Alone in the Dark

The game ‘Alone in the Dark’ is widely recognised as one of the original classics that defined the survival horror genre. A game purely about surviving the horror that awaits you in the setting you find yourself. The objective of the game being to escape the confines and in the process of doing so, uncover the mystery. I played this RMVX Game with the same Title. To be honest, I don’t really know much about the original game but I do know that it inspired many of the classic survival games that were released during my childhood. One game I wanted to play early was Resident Evil 2, the demo allowed me to grasp what to expect from a Survival Horror Game. Seeing other games like Silent Hill the Demo Teaser Video and having a short go on Dino Crisis makes this game an easy comparison.
Though this game, ‘Alone in the Dark’ is a lot more unique than you think. Even so, I decided to give up early. The game is probably far too difficult than it should be and this should be noted. It doesn’t provide a difficulty setting either. It could be that the intent was to give the player such an experience, one that would make them feel hopeless. From what I researched, this is either a replica or a reinvention of the original masterpiece.
So let’s get started, Alone in the Dark uses an escape style encounter system. I thought I would bring this up early. One of the most enjoyable aspects of survival games is literally the surviving aspect of the game. Its creepy, it gets your blood pumping, puts you on edge and makes you wonder where you are going to find the next useful items that will help you transgress the hopeless situation you have found yourself in. So again, this escape style encounter system is the central game element when encountering the monstrosities in the mansion. You have to make choices to fend off your enemies and escape or vanquish them with an equipped weapon as another choice when they get too close. It seems the encounters are more pre-determined formulas when fighting the enemies off rather than a complex system. It is a good system and used well in this 2D Engine. I know what to expect from the game’s style of play, if would involve trying to find a way out of the mansion, but the way out is more predetermined if anything else and forces the player to make a guided set of choices. I had that feeling early from playing this game and quit because it is too difficult.
Now you’re probably wondering why the title of this review is ‘You really are Alone’. Well its simple, the character seems to be a person who is either being set up by the locals, a loner who doesn’t fear anything because he is isolated, or probably both. It feels as if he apparently laughs at ‘Devil Worship’ and from my experience, people who do this tend to be loners, some possibly suffering from being abused by those sort of people. After expressing what seems to be a loner’s backstory, the main character Carnby, a private investigator sets off into a supposedly haunted household to find a piano, all on behalf of a local offering $150 to obtain it. It’s strange because why would a private investigator try to steal, the irony. This is when the game’s eerie and settling establishing cutscene gets you drawn in. The scenario being the protagonist entering the mansion grounds and proceeding into the building. It’s chilly, the environment is well crafted, and it’s clear that planning must have went into creating such a fine and structured location. Anyway, the protagonist wanders through the mansion, already having an idea where he has to go considering he has been told what he is looking for and most likely where to find it. Just before Carby gets into the dark room where the piano is, there is a fade out. There must have been lost time and he has awakened inside the room lost in wonder. Here’s when the gameplay truly starts.
Now it’s probably not uncommon for a Survival Horror Game to chuck you into a crisis, I compare the same experience I had to Resident Evil 2’s opening play. One minute I am trying to question just what occurred. I’m thinking I have time to search around for clues and even find items that will give me a sense of where to head next and what the heck is going on. This is the type of opening gameplay you would see in a game like Dark Gaia’s One Night. Although Dark Gaia’s well received horror doesn’t give you the settling effect this game does. That’s where it catches you off guard. Once you wake up in the room that you were headed, as you begin to examine your surroundings, you don’t even get a chance to get adjusted to the game and wham! Blaldmalalslac! Or whatever the monster is saying! This is the best part of the game and truly. I think it shows when you think about how you could play games that could do this, just to give you that effect. Those which have been crafted before as terrifying unpredictable flash scare games. In conjunction with this game in specific, it seems the intro was pulled off well as part of a larger whole. So I freaked out, I didn’t really know what to do. The monster was creepy too. Anyway, I gave up early. I left the dark room. Wherever I went, suddenly monsters would appear practically randomly throughout the mansion, enemies that gave you the same chills like Nemesis not leaving you alone like in Resident Evil 3. I thought I was supposed to be Alone in the Dark, well this game doesn’t do that. Without even having a chance to find a weapon, I felt that I would give up early because I have an idea what to expect, that it’s too difficult for me to handle. The Monsters that were fought off initially were avoided second coming. It was the second time once I found a bow on my next try. To put it simply, the monsters are extremely difficult. I browse a lot of RPG Maker Games, and I may complete this game sometime in the future but at this point in time, it’s not what I’m hungry for because it requires a lot of thinking and I hate doing that when I’m playing games, well at least recently.
Graphic wise, the game is well developed and has been crafted well. Though it’s not really the graphics that prevent this part of the review from getting a full rating, it’s the lack of resources provided and such that could blend perfectly together to make the visuals clearly a spectacle of perfection. My main issue is the character sprite itself is a small ‘chibi man’ and it doesn’t suit the setting at all. Though this is a Horror Game, and you are expected to see RPG Maker Resources in use. Even so, to compare the effort to make the graphics better at least character control wise, Dark Gaia’s One Night uses RPG Maker XP sized sprites that fit well with the sizing scale of the environments explored. SPM should consider doing the same as a revision. One thing I have always hated in such types of games when crafted by RPG Maker Developers is the unrealistic character sizes especially when the game is supposed to represent a more realistic gaming experience than like maybe a Magical Fantasy. There is a lot of open space in some areas dragging down the detail of the level design but this is a mansion we are talking about and the player needs space to escape monster encounters. Considering this game is a representation of the original, it most likely has been designed as a replication in terms of its setting.
If you like games that keep you on your toes, this is probably the game for you. You can die from simple mistakes. You have to be alert and you have a limited time to browse rooms and find items. Think Resident Evil, but you’re not being treated as a ‘resident’ and there are well ‘forces of evil’. The gameplay system is exceptional and it works from what I see, I think I gathered what to expect. I have also seen a brief play through of Alone in the Dark. My qualms, this is a fan game. I can’t compliment the originality of the story or game but I can say this, the mechanics definitely have standard quality. It’s a different approach to the original, though it is a restricted experience in a 2D setting.