On December 20th, Nintendo re-registered its trademark for Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, teasing that a sequel could be produced. And since the trademark re-registration came just weeks before the Nintendo Switch January 12th event, where Nintendo is giving its next console a proper unveiling, speculation points to Eternal Darkness 2 in development for the new system.
Considering the clever ways the original Eternal Darkness took advantage of the GameCube hardware to create innovative scares, it would be very interesting to see what the game could do with the unique capabilities of Nintendo Switch. Nintendo Switch’s portability, for example, could open the door for a new Eternal Darkness game to scare people in ways video games never have before.
Another possibility is that the Big N is planning on bringing the original back in some capacity, whether as a remaster for Switch, or as a Virtual Console title. After all, previous rumors point to Nintendo Switch having GameCube Virtual Console games, and Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem would be a solid game to have in that lineup at launch.
If Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem sells well on the hypothetical GameCube Virtual Console for Nintendo Switch, then there’s a chance Nintendo may consider a sequel more seriously. Previous reports have indicated that Eternal Darkness 2 was in development for Wii U at some point before Nintendo canned the project, so it may already have something to build off when it comes to developing a sequel to the fan favorite horror game.
Of course, it’s possible that Nintendo re-registered the trademark simply to retain control of it, and there’s no new Eternal Darkness in development or any plans to bring the original to Switch. If that’s the case, fans still have some hope that the crowd-funded spiritual successor Shadow of the Eternals will finish development, but after three years with no updates from the developers, that seems even less likely than Nintendo announcing Eternal Darkness 2 on January 12th.
Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem is available exclusively for Nintendo GameCube.
