When I first saw eternal night at Sony’s State of Play 2022, I don’t know what I’m looking at. There’s high action gameplay, a motorcycle summoned from nowhere, a glimpse of tentacles, and some light hand-holding. It’s like a weird mix of ideas, but one that’s potentially interesting.
eternal night Claims to be a dating simulator action game, one that combines elements of both genres to create something new. It is a story of love that can bloom even after the apocalypse. Although my limited time with the game answered some of my questions, I still have a few more. This, surprisingly, is a good thing.
Screenshot of Siliconera
IN eternal night, you play as an unnamed protagonist living in Seoul. His friend Chani is pushing our guy to join some dating apps to improve his chances with girls. However, while he made an initial appointment, it was canceled due to everyone turning into monsters and a giant wall surrounding the city. The protagonist and Chani soon find themselves trapped in an underground shelter with a K-pop star named Yuna and a drone operator asking them to evacuate to a train.
Along the way, the protagonist has his arm severed by a mysterious woman, converses with a girl on a boat in the air, and finds herself with a new light-based arm that can automatically summon a bar. sword. Also, it turns into one tentacle at a time.
There’s a lot going on in eternal night, and these opening hours will take you without much explanation. All you know is, all three of you have to get to safety and you may also need to save the world.
Screenshot of Siliconera
Romance will also influence this, according to all marketing materials. Sadly, for a game so heavy as a dating simulator, my time with the game didn’t give me much insight into this part of the game. There was a segment where I chatted with Yuna that offered a limited number of choices, but it was very short. What was there felt so much like a personality However, Social Link or Confidentiality, so that’s a good start.
Instead of dating, much of the demo offers a lot of combat and dungeon-based gameplay. Combat is simple, mostly focusing on a simple combo and dodge, but additional attacks can be unlocked. Dodging as soon as an enemy is about to attack you slows down time, similar to Wizarding Time from blade.
The rest of the battle wasn’t as deep as blade, in spite of. The battles can be a bit repetitive at times, mostly hitting the attack button until you’re prompted to hit the shoulder button for a powerful attack. However, I assume this will be less of an issue in the final game when more abilities are unlocked. Your allies can help too, although the only ability I have is the healing aura provided by Yuna. All other abilities are attractive empty slots on my ability menu. Presumably these will be filled in as you gather more party members and/or potential romantic partners in the final game.
Screenshot of Siliconera
There are some presentation problems with this eternal night construction, however. The art style is good but there is a lack of refinement in the character models. They feel like they’ve been lifted out of a PS2-era game, lacking the seamless shading of more recent, similar games. The facial animation is also a bit odd, with characters often ending sentences with gaping mouths at whatever shape their last word is in. I hope these visual quirks get cleaned up for the final release.
There’s a lot of potential in eternal night. The start of a gripping story and a really cool combat system are all here and the demo makes me want more. I wish I could say the same about the dating mechanics, but they’re so minimal in the demo that it’s hard to comment on them at this stage.
Overall, I still have a lot of questions about eternal night. However, many new questions are born from the desire to see more of what has proven to be a great opening. I left the demo feeling like I hadn’t seen enough and I wanted more.
There is a seductive ambiguity to eternal night that requires your attention. There is a deep mystery in which every character with the answer speaks riddles. And the combat is fun and has the potential to get even better as more abilities are unlocked. Eternights looks like it could be something special. We will find out for sure in September.
eternal night will be released for PC, PS4 and PS5 on September 21, 2023.
