Welcome to another edition of Retro Corner and this time we take a break from Doom to look at an older PC game known as Alone in the Dark. The studio called Infogrames developed the first entry in the niche series and released it in 1992. Now I know what some of you are thinking when this comes to Alone in the Dark. Most gamers probably heard of it through that awful movie adaptation in 2005. The series is not that bad (still a far cry from Silent Hill or Amnesia) and in fact, AITD is where the horror puzzle solving genre came from. During the 80s, this genre and style could only be accomplished through text-based or over the top view games because of the limited technology even for PC. Surprisingly enough, AITD took the genre away from it limited predecessors and into 3D as a new form of standard. The story takes place in 1924 where Emily Hartwood gets a letter from an attorney of the Louisiana police finding her uncle Jeremy Hartwood has committed suicide. Even a private detective named Edward Carnby wanted to investigate the bizarre case and heads to the mansion by himself to solve the mystery. Gameplay The gameplay has aged badly after 25 years with tank movements and clunky controls. The objective is to explore the mansion filled with death traps and enemies that can also appear random at times. As the player explores each room, you will collect and use items whether to heal, use ammo, and place an important object in a certain spot to progress. That is all there is between encountering enemies, collecting items and make use of the objects to solve puzzles. I found it interesting how you can still fight off monsters with punches and kicks. Not even the Resident Evil series in the 90s had such a feature since whenever a weapon wasn't equipped then you become defenseless. Honestly, this actually helped at times especially with kicking an enemy when I wasn't equipped with a weapon. There are several weapons to use like the bow, revolver, rifle, knife, sword, and dagger. However, the player is better off using the sword or dagger because good luck trying to aim in the proper direction with a gun. Remember when I said clunky controls well the aiming system is atrocious because of them. It's even worse when the enemies like the dog creatures rush at the player. If you don't aim precisely in their direction, they can drain your health in seconds. The death traps are a little annoying and you won't know they are there until activating them. In just the beginning upon entering the first hall, there was one along the floor in the middle. I get what kind of concept Infogrames went for, it was the suspense of not knowing what awaited the player where ever they went inside the mansion. However, today AITD now comes off cheap as I shouldn't have to open a door to lead to an instant Game Over. Of course, despite the game's outdated features and questionable level design, there are a few things that haven't aged badly. The puzzles are decently designed with either placing something in a spot or using a certain object to get passed a monster/spirit. These were very cryptic to solve with the only hint being the item collected and the rooms you visited. The developers should've designed some hints because unless you played the game several times is the only way for the player to know. Rating: 7.1/10 Graphics/Presentation If any gamers are expecting Resident Evil or Silent Hill style environments then this is this wrong horror game for them. AITD has aged terribly as the detail that seemed scary in 1992 looks as if some amateurs created it in Microsoft Paint. How am I supposed to get scared of a cartoonish haunted house? The Splatterhouse port on the TurboGrafx came off more of a horror-themed environment than Derceto. It's funny how that was a waterdown port on a barely 16-bit system compared to something on the powerful PC. Similar to Resident Evil, AITD uses pre-rendered backgrounds to present the environment. The problem is this tries to present a 3D place but how can it when the backgrounds are pixel drawn 2D textures. The pre-rendered backdrops in the Resident Evil Trilogy are 3D developed textures. By using 2D sprite textures makes this less scary and comes off cheesier than an R.L. Stein novel. I guess when your spoiled by games like Amnesia and even Silent Hill will make you think such things. The 3D models are hilariously bad now, and it's because they look so blocky (probably the most polygonic I have ever seen). I understand that 3D technology was still in its early years and there wasn't any standard to follow. However, the developers should have scaled back their ambitions and tried using detailed 2D sprites. They could have even explored digitizing software like Ed Boon did for Mortal Kombat. All they had to do was create detailed 3D models for the characters. Then digitize them and place each one on a sprite similar to how Rare did it for the Donkey Kong Country Trilogy. The fact that cartoonish blocky zombies and even a fairytale style pirate (I'm not making that up) are the threats, I can't take these monsters seriously. Then there is the voice acting and damn is it awful that I was snickering through each spoken dialogue. You thought the first Resident Evil had this worse, that game isn't even on the same level as this hot garbage. The acting is so forced that when the characters sound horrified or depressed, it was as if the dialogue came out of a Goosebumps episode. The spoken dialogue doesn't work if the studio can't even hire decent voice actors for the job. The last thing to talk about is the music and sound effects but they felt generic and too obvious. Nothing from the soundtrack or the sound effects engaged me at all especially when a wolf cry is heard in a generic fashion. Or when dire music starts to play and a blocky enemy appears then I'm compelled to facepalm. Rating: 6.7/10 Story The plot is probably the only thing that has aged decently since 1992. Despite its simplicity on the surface, it's the notes that truly tell the story. These notes come in the form of books and papers you will find around the mansion. Despite the forced voice acting, each memo explains some of the histories about Derceto. I'll actually start with the characters and not much of their personality wasn't shown enough except at the start of the story. It gives you a reason to see why they get involved in searching the property. The problem is they don't show any traits or even in their dialogue through the course of the adventure. The main villain is Ezechiel Pregtz, a soul of a former pirate from the 17th-century who gotten sealed inside a tree under the mansion in the late 1860s. It turns out during his life that the former pirate used black magic and voodoo to achieve a temporary form of immortality. I found him a little interesting because according to the notes he's been nearly everywhere in the world. Due to this, it's implied he worshiped Cthulhu and used any connection regarding the near god-like creature. I also love how some aspects of H.P. Lovecraft got used as inspiration hence what the cover says. That couldn't be any truer as the Lovecraftian style was a great way to tell the backstory. The writer of this story needed to put more effort into presented Pregtz often. Yes, he appeared as a "fairytale pirate" in a room as a "mid-boss", but you need more than that to showcase him as a threat. It's the first Final Fantasy with Garland all over again as a villain should be involved in the story often than waiting until the end. Rating: 7.3/10 Features/Content It's unusual for PC games to lack any content even back then in the 90s. Nevertheless, AITD is nearly absent of any kind with only one scenario of choosing between Emily or Edward. All there is to the game is the one scenario of finding the secrets of Derceto. You could pick between Emily or Edward, however, it's the same sequence of events regardless who you choose. They both even play the same way so it's pointless to pick either one anyway. There isn't even a hard mode to challenge the players further. Infogrames shouldn't have decided against developing different parts for either character because then this would've added replay value. Even cheat codes should've been considered, something fun to mess around with like infinite ammo or invincibility. Unfortunately, there isn't much more that I could go into that wasn't criticized already. Rating: 6.0/10 Final Rating As already stated, AITD has terribly aged on nearly all fronts from the outdated clunky controls and graphics to the lack of content. It wasn't just the clunky controls but the cryptic nature of figuring things out on your own without any hints. I only found a couple of puzzles which came off obvious to me but for the rest had me stumped and not in a clever way. The graphics are probably the worst aging I have seen from any 3D game over the years. It looks so cartoonish now that I could hardly take any of this seriously most of the time. The music came off like some cheap haunted house soundtrack, you know the kind that you get on a CD at your local dollar store during Halloween. Even the song when the player comes across a monster is so forced that all I could do was facepalm. The speaking dialogue was much worse compared to any game that came out in the 90s. The story is the only thing to age properly and the Lovecraftian style as an inspiration diffidently helped. The main antagonist of Ezechiel Pregtz was the saving grace of the story in many ways and it's because he was a villain of great intellect. I mean this guy explored the world, learned about many cultures that also dabbled in dark magic, and worshiped different gods. The content is the worst thing about the entire package as only one scenario regardless who the player chooses is the same thing. AITD may have taken this genre into 3D, however, age has not been kind to it. Gameplay: 7.1/10 Graphics/Presentation: 6.7/10 Story: 7.3/10 Features/Content: 6.0/10 Final Rating: 6.7/10 Average
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Retro Gamer has over 25 years of gaming experience and played many classics since the Golden Age. She has been an avid fan since the day the NES graced her life and changed it forever.
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