#12: Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem

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Warning: This entry has discussions of the plot, mechanics, and a little bit of development history regarding dark elements, including a real-world tragedy.


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Rating: M

Players: 1

Price Range: ~$85 USD

A survival horror game.

This is regarded as one of the system's best.

Now, the biggest comparison would be Resident Evil, but it has its own bones to stand on its two feet, as this is definitely a well-made game.

Let's go over the main mechanics, story, and unique elements.

It's quite...complicated.

Essentially, it is a game inspired by Lovecraftian and cosmic horror, with multiple playable characters from a whole range of time periods, from 26 BC to 2000 AD, in which there exists these cosmic gods known as the Ancients, consisting of , with a fourth named Mantarok (purple). These beings, except for Mantarok, have been in opposition to each other for all of existence.

You see, the game start with a monologue by Dr. Edward Roivas, a psychiatrist, and about how he is dead, speaking about the constant and silent battle of humanity against these gods, the handful of people using what is known as the Tome of Eternal Darkness, a large book made out of actual human flesh and bone.

Then, a nightmare from his granddaughter, Alexandra Roivas, while facing these zombie-like monsters with her shotgun. When she runs out of ammo, she tries to escape, only to bang on the door, hearing a man scream 'May the rats eat your eyes! The darkness comes!' before waking up to a phone call from a detective in Rhode Island, United States to the mansion her grandfather resided. When she arrives, it turns out she was brought to a scene of gore as she was called to identify the bloody pulp of her grandfather, whose been decapitated without easy ways to identify him. After weeks of no help from the police, Alex decides to find out what happened to him on her own, eventually finding a hidden room with what is known as the Tomb of Eternal Darkness created from human remains created by Mantarok. Upon reading, she learns the start of the tale in 26 B.C., from the perspective of Pious Augustus, a Roman centurion fighting for the emperor in their invasion of Persia. However, whilst in the desert sands, he asks another to take care of the men temporarily while he searches for an artifact of power described to him by the emperor. While he doesn't fully believe the existence of such a thing, he nonetheless has faith in his ruler, and asks that his men be well taken care of, that they have water for the journey ahead, showing that he was a rather nice guy, just doing the things that he was told and what is the best for everyone.

However, upon venturing alone, he comes across a circle of mystical stones, but before he could do anything, they zap him as he walks in the center, taking him to a sacred temple from which he cannot escape. With no way out, he pushes on, facing and cutting down the same creatures in Alex's dream.

While I could talk about the game's combat, I'll save that for later.

It comes to the point that he finds himself in a circular room as a dead end, with three pedestals holding artifacts with the power of the Ancients.

Chattur'gha.

The blue membrane of Ulyaoth.

And the floating green angel of Xel'lotath.

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