X06: Alone in the Dark Impressions

September 28, 2006 2:11PM PDT

The original survival horror series is back, and Atari is showing off the latest version of it in Barcelona.

BARCELONA, Spain--Alone in the Dark is credited as the first survival horror game, but the series has recently taken a back seat while Resident Evil and Silent Hill have filled the gap. Something revolutionary was needed from developer Eden Studios, and with a new episodic-content delivery, it's hoping that a TV-show-style presentation is the way forward. We've already written about this format in other previews, but with the game being shown on Xbox 360 for the very first time at X06, we were able to see its progress and ask some new questions about this controversial format.

The Xbox 360 demo takes place immediately after this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo demo, with the main character Edward Carnby dangling from a building that overlooks New York's Central Park. In a very supernatural beginning to the game, this Manhattan building is literally torn apart from the inside, and Carnby now has to find a route to safety. In the demo, he is not only being beckoned over by another man on the edge of the building, but there's a dangerous-looking electrical wire dangling near by. It turns out that he can climb this cable to safety, as well as perform some acrobatics with it, too. For example, he can hold on to the cable and run horizontally along the wall to reach new areas.

This section shows that this new Alone in the Dark is action orientated, as opposed to a straight survival horror game. Certainly, as Carnby scales the building with Central Park and the busy Manhattan roads beneath him, it's an impressive technical feat that feels both exhilarating and frightening. While the crumbling building never feels like it poses a real threat, disintegrating around the character just as he makes pivotal jumps, there are lots of cool effects to immerse the player. As Carnby hangs hundreds of feet in the air, rats run along over his fingers as they also try to escape the burning building.

It's clear that the team is keen on keeping the main part of the game under wraps. The developers have mapped all four square kilometres of the park exactly for the game, and you can go in any building and have a look around. There will be some artistic license taken as the story develops and leads you underneath the park itself, but above ground, the park is exactly as it is in real life. The designers described to us the eerie qualities of this setting and that there's this massive green area in the centre of one of the most densely packed cities in the world. In particular, the areas of woodland in the park have an ethereal quality to them, which they felt was perfect for the game.

The game looks impressive at this stage on the Xbox 360, with great depth-of-field effects and relatively little slowdown. The engine has been built from the ground up, and special attention was placed on being able to direct the story elements in the same way that they are done in horror movies. However, when pacing the game, the team at Eden has looked to recent high-octane TV series such as Lost, 24, and Prison Break for inspiration. Eden thinks that too often modern video games follow the Hollywood blockbuster approach, with a spectacular beginning and end but a lot of flab in the middle. When the French team became addicted to serial TV shows, they decided to adopt a similar approach to storytelling in its game.

In fact, when describing the game, some of the designers describe it as Alone in the Dark: Season One. As the game stands now, the plan is for it to be separated into approximately one-hour-long segments, and the entire game will take between 12 and 14 hours to finish. Each of these chapters will feature a cliff-hanger ending, and when you move on to the next chapter, you'll see a recap of what has happened previously. The idea is that you'll be able to play the game in short bursts, get all the thrills that you need, and be able to come back to it at a later date to be reminded of what happened previously.

While there's still some time before the game's March 2007 release, the developers are clearly ambitious with the episodic content. It's clear that they intend to release some sort of update for the game in a similar format, as not only the Xbox 360 but the PC and PlayStation 3 will support the game. In the meantime, we know that 'Season 1' will reveal why Carnby, who was also featured in the first Alone in the Dark, hasn't aged at all in the time between the games.

Alone in the Dark has clearly been designed with a fresh approach to video game storytelling. While it will be difficult to keep the action, character development, and horror sustained consistently through each of the one-hour episodes, it will certainly appeal to gamers who are enamoured with TV series such as 24. We look forward to uncovering more about this game soon.

By Guy Cocker, Editor

Guy Cocker is the Editor of GameSpot UK, a handheld gaming fan, and someone who actually managed to use video games to lose weight. He recently took up the position of games expert on BBC 5 live and is a BAFTA games judge.

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