I’ve not made much progress in Eternal Darkness since Tuesday, but the game has me intrigued. While I’m disliking the combat, the story is slowly getting its hooks into me. If you’ve not played the game before, the story begins with one Alexandra Roivas returning to her grandfather’s house after his mysterious and violent death. By exploring his house, she slowly discovers that things are not what they appear to be.
In the game, once Alexandra finds the Tome of Eternal Darkness, we are treated to a series of gameplay vignettes, featuring different characters who are associated with the overall story arc. I’m only roughly 1 1/2 hours into the game, and so far I’ve played through the back story of Pious Augustus, a roman soldier who seems to have set the games events in motion, and a Ellia, a dancer whose curiousity leads her to explore a mysterious and foreboding temple.
Each story introduces the player to different gameplay elements. In Pious Augustus’ segment, we learn about the combat system. I’ve already made it clear that at this point in time the combat plain annoys me. Ellia’s segment introduces us to the games trademarked “Sanity” system. Every time you see a monster, you start to lose sanity. As you lose your grasp of your mind, the game starts to mess with you, changing the visuals, telling you your controller is unplugged when it isn’t and others. The only way to regain your sanity is be killing each monster you come across.
Tomorrow I plan to sit down and play through more and I’ll keep you posted on my experiences.
