[Update 2] Shadow Of The Eternals Revealed, Crowdfunded Spiritual Successor To Eternal Darkness

IGN posted a new teaser trailer today for a game called Shadow of the Eternals, which they are claiming is a “spiritual successor” to the Gamecube cult-classic horror title Eternal Darkness.

Aside from the short in-game teaser trailer, the only information that we currently have about Shadow of the Eternals is that development on the game will be financed by crowdfunding and that Silicon Knights’ Dennis Dyack is somehow involved with the project.

Based on what is shown in Shadow of the Eternals‘ teaser trailer, it is easy to see how the game is a spiritual successor to Eternal Darkness. In fact, at least one of the scenes looks like it could almost be an HD remake to Anthony’s France 814 A.D. level in Eternal Darkness.

Around the 0:23 mark in the SoE trailer we see a thrown room type setting that is very similar to the church in the France 814 A.D. level. Additionally, the character in the trailer (who is dressed almost exactly like Anthony) is shown talking to robed figures at 0:26, before ascending a staircase into a library and pulling a book to open up a hidden passage at 0:40. This exact sequence of events — in a very similar environment — takes place at the beginning of Eternal Darkness‘ France 814 A.D. level. Check out the first two or three minutes of the ED Youtube walkthrough embedded below to see it for yourself.

Eternal Darkness is one of my all time favorite games and there was a time where I would have loved to see Silicon Knights announce a sequel to it, either spiritual or actual. As it stands now, I’m not so excited about the idea. There has been plenty of unconfirmed talk from former SK employees over the years that has suggested that the scrapped Eternal Darkness 2 was not exactly coming together. Backing up those rumors is the fact that Dennis Dyack has had a pretty poor game development track record since his relationship with Nintendo ended.

Shadow of the Eternals‘ full reveal will be coming via IGN on Monday, so we will find out more information about what exactly Dyack is up to at that time. Until then, I’m going to remain cautiously optimistic out of respect for Eternal Darkness, but I’m also not going to hold my breath over the weekend.

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[Update 1] The teaser trailer for Shadow of the Eternals that is posted at IGN is now also embedded at the bottom of this article.

Additionally, Precursor Games’ website is now live and shows a countdown clock to the game’s crowdfunding campaign kick off on Monday.

Finally, Dennis Dyack is rumored to be the chief creative designer at Precursor Games and not the studio’s CEO.

[Update 2] Precursor has told IGN that Shadow of the Eternals will consist of 12 episodes and is being developed for the Wii U and PC, initially. The crowdfunding campaign is asking for a total of $1.5 million to develop the game.

IGN was also provided with the following description of Shadow of the Eternals‘ plot:

When Detective Paul Becker is called to one of the bloodiest gang massacres in Louisiana state history, only two survivors remain from a brutal conflict between two rival cults. As Becker begins his interrogations of the suspects, their combined recollections will uncover the truth about the ‘Eternals’.

Featuring an ensemble cast of heroes and villains, Shadow of the Eternals will span over 2500 years of history throughout Egypt, England, Hungary, and the United States. Players will question the perception of reality as they try to balance the mechanics of combat, magick, and sanity events to progress through the adventure.

Shadow of the Eternals will take players on a memorable journey throughout time; weaving historical fact with disturbing fiction to create an experience unlike any other.

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