Alone in the Dark 3

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Description

After surviving through two encounters with the supernatural in Derceto and Hell's Kitchen, detective Edward Carnby is ready for another round of being Alone in the Dark.

In the third game in the series, we learn that Emily Hartwood (the other main character from the original game) started a career in Hollywood movies after surviving her ordeal in Derceto. Her latest project is a spaghetti western being filmed in an abandoned western ghost town called Slaughter Gultch, which rests precariously on the edge of the San Andreas fault. Originally a gold town set up rather rudely on ancient Indian sacred ground, Slaughter Gultch was founded by a man named Jebediah Stone and run by his own private army of cold-blooded killers. Stone and his men were killed by angry villagers led by the local Blacksmith, and the town was abandoned soon after. Unfortunately, Emily's crew disturbs the spirits of Stone and his men, who promptly return to the world of the living and proceed to kill off the film crew one by one.

Carnby is called to Slaughter Gultch after learning of the disappearance of Emily and her crew, and is soon met by Stone's Zombie Cowboy gang. Armed with various western paraphenalia such as colt peacemakers, bullwhips, and even a gatling gun, Carnby must fight his way through Stone's minions and discover Emily's fate. Along the way he learns some surprising things about Stone's origin, as well as a sinister plan interrupted by his death which involved the destruction of the west coast and which Stone can now pursue once again.

The gameplay is similar to the two predecessors: The player guides Carnby through static 3D screens which regularly switch camera perspectives. He collects various items and uses them to solve puzzles. Additionally to using items there are four actions which are triggered with the press of a button: jump (only at pre-defined places), open/examine, move (e.g. pushing) and fight. The latter is an important gameplay mechanics because many situations require a violent approach: the player either uses melee attacks or other weapons (with scarce ammo resources). The player has to aim manually and can set Carnby's and the enemy's life energy (which greatly affects the difficulty) in three steps.

Screenshots

Promo Images

Alternate Titles

• "鬼屋魔影3" -- Chinese spelling (simplified)
• "Alone in the Dark 3: The God's been unearthed, now only secrets remain..." -- Tag-lined title
• "Alone in the Dark 3: Ghosts in Town" -- Windows 3.1 in-game title
• "AITD3" -- Common abbreviation

Part of the Following Groups

• Alone in the Dark series
• Non-traditional Westerns
• Setting: Interwar
• Setting: Western / Old West

User Reviews

Zombie cowboys, a ghost town and loads of adventuring.	DOS	Sycada (191)
Just as great as the original.	DOS	Melvin Raeynes (26)

Critic Reviews

PC Gamer	DOS	May, 1995	88 out of 100	88
PC Games (Germany)	DOS	Feb, 1995	85 out of 100	85
Play Time	DOS	Feb, 1995	81 out of 100	81
All Game Guide	Macintosh	1998		80
High Score	Macintosh	Apr, 1996	4 out of 5	80
Quandary	DOS	Apr, 1995		80
PC Joker	DOS	Jan, 1995	73 out of 100	73
PC Player (Germany)	DOS	Feb, 1995	67 out of 100	67
Adventure Classic Gaming	DOS	Nov 02, 1997		60
Computer Gaming World (CGW)	DOS	Jun, 1995		20

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Trivia

Edward Carnby still listens to the radio after his landlord cut the power off. It was possible for crystal radios with cat's whisker detector: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_radio