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[Chuck Berry]

Systems: PC, PS5, Xbox
Developer: Pieces Interactive
Publisher: THQ Nordic
Release Date: 3/20/2024
Written and Directed by: Mikael Hedberg (SOMA and Amnesia: The Dark Descent)

Alone in the Dark is a reimagination of the 1992 classic by Frederick Raynal/Infogrames. Set in 1920's Louisiana, the player chooses to venture into the Derceto mansion/mental asylum as either series star Edward Carnby (Fat Cop From Stranger Things' David Harbour) or Emily Hartwood (Jodie Comer) in order to investigate the disappearance of Emily's uncle, Jeremy Hartwood. The game is the classic mix of exploration, puzzles and combat, with the focus being more on the former two as it was in the original.

Each character's adventure has its own segments with different dialogue and action scenes, along with specific collectibles that lead to alternate endings for each character. Replayability is always a good thing.







The OG

 

[Dazraell]

Thank you for doing an OT thread. Looking forward for early impressions

 

[Big Baller]

 

[Chuck Berry]

Which name? Tara Reid?

 

[Big Baller]

Both

 

[mansoor1980]

tara reid ruined herself with those surgeries

 

[fart town usa]

Great OT and on the fly no less. Absolutely worthy of gold for a thread dedicated to the reboot of the grand daddy of the survival horror genre. AITD serving up some AA goodness as it should.

I'm super early into the game and I'm really digging it so far. Derceto feels incredibly lived in and the game encourages you to look closely at the details. L1 zooms the camera in a good deal.

I will continue to share thoughts as I play.

Playing as Emily, PS5 on fidelity mode, HDR. Motion blur turned off. Standard/Old-School (puzzle) difficulty Love the flashlight and the use of colors. A bland and dark hallway will suddenly showcase elegant wallpaper designs and a fantastic blue when your light is shone on it. It's nothing mind blowing but fantastic mood/art direction/atmosphere so far.

Graphics are good too, I have a hard time seeing this game become ugly out of nowhere.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

tara reid ruined herself with those surgeries

I had to google what she looks like now. But way back she was smoking. One of my old coworkers kind of looked like her (but had small normal boobs).

But wtf. I didnt know she looks wacky now. Unrecognizable. Not just because some of these pics show her skinny, but her face is totally different.

 

[fart town usa]

I had to google what she looks like now. But way back she was smoking. One of my old coworkers kind of looked like her (but had small normal boobs).

But wtf. I didnt know she looks wacky now. Unrecognizable. Not just because some of these pics show her skinny, but her face is totally different.

 

[mansoor1980]

 

[Chuck Berry]

Hawt

Yeah her Big Lewbowski - American Pie days were peak

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Someone must had given her bad advice about surgeries because you can tell by her looks when she was younger she's simply a really good looking blonde with nice long hair. As long as nothing out of the ordinary happens like she gains or loses a ton of weight or gets a disease or something, she'll still be hot when she's a 50 year old milf (wiki says she's 48 now). But she redid her face, eyes, got new teeth etc... Yikes.

 

[fart town usa]

Forgot to mention that the files are read by the voice actor of whichever character(s) it relates to. One in particular went for longer than what the text description showed. Seemed kind of mind blowing, something as simple as a file, read through 100s but to have extra story play out like that, really cool. What if I would have just read it quickly and closed out? I hope there are more like that and it makes me think of what I'll notice in subsequent playthroughs. One review mentioned that being able to piece details together in subsequent playthroughs is something he really enjoyed.

I know there are more than two endings as well, some are locked to item collection. There are 15 sets of lagniappe's (trinkets) to collect. 3 in a set.

 

[fart town usa]

Someone must had given her bad advice about surgeries because you can tell by her looks when she was younger she's simply a really good looking blonde with nice long hair. As long as nothing out of the ordinary happens like she gains or loses a ton of weight or gets a disease or something, she'll still be hot when she's a 50 year old milf (wiki says she's 48 now). But she redid her face, eyes, got new teeth etc... Yikes.

She was super self conscious about her weight and had liposuction of all things and it was botched in a sense. I think she's spoken about it.

Total shame.

 

[Terenty]

Playing the game, enjoying it very much. I even got killed on hard.

But yeah, you can tell a lot of love was put into the game. The atmosphere, voice acting, art design all top notch.

 

[Chuck Berry]

So three of you are in it and enjoying it.

Perfect example of why you really should ignore 99% of "professional" reviewers nowadays.

Not like it matters, but it has a higher MC than Order 1886 and Forspoken and I loved both of those.

So by that logic this game should be a fucking masterpiece

 

[Randall365]

The Gamespot 4 review was weird as he said it was:

• A story that is, for the most part, enjoyable and moody
• Exploring Derceto is interesting and full of lore

That sounds decent to me - an enjoyable/interesting experience for the most part. Will try to pick this up, as it reminds me a bit of those old graphic adventures i.e. colonel’s bequest, gabriel knight etc - I love a haunted house game.

 

[fart town usa]

First combat encounter and Emily is incredibly spry. Combat flowed much quicker than I expected and I really enjoyed the gunplay and overall feel. Dodge mechanic similar to 3make but I don't think there's a slowdown mechanic or anything like that. Really curious how melee will feel.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

So three of you are in it and enjoying it.

Perfect example of why you really should ignore 99% of "professional" reviewers nowadays.

Not like it matters, but it has a higher MC than Order 1886 and Forspoken and I loved both of those.

So by that logic this game should be a fucking masterpiece

I know a certain gaffer who would be pleased to hear this lol.

Nice OT, btw!

 

[Chuck Berry]

I know a certain gaffer who would be pleased to hear this lol.

Nice OT, btw!

Oh he knows. We're like the only two here that genuinely liked it lol

And thank you!

 

[balls of snow]

The Gamespot 4 review was weird as he said it was:

• A story that is, for the most part, enjoyable and moody
• Exploring Derceto is interesting and full of lore

That sounds decent to me - an enjoyable/interesting experience for the most part. Will try to pick this up, as it reminds me a bit of those old graphic adventures i.e. colonel’s bequest, gabriel knight etc - I love a haunted house game.

Watched the review too. Gamespot totally tko the game because of the combat. Regardless will wait for sale.

 

[Krathoon]

Do they still have that silly ending when you die?

I always liked that in the original.

 

[FinalBossWithTheMostPower]

Chuck Berry doing the lord's work. Thank you!

 

[Krathoon]

I will have to play this tonight. Load it up on the laptop and play it on TV.

 

[Krathoon]

There is are too many good things coming out now.

You had.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
Outcast 2
Contra: Galuga
Unicorn Overlord
Dragon's Dogma 2

 

[Chuck Berry]

fart town usa T Terenty are you guys playing with the modern or old school guidance system?

 

[FinalBossWithTheMostPower]

There is are too many good things coming out now.

You had.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
Outcast 2
Contra: Galuga
Unicorn Overlord
Dragon's Dogma 2

Gotta prioritize.

I have FF7 Rebirth sitting on shelf in its nice Deluxe Edition package.

I may not ever open it.

Soon as I got Alone in The Dark collector's I broke it down.

Probably will grab and play Dragon's Dogma before, too.

 

[MacReady13]

Picked it up on PS5 and will play it this weekend. Looking forward to getting stuck into it. Never played any of the previous games but the positive word of mouth pushed me across the line. Plus it's nice to help out an AA game maker.

 

[Isa]

I'm doing my part lol. Bought and installed on my PS5 but will have to wait to play a bit later this week. Wanted to support the devs and anything remotely Lovecraftian or Survival Horror.

 

[Chuck Berry]

Nice re7/true detective vibes

Already know I’m gonna love this. It’s moody and looks great. The smoky jazz music is on point and the writing and voice acting so far is super solid. Harbour might as well be playing 1920s Hopper and I gots no problem with that.

And check this, when he asks Emily why she brought him along her response is “I wouldn’t feel safe going alone.”

No “Trust me Mr. Carnby I can handle myself. It wasn’t my choice” “strong”woman bullshit. She’s just a normal woman.

Stuff like that is how I know this wasn’t fucked with by outside western influences.

Fucking A to the AA

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

So it's exclusive to playstation?

 

[Chuck Berry]

So it's exclusive to playstation?

Nope PC and the Xbox’s as well (S and X)

 

[FinalBossWithTheMostPower]

Nice re7/true detective vibes

Already know I’m gonna love this. It’s moody and looks great. The smoky jazz music is on point and the writing and voice acting so far is super solid. Harbour might as well be playing 1920s Hopper and I gots no problem with that.

And check this, when he asks Emily why she brought him along her response is she says “I wouldn’t feel safe going alone.”

No “Trust me Mr. Carnby I can handle myself. It wasn’t my choice” strong woman bullshit. She’s just a normal woman.

Stuff like that is how I know this wasn’t fucked with by outside western influences.

Fucking A to the AA

So, I just started it myself and when the jazzy intro hit I knew it was a sleeper.

The tone is right!

Character models...meh. Could be worse.

Impressions incoming.

 

[Dr.Morris79]

Already know I’m gonna love this. It’s moody and looks great. The smoky jazz music is on point and the writing and voice acting so far is super solid. Harbour might as well be playing 1920s Hopper and I gots no problem with that.

And check this, when he asks Emily why she brought him along her response is she says “I wouldn’t feel safe going alone.”

No “Trust me Mr. Carnby I can handle myself. It wasn’t my choice” “strong”woman bullshit. She’s just a normal woman.

Stuff like that is how I know this wasn’t fucked with by outside western influences.

Fucking A to the AA

You sold me at smoky Jazz music, everything else is a plus (Including the Soma writer)

 

[Chuck Berry]

Forgot to mention that the files are read by the voice actor of whichever character(s) it relates to. One in particular went for longer than what the text description showed. Seemed kind of mind blowing, something as simple as a file, read through 100s but to have extra story play out like that, really cool. What if I would have just read it quickly and closed out? I hope there are more like that and it makes me think of what I'll notice in subsequent playthroughs. One review mentioned that being able to piece details together in subsequent playthroughs is something he really enjoyed.

I know there are more than two endings as well, some are locked to item collection. There are 15 sets of lagniappe's (trinkets) to collect. 3 in a set.

Just got to the part with that file. Amazing. Never seen that done before. It really entices you to listen to all of the dialogue for the clues you find.

 

[kunonabi]

Anyone know how to turn on the filters and stuff?

 

[Chuck Berry]

Anyone know how to turn on the filters and stuff?

I don’t know about filters but if you go to Extras in the main menu you can make the characters the original polygon models

 

[kiphalfton]

tara reid ruined herself with those surgeries

Wasn't that atteactive to begin with; always had a toothpaste tube body, even 20 years ago.

 

[mansoor1980]

Wasn't that atteactive to begin with; always had a toothpaste tube body, even 20 years ago.

eating disorders /body dysmorphic syndrome are to be blamed here
her peak was short lived

 

[FinalBossWithTheMostPower]

The first thing I'll say is:

NO MORE LOCKED DOORS!

There's jank and it's a low res RE, but damn turn on quality mode and watch your console struggle.

Game looks wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy better in quality mode.

Very atmospheric, not so much creepy yet tho. Will be playing until bed.

 

[Chuck Berry]

What a fucking breath of fresh air this game is so far

Another awesome man/woman in game duo (Banishers also amazing), oh shit and they’re both white

No bullshit. No shoved in modern politics. The last time I was this sort of elated with a games purity was with Robocop Rogue City and hey look, also AA and made by Europeans with a true love for original source material.

 

[Chuck Berry]

I’m fucking loving this. The lighting, the mood, the music, mood. That saxophone

Best game I’ve played all year so far. Yes, I got sucked immediately more into this than Persia, Rebirth, Yakuza etc

If you liked RE2R, R3 or hell, even 7 because of the setting, you gotta get on this. Just be ready for that charming eurojank

I’m already excited to replay simply because the of the acting. Like I actually wanna hear Comers reaction to stuff in contrast to Harbours. That never happens with me.

His voice is already good for voice overs and man does he nail that Leon/Isaac Clark “FUCK!” type response when an enemy is closing in while reloading

 

[FinalBossWithTheMostPower]

The game is creepy as hell.

THQ Nordic really put their foot off into this one.

For those who are bored with RE and Amensia, or waiting for Silent Hill 2, don't miss this. This is 90s survival horror made modern.

Alone in The Dark is back. It hasn't even started and I'd easily score it an 8.

Silent Hill 2 Remake better hope it's this good.

 

[Chuck Berry]

Emily Hart Would

 

[Chuck Berry]

The game is creepy as hell.

THQ Nordic really put their foot off into this one.

For those who are bored with RE and Amensia, or waiting for Silent Hill 2, don't miss this. This is 90s survival horror made modern.

Alone in The Dark is back. It hasn't even started and I'd easily score it an 8.

Silent Hill 2 Remake better hope it's this good.

Yeah same also 8.

But I haven’t gotten the shotgun yet

 

[FinalBossWithTheMostPower]

Yeah same also 8.

But I haven’t gotten the shotgun yet

It's the Tommy gun for me.

But I'm probably barely an hour in, I only just found some lady's Talisman.

 

[Chuck Berry]

It's the Tommy gun for me.

But I'm probably barely an hour in, I only just found some lady's Talisman.

Not even there yet. Been too busy creeping along, absorbing. The atmosphere is fucking nuts.

 

[FinalBossWithTheMostPower]

Not even there yet. Been too busy creeping along, absorbing. The atmosphere is fucking nuts.

Agreed.

I'm playing in the dark, so between the game's jump scares, fog, and music it's really playing with my mental.

 

[Chuck Berry]

Agreed.

I'm playing in the dark, so between the game's jump scares, fog, and music it's really playing with my mental.

In the dark also

Alone

 

[FinalBossWithTheMostPower]

In the dark also

Alone