Analysis Alone in the Dark: The return of a classic

Alone in the dark It’s a saga that hasn’t always had much luck in terms of success. He debuted in 1992 with a game considered the true father of survival horror, since it influenced the most important saga of its kind: resident Evil. Since then, different deliveries of higher and lower quality have appeared, but even the highest quality ones (e.g. The new nightmare) did not reach a sufficient level of sales.

This caused the saga to freeze for many years until March 20, 2024, when another reboot of the saga was launched by THQ Nordic Yes Interactive pieces, this is what interests us in this analysis, under the title of Alone in the dark. That said, we can start:

Alone in the dark

The story takes us to Louisiana (USA) in the 1920s. revolving around Emily Hartwood (played by actress Jodie Comer), one of the two playable protagonists of the adventure (I’ll talk about that later). She decides to go to the Derceto mansion with the other protagonist, the private detective Edward Carnby (played by actor David Harbour), searching for his uncle Jeremy Hartwood. Once we arrive at the mansion, they inform us that Jeremy is missing, and they don’t want to give us much more information. From there, everything starts to get darker and more macabre.

Throughout the journey we will suffer various hallucinations that transport us into a world as terrifying as it is dangerous for our survival, with monsters of all kinds that will force us to use all the weapons and resources we have on us. The action is not abused, but when this happens, it will definitely put you under tension. I would like to point out that although the game does not seek to constantly frighten the player, it is obvious that you will find some unexpected scares, without it being too exaggerated.

Alone in the Dark is a classic Survival Horror, but modernized

It is obvious that the biggest reference of this new reboot of Alone in the dark It is mainly the remake of Resident Evil 2 released in 2019 by Capcom. Enjoy classic Survival Horror mechanics, with a Modern perspective and controls, like the camera behind the character. We find riddles that, for the most part, will make us think just enough and necessary. In fact, many simply involve putting pieces together to form a picture, which is a “puzzle” in the literal sense of the word.

Although we will also visit other places, the link will be the Derceto Manor itself. There will be many closed doors that we will have to return to later. Once we get the required key simply by searching for it or solving a puzzle in another room. And not only that, since the “sets” are collectibles that will be waiting for us in every scenario to unlock certain rewards. It’s not too difficult to find most of them, which is nice. Of course, there is a map which we can consult at any time for help.

On the other hand, we have various firearms (I don’t want to spoil what they are either) with limited ammunition, although on normal difficulty you won’t really have a problem with this. Furthermore, melee weapons are a necessary addition to advance depending on the situations, as well as to defend ourselves from enemies when we do not have ammunition or want to conserve it. Healing is also a limited item, so monitoring it is mandatory.

Two protagonists with the same destiny

As I mentioned above previously, Alone in the dark allows us to select two different playable protagonists that in principle, one would think that the path would be different for everyone. I’m not talking about huge differences, but something similar to what Capcom’s zombie saga did in its second numbered installment, with new enemies for each protagonist, a different perspective on the story, etc. Well, that’s not the case here. Whether you choose Edward or Emily, the reality is that the journey is almost identical. The differences it presents are not attractive enough to encourage us to revisit Derceto, limiting ourselves to slight modifications in the cutscenes and nothing else.

This doesn’t have to be a negative as such. This is when we see that this concept was already successfully realized by a 1998 title, which even its 2019 remake could not replicate in the same way. I think we all expected a bigger difference between one story and another, without changing the end goal, which was the search for Jeremy Hartwood. Edward is hired by Emily to help her with her research, so it is understood that they are pursuing the same thing.

Alone in the Dark is at a high technical level

If we forgive certain models or textures because it is an AA proposal, Alone in the dark has a very competent technical level with an optimization that few titles are capable of achieving today. Even on Xbox Series S, the game runs at glorious speeds. 60 fps quite stable with a graphic quality that, as I said, if we forgive certain things, works incredibly well. We have the possibility of changing, at the discretion of the player, between a graphics mode which guarantees a frame rate of 60 frames per second, and another where these are locked at 30, offering greater technical quality. Although, unfortunately, at the time of writing this analysis, the game has some bugs which, without being so serious, spoils the final experience a little.

The same goes for sound.

where our character’s footsteps are, the screams of the abominations, the gunshots, the music (mostly based on 1920s jazz), etc. It will be a delight for our ears. However, the dubbing, although just as well done and with professional actors, is unfortunately not dubbed into our language. This does not mean that we cannot enjoy the title with perfectly localized Spanish subtitles.

Alone in the Dark is back, and let’s hope it’s here to stay

With everything that is written in this analysis, I can only recommend that you immerse yourself in the Derceto mansion and its terror and imminent dangers. This new reboot of Alone in the dark positions itself as a great Survival Horror in classic style with clear inspirations in the remake of Resident Evil 2. It is dark a story of rituals that will get you hooked, as well as interesting puzzles above all and a backtracking very well implemented.

We also can’t leave out the fantastic technical and sound section, nor the bugs which can, of course, hamper -at the very least- the experience. On the other hand, although we have two playable characters, this has unfortunately not been exploited at all, offering us an almost identical adventure with slight modifications in both cases, which does not encourage us at all to revisit Derceto. Even less if we don’t have a New Game+ mode.

Despite its negative points, I consider these to carry much less weight than the positives, providing a very competent final experience that, without a doubt, It will be to the taste of any fan of the Survival Horror genre (like a waiter). So I recommend not to hesitate to give it a chance. Alone in the darkbut know that we are not facing an AAA.

Alone in the dark It is available for Xbox Series X|S, PS5 and PC. In the Xbox Zone you’ll find more analysis, news and articles about your favorite hobby on your favorite console.