What The Hell Is ALONE IN THE DARK?

So, What the hell is ALONE IN THE DARK? and what is all this remake news about?

That is a statement of confusion I have heard from many friends and people on social media the last few days.

Well, after THQ Nordic's latest gaming showcase letting all of us know a remake of the 1992 original is coming, what better time to discuss the grandfather of survival horror than right now ahead of its release in the near future.

Yes you read that right, Resident Evil got almost all its DNA from Alone In The Dark, not the other way around and is the true first survival horror game so let me explain.

Alone In The Dark (Key Artwork) 2022

Now it's true to say that yes Resident Evil was the first game to be labelled with the survival horror name but its what came before this that we will be focusing on. Games leading up to Alone in the dark and some even after it had these horror and survival elements meshed with an adventurous tale of survival. However it was never marketed as this back on its release in the 90s. It wasn't until 1996, four years after that Shinji Mikami would be inspired by Alone in the dark and take it that step further to make it a fully functioning horror playhouse. Even games like Silent Hill owe itself to the inspiration of the 1992 granddaddy. So now looking back we all label these games as survival horror.

Alone in the darks story is one of two playable characters, a male and female, how inclusive for the 90s is that?

Edward Carnby and Emily Hartwood are your two protagonists investigating the dark and gothic Manor. Each with a different reason for their visit, involving a request regarding a piano. The game itself is set in 1920s America, Louisiana to be precise.

So expect some dated stereotypes, language and behaviours.

The plot revolves around the evil entity haunting the property. After the owners apparent suicide is left undetermined and forgotten about by the local authorities, it's up to your dashing gent or lady to solve puzzles, inventory manage, fight monsters and navigate the dangers they face.

Sound familiar to any of you RE fans? It should do and now you should see how other creators took this idea and ran with it. Because if we're honest alone in the dark was a clunky mess and early days for interactive 3D games so its not great to play these days.

Alone In The Dark 1992

Nevertheless that's enough about the past as I won't spoil the plot, puzzles or monsters as we obviously now have a remake coming and its bound to borrow heavily from these. The game also had sequels that could be blended into the narrative and a reboot that just did not please fans. Alas we won't be touching on that abomination from 2008, it failed miserably in every conceivable way possible and it should be shelved away like the Ark of the covenant.

This time we have a from the ground up, total remake and reimagining of the original 1992 title in current generation fidelity, controls and storytelling. THQ and Pieces Interactive have unveiled a beautifully dark, gothic and twisted resembling reboot of sorts for the Alone In the dark franchise.

It's promising to follow the original plot but intensely more fleshed out. In turn it wishes to resemble that of similar recent remakes such as the Resident Evil 2. How about that, a game being inspired by another game and then in turn inspired by its child.

Magic, the world of gaming and creativity is just endlessly surprising at times.

Edward and Emily are set to return with full voice acting this time, modern gunplay and a new remixed soundtrack to accompany it. Think of it as all those past elements being updated and amalgamated for a modern gaming audience, sounds fantastic, right?

A Mysterious Lady of the Manor

A small number of changes have been mentioned to be implemented with the 2023 reimagining though, one such being that the two main characters we know Edward and Emily will have two different stories within the experience to create the definitive Alone In The Dark story.

Not like Leon and Claire from RE2 remake where its merely a handful of meet ups, two different perspectives but essentially the same narrative. This will be more like two entirely different experiences with varying plot points and specific characters you will or wont see.

There's also changes towards the environments and settings, Derceto Manor being a departure from what we know as the abandoned Manor owned by a wealthy dead uncle to a now mental hospital with wealthy people taking residence within.

Jeremy Hartwood will still play a part within the story as Emily's uncle and the initial reason for your visit but he's no longer dead, merely missing it appears. You'll also get to explore its grounds, what seems to be a nearby town or village and surprisingly a mirror dark world much like Silent Hill you can venture through via portals.

Imagine it to be like the recent Medium game by Bloober Team in that regard.

The Manor Entrance

Combat seems much more focused too with the standard melee, pistol and shotgun confirmed through the trailers and gameplay footage. Which will be a vast improvement over the original to say the least. Just trying to hit something in the 90s was like steering a wardrobe through jelly and while that sounds like fun, trust me it is not.

Edward fighting off a Demon

Although arguably the most exciting aspect of all this for me personally and hopefully a lot of you is that the narrative piece of Alone in the Darks remake is being penned by none other than Mikael Hedberg, the writer responsible for Amnesia and SOMA.

Two incredible pieces of horror fiction that have stuck with me personally since playing them.

Noteworthy aspects of this remake were also mentioned in regards to combat and theme.

Offensive and defence will be an important piece of the moment to moment gameplay. Knowing what monsters you can easily deal with and which are worth running from is vital to the dev team.

The developers also promised a different take on what the survival horror genre has come to mean. The original inspiration for the 1992 entry was very much H.P. Lovecraft and what we know now as Lovecraftian themes that focus on dark, brooding and atmospheric forms of psychological and horrific dread. We are not entirely sure what they mean by this different take but it's fair to say its an exciting time to be a fan of horror, alone in the dark or just gaming in general with this announcement.

After all this, hopefully now you have more of a personal understanding of what the franchise is and what to expect for when it's estimated to release on PC, PlayStation and Xbox consoles sometime in 2023.

(Video feature here)

By John Perry