Why did this terrible trilogy shape the history of video games 30 years later?

Gaming News Why did this terrible trilogy shape the history of video games 30 years later?

Maybe you’ve been a fan of Alone in the Dark for about thirty years. Or may be you’re waiting for the episode published by THQ Nordic, scheduled for March 20, 2024, which will feature Edward Carnby for the first time. Whether you want to reminisce about fond memories or learn everything you absolutely need to know to embark on the epic journey to come, here’s an article summarizing what you need to know about the first three Alone in the Dark .

Alone in the Dark: The Origins of Evil

Over the last few weeks we’ve published two articles looking back at the design of the very first Alone in the Dark, created in 1992 by Frédérick Raynal and his team. The first focused on the game design ideas that made Alone a special software, while the second looked back on the eventful origins of Infogrames. We must remember that what we consider to be the first survival horror 3D in history was born out of a misunderstanding (between Raynal and Bonnell, the big boss) and that the passion as well as the genius of a small group of artists/developers (Frédérick Raynal, Yaël Barroz, Didier Chanfray, Hubert Chardot, etc.) ensured Infogrames’ greatest success of its time. The blow was so powerful that in a short time it convinced a certain Shinji Mikami, who worked more than 9,000 km away, to use the same formula for the horror game he was developing: Resident Evil.

The story of Alone in the Dark takes place within the walls of Derceto, Louisiana, a house where evil seems to lurk around every corner. At least that’s what its owner, painter Jeremy Hartwood, says, lamenting a demonic presence lurking in the shadows.. He is said to have killed himself in the attic to end his torment. In any case, this is the official version. The player takes on the role of Emily Hartwood, Jeremy’s niece, who has made it her mission to find out what really happened to her uncle, or Edward Carnby, a detective whose job it is to find an old piano on Jeremy’s behalf to find the one set up in the mansion of one of his customers. It doesn’t matter who the player leads: all they find in the building are monsters! The goal is to find a way to escape the house. To do this, however, you must face Ezekiel Pregzt, a warlike pirate who exerts his demonic influence on Derceto. At the end of the adventure, and despite a final twist that is more amusing than frightening, the chosen protagonist emerges unscathed.

Acheter Les Dossiers Alone in the Dark (Kindle)

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Alone in the Dark II: Risky mission for Carnby, but not for Infogrames

After the success of Alone in the Dark in 1992, the managers at Infogrames applied pressure so that a sequel based on all the films already in existence would quickly see the light of day, even if this meant ignoring Frédérick’s ambitions . Raynal. Raynal saw no possible future with Bruno Bonnell and left the company. He takes three other members of the group with him: Yael Barroz, Didier Chanfray and Laurent Salmeron. Although the publisher regrets these deviations, it now has no objection to pushing through the release of Alone in the Dark II for Christmas 1993. Produced under tight deadlines, this sequel builds on everything technically done with the first episode. Even if it doesn’t actually bring anything new, the press at the time praised a better longevity and a not unpleasant “action” twist, even if certain labyrinths and a few puzzles caused a stir.

Alone in the Dark II takes place a few months after the events of Derceto. With no pianos to be found, Carnby now has a much more delicate mission: he must find the trail of little Grace Saunders, who is supposedly being held captive in a large house called Hell’s Kitchen. This information was sent by Ted Stryker, a detective hired by the child’s father. Unfortunately, he is killed before he can free Grace. Once there, Carnby discovers gangster pirates who no longer have anything human in them. During the adventure we learn that the young girl is at the center of a voodoo curse. Luckily, the strange investigator manages to defeat the lurking supernatural forces and escape by boat with Grace. This work contains a passage that has caused a great stir: at one point Carnby wears the costume of Santa Claus to deceive his opponents…

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Alone in the Dark III: Curse of the Star

After two episodes that filled Infogrames’ coffers like never before, the French publisher wants to continue profiting from its golden goose. As the Alone 2 team has proven, it’s possible to create Carnby adventures that pay big dividends in a short year. While the team would like to bring big innovations for this third part, such as a camera that really moves in the 3D universe (5 years before Silent Hill!), Bruno Bonnell turns his back on all these laudable intentions. The prototypes are certainly ahead of their time, but Infogrames doesn’t want to take unnecessary risks. Audiences were present for Alone 2 even if it doesn’t reinvent the wheel? So he will still be present in Alone 3!

The team is therefore making a third episode that is very close to the previous two parts. When it was released in cinemas in December 1994, there were once again good reviews in the press, but things began to gnash their teeth: “Alone 3”, despite its qualities, felt too heated.

This time the strange investigator travels to Slaughter Gulch, a ghost town east of Los Angeles. Greg Saunders asks Carnby to find out what’s going on in the Mojave Desert so that filming on his film can resume. In fact, his team disappeared after supernatural beings manifested. The problem is that Emily Hartwood, who has become a production assistant, is one of the people missing. This time it’s personal for the detective! The same applies to the main antagonist of this epic. By fending off armies of ghostly cowboys and solving the mysteries of the curse plaguing Slaughter Gulch, the hero manages to free Emily and escape this haunted place. This episode marks players with a sequence that, like Alone 2, is exceptional. Killed during a negotiation that fails, Carnby is reborn… as a cougar!

Other Alone in the Dark games would be released in 2001, 2008, and 2015, but their connections to the original trilogy are almost non-existent. Which will not be the case with the upcoming software that will soon be developed by Pieces Interactive. The items listed in this article should be enough for you to get started with the title without stumbling over the references to the original trilogy. As a reminder, Alone in the Dark will be released on March 20, 2024 for PC, Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5.