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

The best and original horror thriller game..1,2 and 3 were the best in the series..The music and the sound FX were and still are awesome, really do create an eerie feel.. Something about this that makes you wanna go back and get done over and over again.. Just remember to keep saving your game or you'll go back to where you got killed...Brilliantly piece of retro gaming and for the whole 3 of the series at a fiver! It's a steal.. Thanks GOG

There's always a risk when buying games from your childhood that it fails to live up to how you remember it. Alone in the Dark is unique in being a game that I and my brother still quote funny one liners from it to one another even today, 30 years later. This didn't disappoint. I got chills just from the intro sequences. The music, sound effects, and the voice acting really are top notch even by modern standards. I was genuinely surprised by how well the graphics held up for a game this old. Sure, the polygon count on the player character and moveable objects is atrocious, but the rendered backgrounds for the scenery are pretty damn impressive for a DOS based game, and are what really creates that great sense of atmosphere. Gameplay-wise, it's not done so great. Take into account that this was an early 90's series, one that came 5 years before the famed FF7 and 4 years before Resident Evil. Moving is clunky, and having to switch inside a pause menu between searching, pushing, and fighting is also clunky. The odds are, those who load up the original game will likely die within the first 5 minutes to timed combat events that, until you can full grasp the controls, will be frustrating to the max. Saving frequently is a must. What I will say is that Alone in the Dark is not a combat survival horror ala Resident Evil. It is very much a puzzle game first and foremost, and many of the battles can be completely avoided or trivialised once you learn how to manipulate the environment correctly. So those willing to persevere and take the time to learn to play the game will find a rough diamond of a series that took you from haunted demon mansion to ghost pirate ship to undead wild western town. Unfortunately, the fourth installment, while interesting in its own right, never managed to fully capture the voice acting and story elements which made the originals so great, and since then the franchise has sadly been lost to history.

Alone in the Dark will always be an important game, being basically the grandaddy of survival horror games. You control either Edward Carnby (who would go on to become the face of the series) or the forgotten Emily Hartwood, heading to the Dercetto mansion to investigate a mysterious suicide. Trapped inside, and under attack by nightmarish creauters, you must solve the mystery of the manor to get out alive. The gameplay of Alone in the Dark is very archaic by today's standards. You must go in and out of the menu constantly to switch between the actions your character can do: fight, search, opening and closing doors and jumping (which is as terrible as it sounds). Added to controls of the tank variety, it will require some patience of you. The strongest aspect of the game is its atmosphere, leaning into the Cthulu mythos. The puzzles are surprisingly logical for the most part, with hints for their solution available throughout the mansion. The enemies themselves are puzzles, while some requiring a certain weapon or item to destroy them. Really, all the staples of the genre are here. While many games would go on to improve it greatly, one must pay respect to the one that laid the groundwork. The sequels (and Jack) are sadly inferior. While there are some improvements to the gameplay, the "horror" aspect gets thrown out the window, leaning more into the fantasy adventure. The puzzles also become pretty obtuse as the series advances. The whole series expects some trial and error but it gets very annoying by the end. A reminder that fancier graphics and mechanics do not necessarily make a better game. The soundtrack is killer in all 4 games. The voice acting is terrible to make up for it. I would recommend this bundle if you like older games, can tolerate dated gameplay, and are interested in the evolution of the survival horror genre. If you are just looking for another horror game to play, I'm sure there are more modern options that will be more apealling to you.

It was the first horror game I've played. And I'm not gonna fool you: it practically created a genre, and in 1992 it was graphically revolutionary. But it's a hard game (like every single other game at the time, remember that PC gaming was more concentrated, with a smaller/hardcore public). So before you buy it, consider that you'll have no clue of what to do. I mean it. Derceto mansion is a sandbox, so'll you solve puzzles in a non-linear way: there are no maps, documents that tell you what to do or other characters. Every object has a purpose, so when you pick up a big pot of rotten soup, keep in mind that it may save your life. This also applies to enemies and 'enviromental' hazards, which can be outsmarted in some interesting ways. You'll have tough time playing this game, but if you do it alone in the dark, you'll discover why a creepy story and unforgiving gameplay made this game such a legend. -SIDEBAR- You didn't expect it to be easy, right?

At first, sorry for my bad English. I played this game in 1993 on my (still working!) old 386 DX 40 desktop pc (by the way, the number 40 refers to its processor's clock: 40 mhz - yeah, you didn't read it wrong: it has ridiculous 40mhz speed... slower than your actual grandmother's obsolete cellphone!! ;-). There was a time when I still had hair under my hat. About this game review, I must say that I spent the last 20 minutes trying to find the words to describe what I felt the first time I played Alone on the Dark - but my lack of English vocabulary prevents me to make justice to this masterpiece right now. But I can say that, as a gaming man, I have tons of PC games in my shelf, from many different categories (strategy, chess, puzzle, adventure, 2D and 3D rpg, racing, fps and many more), and I can assure you that, if you ask me to name only three games that I think that everyone needs to play before death, I don't even blink to give the answer: Alone in the Dark 1, The Lost Vikings and Tomb Raider 1 (not necessarily in that order). So, do yourself a favor and grab this game. PS: No, Gog is not rewarding me to write this review. ;-)