This was a game I was quite excited for, because I have a bit of a history with the original. Long story short, the original was one of the first games I experienced when it popped up on a floppy disc some relatives gave us as kids with (probably legally obtained, cough cough) games to play on our - then new - windows 95 PC. Anyway, I played the game for probably 5 minutes not knowing what I'm doing. Suddenly I got visited by a zombie coming up the stairs and in the background a werewolf jumped in through the window. The experience scared me and I shut down the game. But in spite of that something about the graphics and the aesthetic of the game left a positive mark on me and given that I grew up a horror film fan and recently grew a special fondness of Resident Evil games, I knew I couldn't skip out on this.

The new Alone in the Dark game is basically an attempt to bring the original horror game to the standards of modern day Resident Evil games. RE noticably took a lot of cues from the original AITD when it was creating it's own first entry, so AitD looking the other way in 2024 does make sense.

I guess graphic-wise AITD does look decent for today's times, the puzzling and exploration feels great, but where the game falls short in comparison to it's competitor franchise is the combat. It's a bit archaic, not as physically and precise feeling as RE and while there is some attempt to provide a variety of enemies, the monster gallery comes out a bit short in the end. Combat against different enemies doesn't feel too different at the end of the day, the enemy list is somewhat small inhindsight and very often whatever meele weapon you can pick up just ends up being your best mode of self-defense, even though you pick up a handgun, shotgun and a tommygun along the way. Some of the horror is also lost in the complete transparency of when you are playing through an exploration and when you are playing a horror section, as exploration sections are basically danger-free and even when the game is trying to throw you off, it does so so obviously you can immediately see it coming and guard up for it. This is perhaps disappointing to me, because the RE games do mix things up and don't strictly separate exploration and puzzling with combat. I guess it makes sense within AitD's story that doesn't just happen all the time, but as a result it kinda loses those precious RE moments, where you find an item to help you progress and you realize you will have to backtrack a potentially scary unpaved path to utilize it.

Story and world expand upon the original game significantly, or so I think. I haven't fully played through the first game, so take my comment with a grain of salt, but it definitely feels like a massive expansion in terms of lore and new characters. 

I guess one of my gripes with the overall story is that it feels somewhat fragmentary to just tackle it with only one of the playable characters, because having only completed it with Emily at this point, the detective's investigation is a complete mystery to me and will feel unsatisfying when the two character's paths eventually cross. I know it was a thing in the original that you would choose only one of the characters, but back then that seemed to serve more the player's immersion and self-identification. Here however with how the story unfolds I can't help but feel a dual perspective story mode could work out better and come to a more satisfying conclusion of the game.

The game is also in some minor parts unpolished. There was a swamp level where I would appearently "wall-break" on what the game perceived as a higher floor and as the game doesn't feature jumping and falling in a conventional 3D platformer sense I was just stuck there until I loaded the game from my latest save file. Perhaps a funnier bug happened in the graveyard section where the hulking zombies are supposed to jump-scare you from the crypt, but the big fella got stuck in the door frame running into it idly. I guess the bugs aren't frequent enough to ruin the overall game, but I should note it has it's moments.

I guess I was a bit negative with this review. Overall I still enjoyed it as a substitute RE for the time being. The exploration sections and puzzles were genuinely entertaining and some level designs pretty nice. I just felt that a lot of things about it were overshadowed by previously released RE titles, with combat being the most notable shortcoming.

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Psychological Horror meets Southern Gothic in this reimagination of the classic survival horror game, Alone in the Dark This love letter to the ground-breaking original lets you experience a haunting story through the eyes of one of two protagonists. Play as either Edward Carnby or Emily Hartwood and explore your environments, fight monsters, solve puzzles and uncover the uneasy truth of Derceto Manor… Deep in the 1920’s south, Emily Hartwood’s uncle has gone missing. Together with private investigator Edward Carnby, she embarks on a journey to Derceto Manor, a home for the mentally ill where something is lurking. You’ll encounter strange residents, nightmarish realms, dangerous monsters and ultimately uncover a plot of rising evil. At the intersection of reality, mystery, and insanity, an adventure waits that will challenge your core beliefs. Who can you trust, what will you believe, and what will you do next?

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Alone in the Dark

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