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Retro|Spective 062: Alone in the Dark

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    Retro|Spective 062: Alone in the Dark

    With Halloween beginning to drag its crawling corpse towards us we turn our attention back towards the darkest corners of your gaming nights, facing the feverish despair and ghoulish horrors of being...




    Mainline Entry 01 - Alone in the Dark
    Formats:
    PC, 3DO and Mac
    Set in 1920's Louisiana, Edward Carnby finds himself trapped in the attic of a haunted mansion one dark night and must try to find a way of surviving the horrors that lurked its hallways. Pretty much the origin point for the survival horror franchise that would later see its popularity explode when Capcom would unleash the similarly moulded Resident Evil series on the world, players have to solve puzzles and defeat creatures using their wits and any weapons at hand as they explore the mansion that other than its four exterior walls is open to exploration. Its tone, and the inventive and original isometric viewpoints blew critics away and the game met immediate sales and critical success.



    Spin Off Entry 01 - Jack in the Dark
    Formats:
    PC and Others
    A smaller side dish created whilst development of a true sequel was underfoot, Jack featured no combat and focused on a small child locked in a toy shop over Christmas along with a possessed Jack in a Box



    Mainline Entry 02 - Alone in the Dark 2
    Formats:
    PC, 3DO, Playstation, Saturn and Mac
    As often seems to be the way with survival horror sequels, the second main game stepped back the horror elements in favour of action for this sequel. Taking on more of a pirate theme, the second entry plays out in a more linear manner than the original. Playing as both Carny and the grown up girl from the side game, Grace Saunders, you re-explore the Mansion but also the surrounding grounds and caves as you set out to stop the evil forces returning. The game arrived too late however, Resident Evil having already stolen its crown and limiting the originators appeal.



    Mainline Entry 03 - Alone in the Dark 3
    Formats:
    PC and Mac
    Arriving the very next year but in a much more, and to this day, limited manner was the third game in the series. Sent to a ghost town on a new case, Edward sets out to find out why people have been disappearing. The games wild west theme marked it out as different but in terms of gameplay the third entry continued down a familiar path. It's limited release however meant the game remained a little played entry and any continuation was always likely to take the form of a rethink.



    Mainline Entry 04 - Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare
    Formats:
    PC, Playstation, Playstation 2, Dreamcast and Game Boy Color
    Rebooting the franchise into a modern day setting, the new game saw Carnby on the hunt following the death of a friend. The new entry took things back to the manor even though it was a reboot and gave two players to choose from, taking its lead from its rival. This was the entry that introduced the 'light' mechanic where your flashlight could hinder enemies. The new game was favourably received and somewhat repopularised the franchise even if some of the players may not have been that aware of the importance of the series origins.



    Mainline Entry 05 - Alone in the Dark
    Formats:
    PC, Playstation 2, Wii, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360
    The new game pretty much rebooted the series again as an open world survival horror with an episodic structure and driving elements. Most of the gameplay retained what had worked from the previous game but in a narrative manner that could potentially be led back to the original trilogy more. Large scale set pieces were included that led to numerous technical issues but this new approach once again led to sales success that the series would again fail to follow up on to its own demise.



    Spin Off Entry 02 - Alone in the Dark: Illumination
    Formats:
    PC
    Designed as a cheaply made multiplayer title, this closing release came late and very flawed. A four player co-op title, it took elements from the successful predecessor title but was a mess and received franchise low sales and reviews upon release, it now acts as a tombstone to the once promising series.



    Share your thoughts and memories of Alone in the Dark

    #2
    I just remember finding the original quite scary - but I was very young, to the point where I don't remember anything about it.

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      #3
      First one was on the Acorn too!

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        #4
        My memory is telling me that I have played the first one but, looking at the systems it was out on, I'm pretty sure my memory is a dirty rotten liar. I would have sworn I played it on the PS which would make it the sequel but I don't remember anything about pirates. The first game looks more familiar. It's possible I haven't played them at all but just saw the first so many times in magazines that I feel like I have.

        So the only Alone In The Dark game I know for certain that I have played is the Game Boy Color one. Pretty amazing considering the system but it wasn't exactly a brilliant game and certainly had little atmosphere.

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          #5
          PS1 version of Alone in the dark 2 came with the original game bundled IIRC, so you may well have played the original game on a playstation! Unless I'm wrong about that.

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            #6

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              #7
              AITD 2 on the Saturn is unplayable its horrendous tho I still find the series overall highly interesting. There's a game on 3DO called Dr. Hauzer that for years i thought was in the series but isn't!

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                #8
                I've only played through AITD and AITD3.

                I first played a demo of AITD(floppy disk with PC Format magazine!) and it was incredible. Not only the graphics, but the voices and sound effects coming out of the PC speaker were something to behold. I was used to bleepy bloopy music and sfx but these right here were proper sounds. Then we got a sound card and I could listen to the music. The AITD music was fantastic. So atmospheric and creepy.

                I bought the game not long after that. I still remember the tiny copy protection book it came with!

                AITD3 was alright, but the first was revolutionary.

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                  #9
                  I’m wrong about the ps1 game btw. It’s my age.

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                    #10
                    I had The New Nightmare on GBC. It was recommended by the guy in Electronics Boutique. No idea how they pulled off a 3D game on GBC, but it wasnt much fun to play and was later stolen by another kid at school.

                    I actually had no idea about the series's origins, or did but I had forgotten. The first game looks interesting and kind of reminds me of D on Saturn.

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                      #11
                      I think - if I'm right - my first real exposure to the series was the release of AITD2 on PS1 after Resi had hit. It was the first real similar thing to come out but it did feel dated by Resi's standards so I hit the same interest wall reviews seemed to. I remember seeing AITD3 on Bits or something but never saw or heard much more about it. New Nightmare was the next time I heard of it again but I was tired of the genre type by then, Capcom had milked it enough meaning that the PS3/360 game was the next one I spent proper time with going through it twice. First on the buggy 360 and later on the tweaked PS3 port that I stuck with till I platinumed it. Still bizarre it did so well and died as a series.

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                        #12
                        Played the first two on the PC, played them and loved them, and kept playing them until I managed to complete them both back in the day. Not without some strong swearing and copious amounts of game saving! Bloody suits of armour in the original...

                        Originally posted by Superman Falls View Post
                        Pretty much the origin point for the survival horror franchise
                        Sweet Home and Project Firestart would like to say hi at this point
                        Lie with passion and be forever damned...

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                          #13
                          For the next thread :-

                          Clue - Left behind in Vic's vapour

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