Alone in the Dark
- Alone in the Dark (1994 on DOS)
- Alone in the Dark (2008 on PlayStation 2, Wii)
- Alone in the Dark (2008 on Windows, Xbox 360)
- Alone in the Dark (2008 on Windows)
- Alone in the Dark (2024 on Windows, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series)
Description official descriptions
Jeremy Hartwood has committed suicide in his Louisiana mansion, Derceto. You take the role of either Edward Carnby, a private investigator, or Emily Hartwood, Jeremy's niece, and investigate the suspicious death. The three-floor mansion is reputed to be haunted by its eccentric past owner. Very quickly, you realise that it is. Warped rats, zombies, and giant worms are among the foes who are after you, and you must somehow escape.
Alone in the Dark is an action-adventure survival horror game. The action is displayed from a number of fixed viewpoints. The backgrounds are 2D painted images, while the player character, all items, and monsters are rendered as 3D models.
To escape the mansion, you'll have to solve a number of puzzles. They usually involve finding an item and using it in a proper place. Apart from items necessary for the puzzles, you can also find books and documents that can be read, healing items which can be consumed to restore hit points, and weapons.
Weapons come in handy since Derceto is full of various monsters. Some monsters can be killed with weapons, but others are either impossible to kill or require a bit of thinking to take down. Note also that you have limited amounts of ammunition, so you have to use firearms carefully.
Spellings
- アローン・イン・ザ・ダーク - Japanese spelling
- 鬼屋魔影 - Chinese spelling (simplified)
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Screenshots
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Credits (DOS version)
39 People (35 developers, 4 thanks) · View all
Producer | |
Realized & Directed by | |
First Assistant | |
Programming | |
Production Designer (2D Graphics) | |
3D Modeling & Animation | |
Original Music & Sound FX | |
Mixed by |
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Screenplay | |
Product Manager (US) | |
Product Manager (EU) | |
Translation |
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Best Boys | |
Special Thanks To |
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JACK IN THE DARK and the CD-ROM conversions | |
[ full credits ] |
Reviews
Critics
Average score: 76% (based on 51 ratings)
Players
Average score: 3.9 out of 5 (based on 201 ratings with 14 reviews)
Horror, Cthulhiana and great fun
The Good
The Alone in the Dark games are some of my favourite games from the early to mid-nineties. Carnby was sort of a hero for me, and I've spent hours and hours playing the games...more than once. The first game was, as I recall, one of the first (if not the first) Infogrames games to take advantage of the Cthulhu license. Yes, the game is in fact set in the universe of H.P. Lovecraft, where ancient horrors once ruled the world and man lives in blissful ignorance of the truth.
The game doesn't reveal much about the Cthulhu mythos though, choosing instead to be more of a haunted house story. The interface is similar to that of the more recent Resident Evil games, as are the graphics. The camera angles are what you can expect from a horror game - creepy and suggestive. If you play this at night with headphones and all the lights turned out, don't be surprised if you feel more than a little edgy. Another high point of the game is the sound (not to mention the music). I'm not sure if there's a disk version of the game, but if there is, it must be vastly inferior to the CD version, which has CD audio not only for music, but also for the incredible speech in the game (which you only hear when reading books/letters).
The Bad
The game may be a bit too hard for some. I don't believe there are any difficulty settings, so if you're looking for a straight adventure game, Alone in the Dark is not for you.
It's also not as good as the second game :).
The Bottom Line
An excellent survival-horror game with excellent production values. Although one would expect so, it still holds up to the expectations of the modern games player ;).
DOS · by Christian Svindseth (2) · 2001
The Good
What could you not like about a game that takes place within the ancient house of a fallen family? This game is the precursor to the survival horror genre and one of the first to animate a polygonal character against a pre-rendered background.
From the moment you take over the playing you must barricade yourself or get attacked by monsters. Also, this game makes great use of camera angles. There is nothing creepier than entering a room and seeing a hint of a monster just behind you.
Finally, loved the library. There are some books that aren't meant to be read.
The Bad
Graphically this game doesn't hold up well. Audio is a little shaky. The biggest problem is the controls, sluggish would be a kind way to describe it.
The Bottom Line
While still a fun game, if you didn't play this game in its time, then you might wonder what the big deal is. One of the better Lovecraft games though.
DOS · by Terrence Bosky (5397) · 2001
An okay-game of horror and survival
The Good
This game is cool. The movement is excellent and the items range from matchboxes to revolves. Some are used to kick monsters, and some are for environment. (oil lamps etc.) The fighting and shots are much more realistic than it's other 2 follow-up games. The atmosphere is freaky and the music is cool too.
The Bad
This was a little too short for me. Sometimes the lack of baddies annoy me too. And you can get lost VERY easily in that old house, man.
The Bottom Line
This game inspired the Resident Evil (the best horror genre EVER!) series and several great games because of it's atmosphere, movement and realism.
DOS · by Zsolt Pardi (6) · 2000
Discussion
Subject | By | Date |
---|---|---|
Crime doesn't pay | chirinea (47495) | Nov 8, 2011 |
Trivia
1001 Video Games
Alone in the Dark appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.
Backgrounds
All backgrounds were rendered in 3D via multiple camera angles, then converted to 2D.
Budget
Alone in the Dark was made with a budget of US $400,000.
Christmas CD re-release
There was a Christmas CD re-release with all the patches and Jack in the Dark.
Development
According to the French book La saga des Jeux Videos, by Daniel Ichbiah, the original title would have been In the Dark. The idea came from the Infogrames' PDG, Bruno Bonnell, and one of his collaborators, Eric Motet. The player would have been constantly in the dark, having only 3 matches he could use to progress.
Frederic Raynal, an Infogrames coder who was working on a 3D engine in his free time, tried to integrate the project very soon, but he didn't succeeded in convincing Eric Motet. He then finished his 3D engine and made a demo with an Infogrames artist Didier Chanfray. The result was shown to the managers in 1991 and it was judged so good Raynal became the project leader.
After a first attempt by the team itself, the scenario was written by Hubert Chardot, an independent writer who had worked for the 20th Century Fox and was a real Lovecraft fan. The definitive version was finished in only 3 afternoons, the whole team participating. Chaosium, judging it was unfaithful to Lovecraft's work, refused to validate it, thus losing any right to perceive royalties on it. It's also at this moment that the definitive title was chosen.
Last but not least.. when the project was in its early stage, Frederic Raynal met Yael Barroz, an Infogrames artist which integrated the team. They married very soon.
More details can be found in the book already mentioned; this is just a partial summary.
Inspiration to other games
Besides the obvious sequels, this game also "inspired" two other Infogrames Cthulu games, Shadow of the Comet and Prisoner of Ice. Two books in the game refer to Lord Boleskine and his ill-fated expedition to Illsmouth, which was later used as the basis for Shadow of the Comet's plot. Another book refers to the Prisoners of Ice who are featured in the Infogrames game of the same name.
This game is widely reported as being the inspiration for the Resident Evil series for both its graphical innovation and "survival horror" plot. But in terms of the graphic engine, a similar approach was used in Cruise for a Corpse.
Inspiration
The story was inspired by a supposedly true event. A man by the name of Edward Carnby spent a night in an old house by the name of Decerto to prove that it wasn't haunted. The following morning it is reported that Carnby used a pay phone to call someone called Gloria Allen and according to a witness he looked like "he'd been fighting 'gators all night."
Virtual Dreams
Before its release, Infogrames announced that Alone in the Dark would be the first in a new series of games; The "Virtual Dreams" series. Each game would have a totally different plot and setting, but they would all use the same engine. The original Alone in the Dark box (at least, in Europe) had different cover art, and featured the "Virtual Dreams" title. The game was later re-issued in its current box design, and there was no further mention, from Infogrames, of the "Virtual Dreams" series.
Awards
- Computer Gaming World
- February 1996 (Issue #139) – Introduced into the Hall of Fame
- November 1996 (15th anniversary issue) - #88 on the 150 Best Games of All Time list
- November 1996 (15th anniversary issue) – #14 Best Way To Die In Computer Gaming (being dragged into the underworld and sacrificed after)
- GameFan
- Vol.3, Iss. 1 - Best 3DO Action/Adventure Game of the Year in 1994
- Game Informer
- October 2005 (issue #136) - one of the Top 25 Most Influential Games of All Time
- GameStar (Germany)
- Issue 12/1999 - #34 in the "100 Most Important PC Games of the Nineties" ranking
- ECTS Awards 1993
- Most original game
- Game of the year France
- Best graphics
Information also contributed by Alan Chan, Andrew Grasmeder, Big John WV, hydra9, Joshua Dove, Karthik KANE, Sycada and Yeba
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Related Sites +
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Postmortem Video - How the game was crafted
A video featuring Alone in the Dark designer Frédérick Raynal discussing in depth the creation of Alone in the Dark on it's twentieth anniversary. Video is about an hour long, taken on March 9, 2012 at GDC 2012. Content starts at time index 13:32 in the video. -
Walkthrough on GameFAQs
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Brian Hirt.
FM Towns added by Sciere. Acorn 32-bit, iPad, iPhone added by Kabushi. PC-98 added by Terok Nor. Macintosh added by Scaryfun. 3DO added by Indra was here.
Additional contributors: Matthew Bailey, Xantheous, Brolin Empey, Unicorn Lynx, Sciere, Pirou Julien, Patrick Bregger, Rik Hideto, li zhen, FatherJack, BlaringCoder, Johny Barreau.
Game added October 25, 1999. Last modified May 10, 2024.