The survival horror genre is one of my favorites, and the genre has Alone in the Dark to thank for where it got its beginnings, at least in its game design and 3D perspective. Due to its age, I never played it, nor any of the other, less popular, entries in the series, but I am glad to say I got to do so today. It released in 1992 for the MS-DOS, was developed by Infogrames and while it shows its age obviously, I actually enjoyed it a lot more than I initially thought I would. This game will receive a remake in just a few months after this review is posted.
In Alone in the Dark, you pick one of two characters. Edward Carnby, a private investigator, or Emily Hartwood, the niece of Jeremy Hartwood. Jeremy Hartwood is the reason both of them are looking to visit the 'Derceto' mansion, as Jeremy Hartwood used to live there and had died of suicide shortly before the start of this game. Edward Carnby is tasked to find a piano for an antique dealer, while Emily Hartwood wants to find out more about Jeremy's suicide, which supposedly is explained through a secret note hidden somewhere near the piano.
I thought that was a nice touch to give both characters different motives to visit the mansion instead of giving the player a simple choice of male or female. I decided to pick Edward Carnby, who, if I may, looks like an absolute chad. His chicken walk up the stairs in the game's introductory cinematic had me immediately enamored with this character.
What the cinematic also depicts is the character you have chosen driving to the mansion and, as they enter it, the door closing behind them. Next, they walk up the stairs to the attic, from where you start your mission to escape. From here, if you choose Edward Carnby, that's pretty much your only goal. You're thinking "Shit, why did I accept this job?" and try to get out. If you're Emily Hartwood, you actually have an additional reason to be there, which is "Why did my uncle kill himself and was he really just insane or was there something else going on?". Sure enough, there is something going on in Derceto manor.
The game has the characters you pick hold a monologue describing their motives for going into the mansion, but once you are there, have no more lines. Instead, the story is told through books, parchments and notes, which are voice acted by Jeremy Hartwood (for his own letters) and other voices. Some books are simply there to add to the atmosphere of the game, while others include useful information for puzzle solving that are 1) optional to read, as you can solve the puzzles without doing so and 2) also add to the lore and atmosphere. The voice actor for Jeremy Hartwood does a fantastic job of expressing the voice of a man who is losing his mind and added a lot to the storytelling.
Ultimately, unearthing the secret of Derceto mansion is not as much of a big deal as the journey to get there, and the entire process is not as fleshed out as we have become used to through the power of bigger memory storage, but it was enough to keep me intrigued and the form of storytelling is unique enough for its time that I personally enjoyed it more than you probably would if you play it after having played more modern survival horror games recently.
This is even more true when it comes to the gameplay, though I doubt anyone today would say that the game's gameplay is 'good' either way.
This is a survival horror game that introduced all the elements you'll be familiar with by now. You explore the mansion and look for items that you will need to solve puzzles, heal yourself or engage in combat. The game has an inventory management system that is weight-based, meaning you can only hold items up to a certain weight that is not noted anywhere. Items like first-aid kits remain in your inventory even after you use them up, so you have to manually throw them away to make space, which is an odd system but something I can appreciate for the fact that this is something unique to this game.
The game's controls are tanky and the action you can use by pressing the Action button "Space" is something you select in the inventory screen. Your options are FIGHT, which allows you to get into a hilarious fighting stance while pressing Space and punching/kicking is done by pressing arrow keys simultaneously. OPEN/SEARCH lets you search cupboards, wardrobes and cabinets while you stand next to them, CLOSE lets you close doors, PUSH lets you push stuff to reveal hidden areas and later on, you get a JUMP action that is used for late-game platforming segments that put the tank of the controls to World of Tanks-esque levels.
Alone in the Dark has a pretty great way to start you off in the attic. As you are still trying to grasp the controls, an enemy jumps into the room through the window and attacks you. You can kill it with your fists but will take some damage. Just as you think the danger is averted, another enemy comes up from a trap door and you engage him as well. For new players, these will both surprise you and you'll 100% of the time have a suboptimal approach. Because see, the game quite clearly is OK with you avoiding its combat system as much as possible. I'd like to think they had mercy with players even back then, as they knew how unspectacular the combat was and is.
What you can do here is push the wardrobe in front of the window and a chest on top of the trap door, which lets you avoid the combat here altogether. Later on in the game, you can close doors to do the same, avoid a ghost lady by simply ignoring her and skip fights by placing certain items next to the enemies to distract them, like a gramophone or a pot of soup. You do have to engage in combat multiple times, but you will quickly realize that the best way to get through the game is to avoid it as much as possible. The game also only has very few healing items that you can find, adding credence to this.
The game is quite short overall, it took me a bit over 4 hours to beat it, but it could easily be done quicker, if you figure out some puzzles faster than I did. A lot of the time I lost though was due to the controls, especially in the last third of the game that included platforming sections, where it was very easy to fall into the water.
Additionally, to beat the game you will need to make sure that you don't fall into that water because it will wet your matchbox, which means you can't light your oil lamp, which means you can't see in the dark. The last major area before the final boss is a dark maze, so I had to replay over half an hour after realizing that I could simply not beat the game anymore.
The atmosphere this game creates these days can be described as creepy in a funny way. I can imagine certain parts of the game to have been scary at the time, and fighting two enemies in the first area while you still try to understand the controls certainly does a great job of having you on edge from the get-go, but at this point in time I can't say I was ever truly scared. The chicken-walk your character does up and down the stairs is hilarious, the male character has the ugliest face in video-game history, the enemies look like cartoons rather than actually scary monsters and whenever you hit an enemy, the game plays a smack sound akin to what it would sound like when you bitch-slap somebody, which in addition to your character's fighting pose had me in tears during the intended-to-be tense opening fights. The best way the game genuinely scares you I think is through the random deaths that can occur at every step and with its random use of its spooky sound effects, which make you think that enemies are nearby, even if they aren't.
Overall, I can definitely recommend the game to survival horror fans, because it is enjoyable enough to warrant an afternoon of your time. It pioneered an entire genre, so I think it's definitely worth being played. Outside of fans of the genre, fans of video game history will surely find some enjoyment with this for a little while, but I wouldn't say it's a good game by today's standards, though it does a solid job as a graphic adventure through its simple yet clever puzzles.
STORYTELLING/CHARACTERS | 7/10
Two characters to choose with different motivations, though this doesn't impact the playthrough
Story (Voice acted) told through books, notes and letters, with plenty of optional texts to dive into
GAMEPLAY | 12/20
Enjoyable mix of exploration, puzzle solving and combat
A lot of enemies to fight or avoid, but which constantly keep you on your toes
Inventory management that has its charm because it is done in a unique way for its time, but wouldn't be a lot of fun once more games start doing it
Tank controls that you do get used to, but which aren't that good. Running animation in particular often just doesn't trigger
Too many cheap deaths means you'll need to save often or be ready to replay many parts of the game
MUSIC/SOUND/VOICE | 9/10
All text voice acted, but there is no in-game dialogue
Voice actor for Jeremy Hartwood has the best performance by far
Hilarious smacking sound when punching that didn't fit in with the atmosphere but still had me in tears from laughing
Sound effects are otherwise the scariest part about this game
Good soundtrack that fits the vibe of the game, accentuating both the mystery of the Manor and the horror within
GRAPHICS/ART DESIGN | 7/10
A rare 3D game for its time with charmingly ugly polygon graphics
Many areas in the mansion varying in appearance
Some scary, ominous looking characters like the ghost lady and the dancing ghosts in the dance hall
Odd choice for the design of many enemies
ATMOSPHERE | 8/10
Confident that it was rather scary for its time, though not quite as scary anymore (I don't get easily scared though, so your experience may differ)
The game does a good job of creating an uneasy atmosphere and has many moments that tell you to expect the unexpected, which keeps you on edge
The incredibly ugly design of the male character, the smacking sound when kicking/punching and the cartoonish look of some enemies make the game much more light-hearted in feel than probably intended
CONTENT | 7/10
Will take 2 to 5 hours to beat
Not many puzzles in retrospect, but plenty of interesting ones
Many items in the game simply useless however
LEVEL/MISSION DESIGN | 7/10
Some parts of the game can be approached in multiple ways
Game does a great job laying out the dangers in the game and you can feel gradually improving as you go
Attic part of the game is just superb game design
The basement and maze levels in the final third of the game were not so good
CONCEPT/INNOVATION | 10/10
The start of a whole genre as we would know it for years to come
REPLAYABILITY | 2/5
Two main characters, though will little difference in playstyle
You can tackle some parts a bit differently, as you gain more tricks
PLAYABILITY | 5/5
Worked well at all times
OVERALL | 74/100
(This is the 78th game in my challenge to go through many known games in chronological order starting in 1990. The spreadsheet is in my bio.)
In Alone in the Dark, you pick one of two characters. Edward Carnby, a private investigator, or Emily Hartwood, the niece of Jeremy Hartwood. Jeremy Hartwood is the reason both of them are looking to visit the 'Derceto' mansion, as Jeremy Hartwood used to live there and had died of suicide shortly before the start of this game. Edward Carnby is tasked to find a piano for an antique dealer, while Emily Hartwood wants to find out more about Jeremy's suicide, which supposedly is explained through a secret note hidden somewhere near the piano.
I thought that was a nice touch to give both characters different motives to visit the mansion instead of giving the player a simple choice of male or female. I decided to pick Edward Carnby, who, if I may, looks like an absolute chad. His chicken walk up the stairs in the game's introductory cinematic had me immediately enamored with this character.
What the cinematic also depicts is the character you have chosen driving to the mansion and, as they enter it, the door closing behind them. Next, they walk up the stairs to the attic, from where you start your mission to escape. From here, if you choose Edward Carnby, that's pretty much your only goal. You're thinking "Shit, why did I accept this job?" and try to get out. If you're Emily Hartwood, you actually have an additional reason to be there, which is "Why did my uncle kill himself and was he really just insane or was there something else going on?". Sure enough, there is something going on in Derceto manor.
The game has the characters you pick hold a monologue describing their motives for going into the mansion, but once you are there, have no more lines. Instead, the story is told through books, parchments and notes, which are voice acted by Jeremy Hartwood (for his own letters) and other voices. Some books are simply there to add to the atmosphere of the game, while others include useful information for puzzle solving that are 1) optional to read, as you can solve the puzzles without doing so and 2) also add to the lore and atmosphere. The voice actor for Jeremy Hartwood does a fantastic job of expressing the voice of a man who is losing his mind and added a lot to the storytelling.
Ultimately, unearthing the secret of Derceto mansion is not as much of a big deal as the journey to get there, and the entire process is not as fleshed out as we have become used to through the power of bigger memory storage, but it was enough to keep me intrigued and the form of storytelling is unique enough for its time that I personally enjoyed it more than you probably would if you play it after having played more modern survival horror games recently.
This is even more true when it comes to the gameplay, though I doubt anyone today would say that the game's gameplay is 'good' either way.
This is a survival horror game that introduced all the elements you'll be familiar with by now. You explore the mansion and look for items that you will need to solve puzzles, heal yourself or engage in combat. The game has an inventory management system that is weight-based, meaning you can only hold items up to a certain weight that is not noted anywhere. Items like first-aid kits remain in your inventory even after you use them up, so you have to manually throw them away to make space, which is an odd system but something I can appreciate for the fact that this is something unique to this game.
The game's controls are tanky and the action you can use by pressing the Action button "Space" is something you select in the inventory screen. Your options are FIGHT, which allows you to get into a hilarious fighting stance while pressing Space and punching/kicking is done by pressing arrow keys simultaneously. OPEN/SEARCH lets you search cupboards, wardrobes and cabinets while you stand next to them, CLOSE lets you close doors, PUSH lets you push stuff to reveal hidden areas and later on, you get a JUMP action that is used for late-game platforming segments that put the tank of the controls to World of Tanks-esque levels.
Alone in the Dark has a pretty great way to start you off in the attic. As you are still trying to grasp the controls, an enemy jumps into the room through the window and attacks you. You can kill it with your fists but will take some damage. Just as you think the danger is averted, another enemy comes up from a trap door and you engage him as well. For new players, these will both surprise you and you'll 100% of the time have a suboptimal approach. Because see, the game quite clearly is OK with you avoiding its combat system as much as possible. I'd like to think they had mercy with players even back then, as they knew how unspectacular the combat was and is.
What you can do here is push the wardrobe in front of the window and a chest on top of the trap door, which lets you avoid the combat here altogether. Later on in the game, you can close doors to do the same, avoid a ghost lady by simply ignoring her and skip fights by placing certain items next to the enemies to distract them, like a gramophone or a pot of soup. You do have to engage in combat multiple times, but you will quickly realize that the best way to get through the game is to avoid it as much as possible. The game also only has very few healing items that you can find, adding credence to this.
The game is quite short overall, it took me a bit over 4 hours to beat it, but it could easily be done quicker, if you figure out some puzzles faster than I did. A lot of the time I lost though was due to the controls, especially in the last third of the game that included platforming sections, where it was very easy to fall into the water.
Additionally, to beat the game you will need to make sure that you don't fall into that water because it will wet your matchbox, which means you can't light your oil lamp, which means you can't see in the dark. The last major area before the final boss is a dark maze, so I had to replay over half an hour after realizing that I could simply not beat the game anymore.
The atmosphere this game creates these days can be described as creepy in a funny way. I can imagine certain parts of the game to have been scary at the time, and fighting two enemies in the first area while you still try to understand the controls certainly does a great job of having you on edge from the get-go, but at this point in time I can't say I was ever truly scared. The chicken-walk your character does up and down the stairs is hilarious, the male character has the ugliest face in video-game history, the enemies look like cartoons rather than actually scary monsters and whenever you hit an enemy, the game plays a smack sound akin to what it would sound like when you bitch-slap somebody, which in addition to your character's fighting pose had me in tears during the intended-to-be tense opening fights. The best way the game genuinely scares you I think is through the random deaths that can occur at every step and with its random use of its spooky sound effects, which make you think that enemies are nearby, even if they aren't.
Overall, I can definitely recommend the game to survival horror fans, because it is enjoyable enough to warrant an afternoon of your time. It pioneered an entire genre, so I think it's definitely worth being played. Outside of fans of the genre, fans of video game history will surely find some enjoyment with this for a little while, but I wouldn't say it's a good game by today's standards, though it does a solid job as a graphic adventure through its simple yet clever puzzles.
STORYTELLING/CHARACTERS | 7/10
Two characters to choose with different motivations, though this doesn't impact the playthrough
Story (Voice acted) told through books, notes and letters, with plenty of optional texts to dive into
GAMEPLAY | 12/20
Enjoyable mix of exploration, puzzle solving and combat
A lot of enemies to fight or avoid, but which constantly keep you on your toes
Inventory management that has its charm because it is done in a unique way for its time, but wouldn't be a lot of fun once more games start doing it
Tank controls that you do get used to, but which aren't that good. Running animation in particular often just doesn't trigger
Too many cheap deaths means you'll need to save often or be ready to replay many parts of the game
MUSIC/SOUND/VOICE | 9/10
All text voice acted, but there is no in-game dialogue
Voice actor for Jeremy Hartwood has the best performance by far
Hilarious smacking sound when punching that didn't fit in with the atmosphere but still had me in tears from laughing
Sound effects are otherwise the scariest part about this game
Good soundtrack that fits the vibe of the game, accentuating both the mystery of the Manor and the horror within
GRAPHICS/ART DESIGN | 7/10
A rare 3D game for its time with charmingly ugly polygon graphics
Many areas in the mansion varying in appearance
Some scary, ominous looking characters like the ghost lady and the dancing ghosts in the dance hall
Odd choice for the design of many enemies
ATMOSPHERE | 8/10
Confident that it was rather scary for its time, though not quite as scary anymore (I don't get easily scared though, so your experience may differ)
The game does a good job of creating an uneasy atmosphere and has many moments that tell you to expect the unexpected, which keeps you on edge
The incredibly ugly design of the male character, the smacking sound when kicking/punching and the cartoonish look of some enemies make the game much more light-hearted in feel than probably intended
CONTENT | 7/10
Will take 2 to 5 hours to beat
Not many puzzles in retrospect, but plenty of interesting ones
Many items in the game simply useless however
LEVEL/MISSION DESIGN | 7/10
Some parts of the game can be approached in multiple ways
Game does a great job laying out the dangers in the game and you can feel gradually improving as you go
Attic part of the game is just superb game design
The basement and maze levels in the final third of the game were not so good
CONCEPT/INNOVATION | 10/10
The start of a whole genre as we would know it for years to come
REPLAYABILITY | 2/5
Two main characters, though will little difference in playstyle
You can tackle some parts a bit differently, as you gain more tricks
PLAYABILITY | 5/5
Worked well at all times
OVERALL | 74/100
(This is the 78th game in my challenge to go through many known games in chronological order starting in 1990. The spreadsheet is in my bio.)