Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem: Encyclopedia II - Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem - Gameplay

Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem - Gameplay

Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem - Structure

Alexandra's part of the game, at the mansion in 2000, forms the hub. The player finds the book, and Pious's story, first. Then Alex finds the first Chapter Page, leading the player on to the next section of the game as a different character. This character's story provides plot exposition, and once complete, the player as Alexandra has knowledge, an object, or an ability which allows her to find the next Chapter Page, highlighting another character, and so on.

This cycle of new gameplay sections, leading to new abilities, leading to new gameplay sections, was first pioneered by Metroid, but Eternal Darkness was lauded for its application of the idea to a narrative with a variety of settings and time periods.

Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem - Alignments

The player chooses which of the three essences Pious attempts to claim at the start of the game. This determines which of the three Ancients he is aligned with, and subsequently which enemies dominate. The alignments have a rock, paper, scissors relationship, which is important in the player's consideration of his or her own magick use.

The Ancients are members of a species that existed before other life emerged from the primordial ooze. The relentless movement of ice and the continental drift and other "inscrutable" reasons bound the Ancients deep beneath the planet's surface, biding their time, waiting until the moment was right to return. The surviving Ancients are:

• Ulyaoth, God of Magick: his creations are tinged blue, and they specialize in magickal damage. Ulyaoth has power over Chattur'gha.
• Xel'lotath, Goddess of Wisdom and Madness: her underlings are tinged green, and have an affinity for affecting sanity (see below). Xel'lotath has power over Ulyaoth.
• Chattur'gha, God of Power and Flesh: his troops are tinged red, and focus on physical attacks and toughness. Chattur'gha has power over Xel'lotath.
• Mantorok the Corpse God, God of Order and Chaos: the creator of the Tome of Eternal Darkness. Although it appears in the game to be in a position of inferiority, it is actually dominant over all. It created the equilibrium between the other three Ancients, making sure that they would be bound to fight against each other and to destroy each other.

Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem - Magick

Unlike most games in the survival horror genre, Eternal Darkness offers magical powers for healing, solving puzzles, and experimenting in combat. For example, it is possible for player characters to summon (and, if they wish, directly control) monsters like those they are fighting. This is achieved by a fairly intuitive system of "runes" for the components of the spell and 3-, 5-, or 7-point "Circles of Power" which allow the runes to be scribed. To cast a spell, an alignment rune (fueling the spell with the power of one of the 4 Ancients– though Mantorok's rune is well hidden), a "verb" or effect rune (describing the action of the spell) and a "noun" or target rune must be used. For example, the spell for recovering health consists of the alignment rune for Chattur'gha, the rune for "absorb" (Narokath), and the rune for "self" (Santak). As more runes are discovered, more combinations are possible, although not all have an effect. With a larger Circle of Power, "power" (Pargon) runes may be added to spells to increase the intensity of the spell. Runes and Circles gathered during a chapter are stored in the Tome and available in all subsequent chapters, as well as the present day. More runes and spells are detailed in the "Runes" and "Spells" sections below.

Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem - Sanity effects

The game's standout concept (recently patented by Nintendo) is the "sanity meter", a green bar on screen which is depleted under various conditions, generally when the character is seen by an enemy. It can also be restored under various conditions, such as performing a "finishing move" on an enemy. If the bar remains depleted, increasingly bizarre effects occur. Though some of these affect the character as hallucinations or muscle control issues, and others break the fourth wall, being aimed at the player directly, all are temporary.

These may include simulated displays with messages apparently produced by the TV or the GameCube; this does not affect gameplay unless the player misconstrues them as actual technical malfunctions and turns off his or her system, thereby losing all progress since his or her last save. One effect which is consistently used is a skewed camera angle accompanied by whispers, cries, and other strange noises. The lower the sanity meter, the more skewed the camera angle and the louder the sound effects.

There are many different sanity effects, and it is possible to complete the game without seeing any of them. Therefore, they will not all be listed in order to avoid spoiling the surprise. A few more commonplace examples include:

• Disturbing sounds, including women and children crying out of fear and pain, the sound of a blade being sharpened, accompanied by the whimpering and screams of its victim.
• Paintings turning to nightmarish depictions, eg. an idyllic mountain landscape turns to hell on Earth.
• Walls and ceilings bleeding. Attacking them causes more effusion.
• When casting a spell, the player character's body above the waist explodes. (Ironically, this commonly occurs while casting a spell to recover Sanity.)
• Appearance of monsters that are not really there. These disappear when attacked.
• Opening the menu screen and finding that all items are gone.
• Volume lowering accompanied by a graphical effect simulating the TV volume lowering.
• Volume becoming muted.
• Going to save the game and having all saved games 'deleted'.
• Head getting cut off and then beginning to recite Shakespeare when it's picked up.
• Character or monsters shrinking or growing.
• A version of the blue screen of death.
• Statues & busts turning to look at the character. They turn back to original position when the character faces them.
• Cockroaches walking across the screen.
• Character whimpers and babbles to him or herself.
• Tribal chanting during the Cambodian tomb chapters.
• A to-be-continued message thanking the player and promising continuation in a sequel game (Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Redemption).
• Body parts systematically falling off one-by-one.
• Inability to control your character, accompanied by a "No Controller" message and monsters attacking the character.
• "Deep into that darkness..." quote displaying, making the player believe the game has reset.
• Every door becoming locked.
• Floor being covered in ammunition.
• Character walking into a room from a previous or future chapter.
• Character sinking into the floor like quicksand.
• Character accidentally shoots him- or herself while reloading, only to find it didn't actually happen.
• Character enters a room on the ceiling, after a while the player finds him- or herself outside the door used to enter the room.

Some sanity effects are character specific, relating to the individual's experience or fears.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Gameplay", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki