Alone in The Dark

A Dark Psychological story.

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Platform: PS5 PC Xbox X|S

Reviewed on: PC

Developer: Pieces Interactive

Publisher: THQ Nordic

Release: March 20, 2024

Time Played:

Genre: Survival Horror

ESRB: M

Intro:

Alone in The Dark is a dark and mysterious game that will test your mettle against puzzles, take you through scary environments, and throw dangerous enemies at you while you explore an old mansion set in the 1930s. This game is sold as a survival horror with psychological twists, which may sound like something right up your alley, but before you play the game for yourself, please allow me to give you a rundown of what to expect before I give you my own thoughts and ratings for the game.

Where it starts

In the 1930s Emily Hartwood’s uncle goes missing while staying at Derceto Manor, a psychiatric hospital located in Louisiana. She hires a private investigator, Edward Carnby, and they both head to the manor to locate her uncle. They are met with cranky orderlies looking for her uncle, odd tenants, and the shifty Dr. Gray. Through their investigation of the situation Emily and Edward go through so much more than they could have ever imagined.

Can the kids watch

You will find a few curse words thrown around by the characters and some really disgusting scary monsters to deal with, usually fighting them off with the guns found in the game. Most of it wasn’t terrible if the kids wanted to watch, perhaps a little boring for an audience, however there was one scene that seemed to come out of nowhere that is very graphic and kind of disturbing. I’m not going to spoil the game, but I definitely don’t want my kids watching that part.

Different Perspectives

When you start the game, you will get the option to play as Edward or Emily. The gameplay didn’t change much between the characters, they have their own chapter of the game unique to them and the cut scenes play out slightly different. But everything else was the same. Same puzzles, collectible layout, and enemies. I played through with both characters and feel like the story plays out better and makes more sense from Emily’s point of view.

The Mansion

Derceto Manor was quite large with multiple stories and rooms to explore. The story was laid out in such a way to keep you locked out of certain areas until you find the right items to get through and move the story forward. You do find a map that will color the rooms you’ve explored, changing color if you found everything available in that room. There were a lot of puzzles and collectibles to discover so your work will be cut out for you if you want everything.

Journals

As you play the game there will be a journal that fills itself out, helping to keep you from getting lost if you forget your objective. It will also keep track of all the notes you pick up along the way, which was nice because you will probably need to go back into those notes regularly to answer some puzzles. Not all the notes have to do with your investigation, some give a lengthy story about the history of the house. Most of the notes come with a voiceover so you don’t even have to read all of them.

Fight or Run

While exploring the game you will run into quite a few different enemies, they move stiffly but still pack a punch if they get close. Depending on what weapon you choose to fight them off with, they may take a bit to beat. However, due to their slow movements it’s possible to dodge past everything. A quick dodge can avoid attacks and almost move you right through the enemies, the only thing to worry about then would be the overwhelming numbers that could quickly take you out with one wrong move.

Puzzles

This game had a lot of brain teasing puzzles to get through. Quite a few of them were fun to figure out while some were very confusing, to me anyway. On more than one occasion I got lucky pushing buttons and moving my joysticks around before a solution was discovered. And there were some combination locks to figure out. I’m sure there were solutions somewhere for all of them, but there were a couple that didn’t take too long to brute force my way through before they opened for me.

Lagniappes (lan-yaps)

As if dealing with the supernatural weirdness of the manor wasn’t enough, you will have to pick up some collectibles along the way. I mean, it’s hard not to pick them up anyway. Known as Lagniappes, these collectibles come in sets of three and usually reward you with a little more story. However, sometimes they do unlock some very useful items, giving you a small hint where to look or unlocking some special doors for you. When I started a new game it save the collectibles I had previously found, and some were hidden in such a way that you won’t find them your first playthrough.

Outro:

I wonder if having played the earlier games in the Alone in The Dark series might change one’s perspective of this game. This was my first experience in the series and I was left underwhelmed. It didn’t turn out near as scary as I would have liked, and the characters didn’t seem to react appropriately when the craziness started. It seemed odd how far they were willing to go and how casual they treated the whole situation.

Although a few of the monsters did look good and scary, the rest of the game seemed bland. The environments were small, limiting me from going anywhere except for where I was supposed to with a few monsters in the way sometimes. The combat was simple, shoot monsters until they die or try and dogde out of the way. There was a stealth option by crouching and throwing items to distract enemies, but it was difficult to stay out of the monsters line of sight in a few places. I found it was much easier to avoid all monsters by dodging through them until I found the destination. The only redeeming parts would be the few good puzzles that were fun to figure out, however there were a couple bad puzzles that weren’t explained very well and I just fumbled with the buttons until it was done.

The story did have it’s moments of intrigue, the biggest problem I had with it was the acting involved. I understood what they were talking about, but they did a poor job portraying the correct emotions tied to what was happening, they seemed unmoved by the events around them. I enjoyed the backstory of the manor and the world built around the characters, just not the characters.

I played through the game twice because there was an option of going through with different characters, to see if there was a big difference. The game was basically the same no matter who you choose to play, I did enjoy Emily’s perspective more, there seemed to be more explanation in the cut scenes and lines from the characters. Carnby came off as more of a hardass when you play as Emily, but the character was a lot more believable.

Have you ever played Alone in The Dark? Any of them from the 90s until now? Please let me know your thoughts, is this better having experience with those, or just a flop?

And with that, it’s now time to get my ratings underway

The visuals weren’t great, but not absolutely terrible, I’m giving it a two.

The story was interesting, but it felt like the execution was lacking, I’m giving it a three.

Gameplay was clunky and slow, I’m giving it a one.

I did play through the game twice, but only due to the size and curiosity, but I wouldn’t rate the replayability high, it’s getting another one.

The puzzles were fun, and finishing was great, but the majority of the time was a little bland for my taste, it’s getting a two.

Giving Alone in The Dark an average score of one point eight out of five. Because of that it’s getting a spot down there on the bottom shelf. I wouldn’t recommend getting this game if you want a good scare or psychological experience, especially for the asking price.