As a promotional game, meant more to show what Alone in the Dark 2 could offer rather than stand as its own experience, Jack in the Dark, on the surface, seems quite limited. With only one room to walk around, and a handful of puzzles to solve, the whole thing can be completed in ~ten minutes, but even regardless of that there’s a good amount on offer here. The setting of the toy shop is fairly aesthetically pleasing and well-utilized — all the puzzles lean into the setting of the store, near-exclusively using object and enemy models that weren’t otherwise recycled for Alone in the Dark 2. The fixed camera does well to capture some rather clever and cool-looking angles without ever getting in the way or accidentally hiding anything from the player. The rather goofy tone manages to come across even with the little runtime it has, the enemy (and player!) animations being rather charming as they plod across the room and the plot going into… what’s ostensibly a rather off-the-wall direction with an entirely straight face. The limits of this being a tech demo, in a way, become a strength: the game can focus purely on the things it's best at, and strip back most of the systems and complexity that otherwise… have historically held more full-length Alone in the Darks back. Maybe a shame that this is as simple as it is — I would’ve loved to see something like one of Alone in the Dark 2’s stealth sections in here — but I can’t deny that it does basically everything it wants to. It gets into the action, shows off what Alone in the Dark 2’s engine is capable of, and does enough to stand out a little on its own merits, too. Frankly, the fact that I’m left wanting more is a good thing here. Would've loved to have seen this expanded on.