Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem/Bestiary

The beasts the Ancients unleash upon humanity is comparatively short in comparison to other Survival Horror games, but all of them are deadly in one way or another nonetheless, and all of each race are divided into each of the three alignment. Corresponding to this, each alignment has a distinctive trait: Chattur'gha creatures hit harder and can take larger amounts of damage before falling, Xel'lotath monsters are weaker, but drain vast amounts of sanity if left unchecked, and Ulyaoth beasts siphon the magic of the attacked victim. Most of them, when finished, vanish with a hissing sound and a wave of yellow energy that consumes their bodies.

Trapper
Trappers are small creatures with a small ovoid torso, three legs that resemble a scorpion, albeit elongated to about ten centimeters in length, that are tripedal in nature. Their main weakness-they're blind. Their primary strength: with their superior hearing, they can pinpoint the location of an enemy with little effort. Once their prey has been targeted, the Trapper starts wiggling and screeching, glowing in the color of their alignment, and if anyone nearby moves too quickly, the Trapper sends off a wave of energy from its tail, and when it hits its mark, the affected person is instantly sent to the Trapper Dimension, a warped place of rocky, jagged platforms hovering above an endless void. In this world, there is a bottom platform, an exit platform, and three platforms that have each a pool of magickal energy, one for life, one for magick, and another for sanity, used to restore the points of each attribute. The bottom platform connects to each other platform via a teleporter, and all the restoration platforms are as well connected to the exit platform, making it possible to exit directly through the exit platform, or to stop through any of the other platforms and take the exit from there. The Trappers die as soon as the wave has been cast, and as they don't hesitate in the least to activate it as their only defensive measure, it is not impossible, but highly improbable, to defeat them with conventional melee weaponry. The most effective method of killing is with either their own wave attack, magickal attack (Spell 9), or projectile weapons.

Zombie
Instead of the standard three alignments, the Zombies come in four different alignments:
 * Mantorok Zombie: They are the basic type of zombie. They are weak and can be easily killed through decapitation and a few hits from any weapon. Being nothing more than dead, dessicated husks, they easily catch flames and thus can be easily dealt with with a torch.
 * Xel'lotath Zombie: These zombies resemble Egyptian mummies, and as the Mantorok Zombies, they can easily be set ablaze with a torch. Nevertheless, in the case that a torch is unavailable, it is of practically no worth to attack through removing its arms or head without finishing it once it collapses, as the lost limbs remain as translucent emerald "phantom limbs", with, while having no physical form, still have a distinct green aura of madness, and can still inflict physical damage, as well as damaging the sanity meter. They cause you to lose more sanity when they see you.
 * Ulyaoth Zombie: These zombies are rotting carcasses of drowned men, which store large amounts of magick in their bodies. While they do not possess the Xel'lotath Zombie's ability to retain their limbs, if only their arms are severed, it will start "singing", a move that has the Zombie start chanting and glowing, and if other Ulyaoth Zombies are nearby and are "infected" by the chants, will start singing as well. After a few seconds of this, the Zombies explode, creating a wave of destructive azure energy that causes exponential damage for each participating Zombie, and prevent the character from finishing the Zombies to regain sanity.
 * Chattur'gha Zombies: They are little more than strong, skinless masses of muscle, horribly more violent than other Zombies. They can survive complete decapitation, which actually leads them to a maniacal frenzy in which they flail their arms with more strength to deliver more devastating punches. They can regenerate lost limbs and heads.

Horror
All three Horrors have something in common: each is a bipedal, towering beast with broad, stooping shoulders, easily two heads taller than any human who confronts them, gifted with three heads which are their weakness. They do not have normal humanoid legs; rather, they have animalistic legs that resemble a much thicker version of the hind legs of a predator, but they do have humanoid arms, until their hands that is, when these become dangerous claws. All of them use the same basic attacks-a powerful stream of corrosive energy of their alignment, and a vicious slash attack supercharged with the same energy. They are extremely resilient and highly dangerous at any range. Aside from that, the differences from each Horror type are merely cosmetic and to reflect the status of their alignment, though they are quite different from each other physically:
 * Xel'lotath Horror: Possibly the most disturbing Horror, as they have no proper heads or faces-rather, these monsters have three pupiless eyes, which are, as described by Maximillian Roivas "festooned with tiny, hook-like teeth". They lack mouths as well, but they are quite strong and it is not wise to engage them head-on without proper weaponry.
 * Ulyaoth Horror: These Horrors, in stark contrast to their Xel'lotath counterparts, have no eyes, though that doesn't make them blind at all-Maximillian Roivas mentions "you can feel it looking at you", which implies they are capable of unnerving their target with greater ease than other Horrors.
 * Chattur'gha Horror: These are the strongest Horrors, as described by Maximillian Roivas as having "muscles thick as ropes capable of crushing stone, and cutting through steel as if it were threshed wheat". These are also among the most normal of Horrors, having three feral heads atop their massive shoulders, resembling warped, predatory beasts.

Bonethief
Resembling a cross between a normal zombie and a praying mantis, Bonethieves are much thinner and only about three and a half heads tall, making them much smaller than most of their monster brethren, following the alignment chosen by Pious. Their size is deceptive, however; they can attack with the same strength of a normal zombie, and are much quicker as well. What makes them truly deadly is their ability to burrow into another body and then control it completely. The playable characters are not immune to this attack, and if an attacking Bonethief is not shaken off in time, it can result in a Game Over. There are a number of levels in which they infest both zombies and normal humans; as such, if a player is attacked by an infested human or zombie, killing the attacker will cause the Bonethief to leap out, taking a large portion of the sanity meter away. It must be taken into consideration by the player whether or not a Bonethief can be killed quickly enough to warrant the loss of sanity it will cause. For the most part, they can be killed rather quickly by decapitation; an exception to this is the Xel'lotath Bonethief, which has no head. Bonethieves cannot be summoned, and even within the game there is no hint Pious can either.

Reaper/Gatekeeper
A fearsome creature with a human body, a scorpion's tail, and a bat's wings, these are some of the most dangerous creatures in the game. Not only are they dangerous to the characters' health, just being in the same room as them constantly drains sanity. Their main attack is to strike the player's character with their scorpion-like tail, which will drain their respective alignment (health, magick, or sanity) and allow them to perform a spell while the player is immobile. Gatekeepers can cast the offensive Project-Area, and summon any one of the three monsters that the player can summon. Like most other creatures, each alignment has its own unique characteristics.


 * Chattur'gha Gatekeeper: Red in color, they are generally more fleshy than their counterparts. Their heads look like a sharp-toothed humanoid skull. Their tail and wings seem to have a little more muscle as well.
 * Ulyaoth Gatekeeper: Blue in color, their eyeless heads resemble those of snakes. Their bodies are also devoid of legs, though they still hover in the air.
 * Xel'lotath Gatekeeper: Green in color, their bodies are much more sickly-looking than the other Gatekeepers. Their wings are also more ragged around the edges.

All Gatekeepers are invulnerable when they have their wings folded around them, unless the character manages to sneak behind them, targeting the tail; they only open their wings when preparing to strike with their tail. Thus, the best way to kill them is to have a weapon enchanted with the dominant alignment before confronting them. Then walk directly in front of them, which will cause them to open their wings. Before they can strike you, run behind them and attack with your enchanted weapon. Repeat this two or three times and they should die. Don't forget to finish them off to recover lost sanity.

Lesser Guardian
Servants of the Ancients. The type of Guardians encountered are always of the alignment allied with Pious Augustus. All guardians can use magickal attacks, form damage fields, and summon other monsters of their respective Ancient. The alignment radically alters the appearance of the Lesser Guardian.


 * Chattur'gha Guardian: This Guardian resembles a large, blood-red spider. It, according to Maximillian's autopsy, has "massive jaws on underside of body" and its "armored shell prevents physical damage".
 * Ulyaoth Guardian: This Guardian's appearance is similar to Ulyaoth himself; it resembles a large jellyfish with a few tentacles. This, according to Maximillian, "bears no relation to anything in my experience".
 * Xel'lotath Guardian: This guardian has the appearance of two headless humanoid torsos fused together where the hips should be, forming a disturbing, six-legged creature. It, as described by Maximillian's autopsy, has no internal organs.

Though fairly weak on their own, Lesser Guardians are capable of summoning zombies and sometimes even Horrors to fight with them. Add to that the ability to teleport around the arena when attacked and the fact that they frequently cast damage fields as barriers, and any character can expect a long fight.

Vampire
Vampires, in their three varieties, are relatively uniform. As only Edward Roivas confronts them, they are not offered a place in Maximilian's bestiary. They are slightly taller than Bonethieves, bipedal and somewhat reptilian beings with elongated arms, making them capable of running on all fours. They are much more resistant, however, and prone to healing their wounds by forcefully draining nearby humans of blood. As these attacks paralyze the opponent and can be used against Edward's NPC servants, some of which hold valuable items, it is necessary to distract the Vampire; this task, however, is made more difficult by the fact the Vampire is one of the handful of creatures capable of cloaking itself except when a Reveal Invisible spell of its opposing alignment is cast. Eventually, the single battle against the Vampire drags on to the basement, where the Vampire keeps an energized obelisk to replenish its energy when it's near death. This obelisk is not invulnerable, however, and must be destroyed anyway, so it's preferable to crush the obelisk and then kill the Vampire for the final time.

Black Guardian
One of the toughest fights in the game.

Pious Augustus, the Liche
The final boss.