Explore Derceto Manor in this reimagination of Alone in the Dark, a love letter to the 90's cult classic horror game
Developed by Pieces Interactive, Alone in the Dark is a reimagining of the original 1992 video game in a similar style to the Resident Evil remakes. Before I go any further, I have to say that I don't remember finishing the old original game. The only thing I remember from that game is getting jumped by a poligonal ass looking zombie in an attic and that's about it. I have no feelings about that game so don't expect me to compare this remake in any way shape or form to that original 1992 game.
With that out of the way, let's get right to it. Alone In The Dark is a 3rd person survival horror set in the 1920s. A man named Jeremy Hardwood has gone missing. Prompted by a disturbing letter, his niece, Emily Hartwood played by actress Jodie Comer hires a private detective Edward Carnby, played by actor David Harbour, to accompany her to Dorceto Manor, a creepy old building home to people with mental disorders.
Alone in the Dark's intricate web of mystery delves into themes of trauma, faith, evil, and abandonment Interacting with the rest of the patients inside the manor, you slowly but surely understand that there might be more to these people than meets the eye. And the more you progress through the story, the wilder it gets with an ending sequence that I was not expecting at all.
What seems like a simple task at the beginning, just investigating and finding out what might have happened to Jeremy, quickly goes off the rails and soon you will find yourself fighting monsters and solve interesting puzzles across not only inside this fairly large and interconnected manor but also across New Orleans' dark streets, a creepy swamp, a derelict ship and uh old Egyptian ruins cause why the hell not. There are also some other pretty out there locations which I am not going to spoil for you, but just keep in mind that it does get wild.
I really enjoyed getting thrown into these very distinct and unique locations as they come absolutely as a surprise, just out of the blue. You are just walking around the manor, you open a door and surprise, the whole room is on fire and a bunch of creepy moss monsters just want to eat your face. Huh? Or you just get teleported inside a grand library getting chased by an unstopable creepy pharaoh and if you try to shoot him, your character will point their gun at their head and well, unalive themselves. I just love shit like this.
Yeah, it doesn't make any sense for one moment to be inside a manor for the next moment to find yourself in the Artic fighting a Lovecraftian horror, but who cares? As confusing as it is, it's also exciting at the same time. Of course, the game throws explanations your way trying to explain what's happening and why and if any of what you are seeing is real or not, but at the end of the day, I didn't really care. I just loved exploring these gorgeous locations as either Emily or Edward.
At the beginning of the game, you get to choose if you want to play as Emily or Edward. Now don't expect a Resident Evil 2 Remake situation where these characters have totally unique campaigns. Apart from one unique mission/level later in the game and slightly different cutscenes and interactions with the other NPCs inside of Dorceto Manor, everything is the same. The same path, the same puzzles, the same guns, everything is the same which is kinda a let down.
But I understand why the devs went with this choice from a narrative standpoint after completing the game twice, once with each character. It all goes back to the title of the game, the character you choose is kinda alone in the dark. Only they can see and experience all of the crazy things while the other character is kinda totally oblivious at what is happening. I said I understand it, but not that I like this approach.
What makes it even worse is how, and there's no other way around it, bad Jodie and David performances are in the game. I like David as an actor, but man he is awful in this role. There's no emotion whatsoever behind any of his lines. His tone is flat, there's no reaction to any of the crazy shit that his character sees and experiences. It feels like he is just reading his lines. He is as awful as Peter Dinklage was as Ghost in Destiny and we all know how that turned out. Jodie is a little better than him, but again the bar is low. In fact the supporting cast is far better than the main cast and honestly, I've never seen that happen in a game before.
As for the gameplay, Alone In The Dark features the classic pillars of a survival horror game, exploration, puzzles and combat. The manor is really well designed with a lot of shortcuts to unlock, rooms to explore, puzzles to solve and collectibles to find. The other locations have a more linear feel to them with pockets of exploration sprinkled here and there.
The puzzles are challenging and really well designed. Most of them require you to think non-linearly as you need to pay careful attention to clues that you find all throughout the manor. Solutions are often hidden inside pieces of text or in drawings that at first might seem like random scribbles. Upon starting the game, you can choose either a modern or old-school difficulty mode. The modern mode highlights important words inside the texts and offers more information in the map, including what rooms have been fully explored and which doors are locked or can be unlocked with the current items in your inventory. The old-school removes all that and offering a more immersive experience.
The final pillar is combat and it's good. Both characters have basically the same weapons a pistol/revolver, a shotgun and a Tommy Gun. The weapons sound really good and feel quite punchy. There is also a melee combat system where you can pick up all sorts of melee weapons with limited durability and use them to bash the monsters. However, there's more than enough ammo so you'll rarely use a melee weapon. I wish that the game had some sort of a weapon upgrade system, as that is a staple of survival horror games, but given the 1920s setting it kinda makes sense that there's not a system like that.
So should you buy Alone In The Dark in the end? I personally enjoyed my time playing through it and although the performance of the two main actors is bad, the setting, the story, the weird gorgeous locations you get to visit and the gameplay make it worth your time and money. It being a not fully priced game helps a lot too. Yeah, give this game a shot... in the dark. Thanks for reading!
The game was reviewed on a PS5 using a review copy provided by the publisher. Alone In The Dark is available on PS5, Xbox Series and PC.
