Gamestyle remembers: Eternal Darkness feature

Starting off with the character of Alexandra Roivas, you arrive on Rhode Island, where you find your grandfather murdered, rather gruesomely too. When the police leave, you decide to look around his mansion in the hope of finding clues to his demise. Acting as a hub world, the mansion is as cleverly put together as any of the other, 'proper' levels in the game. Upon exploration, you soon discover the game's unique way of storytelling, the Tome of Eternal Darkness. This book has its pages removed, each one scattered in hiding places around the mansion. When you find one, read it and you'll find yourself taking control of a new character from the past. Each one linked together through destiny.And that's what makes the game. The first part of the book has you taking control of Pius Augustus, a noble Roman soldier who, unbeknownst to you at the time, would become the main villain. It really tells you about his character from yourself playing as him, as opposed to just watching a simple cut scene. The other controllable characters would also have a great story, it almost feels episodic in the way each chapter is played out. And being set in different time periods means, while some environments are reused (in order to link them to the overall story arc), they never feel exactly the same. You have an architect, a firefighter, a Persian nobleman, and even a monk.If you're familiar with the work of H.P. Lovecraft, you know the man was never a fan of happy endings. Most of his stories either end with a suicide or someone just going insane. Eternal Darkness follows that tradition. Even though you gain a fondness for the characters, don't get too attached, because the majority of them are going to meet an untimely demise. It's a real kick in the teeth, but one that feels needed. It's a psychological horror game, it needs those endings; they give the game an identity.The psychological horror comes in the form of a highly-praised novelty known as 'sanity effects'. If you find yourself coming face to face with all sorts of undead beasties, your sanity will take a dip and can only be regained by defeating them. Other elements also play a part in driving you, quite literally, crazy. The cleverness comes in not how it affected your character, but also yourself. One of the most famous ones is your memory card apparently being erased, something that caused many a scare. The other is of a screen popping up claiming that the story would be continuing in the sequel before flashing you back to the action. Your character isn't safe either, with him or her slowly falling through the floor or having their head mysteriously chopped off. The insanity effects are quite ingenious. The Silent Hill series may have the most scares, but it doesn't mess with your head more than Eternal Darkness did. A word of warning, though: when you investigate the bathtub, be prepared for a shock.The Lovecraftian influences are felt throughout, from the setting (H.P. Lovecraft was born on Rhode Island, fact fans), the tone of the story and, most importantly, the unseen Ancients that linger in the shadows (the Ancients being obviously inspired by the Cthulhu Mythos created by Lovecraft), godlike and monstrous entities that manipulate humanity in a scheme to enslave the world. In the game, they're called Ulyaoth, Xel'lotath, Chattur'gha and Mantorok. During the first chapter with Pius, you get to choose which alignment, Ulyaoth, Xel'lotath or Chattur'gha, you want to align yourself with. For completists, if you finish the game three times with each alignment, you even unlock an extended ending - something we did because we just found the game such an enjoyable adventure we needed to see the proper, intended, ending.While the main man behind Eternal Darkness, Dennis Dyack, is busy working on his Too Human trilogy, he has dropped hints that he'd like to return to the series at some point. Let's hope this actually comes into fruition. We'd love to return to the world and all the horrors that await.