Amid the horror renaissance we’ve been living through for the past several years, with games like Resident Evil, Dead Space, Silent Hill, and more getting remade, remastered, or rebooted, one of the oldest series’ in the genre is soon to emerge from the shadows. Alone in the Dark, a remake of the original game from way back in 1992, is being reborn for a modern audience, complete with an over-the-shoulder perspective, combat mechanics that were never found in the original adventure genre-leaning game, and even a few famous faces.
The remake is penned by Mikael Hedberg, writer of two classics in the genre, Amnesia: The Dark Descent and SOMA, lending the relatively unknown team at Pieces Interactive an air of credibility. At the center of the game’s story are two characters, Emily Hartwood and Detective Edward Carnby, played by Free Guy’s Jodie Comer and Stranger Things’ David Harbour, respectively. The lifelike models of these characters, who are not just voiced by their Hollywood counterparts, but are also modeled to look exactly like them, was an immediately fun new detail when I sat in on a presentation of the game ahead of today’s public showcase.
At its core, Alone in the Dark is a haunted house story, the game’s team told me in a Q&A session that followed a hands-off presentation. Players will explore the Southern Gothic horror story by moving through its haunted mansion, solving puzzles, and doing battle with the entities that reside there. In moments I saw, it looked quite like a modern Resident Evil or another 3D over-the-shoulder horror series.