Classic survival horror mystery game-play!

User Rating: 8 | Alone in the Dark (1992) (3.5" Disk) PC
By ebbderelict | Review Date:
Alone in the Dark lets you take the role of puts you in the of Private investigator Edward Carnby or of a woman named Emily Hartwood. Which ever character you choose, will find themselves in an estate of a man who had supposedly committed suicide recently. Their specific reasons for being there are different however.

Soon after the game starts you'll be attacked by a monster. From there you investigate the house and start unraveling a paranormal mystery.

Throughout the game, you'll be following a trail of clues that help lead you to where you're supposed to go or what you're suppose to do next. Along the way you'll face more monsters with which there are a variety of weapons and traps you can use to kill them. You'll find revolvers and shot guns, swords, things to throw, and other weapons to fight off the often slow moving monsters and zombies. Combat happens while you're standing still, so you'll be either attempt to simply run away from your adversaries, or stand your ground and take aim.

This game introduced a whole new perspective on combat for me. I had never before been put in a position of 3rd person with 3-D models and have to aim as well. What's common place nowadays, was tricky to get the hang of at first back then.

If you don't like to run, but not big on combat either, you can also in some cases use the environment to spring traps and kill the evil ones, or at least be able to stop them from advancing on you.

The environments are static images and your polygonal character moves around the screen getting bigger and smaller to provide the perception of depth. Crude by today's standards, but at the time this was state of the art, processor pushing stuff.

There's also plenty of puzzles to keep you busy, and your mind tied up in knots when you're not trying to take down supernatural minions.

The real star to the game is the atmosphere. The way the monsters move, the sound effects, the dark environments, the pace, it all created a sensation where your nerves would be on end even if you didn't have the courage to turn the lights down and the sound up.

While you're investigating your surroundings, you never knew when a creature would come smashing through the window. You'd be so tense with anticipation before entering a room that you'd wish they would just start coming at you so you could be done with it.

A challenge all around, but one that's worth going through for fans of survival horror and mysteries.

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