Alone In The Dark Review – Not So Alone

Alone in the Dark is what I want to see more of in modern gaming. It’s a strictly single-player game, although its dual protagonists might have made co-op an enticing angle. It’s primarily focused on exploration and puzzle solving, not all-out action. It’s linear. And, most importantly, it’s a double-A game, at a time when they have mostly died out in favor of triple-A behemoths and indies made by tiny teams.

It’s also a reminder that execution is everything. And, on that front, Alone in the Dark is a mixed bag.

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Alone In The Dark’s Playable Teaser Sets Up The Horror Series’ Return

The PAX East demo offered a brief prologue starring returning character, Grace.

As the game begins, Emily Hartwood and Edward Carnby pull up to Derceto Manor, a familiar setting that fans will remember from the first game which launched the survival horror genre all the way back in 1992. Hartwood and Carnby were also the protagonists of that classic, though this time around they’re played by The Last Duel’s Jodie Comer and Stranger Things’ David Harbour. The other twist is that, while in the original game, Emily’s uncle Jeremy had died by suicide before the story began, this time around he’s still alive and Emily and Edward — each with their own campaign — have come to get him out of Derceto, now reimagined as a mental hospital beset by an unexplainable rot.

To do that, they need to explore the manor, solve puzzles, shoot black gooey monsters, and journey into Jeremy’s dreams, which take them far beyond the reaches of Derceto. Alone in the Dffark does a decent job of capturing the loop I look for in this style of survival horror. As your journey begins, Derceto is a collection of locked doors that need keys. When you find a door that’s unlocked, you may open it only to find a stream of hot steam on the other side, sending you off in search of a valve. There are shortcuts to unlock, puzzles to solve, and strange, but important, objects to find.

Pacing can be a problem, as you will often be given multiple items at once, instead of the game parceling them out at a less overwhelming cadence. Key items are sometimes right next to the thing you need to use them on. I hit an obstacle caused by an electrified puddle, then found the switch to turn the circuit breaker off immediately next to the body of shocked water. Sometimes you’ll even pick up two keys at the same time. It can give the game an odd rhythm, but, by and large, I still enjoyed traipsing through Derceto to solve puzzles and fight off the supernatural.

Combat is nothing to write home about, and thankfully, there isn’t much of it. Gunplay is serviceable. The melee is janky, and feels more like your weapon is clipping through a 3D model than like you’re actually engaged with an enemy. Bullets are plentiful enough, though, that I only used melee weapons as a last resort. Alone in the Dark focuses instead on puzzle-solving and, though there are a few too many sliding block puzzles, I largely enjoyed the emphasis on brain power over bullets. Much like the original, this is a game following ordinary people trying to survive in extraordinary circumstances, so it just wouldn’t feel right letting them let off several rounds into everything that moved. Unlike the 2008 remake, which we don’t talk about.

The dual campaigns can also be underwhelming. At one point, while playing as Emily I ran into Edward and asked if he’d seen anything weird, or had reason to fire his gun. He said he hadn’t, which had me intrigued to see his side of the story once I completed my current playthrough. But when I actually got to the second campaign, I found that Edward very much did fire his gun because the gameplay was exactly the same.

Edward subbed in for the story moments I had previously played through as Emily, and those moments did play a little different with Harbour instead of Comer. But don’t go in expecting this to be Resident Evil 2, where each campaign takes you on a different journey through the same night. I didn’t end up finishing the Edward campaign because I’m having serious tech issues with my PS5, but in the first two chapters both campaigns amounted to one journey with minor alterations.

That journey isn’t always smooth, as I encountered some major bugs, which were almost entirely contained within one level. In an early mission around an oil rig, I hit a persistent audio glitch, where all the sound dropped out and was replaced with a loud, grating noise. It got worse after a day one patch, as the audio bug was also accompanied by the game crashing to the dashboard over and over at the same spot. I straight up couldn’t get past an early moment in the Edward campaign after the new patch because the crashes were so consistent.

Alone in the Dark is, interestingly, a more communal game than I tend to expect from survival horror. You’re frequently running into the other inhabitants of Derceto. I enjoyed talking to them, though the writing isn’t especially good, but the game never really delivers on its title and all that company prevents it from ever really getting scary. This is a solid enough retread if you’ve played through Dead Space and the Resident Evil remakes and want more. But it won’t bring many converts to the genre. We’ll have to settle for being alone, together, in the dark. Which sorta defeats the entire point when you think about it.

Alone in the Dark

Reviewed on PS5.

Pros

• Solid exploration loop
• Keeps focus on puzzle-solving, not combat

Cons

• Some major technical issues, even after a day one patch
• Some pacing issues
• Never all that scary