Where Eternal Darkness excelled 8 years ago, it excels today. The same can't be said about the rest.
Cons: Later puzzles can have extremely obtuse solutions; Voice acting is hit or miss; Flow of the game is pretty repetitive; Absolutely no checkpoints or autosave whatsoever
It's always a little tough to play a critically acclaimed, but oft-forgotten game. Without a large audience, there is little criticism brought up and your expectations soar higher (of course, in some cases, such as Okami, this praise is totally warranted). So having gone in to Eternal Darkness with high expectations I could only be a little disappointed. After 8 years, Eternal Darkness, interesting as it is, only stands as an example of 'good,' not 'amazing' as it once did.
First, let's start with the good though: the story is fairly unique and engaging. It starts when Alexander Roivas finds her grandfather has died in his mansion. She is requested there by the detective, sees the bloody pulp she used to call grandpa and then decides to investigate what caused his death. Soon she (and you) is (/are) led to this book "The Tome of Eternal Darkness," which details activities of a higher power over 2000 years. Anybody want to guess that the book and her grandfather's death aren't related? Didn't think so. By switching up characters and settings (one of my favorites takes place during WWI for instance), while keeping a few mysteries over your head, the story constantly propels you forward.
Which it needs to, because the game quickly settles into a routine: search the mansion, find a page of the book, get introduced to a new character, help that character on their quest, find out the significance of the story and whether the character lives or dies. Rinse and repeat. Heck, the game even takes place in no more than 4 settings. But this can't really be leveled against Silicon Knights, because at least they changed the environments enough to make them interesting each time through.
The gameplay itself is pretty repetitive: the enemies are repetitive, and the action is simple (target enemy limbs to cut them off and use various magic spells in a rock-paper-scissors style relationship for strategy). The story disguises this fact, but the underlying truth remains; Eternal Darkness is a repetitive game. The puzzles are the one part where this is not the case, reminding one of old point and click adventure games. The solutions gradually ramp up in difficulty, though admittedly they get a little too unusual by the end of the game.
Sanity effects provide the other wrench in the gameplay experience and they are one of the main things Eternal Darkness still has going for it. In this game you have a sanity meter. Each time an enemy sees you, this meter goes down. Replenish this meter by finishing off enemies (and a couple of other methods). If it gets to low, you'll start to hallucinate. Here the game starts messing with the player. Without spoiling too much, if you hear unusual sounds or see blood dripping down the walls, you should probably check your meter.
The sanity dilemma makes the early game hard (and tense, perhaps even a little scary), but after learning the signs of low sanity and how to watch the meter you'll actually find that the game's pretty easy. However, until then, be prepared to save constantly. It's surprising even with a game 8 years old to find that it has no autosave or checkpoint capabilities. The only way to save your progress is manually. This means that if you die (which you very well might early on), you have to load up your last save. If you get into the game, this could be a few hours of work down the drain, and can be hazardous to enthusiasm (it almost caused this reviewer to walk out on the game).
8 years also make an appearance in the graphics, which are fairly jagged and static. However, knowing when it was released (and that it was even originally an N64 title) the graphics are actually above average for the time. Animations and art design hold up well. I'd even go as far as to say lip-synching is still above the average seen in games these days. Voice acting is a bit hit-and-miss, however, with some lines being perfectly and others sounding like caricatures. The rest of the sound, however, is perfect, being moody, creepy, and tense. The sound is arguably the most important thing in making this game scary at times.
Eternal Darkness is a much more flawed game than it is usually given credit for. However, it's hard for me not to recommend it. Here is a game that, missteps aside, tries something different and grabs one's interest throughout. This game isn't for everyone: the atmosphere will creep many out, and some won't have the patience to deal with its flaws. But in the interest of getting several new gaming experiences, I have to recommend this one to everyone else.