Alone in the Dark review: Jodie Comer shines in surprising new horror
The new Alone in the Dark game, a relaunch of the horror series that first launched in 1992, is not quite what we expected it to be. And for the most part, being surprised is a good thing in this case!
One thing we knew in advance is that Jodie Comer (Killing Eve) and David Harbour (Stranger Things) are starring in the Alone in the Dark cast, with their likenesses and voices both being unmistakable from the off.
What we didn’t expect is that you have to pick one of these big-name stars right at the start of the story. The one you pick becomes the sole playable character, while the other fades into a background role and you’ll hardly interact with them at all. This is something of a shame, but it does give you an incentive to go back and play the campaign with the other character in the driving seat.
For our first play-through, we opted for Jodie Comer’s Emily Hartwood, as her character seemed to have closer ties to the main story. She’s arrived at the creepy Derceto Manor psychiatric hospital after receiving a mysterious letter from her uncle, a patient there, and she’s brought David Harbour’s Detective Edward Carnby as a bit of extra investigative muscle.
What we expected in terms of the gameplay, given the decades-old comparisons between Alone in the Dark and Resident Evil, is that we’d spend most of our time at Derceto. It seemed at first that the hospital is effectively this game’s version of the Resi 2 police station, with numerous puzzles to solve and keys to find that will gradually allow you to explore more rooms and piece the story together.
To an extent, that is true. Derceto is a fascinating place that – cliche alert – feels like a character in its own right. With gothic design, gloomy lighting and a confusing layout, it’s a great location for this sort of Resi-like gameplay. However, it turns out that Derceto is not the only location you’ll be exploring here.
Making some brilliant use of the speedy loading times that come with the current crop of
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