The Alone in the Dark series has been desperately unlucky for thirty years. After several iterations on the name and several very forgettable “sequels,” the series is back, this time from Pieces Interactive and THQ Nordic. We looked at the PC version of the 2024 Alone in the Dark and have this review to offer. Keep reading!
The 2008 Alone in the Dark became a cult and influenced almost all horror – from Resident Evil to Silent Hill- but something went wrong. After the success of the original, the publisher rushed to rivet sequels. Still, instead of gothic horror with a taste of Lovecraft, they decided to add pirates and cowboys for some reason. Sales began to decline, and the franchise was abandoned for seven years. The New Nightmare, popularly dubbed a Resident Evil clone, was an extremely controversial reboot in 2008 that I think is better not to mention.
Alone in the Dark (2008) was not a bad game. Still, horror fell victim to the developers, who wanted to implement as many interesting ideas as possible but went too far with their number and could not make them all well. However, fans remember this part of the franchise most often. In 2008, however, the series again fell into a coma – this time until 2015, when the co-op shooter Alone in the Dark: Illumination was released, which was torn to smithereens by critics. The game was criticized for its graphics, gameplay, departure from the canons of Alone in the Dark, and desecration of the franchise itself. Illumination was forgotten like a bad dream in the year of its release, so the coma lasted until 2024 – until the release of the third reboot of the series, this time by Pieces Interactive and THQ Nordic, which once again received a simple name, Alone in the Dark.
And in 2022, another rethinking was announced. This time, they promised a full-fledged remake of the first part, with the same main characters and setting of the 20s of the 20th century. They were also attracted by the cool actors in the main roles, the script by Mikael Hedberg, who worked on Amnesia and SOMA, the references to Lovecraft, and the dark jazz on the soundtrack – for me, it all felt it could almost be a perfect game. Did Pieces Interactive, known for Magicka 2 and various add-ons for Titan Quest, succeed in worthily reviving the series? Let’s figure it out.
Why was such a long backstory necessary? The reason is simple: the Alone in the Dark series appeared in 1992 and has undergone many changes over the past 30-odd years. It is important to understand what the series has gone through, how it has changed in different periods of the gaming industry, and what it is today with the release of the last part in 2024.
Reimagining Alone in the Dark is a difficult task. The original was completed in a couple of hours, the scene was limited to one mansion, and the story was told through notes and diaries. Therefore, the remake took the premise, the main characters, and a couple of toponyms from the first part, and everything else was invented anew.
The game dumps almost all of its exposition in the opening cutscene: private detective Edward Carnby is approached by Emily Hartwood, concerned about the fate of her uncle Jeremy. He, for specific reasons, ended up in Derseto – a hospital for the mentally ill. But instead of improving his health, Jeremy began to feel even worse and then sent his niece an alarming letter in which he claimed that Derseto was filled with fanatics of an ancient cult. So Emily hires Carnby, and together, they go to the hospital to save Jeremy. After the splash screen, we are offered a choice. As in the original, the game can be completed as both Carnby and Emily, but if thirty years ago the choice of the main character did not matter at all, here everything is somewhat different, but more on that later.
Arriving at their destination, the heroes discover that Jeremy Hartwood has mysteriously disappeared, and the staff cannot find him in the hospital’s territory. However, this is just the tip of the iceberg: the guests and workers of the estate also behave quite strangely and, in some places, aggressively, and Derseto’s past is full of tragic and creepy moments in which cults and black magic are involved, as well as mass bouts of madness due to mysterious rot that periodically spreads on the interiors of the estate. Therefore, despite the choice of two heroes, the common task for both characters is the same—to find Jeremy, uncover Derceto’s secrets, and understand what is happening. Unlike the original 1992 Alone in the Dark, the reboot stars Jodie Comer and David Harbor as the main characters of Alone in the Dark. They voiced their characters, gave them appearances, and recorded movements for them.
Without diving into spoilers, we can safely say that the narration and presentation in the new reboot of Alone in the Dark are one of the main advantages of the entire game thanks to a rare mixture of psychological horror, noir, and doom-jazz in games, where all the actions unfold slowly and with gradually increasing tension and a degree of madness. To understand the general mood of Alone in the Dark, it is enough to turn on any composition by the band Bohren & der Club of Gore – doom jazz is present everywhere in the game, creating a sad, gloomy atmosphere both in cutscenes and during gameplay.
Reality bursting at the seams
Even though the main setting of Alone in the Dark is the Derceto estate, the player will regularly be “thrown” into various unusual locations and periods at the most unexpected moments – it is almost impossible to predict the change of scenery during the first playthrough. What is happening on the screen can be compared with The Evil Within, The Evil Within 2, and some parts of Silent Hill, where the scenery also changes dramatically, sometimes making you jump in surprise and wonder what would happen next.
However, you shouldn’t expect a noticeable tension from the game like in F.E.A.R., Outlast, or like in the first games of the Silent Hill series – as mentioned earlier, the game relies more on constant light tension to keep the player moving forward non-stop, and always waiting for some catch around the corner.
We should also touch on the moment with the choice of the main character: choosing between Edward Carnby and Emily Hartwood, the player will receive the same story campaign, and almost the same set of levels, but the cutscenes will be completely different from those that can be seen for the other hero. In addition, both characters have their unique game sections, “secrets,” as well as completely different interactions and dialogues with a few NPCs.
There is a reason why the developers recommend going through Alone in the Dark twice for those who want to fully reveal the plot and secrets of the game. According to the developers, the game has secret cutscenes, so those who like to delve into mysteries will have something to do.
Slow first playthrough and speedrun after
Since the new Alone in the Dark offers a choice between two main characters, the player may mistakenly assume that he will get something in the spirit of Resident Evil 2 Remake: a campaign for Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield within one large plot with common game locations, but with some changes in puzzles, the order of passing rooms and a unique set of weapons for each hero.
Unfortunately, this is almost absent in Alone in the Dark. Carnby and Heartwood will have unique gameplay sections related to their backgrounds, but the main storyline will remain unchanged, including puzzles and weapons. That is, having completed the game slowly and deliberately for the first time, the second playthrough will be noticeably shorter because the main plot of Alone in the Dark will not change in any way from the choice of the hero to the location of monsters and frightening scripts.
This drawback could brighten the arsenal, but there is a problem here – very few weapons are in the game. If we exclude the personal weapons of the heroes (a revolver for Carnby and a pistol for Hartwood), then during the passage, you can find a double-barreled shotgun and a Thompson submachine gun, as well as a flare gun at the very end of the game. And no, completing Alone in the Dark does not reward you with any bonus or secret weapons.
The modest arsenal can be explained by the fact that Alone in the Dark is not trying to imitate the same Resident Evil 4, where there were many very different and dangerous opponents. This can also explain that in the game, you cannot improve weapons, create ammunition, or manage inventory, which does not exist. One could write the latter down as a shortcoming. Still, the listed mechanics would not fit in with the general idea of the current Alone in the Dark – the game primarily strives to tell an interesting mystical story and focuses on narrative and cinematography rather than on shooting at monsters, as in that same as Resident Evil 4.
Alone in the Dark has no significant gameplay features to make you want to play the game again. And if Resident Evil developers reward players for replaying games in the franchise with various bonuses, costumes, and weapons, then Alone in the Dark has nothing to offer in return – which is very disappointing.
But this is not a walking simulator
Still, Alone in the Dark cannot be called a walking simulator. You need to fight in the game periodically, even with a modest arsenal. Still, not everything is so smooth here, especially for those who played the Resident Evil 4 remake and remember the combat system there.
There are probably fewer enemies in the entire Alone in the Dark than in half of the first act with the village from Resident Evil 4. Because of this, the game tries to give the player as little ammo as possible, forcing the player to use melee weapons that can be found during the passage. However, melee weapons in Alone in the Dark are implemented so awkwardly that you don’t want to use them. On top of that, the game does not show the difference between different types of melee weapons, of which, for unknown reasons, there are a lot.
It’s pretty strange, and sometimes it feels like 2024’s Alone in the Dark is trying to emulate 2008’s Alone in the Dark, where you could pick up almost anything that wasn’t bolted to the floor. But if in the 2008 version, melee weapons were closely intertwined with the overall idea, gameplay, and mechanics, then in the 2024 version, all these sledge hammers and axes seem like unnecessary garbage, which would be easier to exchange for a regular and unbreakable knife or hatchets from The Evil Within, which broke immediately after use.
In Alone in the Dark, a large number of Molotov cocktails and bricks are scattered throughout the levels, but even they are implemented in an extraordinary way. Initially, it seems that they can be picked up and used at the most necessary moment, but neither bricks nor Molotovs can be collected – they can only be thrown by coming close to them and pressing the desired button. However, these items do not make much sense since they do not cause the most significant damage. Or they would make more sense if the player could pick them up and use them whenever possible.
With shooting, things are noticeably better but not ideal compared to competitors. For example, a double-barreled shotgun can kill you at point-blank range with one shot, or it may not kill you even if you put the barrels to the monster’s head. The Thompson assault rifle has such strong recoil and dispersion that its brother from Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven I can only be envious—it’s easier to shoot single shots from the local Thompson.
The number of enemy options is also not encouraging—there are slightly more of them than in Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, but not so many that they seriously diversify the gameplay. There is some variation between monsters in terms of behavior and attacks, but most of the time, they die before they can do anything. Additionally, much of the local creepy bestiary shares the common curse of love of getting stuck in stairs and areas with more complex geometry.
By the way, there are stealth mechanics and the ability to sneak in Alone in the Dark, but they are so crookedly implemented that some “quiet” sections are easier to either run loudly or kill all the monsters, if possible. In addition, monsters cannot be attacked quietly from behind, which makes this mechanic as useless and unnecessary as possible—without it, the game certainly would not have gotten any worse.
Budget game but with soul
Due to the listed shortcomings in the gameplay, one may get the impression that the creators of Alone in the Dark approached the entire game very carelessly, but this is not so, since during the passage, it is noticeable that the developers tried as much as possible within the budget and abilities of the studio.
For example, monsters’ bodies do not disappear, and walking through fresh puddles of spilled blood leaves traces behind the protagonist. These are little things that many developers would give up on, but not in the case of Alone in the Dark, where the characters even sigh when they deal with another monster.
The developers also did a very good job of enhancing the atmosphere of the Derseto estate’s interiors and otherworldly locations. This is expressed not only in the graphics but also in the arrangement of objects and decorative items, as well as in the lighting and color palette – the game looks especially good in the later stages when the shabby estate is plunged into the darkness of a rainy night with thunder and lightning. At such moments, unfortunately, the photo mode is not enough.
Alone in the Dark is reminiscent of another recent hit –RoboCop: Rogue City. The game based on RoboCop was also a budget one. Still, the developers invested in it to the maximum, considering their capabilities and trying to cut as few corners as possible. The same can be said about Alone in the Dark – bad games, made anyhow or in a hurry, can be seen from afar. However, RoboCop Rogue City had a good balance in the form of an exciting narrative and relatively strong gameplay, which cannot be said about Alone in the Dark, which had a rather strong narrative but controversial gameplay.
Everything seemed to start out well
To summarize, Alone in the Dark delivers an intriguing and atmospheric gaming experience with excellent performances from Jodie Comer and David Harbour and a quality reimagining of the original 1992 story. However, due to the previously mentioned problems, you should not expect a revolution or memorable action from the game. We can only hope that with the release of the reboot in 2024, the Alone in the Dark franchise will not again fall into a coma for several years before the next reboot is released.
Alone in the Dark 2024 cannot be called an unambiguous success. It is clear that the developers approached the creation of the game with great love, but they clearly did not have enough time and money. There’s nothing wrong with taking the formula of another project but updating it and bringing it to life. However, a complete repeat of Resident Evil 2 five years later with worse technical performance does not seem to be a very healthy phenomenon, signaling the stagnation of the gaming industry. On the other hand, the game came out at a perfect time – it has no serious competitors or alternatives, and even in this form, it may well provide a couple of intriguing evenings filled with thrills.
