ScrewAttack Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC is an American digital media company headquartered in Austin, Texas. Founded in 2003 by Burnie Burns, Matt Hullum, Geoff Ramsey, Jason Saldaña, Gus Sorola, and Joel Heyman, Rooster Teeth is a subsidiary of Warner ...

that same year, and placed fourth on the list of top GameCube games in the January 2009 issue of ''

Game Informer ''Game Informer'' (''GI'', most often stylized ''gameinformer'' from the 2010s onward) is an American monthly video game magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of video games and associated consoles. It debuted in August 1991 w ...

''. Both ''X-Play'' and ''Game Informer'' in 2007 in 2006 ranked it as the fifth scariest game of all time. In other lists, ScrewAttack ranked the fake "Corrupt Data" sanity effect as the ninth top "OMGWTF" moment in gaming in 2008, while Alex Roivas was included among the 50 greatest heroines in video games by Tom's Games in 2007 and ranked as the 40th greatest heroine in video game history by ''

Complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...

'' in 2013. Several retrospective articles demanded a follow-up game. IGN included ''Eternal Darkness'' on their 2008 list of "horror franchises that should rise from the grave", GamesRadar included ''Eternal Darkness'' among the games "with untapped

franchise Franchise may refer to: Business and law * Franchising, a business method that involves licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business to franchisees * Franchise, a privilege to operate a type of business such as a cable television p ...

potential" in 2009, and

UGO Ugo is the Italian form of Hugh, a widely used name of Germanic origin. Its diminutive form is Ugolino. It is also a Nigerian Igbo first name. It may refer to: People * Vgo (stonemason), medieval stonemason * Ugo Bassi, a Roman Catholic prie ...

included it on a similar list of games "that need sequels" in 2010.

Legacy

Alex Roivas makes a cameo appearance in the 2018 fighting game ''

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'' is a 2018 crossover fighting video game developed by Bandai Namco Studios and Sora Ltd. and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It is the fifth installment in the '' Super Smash Bros.'' series, succeed ...

'' as one of the many "Spirits" that players can collect. The battle associated with Alex's Spirit sees the player needing to defeat

Zero Suit Samus is a fictional character and the playable protagonist of the video game series ''Metroid'' by Nintendo. She was created by Japanese video game designer Makoto Kano. She was introduced as a player character in the original 1986 video game ''Me ...

from the '' Metroid'' series as the screen is mirrored at random intervals.

Cancelled sequel

, designer of ''Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem'' and ''

Too Human ''Too Human'' is an action role-playing game developed by Silicon Knights and published by Microsoft Studios. It was released in August 2008 for the Xbox 360. The game's story is a science-fictional futuristic retelling of Norse mythology tha ...

'', said "absolutely yes" in July 2006 regarding the question of a possible sequel. He stated that Silicon Knights had intended for ''Eternal Darkness'' to be a stand-alone game, but the company has always intended to make more games set in the ''Eternal Darkness'' universe involving the Ancients. At Microsoft's Spring 2008 Showcase, Dyack confirmed that a return to the ''Eternal Darkness'' brand could be on the cards: "There is a chance; we love all the games we work on. We don't want to be pigeon-holed nto a genre we want to be known for strong content...There's a strong chance we'll return to it, but there's no announcements yet". In November 2011, Silicon Knights claimed they wanted to focus on one of their most requested titles for the next generation of consoles. This combined with the fact that Nintendo had trademarked the title once again, spawned rumours that another ''Eternal Darkness'' game would be made as a launch title for the Nintendo's

Wii U The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4. Th ...

console. However, the project was cancelled due to Silicon Knights' legal troubles with Epic Games. In December 2012, Nintendo extended their ownership on the ''Eternal Darkness'' trademark for the fifth time, indicating that the company still had interest in the property. Any chances for a sequel, at least under Silicon Knights, were terminated on May 9, 2013, after Silicon Knights filed for bankruptcy, closed its office, and sold off its equipment. Nevertheless, Nintendo reregistered its trademark later on July 29 with a new document that indicated that it might be a downloadable game. When asked about this by GameSpot, Nintendo declined to answer. In the summer of 2020, after years of neglect and with no word of any plans for future installments, the game's trademark was declared "abandoned" by the

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark registration authority for the United States. The USPTO's headquarters are in Alexa ...

; soon after Nintendo has renewed the game's trademark as of July 31, 2020, with the mention of "video game cartridges", differing from previous trademarks.

''Shadow of the Eternals''

In May 2013, Precursor Games, staffed by many former Silicon Knights members, had begun a crowdfunding campaign through

PayPal PayPal Holdings, Inc. is an American multinational financial technology company operating an online payments system in the majority of countries that support online money transfers, and serves as an electronic alternative to traditional paper ...

, seeking $1.5 million to create a spiritual successor to ''Eternal Darkness'' under the title ''Shadow of the Eternals'', to be released for Microsoft Windows and

. The game was to be released in 12 two- to four-hour long episodes, with Denis Dyack acting as the game's chief creative officer. On May 13, a secondary fund-raising campaign was launched on Kickstarter, aiming to receive $1.35 million within 36 days. Eventually, being only halfway through their funding campaign in early June, as a result of "a host of a new exciting opportunities that will make the game better than recursor Gamesenvisioned", the company decided to shut down both funding campaigns on Kickstarter and their official website whilst refunding all the accumulated money back to their contributors, and promised to relaunch a new campaign a few weeks later with "a reveal of these exciting new developments". Later in June, Precursor's founding member, and co-designer of both ''Eternal Darkness'' and ''Shadow of the Eternals'', Kenneth McCulloch was arrested and pleaded guilty on charges of child pornography; the studio immediately severed all ties with him. Another Kickstarter campaign was launched on July 25 aiming for a $750,000 goal this time. Instead of 12 episodes, the game was intended to be released as one 8- to 10-hour experience. The game was announced as follows: "When Detective Paul Becker is called to one of the bloodiest gang massacres in Louisiana state history, only two survivors remain from a brutal conflict between two rival cults. As Becker begins his interrogations of the suspects, their combined recollections will uncover the truth about the 'Eternals'. Featuring an ensemble cast of heroes and villains, ''Shadow of the Eternals'' will span over 2500 years of history throughout Egypt, England, Hungary, and the United States. Players will question the perception of reality as they try to balance the mechanics of combat, magick, and sanity events to progress through the adventure. ''Shadow of the Eternals'' will take players on a memorable journey throughout time; weaving historical fact with disturbing fiction to create an experience unlike any other". In creating the look of the game, Precursor Games purchased art assets from Silicon Knights which were going to be used on the ''Eternal Darkness'' sequel before it was canceled. Though Nintendo still owns the rights to ''Eternal Darkness'' as well as the

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...

for the game's unique "Sanity Meter", Precursor Games head Paul Caporicci stated that the studio were in "constant communication" with Nintendo, who are supportive of the project. As of September 30, 2013, ''Shadow of the Eternals'' was delayed indefinitely due to lack of funding on Kickstarter. '' The Escapist'' commented: "What seemed like a fairly obvious slam-dunk sequel to a classic game has instead been a circus of multiple failed crowdfunding campaigns, child pornography, and outright lack of faith in the developers. It certainly must be a discouraging experience for everyone involved, but that's the double-edged blade of crowdfunding: the crowds occasionally onot want your game". Kyle Hilliard of ''

'' wrote: "Despite good intentions, and the excitement surrounding the prospect of a sequel to ''Eternal Darkness'', ''Shadow of the Eternals'' has been plagued with issues since its original announcement. It's disappointing, but not too surprising that Precursor has decided to put the game on hold. I would still like to see the final game someday, but I am not confident that we will be seeing or even hearing from the game anytime soon". In October 2014, Denis Dyack had created a new entertainment company Quantum Entanglement Entertainment. One of the company's first projects was to relaunch the development for ''Shadow of the Eternals''. Dyack was also considering ''Shadow of the Eternals'' as a film and television property. In January 2018, QEE was quietly shut down and the production of ''Shadow of the Eternals'' was put on hold. Dyack renamed the company as Apocalypse Studios and announced a new free-to-play role-playing game for the PC titled '' Deadhaus Sonata''.

References

External links