Alone in the Dark (2008)

First playthrough review time. Alone in the Dark is a 2008 action survival-horror game and the fifth entry in the series. It mixes horror with action in a way that often feels unusual compared to other games in the genre. The game tries many different ideas at once, which makes it stand out, even if not everything comes together smoothly. The story is might be bit hard to follow at times, with long cutscenes and over-the-top dialogue. It shifts between different tones, sometimes trying to be serious horror and other times going for extreme action or strange situations. Because of this, it can be difficult to clearly understand what is happening without paying close attention to every scene. Gameplay also changes a lot between sections. One moment you are driving through a collapsing city, another moment you are solving simple item-based tasks or moving through more scripted sequences. There are also mechanics like basic crafting and object interaction that appear in different parts of the game. The structure is split into episodes, allowing players to select different parts, although progression still follows a set order overall. Overall, Alone in the Dark is a game with many i…

Bought as Anthology bundle. Managed to run in correct resolution with some little fixes but still had 24-28 fps with 1-3 fps drops. Unplayable or you need to look for a lot of hotfixes. Not worth it. On top of that I tested AITD 1 for several minutes and it runs great. How a 2008 game can be more broken than something from 1992 running in DOSBox well go figure. I believe AITD 2-3 from Anthology bundle will also be playable. So if you want to get older games you can buy the bundle. But chances you can make AITD (2008) work are slim. Refunded.

Had to install one mod for the game fixed the display menu issue, but its running good so far 60fps. To be on the safe side I disabled discord overlay. Connecting a controller is weird instead of a option you wait on the controls menu until it finishes a calibration then you just press a button on the controller swaps it to Xbox 360 controls had to turn off steam controller input. other than those 2 problems its running fine. I had forgotten how unique this game is. love the inventory system with the different items combining. That first driving section is peak.

Genuinely a fascinating game. It has some absolutely incredible aspects about it, but most of it is like pulling out a nail. It's long, drawn out, and not a lot of fun and especially feels like you're doing something wrong because why would you pull off your own nail from your fingers or toes? I think the best example is the melee combat. It tries to do this really really cool skyward sword-esque melee combat system where your mouse guides where the object is relative to the character. Nothing you pick up or swing or use to attack will actually kill the monsters in this game since they can only be killed via fire. So now you have this incredibly expansive pick up any object and manipulate system, where it's extremely clunky since you'll be looking for wooden objects and fire to try to light it on fire and whack an enemy with your flaming chair before it burns out. Or whacking an enemy and dragging their body over a fire. It'll also provide a system like this for breaking down locked doors. Here you can shoot out the lock wasting ammo, or try to find a metal object like a fire hydrant to bash in the door. A cool idea, but since fire hydrants are the only objects really around that…

Fortunately I own a lot of games. Unfortunately this causes me to have a back log of games to play/try. Unfortunately for me, to my surprise, I try to play this game many months later after purchase and low and behold it does not work or play on my computer. Keeps on crashing. As some time has gone on since I purchased the refund I tried to get was declined. Save your money as it more than likely wont work.

Alone in the Dark: Inferno is one of those PS3-era games that feels like it’s constantly reaching for something bigger than what it actually becomes… but honestly, that’s also what makes it interesting to talk about years later. At its best, it’s got this really strong identity: gritty New York, supernatural horror creeping in through cracks in reality, and a structure that tries to mix survival horror with more cinematic, almost “interactive disaster movie” vibes. There are moments where it genuinely works. The opening sequence especially has that chaotic, “everything is going wrong and you’re just trying to survive it” energy that a lot of modern games still struggle to capture. But it’s also messy in a very PS3-era way. Controls can feel a bit stubborn, pacing swings between cool set-pieces and awkward downtime, and the inventory/crafting mechanics don’t always land smoothly. It’s the kind of game where you can feel the ambition fighting the hardware and design limitations of the time. It feels like a prototype for a much more refined game that never quite got the final polish it deserved. You can see what it wanted to be, a tense, systemic survival horror experience wi…