Alone In The Dark is a license as cursed as his haunted mansion. Since Frédérick Raynal's first game, considered the father of the 3D survival horrator genre, a few soulless suites have sought to repeat the exploit without ever matching the unique formula of 1992. Failed after failure, many thought the license was condemned until THQ Nordic took advantage of his show last August to announce a new opus straight out of overseas. This mysterious project remained secret for three years and we were able to try a demonstration specially designed for Gamescom before talking with Mikael Hedberg (Soma, Amnesia), screenwriter and artistic director of the game.
Interview with Mikael Hedberg
So we're scared in the dark?
If the game presents the calibre of an AA production rather than a blockbuster, the sequence played in Cologne clearly focused on its artistic ambitions. Its felted atmosphere emanates from its OST straight out of a jazz salon. Alone In The Dark seems to have chosen a different tone from most contemporary horror productions. Here far from a gore auction, we bathe more in the atmosphere of a Lovecraft novel or a new by Edgar Allan Poe in terms of influences. It may surprise to see a game stamped Alone In The Dark promoted by a sequence in full light. Like a dreamy, awake air that sticks to the skin of the game.
At the bar for the OST, the studio team can rely on the musician Jaden Konnen. Between the kinematics and the almost dreamlike tone not common for the genre games, there emerges a crazy years atmosphere with these jazz tunes that pose the atmosphere and bell hats of the female characters. There are also monsters designed by Guillermo del Toro's long-time collaborator, Guy Davis. We recognize a small artistic paw that recalls certain traits of the beast of Shape of The Water at times.
From the beginning of the game, we can act as Detective Edward Carnby or Emily Hartwood. Mikael Hedberg thus evokes two significantly different stories in terms of both history and adopted angle. The changes would remain minor in terms of gameplay on the other hand. Choosing between a writer or a detective to live the adventure should hopefully give rise to two different approaches in terms of writing. Will we be entitled to investigative scenes like in black LA?
This prologue concocted for the Gamescom - and which would not be part of the final game - made us play a young girl who had to hand a letter to Emilie. The little one was living in a mansion where strange seemed usual, as if the child was used to living alongside creatures who had chosen to live on the ground floor of the mansion. Ten minutes of play before a swamp monster jumps on the child. Alone in the Dark display on screen. And the demo ends on Emily who arrives at the mansion.
« Alone In The Dark is a reinvention, a love letter to the original. »
So it's hard to get an idea of the final game for the hour and the developers clearly want to leave us the surprise from a screenplay point of view. The general atmosphere intrigue for the moment and the quality of the title will rest above all on the recognized writing qualities of Mikael Hedberg. We will wait to see what is happening with the phases of exploration and puzzles that should occupy a larger part than action. The same goes for the battles that have remained secret to date. See you in 2023 to find out if Mikael Hedberg and his team will have succeeded in averting the curse of the license Alone in The Dark. We cross our fingers!
[...] knows how to supply its catalogue of acquisitions. After Alone In The Dark (see our interview), the publisher can boast of having resurrected another license that remains a dead letter [...]