My favorite games, part 3

Welcome to the latest addition to My Favorite Games. Today, let’s dive into the horror (and into the past!) with Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem and Killer7 for GameCube

Yeah, I know, GameCube is out (has it really ever been “in”?), but there is no denying that both these games are truly exceptional. Eternal Darkness is a survival horror game in which you play Alexandra Roivas, a young woman investigating her grandfather's tragic death by decapitation. Soon into your investigation, you’ll find the Tome of Eternal Darkness, the game’s equivalent to the Necronomicon, and by reading its pages, you “live” the adventures of past characters who have been confronted with the evil of the Elder Gods.

Each chapter puts you in the shoes of one of these characters, among them a Roman centurion, a priest in Medieval Europe, Alexandra’s own ancestor, and a Canadian firefighter. There are twelve of those in all (including Alexandra). After each story, you continue Alexandra’s investigation, now with new knowledge which allow you to use some of the items in the mansion, or new magic which allow you to unlock new areas.

Not only is the game’s story interestingly presented, through the pages of the book and multiple stories, but the game presents you with multiple fun and original gameplay mechanics: the magic system and the insanity system. To cast spell, you need multiple “components”, runes scattered through the game’s levels. By combining these, you can learn to cast spells, including a handy reparation spell (that also allow you to enchant your weapons), a shield spell and a dispel magic. Spells can each have different “alignments”, one per Elder God, and they interact with each other in a “rock-paper-scissors” way.

The insanity system is what really makes the game shines, as fighting the horrors spawned by the Gods will drain your sanity. When it drops too low, the game is going to play tricks on you: you’ll start having hallucinations, hearing sounds like voices and screams, and even the camera angle will start shifting subtly. Some of these are even breaking the fourth wall: the first time you'll see the TV lowering the volume by itself is a pretty unique experience in videogames...

My only complaints is that the game is too easy, and when you become experienced, you won’t lose much sanity. Sadly, back then developers couldn’t release patches, because an additional difficulty level would have been welcome!

Killer7 is another weird game. It is not for everyone: the game is strictly on rails, meaning you can only move in two directions, except at some defined intersections. that may be the reason why many gamers avoided the title. However, the game is one of the most unique experience you’ll get on any system.

You play as the seven personalities of the Smith syndicate. You can switch personality, and thus appearance, clothes and weapons, at any time. The game’s convoluted and cryptic story (there is a very lengthy FAQ on Gamespot, it is almost a literary essay!) will make you fight the Smiles, weird zombies that are invisible (until you use your vision ring) and whose attacks include only running toward you and detonating themselves. That may sound simple in theory, but once you start encountering the weirder mutants, like to ones that look like a rolling ball, or those whose only weak spot is the face on their back, you’ll understand how varied the experience can be despite simple control schemes.

Aside from the aforementioned cryptic story, the increasingly weirder enemies and settings and the totally out-of-this-world atmosphere, the game gives you some of the most violent cutscenes in recent memory. The game was even targeted by Jack Thompson (the lawyer who tries to get every videogame more violent than Pacman banned) despite its low profile, but ironically, it is not the violent scene I mentioned that he was stuck on, rather it was the short and totally un-explicit “sex” scene (to be honest, it is so un-explicit that no skin is showed and while I have a good idea what the characters were doing, you cannot be sure… how is that pornographic, I have no clue.)
The game keeps pitting weird things at you one after the other, some are simply crazy (you’ll fight some sort of Power Rangers…), some completely disturbing (simply picking a new chapter is enough to make you jump!).