Alone in the Dark — Stranger Beginnings
Alone in the Dark — Stranger Beginnings
Preview
Alone in the Dark (1992) was the scariest game I ever played in my childhood. You can’t imagine the sheer terror I felt when I heard those green zombies groaning and coming at me in the dead of the night. The polygonal animation technology at the time was groundbreaking, and the game was hailed as the first 3D survival horror. This was a few years before the original Tomb Raider by Core Design. Later, the legacy of Alone in the Dark influenced Resident Evil and Silent Hill, whose success eclipsed it.
Now the series is back with a reboot developed by Pieces Interactive and published by THQ Nordic. Starring Stranger Things actor David Harbour and The Last Duel actress Jodie Comer, Edward Carnby and Emily Hartwood return to Derceto Manor following the suicide of Jeremy Hartwood. The setup is familiar but fresh at the same time. Edward Carnby says to himself in the demo: “I feel like I’ve been here before.”
Making Sense and Suspense
The demo is very short; the gameplay consisted in walking inside the mansion and trying to open doors. I can’t speak to any proper action gameplay, and I got the feeling that the game won’t focus heavily on action sequences. Anyone hoping for a Resident Evil-like third-person shooter will likely be disappointed. The original games were also not prized for their action gameplay (those karate moves still crack me up).
Instead, this is a game of suspense and making sense of the mansion’s monstrous logic, all the while trying to survive the tension and the jump scares. There were no proper puzzles in the demo, but I can tell there will be in the full game. The prologue is merely a tutorial in disguise, where you play as a child trying to deliver a letter. It’s not supposed to blow your mind, only to set the scene for what comes next.
Monster Dreams
Based only on this short demo, I’d argue that Pieces Interactive managed to capture the atmosphere of the originals. The PC graphical options are on par with most AAA games, though I couldn’t change the resolution for some reason. The art direction is gorgeous, with the right amount of shadow and detail in the environment assets. The movement was maybe a bit quirky, with the camera moving a bit too fast for my taste, but it might be different once we pick a character.
The story, from what I’ve seen, takes more after a contemporary narrative style than the cold open in the original games. It tries to show more than tell, and it does so effectively. The girl’s relationship with the monsters and the strangeness of Derceto Manor was a cool touch. I’m curious to learn more of her role in the narrative, though I also hope it’s not predictable, demanding that the player save her from monsters.
That 90s Game
This is one of those releases that make me feel like I’m reliving the 90s all over again. In between my reviews of the System Shock remake, Master of Magic remake, Jagged Alliance 3, and Baldur’s Gate III, it’s been hard to shake this feeling. Alone in the Dark is one of those quintessentially 90s IPs that hasn’t seen a decent sequel in many years. Now, at least Alone in the Dark: Illumination won’t be the last of it.
The game has been delayed a few times, and the best course of action in these cases is always to support the developers and give them time. It’s a tall order, but I hope Pieces Interactive manages to revive interest in this IP and build it towards something at least half as popular as Resident Evil is today. Here’s hoping that Alone in the Dark (2024) will be as terrifying as Alone in the Dark (1992) was to 12-year-old me.
Disclosure: Alone in the Dark was previewed on PC with the Prologue demo on Steam. The game is currently slated for release on March 20, 2024, on Steam, GOG, Xbox, and PlayStation. More information is available on the official website.