I haven't played this game since I was little, and I was never able to beat it. I remember it being terrifying and amazing, but I wanted to see how it held up today. Alone in the Dark is the grandfather of all survival horror games, spawning the whole genre and games like Resident Evil and Silent Hill. In the game you play a dude (or gal) who goes to investigate a mansion. Little does he know the horrors that await.

So admittedly the game hasn't aged very well. The controls are probably the worst offender. I'm fine with tank controls, but this is a whole new world of pain. Running and jumping requires weird key combinations that are nigh-impossible to master, made worse by the numerous platforming puzzles. The inventory and interface is clunky at best, making simple things like unlocking a door unnecessarily difficult. And then there's the combat, which is perhaps the foremost unspeakable horror; it's quite difficult to aim, and there's very limited ammunition.

But, if you're willing to look past these quirks, the game has a lot of depth and entertainment value. The story is fascinating and Lovecraft-inspired (in fact there's numerous mentions of Cthulhu and The Old Ones in the lore). The music and sound are nicely done and the voice acting is superb. The graphics look quite old, it's mostly drawn backgrounds with bulky polygon characters for the moving parts. Nonetheless there's a certain nostalgic charm to the appearance.

But the game shines brightly in gameplay. Though it is notoriously difficult it's a nice balance between action, puzzles and exploration. Like most games from the time, the puzzles are very challenging and the traps and monsters are unforgiving, often one-hit-kills. In fact there are certain books that will kill you if you read them, and giant worms that will swallow you whole. But that was the fun of games in the good old days: you would spend literally years playing such a game, trying different approaches or sharing new breakthroughs with friends, well before the internet. Games were meant to be tricky, it meant you'd really get your money's worth: a year of frustration and entertainment.

Ultimately although it hasn't aged well this game is still quite charming and a wonderful little golden nugget of history. If you are fascinated by the origins of survival horror and you are willing to look past the eccentricities then I would definitely recommend this. Also I'm awarding a bonus star for all the Lovecraft references.

Alone in the Dark is easily one of the most important, if not the most important horror games ever. Without this game, there is no Resident Evil, nor Silent Hill, Signalis, etc.

The game created or popularized a ton of tropes and game mechanics.

• The fixed camera angles.
• Using the inventory in different ways, like combining stuff or reading.
• Making the character read books and journal to figure out the plot at its fullest.

The light

• The story is quite intriguing despite being limited by its medium at the time. The Decerto Mansion's occupant, Jeremy Hartwood, has hanged himself in the attic, and this causes Emily Heartwood, the niece, to go check out what happened; or the story ends up being found by Edward Carnby, a detective who is in desperate need for money, so he enters the mansion to recover a piano to sell it. Things get complicated when strange creatures start showing up and attack our protagonist, eventually the protagonist finds out that the mansion is being haunted by a higher dimensional being and that it has trapped them inside.

• The game has a lot of well made scary moments. Right after the intro, the game throws an enemy at you and forces you to fight, or you can push a wardrobe at the window so it cannot go inside. Then there's the pirate, if you wanted to be a wiseguy and shoot him... he just backflips, you have to fight him using a sword or by punching it.

• The game forces you to always pay attention and use items in a proper order, and that's good. Even the items have weight values, causing them to go flying certain distances.

• The game has a lot of instant death traps that force you to memorize exactly how to avoid them; you can even kill some enemies with them if you troll them just right. Some of the deaths are quite comical, so you won't feel frustrated much.

• The game's ending despite being simple is very cheesy and quite a joy. I love how the game becomes quiet and even kind of relaxing after you slay the final boss, no more monsters, no more dangers, it's just you in a mansion.

The dark

• Carnby and Emily play the exact same. There is absolutely no difference between them, they have the same health, the same moveset, solve the same puzzles and have the same story. The only differences are pain voice lines, some animations and their introductory text.

• The graphics can look dated and even comical, causing the game to lose most of its scare factor, because of how cartoony the characters tend to look. This was made before 3D graphics became commonplace, but still.

• The combat is poor. You have to press a key and then use the arrow keys to throw punches, or the up arrow to shoot or kick. This ends up being problematic because you can shoot by total accident, and the punches are worthless due to their poor range, it's easier to just spam the kick and destroy the enemy's groin that way or use the sword.

Overall

Alone in the Dark may have aged a lot, but its importance hasn't, this game is still relevant, many games later on did it better; Alone in the Dark was the first penguin, the first one to risk it.

Preliminary: Wow this is amazing. It has all the elements that make survival horror, absolutely. LIke the way this bird monster breaks through the window and the camera angles and the tank controls. My goodness is the movement slow, the wood creaky, and the controls so absurd lol. But I am having at least as much fun just wandering around, Elaine-style kicking, and just enjoying the early 3d polygonal world. I will play again tomorrow to see if the game itself is worth pushing through but this should at least get a 3 or 4 star for setting precedents, the amazing Feel and absurdity, and the fun I'm having regardless of the gameplay restraints heh. This would be fun to stream. Oh and the scariest part so far is her face! Terrifying polygons.

Welll, yea, in reality I could only play this for a bit and for the giggles. Great concept and honestly even exceution but just so clunky and slow. Having to switch what action you do with space is not ideal.

There is a lot to love and it set so many precedents and I had a blast playing it for a bit these 2 days. I love the way your saves show a little screenshot of where you were. I love the intro video and how slowly she meanders in lol. It's hard to list all the things that brought me feelings of my childhood favorites of RE and SH. Part of me wants to still give that 4 star, but really, with those limitations and what I read is easy sudden deaths, it would be hard to rationalize.

Look: 8.5/10 Given a .5 boost cuz of the humorous absurdity of some aspects

Sound: 8/10

Play: 7.5/10

Feel: 8.5/10 Influential and can't deny I had a blast night recording myself getting to know the game lol

Attachment: 7.5/10 I will certainly play the rest of the series and certainly wont forget this and probably will play the new version etc etc, but how often would I actually play past the first room? Almost never.

Overall: 8/10

Oh dang this still came out to a 4 star... I suppose the power of an influential and important-for-me Feel..