Alone in the Dark: The Trilogy 1+2+3

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Without this game(s) we wouldn't have either "Resident Evil" or "Silent Hill" or many other survival horrors. Yes, the graphics are outdated and the gameplay is silly but the atmosphere is thrilling and every games grants a few good jumpscares and the plot is solid. At this price you can buy it with no regrets. See you in Derceto!

The first Alone in the Dark is one of my favorite games ever and the first horror game I ever played that actually scared me when it was first released. I hadn't played it since the early 1990s and decided to give it a try again thanks to GOG. I was expecting an experience full of frustration with the controls and clunky combat but was pleasantly surprised that it mostly held up. Yes, the combat is clunky and the jumping is tough to endure. But now, it's so much faster to reload in an instant to get back in and try again that it's hardly punishment at all. At it's heart it's a point and click adventure but it tried some different things that I had never seen prior to playing it the first time like the fixed camera with tank movement in sort-of three dimensions and real time combat that was avoidable in certain situations wether it was intended or not. Most of the puzzles make logical sense as well, though depending on your tolerance for adventure games, your mileage may vary on that one. Added to that was a unique story couched in Cthulhu mythos set in the American bayou with pirates and zombies that is fun to uncover, especially if you take the time to let the books read themselves to you. The second and third installments were still underwhelming so you can safely avoid those if you don't share any nostalgia for games of this era. But if you pick this bundle up on sale, there's no reason to at least give the first installment a try. It's definitely showing its age but its a really short game and one that packs a lot of spooky fun into a small package.

Obviously graphics and controls are going to be dated by modern standards. But, it could still be worth it to see the grandfather of survival horror games. The first game holds up moderately well. Combat is pretty awful with enemies stunlocking you or you stunlocking them and no in between. You will have to save frequently because it is so easy to die from getting stuck in a corner or instant kills. Despite those flaws, the first game does have an interesting setting with a nice horror atmosphere and Lovecraftian influences. Overall, an okay, short experience. The next two games are frankly not worth playing. The franchise immediately nosedives after the first game which is probably why the series died out so quickly unlike Resident Evil, the franchise it inspired. The next two games basically completely abandon the horror setting for campy action and force combat way more frequently than the first one. However, there are no improvements to the combat system. So, you're forced to mess around with the tank controls trying to aim with no reticle while the enemies can track onto you. And Edward takes about 3 whole seconds to fire his gun, so the stunlocking issue persists. The Resident Evil series clearly understood the necessity of adding a lock on to this control system. Unfortunately, the Alone in the Dark devs were not as inspired, and so combat continues to suck and has become the main focus of 2 and 3 leading to an overall enjoyable experience. Likewise, the puzzles become more and more obtuse. The game feels like a point and click adventure game with the logical hoops you have to jump through to know what to do. However unlike point and click adventure games, there is no way to inspect the environment or your inventory to get hints about how you should be using your items. It's still worth it for the first game when it goes on sale for 1.49 (which it does frequently) if you really want to play old classics. I'd skip the next two though.

First game is great all around - 5 stars. It's AitD2-3 where, really, they're only enjoyable with a walkthough. Partially for "puzzles" making no sense whatsoever. The other thing is these sluggish tank controls combined with much more unavoidable, and ranged, combat, often while trying to search the environment. AitD2-3 still have fantastic production values, Voice, music, these amazing painterly environments combined with flat-shaded polygons - love this look, even more so than with the original. Even in gameplay there is a lot of creativity, to be honest. They're just terrible to actually play unless you know exactly how it goes. But the atmosphere is there! Jack in the Dark that was between AitD1 and 2 is worth a mention as a neat little Christmas game. Don't miss that one.