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Silicon Knights

Nintendo and Silicon Knights’ GameCube title Eternal Darkness went through an interesting development cycle. It was originally planned for the N64, but ended up shifting to the GameCube. Silicon Knights was actually targeting release for the system’s launch, but that didn’t happen.

According to director Denis Dyack, Eternal Darkness would have been ready for the release of the GameCube. But after the 9/11 tragedy took place, some aspects had to be rewritten. Dyack visited Nintendo in Japan, spoke with Satoru Iwata and Shigeru Miyamoto, and had to ensure that any potential controversial aspects were changed or removed.

Dyack said the following in the latest episode of the IGN Unfiltered show:

For many years, dedicated fans have hoped that Eternal Darkness would return. Nintendo published the GameCube game back in 2002 after it was created by Silicon Knights, but the IP has been dormant since then. Despite Nintendo playing around with the trademark a few times, there have been no new developments.

Interestingly, Silicon Knights did have interest in the IP before the studio closed. According to director Denis Dyack, the company was “in the process of getting the rights back, but it never completed.”

Denis Dyack, the director of the Nintendo-published psychological horror game Eternal Darkness, appeared on the latest episode of IGN Unfiltered. Dyack reflected on the GameCube title during a lengthy segment of the show.

Dyack discussed Nintendo’s interest in Silicon Knights after seeing the studio’s camera tech, moving the project from the N64 to the GameCube, working with Nintendo, and more. One interesting story came about when he was asked if any Sanity Effects were cut from the final game. Everything made it in, but not without some effort. Dyack actually spoke directly with Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto about the one memorable Sanity Effect in which Eternal Darkness would make it seem as though your save file was being deleted.

Artworks from various cancelled Silicon Knights projects have appeared online, as discovered by NeoGAF’s Shiggy. Among the collection are images from Eternal Darkness 2. Some of these were shown when Silicon Knights’ unveiled its Eternal Darkness spiritual successor – Shadow of the Eternals.

You can find the Eternal Darkness 2 art above. Images from other cancelled projects are located here.


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