Whether it be a rise to power, a higher score, or an increase in experience level, games are often about an ascension. We want to reach the pinnacle of what we can do in any given virtual environment, and most of the enjoyment gained comes from the climb. Assassin's Creed had us finding the highest points in Jerusalem, Acre, and Damascus, struggling for footing all the while. In Crackdown, we felt like gods when we could stand on the peaks of skyscrapers and bellow into the heavens in defiance. At the end of each level in Mario, we would leap higher than humanly possible to grab the highest point on the flagpole. The notion of descending seems almost contrary to our nature as gamers.

Descending runs counter to our desire to be free, our indomitable spirit, and the urge to fly. We feel uneasy when we approach a cave or underground entrance; the confines of a dungeon may provide treasures beyond our wildest contemplation, but we won't breathe easy until we are free of its deathtraps. Descent can have its merits when done correctly, however, and this is demonstrated in the three titles below.



A Descent Into the Depths
Fiery the angels fell. Deep thunder rolled around their shores... burning with the fires of Orc.

BioShock starts with a man sitting on a plane. Who knows where he is headed? It is unimportant, because before too long destiny pulls him into its downward vortex. In a cleverly done way, we only hear the plane plummeting into the ocean as the title is displayed on the screen.

Our mysterious protagonist escapes the wreck, still deep under water. Upon barely being able to reach the surface, he surmises that everyone else on board is dead. The flotsam and jetsam of the downed plane slowly submerge, and the main body of the aircraft creates a whirlpool as it slowly sinks into the briny depths.

A ring of fire bars his path, burning up the oil spilled on the surface of the water and directing him to his only possibly escape: a small island. Safe at last, he pulls himself onto dry land. Entering the building he discovers a set of stairs descending to a strange contraption. The bathysphere, like something out of a Jules Verne novel, illuminates upon his approach.

Once inside, another descent begins. The indicator engraved on the rock in front of him reads '10 fathoms', '18 fathoms', but he still doesn't know what his final destination is. Here Andrew Ryan makes his prerecorded introduction, stating his ideals and introducing the man to Rapture.

A large squid swims past the viewing glass before revealing the underwater metropolis of Rapture. Something is eerie about the way these aquatic lifeforms shuttle past windows of skyscrapers and dart between buildings, but the vision is breathtaking nonetheless. As Ryan's speech entitling the visitor to the greatness the city has to offer winds up, he gets his first glimpse of the dreaded Big Daddy repairing a portion of the city. The shortwave radio starts picking up chatter, and he remembers, he is not alone in the deep.



A Descent Into Hell
Liberate tutame ex inferis

Silent Hill 2 starts with the unsettling premise of a man receiving a letter from his wife who passed away three years prior. The letter reveals that his wife, Mary, is waiting for him in Silent Hill, in their special place. He knows she is dead, and knows that dead people can't write letters, but even still, something pulls him in.

James, the main character, begins his story in the restroom just outside of town. Aside from looking like hell, he's trying to wrap his brain around the letter. If all of Silent Hill was their special place, where would she be waiting? He knows it's a fool's errand, and there is no reason Mary would be anywhere, but something in the back of his mind is nagging him.

The restroom is most likely the highest point of Silent Hill, as it overlooks the whole town and lake. From this vantage point, he can see the different places the two of them shared fond memories, but the fog is obtrusive. If she was out there, he'd have to get closer to find out. From his car, the road winds down, down into the town proper. Each step takes him closer to resolving the mystery, but each step leads him further into Silent Hill.

The road leads him to a graveyard and a warning about the town. James in his deluded state wants very much to be back with his wife again, and ignores the signs. The path winds down further into the fog. James' road to Silent Hill takes quite a length of time to walk, all while heading directly into the oppressive mist. Road and dirt path descend, trees and cars dot the trail. By the time he finds bloody marks on the road that lead towards his first encounter with one of the game's famous monsters, it is too late. James is already in hell.



A Descent Into Madness
Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing, doubting..

Eternal Darkness starts with a tale of a book of flesh, bone, and dark magicks. It is only a tale though, right? When does fiction become fact and fact, fiction? The remaining member of the Roivas family cannot sleep. Or rather, she cannot sleep without dreaming of fighting off hordes of the undead. She is contacted within her nightmare by an ancestor of hers on the night of his death, but he is not the only voice she hears. The mad howling of Maximilian Roivas echoes the hallways of her dreamscape.

She is thrust into consciousness by the telephone, informing her of the death of Edward, the man she had just seen as a ghostly apparition. From that moment, the gamer knows he can't trust the game. You gain control of Alexandra Roivas for the first time when she is dreaming. This establishes the fact that any enemy you face may only be in your imagination, but the opposite is almost as deadly.

When Alexandra arrives at the mansion, Edward has lost his head in a quite literal way. She is the only person who can identify the body because there are no teeth to use for dental record analysis. While petrified that someone could commit such a crime, Alexandra shows no fear in staying at the old mansion and searching for clues to the mystery. Between reading passages about her ancestors and their battles against evil and their own minds, she is pestered by her own imagination.

Frequently she will hear the phone ring or a knock at the door, only to find no one is there. The minimal soundtrack for the mansion exploration segment throws these events into a stark contrast to the otherwise very quiet and still environment. While some of the later mind-games are more elaborate or shocking, the game introduces the player to a competition against their sanity in a way that is intriguing. Starting small, but establishing the gamer's distrust for the setting and events that transpire, allows for the larger tricks to be much more effective.

Eternal Darkness is unique in that it features many playable characters, some less fortunate than others. It isn't the fate of these characters that intrigues me the most, but rather the descent of the gamer into madness. The tactics this game uses to oppose the player is still unrivaled. More games should attempt the dive into insanity to the degree of Eternal Darkness.