The good first. Eternal Darkness provides a millenia-spanning story of gods and demons and ancient texts that is intriguing if more than slightly convoluted. The game also includes one of the coolest elements that was incredibly original: Sanity's meter. If your character has low sanity you experience sanity effects. Maybe your protagonist will walk into a room and have their limbs sliced off only to scream "this can't be happening!" Maybe the volume will act like it's lowering. Maybe the game will tell you it's deleting all your save files! It's definitely the selling point of the game.
Now. The controls. Oh my GODDD!!!!! AHHHHHHH!!!! I had to actually give up. I was playing as Peter Jacob and gave up on the boss fight. The controls haven't aged well at all, they're clunky, confusing, and downright frustrating.
The boss in my playthrough was a giant blue squid. First you gotta dodge some stuff and then attack it. Stage 2 time. It'll send zombies to get you but you gotta do the magic attack at the right point. Nope sorry not like that! It's gotta be at the exact moment! Now! Oh sorry YOU DON'T HAVE ENOUGH MAGIC TO CAST THAT SPELL. Finally, stage 3! It stomps you a million times so you have to evade its giant feet in a small tiny circle and then attack it. Oh you don't have enough magic? Bummer! Oh you got hit? Guess you can't run! Oh look you're dead. FOR THE TWENTY-EIGHTH TIME.
The magic in this game is infuriating as is all combat. You'll be forced to fight foes who can kill you after they do this weird ritual where they all die in unioson but it can also kill you? Ok now you need to slice people's heads off in this small narrow hallway. Oh you can't swing your sword? Oh look you died aga-well you get it.
Look this game definitely has its moments. The story is awesome (but again hard to follow and sometimes downright goofy). The non-combat parts are fine. I liked walking around the mansion and discovering things. But everything else. One word: Frustrating.
Now. The controls. Oh my GODDD!!!!! AHHHHHHH!!!! I had to actually give up. I was playing as Peter Jacob and gave up on the boss fight. The controls haven't aged well at all, they're clunky, confusing, and downright frustrating.
The boss in my playthrough was a giant blue squid. First you gotta dodge some stuff and then attack it. Stage 2 time. It'll send zombies to get you but you gotta do the magic attack at the right point. Nope sorry not like that! It's gotta be at the exact moment! Now! Oh sorry YOU DON'T HAVE ENOUGH MAGIC TO CAST THAT SPELL. Finally, stage 3! It stomps you a million times so you have to evade its giant feet in a small tiny circle and then attack it. Oh you don't have enough magic? Bummer! Oh you got hit? Guess you can't run! Oh look you're dead. FOR THE TWENTY-EIGHTH TIME.
The magic in this game is infuriating as is all combat. You'll be forced to fight foes who can kill you after they do this weird ritual where they all die in unioson but it can also kill you? Ok now you need to slice people's heads off in this small narrow hallway. Oh you can't swing your sword? Oh look you died aga-well you get it.
Look this game definitely has its moments. The story is awesome (but again hard to follow and sometimes downright goofy). The non-combat parts are fine. I liked walking around the mansion and discovering things. But everything else. One word: Frustrating.
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