Alone in the Dark (2024) is a reboot of the game from 1992, disregarding all other sequels, spin-offs and remakes, but is this survival horror revival worth you time?
The Alone in the Dark series often doesn’t get its dead and rotting flowers for kicking off the Golden Age of Survival Horror games in the 1990s. While Resident Evil would coin the term and popularise the genre, along with Silent Hill and others, it was Alone in the Dark that truly laid the foundation.
The main difference is games like Resident Evil and Silent Hill would go on to have stellar sequels, at least until their own declines and subsequent rebirths, while Alone in the Dark’s influence largely faded after the PS1 era. While there have been reboots of the series before, this 2024 version aims to wipe the slate clean and start again, largely retelling the events of the original game but while updating the experience to be a more modern survival horror game, like the recent Resident Evil remakes.
Let’s talk story, like the original game, Alone in the Dark involves protagonists Emily Hartwood and detective Edward Carnby visiting Derceto Manor, a home for the mentally fatigued, to investigate the mysterious disappearance of Jeremy Hartwood, Emily’s uncle. Jeremy has been dabbling in the dark arts which has caused an evil force to attach itself to the Manor and throws Emily and Edward into a race against time to find him and banish the malevolent influence he’s unleashed.
Locations are certainly spooky and dripping in atmosphere.
Survival horror returns to its roots
Like some of the Resident Evil games, Alone in the Dark is split into two separate campaigns giving players the option to play as Edward or Emily as each experiences the story from a different perspective. The game essentially uses Derceto Manor as a main hub area that players will need to explore while unlocking its various rooms while uncovering its dark secrets. This is where the game really excels and those who enjoy solving a mystery and gathering clues will be right at home.
We found reading the ramblings of the residents creepy and enthralling and there was lots of fun to be had in piecing the game’s lore together for a clearer idea of who’s who and where they fit into this spooky narrative. The game also features some clever and fiendish puzzles that traditional survival horror fans will get a real kick out of. Most can be figured out pretty easily, but others will require a keener eye and genuine interest on behalf of the player to solve. The residents are also still walking around, leading to some pretty tense and scary interactions.
As players progress, they’ll often be pulled into the various nightmares of Jeremy Hartwood, each retelling a memory from his past and revealing something about the dark forces at play. This is when the survival horror really gets going, as these sequences throw players into a completely different environment, away from Derceto Manor – and these locations are also crawling with enemies who’ll need to either be avoided or dispatched. These segments usually end when a character locates something important to unlock the next area of the Manor, or reveals some other shocking truth, but this is where most the action takes place.
Combat isn’t as frequent as we would have liked, but enemies are very scary.
Fighting to survive
We were surprised by how few enemies there actually were in the game when compared to Resident Evil and other survival horror games that lean into third-person shooter mechanics. The game adopts the ‘over-the-shoulder aiming system’ made famous by the original Resident Evil 4 and puts it to good use, for the most part. When combat does happen, shooting enemies is often satisfying, but we soon learned that enemies are few and ammo is plentiful. So, we didn’t need to resort to melee combat or take advantage of the various throwable items that exist in abundance. This is likely for the best, as we found melee combat to be rather clunky and dull.
If we’re being perfectly honest, those who play horror games for the combat rather than the atmosphere and story won’t find what they’re looking for with Alone in the Dark. This is a game for survival horror enthusiasts, not those looking for the next high-octane blast fest. Those who enjoyed RE4 Remake, Alan Wake 2 and games like Dead Space or the Callisto Protocol will find a lot to love, but only if they also enjoy the more old-school elements of this genre. Just be aware that this game cannot match those other titles when it comes to combat.
Worth your time?
However, Alone in the Dark more than makes up for its combat shortcomings with its attention to detail, creepy atmosphere and compelling characters. Those who enjoyed the original Alone in the Dark are likely to get the most out of it, as the game is largely a faithful retelling of the original game, but remade to play like a much more modern survival horror game – even if it does compare unfavourably to many of its peers. It also uses its location of New Orleans to great effect, with the swamps and spooky streets of the French Quarter being especially fun to explore while something grotesque shambles towards you in the darkness.
Derceto Manor still isn’t quite the iconic location that the Spencer Mansion from Resident Evil is, but those who enjoy exploring such locations, will absolutely appreciate the work that’s gone into resurrecting one of horror gaming’s most influential puzzle boxes. Essentially, Alone in the Dark is a game for those who are looking for their next survival horror fix and the game is more than worth the low price tag. The game isn’t pretending to be the next big triple-A horror title, but does an excellent job of being the B-movie experience these games all started out paying homage to.
