Let me nip this in the bag right now, this game right here...isn't scary. As much as people say it is, Heh, it isn't. In fact, it is more silly than scary. But man, is it a lot of fun! Eternal Darkness for the Gamecube, an interesting horror game that focuses on psychological horror, than just plain horror.
The story of Eternal Darkness is that you're grandfather dies, and you look around a found a book titled: "The Tome of Eternal Darkness" Pretty Original, huh? As you read it, you progress through the game, by playing in whatever location and time period the book is talking about. This is cool, especially the locations themselves, and how they give off a certain style, and because of this, the graphics are nice. But..even for the time, it was considered....outdated, like 2 years behind looks wise.Well, since I find that it was originally developed for the N64. I was like. "Hey, what did you expect?"
As for the gameplay, it blends horror, puzzle, and action. The puzzles themselves are rather simple, and easy to figure out, for the most part. They're not really anything you've seen before. But they get the job done well. There's also spells, offers magical powers for healing, solving puzzles, and experimenting in combat. It can also give you access to other rooms in the location. As for the combat, well, fighting the same monsters over can be rather...tedious.
But 1 of the most innovative things about this game is the Sanity Meter, and when I mean innovative, I mean just outright f**king with you. You see every time a monster sees you, or if you see him, or if you kill someone that is alive, lol, your sanity meter will depleted,The lower this flipping meter gets, the more screwed up the game gets. And every time one these sanity effects occurs, your character will say this: "This isn't really happening." and it Sounds flipping hilarious.
As for how it controls, well...not really good. They're not unresponsive or anything, they just fell kind of stiff, especially when your trying to attack, kinda fells like t one of the old Resident Evil games. Also, When you die, you go back to the title screen, which is annoying. And the navigation can get a bit confusing, especially when your sanity meter is lower.
The game can be beaten around 10 hours or so. Which is lengthy and well worth it. Especially how creative it is. Eternal Darkness is a game that everyone needs to play. Sure, the combat can be tedious, the control can be a bit stiff, and the navigation is confusing sometimes. But MAN, just playing it. Its great! Heck, even the music is great. With great atmosphere, a interesting story, well-done gameplay, and that hilarious sanity meter, Eternal Darkness is a horror game that Needs to be played.