Watch This Before You Play Alone in the Dark | Alone in the Dark (2024) Review
29Check out our review of Alone in the Dark 2024, a brand new adaptation of the 1992 classic survival horror game.
We'll tell you everything you need to know before you play, featuring the gameplay, story, visuals and more. And most importantly, if you're allowed to call him Dedward Harbny. I'm so sorry...
#AloneintheDark #HorrorGame #Review
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The Alone in the Dark franchise has a complicated past.
All the way back in 1992, it threw upon the door for the survival horror genre, and without it, we may never have had the likes of Resident Evil or Silent Hill.
But since then, there’s probably been more lows than highs. New Nightmare was a great addition, but the likes of the overly ambitious 2008 reboot and 2015’s truly abysmal Alone in the Dark: Illumination haven’t done much to keep the series relevant for a long, long time.
At least we can all agree the Uwe Boll film adaptation was absolutely perfect and anyone who says differently can take it up with Mr Boll in the ring.
Anywho, will this 2024 reimagining of the original game kickstart things in the right direction for the franchise?
Taking it back to the early 20th century, the story follows Emily Hartwood with the help of private investigator Edward Carnby arriving at Derceto Manor, a psychiatric hospital, after discovering that her uncle Jeremy has gone missing. As you can imagine with such a setting, it’s not long before you encounter monsters, arcane conspiracies and portals to haunted drea worlds.
You know, the usual.
But will it live up to the heady heights of the series, or will it prove to be its final nail coffin? Watch on to find out.
So in a similar vein to other recent survival horror remakes, the gameplay has been completely rebuilt for modern sensibilities. Gone are the fixed camera angles, making way for a third person, over the shoulder perspective.
While you explore the manor building, things are a little slower and methodical. There’s lots of puzzles to figure out and residents to interact with, all of which helps to slowly piece together the story. To be honest, when I first saw the first gameplay trailers, I was a little worried it was going to fall into the walking simulator category, but after getting hands on it’s so much more.
Sidebar, there’s actually some great walking sim games. Definitely check out Everybody's Gone to the Rapture.
The puzzles are challenging and the characters really breathe life into the dusty old haunted house. In a way, the Derceto Manor feels like a big puzzle box. You gradually unlock more rooms and go deeper into its mysteries. Also the walls literally move, which makes it feel like you’re in a spooky Rubik's Cube.
Depending on how much of a challenge you want, not only can you adjust the difficulty, but also choose between ‘Modern’ and ‘Old School’ mode. ‘Modern’ gives you a host of helpful features, including more interactive maps and easier to follow objectives. ‘Old School’ mode does away with all of this, meaning you’ll really have to get into the weeds and hope you don’t miss that one clue you walked past thirty minutes ago. Let me know if you beat it this way, that’s mighty impressive.
But exploring the halls of Derceto Manor is only part of the Alone in the Dark experience. You’ll spend time in a liminal dream world that’ll take you to all manner of horrible places, from an abandoned oil rig to the French Quarter, now riddled with nasty ghoulies.
These areas tend to be a lot more action packed, meaning you can really sink your teeth into the combat systems. After recently playing the Resident Evil 2 remake, I was surprised at just how much combat there was here. You’ll have access to guns, and while ammo isn’t as scarce as in Resi, some enemies will soak up bullets like crazy before they go down, particularly on the harder difficulties.
Fortunately, you’ll also be able to find throwable explosives and some chonky-looking melee weapons to keep the baddies at bay. I was genuinely impressed with the depth and variety of the action, and while I enjoyed the moments in the manor, I think these dream world moments will be the ones that stick in my memory. They were a lot of fun...
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