Eternal Darkness: Sanity Requiem was one of my favourite Gamecube games. The amazing story, interesting game mechanics and the insanity effects made this game an instant classic in my books. Fans like myself, have always cried for a sequel, especially since the true ending suggested they may well be one. So far our hopes and pleas have fallen on death’s doorstep.
With the Wii U would it not be fitting for the series to make a long waited return by launching with Nintendo’s new console? I am probably dreaming but Eternal Darkness just seems to be a perfect fit for the Wii U gamepad. Seriously, I salivate on the potential that could be Eternal Darkness Wii U.
I did some daydreaming and I have figured out some interesting concepts on how the Wii U gamepad can be used in Eternal darkness.
Wii U Gamepad : Tome of Eternal Darkness.
The Tome of Eternal Darkness was the most important item in Eternal Darkness. The protagonist Alexander Roivas read entries of the Tome of Eternal Darkness to experience the torment of characters before her. The Tome of Eternal Darkness also contained other aspects such as the spells and enemy bios. One gamepad implementation is that it can be used like an e-book reader. That is the gamepad is the Tome of Eternal Darkness. Check out the Screens below.
Without pausing, players can use the gamepad to flick through the tome to access spells, read bios of enemies or diary entries and select chapters. Since it’s all done in real time players don’t have the safety of the pause menu, similar to how ZombiU utilizes the gamepad. Rather players need to be conscious of their surroundings before looking into the gamepad, adding to the immersions.
The Gamepad can unclutter the television screen. Having the health, magic and sanity meter on the gamepad leaves clears the tv screen for more juicy sanity effects. The gamepad can also be used as inventory screen. Players can switch from various weapons quickly, without pausing to the weapons menu.
Other Uses of the gamepad, can extended to be used as a tool to examine evidence. Perhaps you see blood on the floor, the gamepad can be used to take a closer look to find some clues. How about some books are floating around the room, use the gyroscope to look around.
Sanity Effects.
The sanity effects of Eternal Darkness made the game unique. In fact since Nintendo has the patent for insanity effects so no other game can use them without their permission. Insanity effects play a prominent role in Eternal Darkness. Each Character has a certain amount of sanity meter. Every time players encounter enemies or experience scripted halucinations they begin to lose sanity. When the sanity meter reaches low levels, odd things begin to happen. Some effect includes heads exploding, screams in the background and the funny mute effect. For those unaware how sanity effects work, you can check it out on youtube.
With the gamepad, there are opportunities for very cool sanity effects. It’s too difficult to explain only using words. So check out the screens below.
Don’t you hate it when your controller runs out of batteries? How about when you have full batteries and the gamepad tells you, it needs recharging. That would be a good sanity effect.
Gamepad goes blank suddenly. What the Hell?
Maggots start appearing onscreen. Creepy!
Scary images pop out suddenly, while using the gamepad. That would surely frighten people.
You’re using the gamepad, then a demo of New Super Mario Bros. U. appears.
I’m sure there are other possible uses of the gamepad for eternal darkness. These are some of my concepts. If you have interesting concepts fire them off in the comment section.
