Lost in the Dark

Alone in the Dark is the remake of the classic game made in 1992, which strongly influenced several other very important survival horror genre games, with a focus on the acclaimed resident evil, which in its early games drew directly from the influence of Alone in The Dark.

The story unfolds when Emily Hartwood receives a disturbing letter from her uncle Jeremy, who is in a kind of sanatorium, so Emily hires private detective Edward Carnby to accompany her to the location, and check on the status of her uncle.



When they arrive at the place, they discover that Jeremy is missing, and as they search for him, very strange things start happening to the characters and many mysteries begin to appear, so the protagonists Emily and Edward have to solve these puzzles to uncover the truth about Jeremy and the place they are in.

In the game, we can choose to play with the 2 protagonists, there are two routes, which was common in older games, where you can choose to follow Emily's story or Edward's, where both intersect, but each has its own events.



Even in moments when the characters are together and go through a cutscene, the way things happen is different in each gameplay, they could repeat the scene and make it appear as if it happened the same way for both, but they did it differently for each one and that is a very interesting detail.

Alone but prepared

Alone in the Dark, like all survival horror games, features combat, something that is constantly seen as a problem, even in newer games, with clunky mechanics, unbalanced enemies, and no creativity in combat, which is definitely not the case.

The game provides scarce weapons to the player, to create a tense atmosphere and make the player choose their battles wisely to not waste resources, but it also provides resources to face these enemies, rewarding those who explore the map, giving ammunition and even finding bricks and Molotov cocktails scattered around the scenario.



But gameplay does not only revolve around combat, as we are talking about one of the biggest classics of the genre, puzzles were also a strong element of this game. They are constantly present during gameplay, being crucial for progress in the story.

But don't think it's extremely difficult and frustrating, the puzzles tend to be calm but challenging. And if you are still not used to this type of game and are having difficulty, the game has the classic and modern modes, where in the classic mode you are more on your own, investigating notes and documents, really going after them like in the old days, or the modern mode, which has some help systems.

In addition to resources such as health and ammunition, and clues that help in puzzles, you will also find more special items. "Lagniappes" is translated as "small gifts" in French from Louisiana, where the story takes place, and they are non-essential items that you can find throughout the game.

Three of them form a set, and by completing the sets you unlock some knowledge about the game, both in mechanics or other items, and in the story, and they are something shared between campaigns, because there are some of these collectibles that can only be picked up in Carnaby's or Emily's storyline.

Rediscovering Glory

As I have mentioned several times in this review, the 1992 classic is one of the most relevant titles in survival horror, something that has greatly changed the course of the genre, even though I have not played the classic, I know the franchise for the relevance and impact it had on various other games.

However, the franchise did not have successors up to the level of the first one, some tried, others not so much, but the fact is that none of them managed to reach the same level of quality as the classic, at least not until now, as this remake is something incredible, it was a game that I was very interested in playing, but could not due to console limitations, but now thanks to the remake I can easily play it.

And when I tested the game for the first time, it certainly exceeded my expectations, because besides faithfully capturing the quality of the script of the first game, the setting is incredible, the graphics are very well done and the game's atmosphere is so immersive, the quality of the sound effects, which manage to keep you on alert with unknown noises of nearby things, but also with the silence of the environment that is unsettling.

The soundtrack is also very good, bringing out the mystery feeling, very similar to the police series of the 60s, and bringing the setting of New Orleans from that same time, full of swamps and voodoo witchcraft, which also has a connection with the game's story.

Another very interesting point is that they used images of real actors to embody the characters, such as actor David Harbour, well known for his roles, such as Jim Hooper in the series Stranger Things, who in Alone in The Dark plays one of the protagonists, Edward Carnby.

For all these reasons, I believe that Alone In The Dark is a glorious redemption of the franchise, the game has all the elements of the classic improved, those who are avid fans of the survival horror style have almost an obligation to play this game even if they have played the first game, and for those who are new to the genre, it is also extremely recommended because it is friendly to new players and very immersive.

We thank THQ Nordic for providing us with the key for this content, review conducted on PC.