New Eternal Darkness Titles Promised

1up reports that Silicon Knights, maker of the Too Human and Eternal Darkness games, have promised they plan to return to Eternal Darkness at some point in the future. I wouldn't hold your breath for it, though. Any sequel to the Lovecraft-inspired horror title will be some time in coming. From the article: "'Although this [Eternal Darkness 1] is just one story we had in mind for the Eternal Darkness universe, there are even more manipulations, great ancients, and numerous other stories to tell...' The outspoken developer continues on by describing how their plans for Eternal Darkness tie into Too Human, as well; the upcoming trilogy represents an evolution of the studio's concept for Eternal Darkness. Instead of holding off on sequel treatments, however, they've instead decided to plan an overarching three-part story from day one. "

Comments

Since the OP didn't say what the F these games are

[mbourgon]

Ya know, it helps if people are familiar with whatever the heck you're talking about, when you mention some sort of sequel.

http://cube.ign.com/articles/363/363071p1.html

"Developer Silicon Knights' psychological thriller Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem [...]travels gamers through the depths of time and challenges them to complete quests using a dozen different characters[...]GameCube"

It's apparently some sort of Alone In The Dark survival horror thing, on the Gamecube.

Why you should care

[DoctaWatson]

Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem is one of the best games for the Gamecube, putting it squarely among the top games of this ending generation.

You could call it a "survival horror" and leave it at that, but it hardly seems much like Silent Hill or Resident Evil. In those games, the fear is created by the big scary monster in the next room. You can eventually desensitize yourself to that kind of fear by playing on the assumption that there's a monster around every corner.

In Eternal Darkness the fear is created by the sense that you are losing your mind. There are hundreds of little tricks the game uses to mess with your mind, and they're so varied and frequent that at least a few of them will catch even the most hardened player off guard.

On top of the sanity system, the game has a fantastic atmosphere that's Lovecraft-inspired but spans many different eras in human history. You'll play in Ancient Persia, Medieval Europe, 1950's America- and each time as a different (and likely doomed) protagonist.

There's also some fairly complex (in console terms) magic and combat systems.

If you own a Gamecube, this game is very much worth playing (or even owning). It can easily be found used for under $10.

Re:Why you should care

[Gulthek]

Call of Cthulhu was also on XBox.

In CoC the neat game mechanic was that the *character* was going insane. But with Eternal Darkness the game breaks the fourth wall and makes you think that *you* (yes, you the *player*) are going insane. That's why no one can talk about the effects without spoiling them for future players. The trick only works if you don't expect it.

Re:Why you should care

[TiggsPanther]

Each sanity trick works once, and then it's mostly an annoyance for the rest of the game (except for some of the cheap scare tactics like you get in most horror movies these days--these are situational and you don't tend to come across them more than once, anyway).

Oh, I dunno. Some of them had repeat value. The size-adjusting ones, for example. Because it was a gradual change there was always this moment of thinking your eyes were tried before realising what was going on.

Also I found the basic insanity was really qutie creepy. Tilted screen, windchimes in the background and a constant buzz of screams and voices. If nothing else, I found it quite unsettling. It certainly conveyed the feeling of "something's not quite right", and gave a visual barometer of insanity without needing to see the green meter.

Re:Narokath Santak Chattur'gha

[Psykechan]

Nintendo owns the IP for Eternal Darkness. That doesn't prohibit Silicon Knights from working with Nintendo for a sequel. From what I have heard, the split was pretty amicable.

From what Dyack has to say in an interview here, SK learned a lot from Nintendo and here he stated that future games with Nintendo would be a possibility.

They probably have some rough storyline ideas and could even have some Wiimote gameplay ideas. Dyack bringing up Eternal Darkness again means that there could be talks... or not. It could be just speculation. I'm hopeful though, but hey, I'm a long time fan of SK from back when I played Steel Empire.

They better more thought out pillars of bone in the sequel. Fresh human bodies suck for construction work; once they start decomposing, the weight of the structure can cause a collapse. I'm just sayin' is all.

Let's hope for more than the first one gave us

[Opportunist]

ED:SR was a great game. Wonderful horror effects, nice puzzles, good story, good mood, everything was in its place. Especially the idea to play with the player's perception, to have him "loose his mind" with effects like it telling you your controller isn't plugged in (while your character seems to get eaten by the monsters, only to drop you back to the point before the incident and your character whimpering about him losing his mind), your save games are gone or similar little gimmicks all added to a nice immersion. I dimly remember that, after the first 3 chapters or so, they added some kind of cheap credits, giving you the impression it's over and you should go buy the sequel if you want to see the real end...

Even the "reuse" of places, something I usually loathe in games because it makes it look cheap, was very well explained in the story, the places grew from level to level and it was quite interesting to see them "develop" and change during the centuries. A small chapel from the 8th century turns, in a later level, into a cathedral (about 15th century), which is then used as a military hospital during WW1.

What bugged me to no end was its length. It was simply too short. First game lasted 20 hours, replays can be done in just under 5. And there's little reason to replay it. Aside of beating it with all the 3 available "gods" (and thus get to see the ultimate ending), I found no "easter egg", no goodie to be unlocked, no bonus to be had.

If they manage to give it more story and longer gameplay, this is going to define new standards for the horror genre.