Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem Analysis - Fear and the Fourth Wall | PostMesmeric

[@DraconiaCdR]

Omg, the "to be continued" screen almost made me have a heart attack. Of all the fourth wall breaks, that was the one that caught me off guard the most.

[@GankiaSFM]

This game was a nightmare for me but i really loved how original it felt, by his mechanic and vibes

[@InMaTeofDeath]

I still remember to this day yelling "No!" in shock as I saw my data being supposedly deleted. Truly one of the greats.

[@StormDragonZ]

The sanity effect in which a bunch of zombies appear and the game says your controller is unplugged got me so bad that I had to stop playing a moment entirely to calm down. The game is great and I did all three artifact paths.

[@Zonaius]

Me too man! First time I've played, it scared the hell out of me! I still play it nowadays, because for me it's a game from my youth. It doesn't scare me anymore, since I've completed the game multiple times lmao.

[@william2154]

IM ON THE KZbin APP AND AFTER WATCHING THIS VIDEO I WENT TO WATCH SOMETHING ELSE AND THE FUCKING APP GLITCHED AND SHOWED THIS COMMENT IN THE OTHER VIDEOS COMMENT. JESUS CHRIST I ALMOST PISSED MYSELF

[@william2154]

i think i just had a sanity affect

[@Zonaius]

@@william2154 ok..

[@Yeshua996]

i was 13 when i played this on an old 90s zenith tv in my bedroom one rainy night and the sanity shit fucked me up so bad i thought my game was haunted. i didnt have internet at home, this was like 2006ish. none of my friends had even heard of this game and after telling them my story about how it changed my tv settings or erased my save data they didnt even wanna attempt to play it. now that im older though im desensitized to it all and that makes me sad because i dont think this games surprises will hold up that well for new audiences. itd probably look gimicky to a kid today.

[@MattC78]

You can just feel the love that was put into Eternal Darkness when you play it. It's a shame Silicon Knights went out of business. They were one of the best developers.

[@pelicano1987]

The way it did some of the effects were amazing. Choosing the green artifact as Pious makes the enemies deal more sanity damage than usual. The first time Roivas' ancestor shot himself in the chest while reloading the gun? Was a "jump scare" because the player was not expecting that. But when the "deleting save files" appeared the first time, my reaction was "did I pressed the wrong button?". The VIDEO too was unnerving, because as a player of old, sometimes that truly happened, as the controller being disconnected. Even the mute effect was good, because as a player it may not startle you, but sound is important to find if there are zombies ahead. And man, when the sequel Sanity Redemption appeared I didn't even knew how to react (and that was before the DLC curse plaguing us today). Congrats on the video.

[@Furluge]

1:37 - And something I can't stress enough about it, something that let me enjoy the game even though I typically am turned off by horror games, is that it controlled /well/. No mac truck controlling humans here. That coupled with a really interesting, engaging story made me play this one all the way through even though I'm not really into being scared. It's mysterious world with it's captivating story spanning all of history really made me want to know more about it.

[@VZed]

This was a great video. One of my favourite games, and you dove into in exactly the way i hope people will. This game's on my list of ones to look at eventually and i hope my discussion of it is half this good!

[@PostMesmeric]

It's a real bizarre one, this game. I've been wanting to do a video on this for a long time now, way back when I first started doing YT content. I'm happy you enjoyed it. Looking forward to your opinion on it too, guy.

[@raulquiroz7492]

Honestly this game did not get the praise and recognition it deserved. We need a sequel or at least a remake of this game. So tired of Resident Evil being milked to death.

[@jacksynder1811]

Yeah lol

[@willmistretta]

It's funny how different people react differently. I thought the sanity effects were...cute. Like, clever, you know? "I see what you did there, guys." Wink. Nudge. If anything, I could say it broke the immersion and made me laugh a little. Definitely, it detracted from the fear rather than enhancing it by taking my mind out of the game's world to chuckle at how creative these designers were. I certainly didn't feel vulnerable or metaphysically disturbed or anything like that. Different strokes, I guess.

[@PostMesmeric]

They were campy, but disorienting, and I think that's a good combination. It's good to be thrown off balance like that.

[@Furluge]

Did you encounter the sanity effect where it says your memory card is corrupted and then says it's formatting it? (Not the deleting saves one.) Yeah, that one had me going for a little bit.

[@joe_morris]

PostMesmeric I once watched a video containing literally ALL of the sanity effects, and even after that, the one sanity effect that shows the intro monologue of the Poe quote genuinely got me because I really thought my game restarted for a second, despite knowing it was indeed a sanity effect. The devs did a great job at disorienting the player imo, and make it a one of a kind experience

[@Zeldarulah]

I really enjoyed the sanity effects that weren't immediately apparent.. like one time I was like "Wait... why can't I open this door?? Wait... WHY AM I BIGGER THAN THE DOOR???"

[@youssefa.2251]

Here before you hit a million subscribers! Love your content man.. We really need more games like this. Especially given the advancement of technology and the many possibilities. Imagine getting messages or trophies with disturbing messages. Trying to take a screenshot will show a disturbing and shocking image instead, the in game language suddenly changing mid game. Subtitles that clash so hard with what the character is saying in a very touching and heartfelt scene. Hearing a knock or a mosquito very quietly when the game knows headphones are being used. Decreasing the volume and making the subtitles fade, prompting the player to increase the volume, and then the game resets the volume when the jumpscare comes, crashes, battery low alerts or that the controller has disconnected during a chase, replayability revealing a more genuine story and the third time something completely meta, making the first two playthroughs actually a prologue.. What else would y'all like to see if there would be a meta horror game like Eternal Darkness? XD sorry for the long ass comment xd

[@Rathallan]

Still one of my favorite games that I've played and am glad I bought it when i came across it. Denis has his own company now so we might see a spiritual successor to it yet.

[@yankeegmen90]

Never really knew much about Eternal Darkness back in the day. Would always see it in stores, but never really considered it that much. Learning more about the game over the last decade or so has made me want to check it out. Being someone that has an appreciation for things that break the 4th wall, I wonder how I would take the game's seeming use of it. Good video, man.

[@PostMesmeric]

It's obscure, but this is one of the best games on the Gamecube.

[@TheGameStatistic]

First Video i've seen of yours. Certainly a different way to go about an analysis.

[@PostMesmeric]

Doing my best. Thanks. :)

[@TheMangoViking]

You'd think with how popular the genre is with Let's Players that this type of 4th wall breaking would be prevalent (correct me if I'm wrong). Given it would get a bigger rise by messing with the player's expectations than the all-too-expected jump scare. Then again you'd also think some of the great mechanics from Earthbound would've been picked up, but that wasn't the case either.

[@PostMesmeric]

I know that there are horror games that use Twitch integration to let the chat do things to the streamer, but I think that's an idea that could use some evolution and re-tooling better for horror. I think fourth wall breaking is a fantastic concept, so I hope this game's lessons aren't lost to the times.

[@TheMangoViking]

Has Twitch integration been done to any new games yet? (rather than modding old games like Pokemon) I could imagine commenters being able to apply different effects or spawn enemies (though there would be a number limit and cooldown period). And on top of that, there's 10% chance to randomize your choice to something else.

[@PostMesmeric]

TheMangoViking I believe Daylight did something very basic, but similar. They can trigger jumpscares in chat, but that's the lengths of it.

[@FluentInMuse]

Ahhh Silent Hill, Fatal Frame and Eternal Darkness ARE MY CHILDHOOD!

[@NathanSifuGaming]

Ha! I remember this video when it was on vidme! Great video dude :)

[@enderclasscraft6411]

imagine sanity effect of a drift

[@Zaloomination]

Enjoyed the video!

[@michaelangst6078]

great concept, but game play was too repetitive and the last part of the game was pretty meh.. It deserves a real sequel though. The sanity effects they would come up with could be crazy. Too bad they went of business

[@isaacjames379]

I still have a copy of this game in mint condition, I found the game to incredibly enjoyable.

[@Roadent1241]

Sorry, wouldn't Mint Condition mean you never opened it?

[@LewisBowels]

I still refuse to trust that damn bathroom in the mansion.

[@jacksynder1811]

Actually that's not sanity effect just a little jumpscare, because I trigger that with my sanity still full meter

[@elin111]

There's one fundamental flaw with Eternal Darkness' system unfortunately, once the player figures out that the sanity effects don't hinder progress they'll be more likely to intentionally seek out these effects to see what happens.

[@Zeldarulah]

Low sanity does make you take damage from new enemies though, so when you don't have a tome to heal with (or haven't learned the spells/runes yet) it does make for a pretty good mechanic of balancing your item usage with whether or not you should fight and regain your sanity or run to insure you don't take damage

[@bobbyunavailable]

Remove the Recover spell and this would be a much harder and scarier game. Don’t get me wrong, it’s brilliant and I loved playing it, but a hard mode where your meters can’t be recovered (or at least not at the push of a button) would make for an interesting playthrough.

[@webguy943]

Games that break the 4th wall need to be careful. I nearly broke my gamecube cuz of the sanity effects. 🤣

[@CJ-nu7xc]

Does anyone know what the game at 0:27 is?, the one with the hanging corpse. It looks familiar but I can't put my finger on it

[@PostMesmeric]

Stairs

[@CJ-nu7xc]

@@PostMesmeric Thank you!

[@LukeSparrow221]

Wasn't a second game in the works for the Wii U?

[@PostMesmeric]

Yeah, Shadow of the Eternals. Kickstarter failed, but I think the game's been revived under a new studio from Dyack. kzbin.info/www/bejne/o5XKdp6pmauBkNU

[@LukeSparrow221]

***** If that's for real, then that's AMAZING news!

[@LukeSparrow221]

***** Also, I think you were pretty spot-on during this analysis.

[@PostMesmeric]

LukeSparow Thanks. This game's a special one to me. Love fourth wall freak-outtery.

[@LukeSparrow221]

Game has a special place in my heart too. Fantastically designed game. I can only hope to someday be at this level of design.

[@steventhepotionhoarder2107]

"Fear is visual" ...what?