Alone in the Dark
MSRP $60.00
“Alone in the Dark is the confidently silly horror remake the 1992 classic deserves.”
Pros
- Delightfully hammy voice acting
- Space-bending environments
- Jazzy score is a welcome throwback
- Classic exploration hook
- Useful difficulty tools
Cons
- Flat story
- Clumsy combat
- Unmemorable monsters
As I rolled the end credits on Alone in the Dark, the new remake of a foundational 1992 horror classic, I watched on like a puzzled detective. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy my stay in the creepy Derceto Manor. Quite the contrary — I had enjoyed the campy six-hour adventure filled with hammy voice acting and old-school exploration. It felt like a fitting throwback, capturing the endearing sloppiness of 1990s games in a big-budget modern production. But there was one question remaining: Was that developer Pieces Interactive’s intent, or a happy accident born from a clumsy game with an unconvincing serious face?
I’d have my eureka moment as soon as I began my second playthrough. After choosing my hero, the Jodie Comer-voiced Emily Hartwood, I popped into the settings menu to toy around with some of the remake’s bonus features. There, I’d find a Bonus menu. I’d enable an 8-bit filter and a skin for Hartwood that turned her into a blocky mess of polygons pulled right from the 1992 game. As soon as I unpaused, I laughed out loud at the absurd sight of it all.
