This game is loosely based on H.P. Lovecrafts works. So you can expect a decent horror athmosphere. And that's what the game is all about: the athmosphere!
It is created mainly be the presentation. The graphics are an attempt to be as movie-like as possible. You're playing in third-person perspective. The perspective changes depending on the spot where your alter ego stands.
You are of course always visible, but from different directions and angles! When walking around you sometimes
have the feeling of real movie-cuts.
The sound, even though not too great, also adds to this. The music changes according to the situation and the some nice hall-effects do the rest.
The gameplay isn't that innovative. Controlled by keyboard (which works really good considering it's all 3D!) you walk around in the doomed house full of monsters and pick up everything that's not nailed to the walls. The monsters (mainly zombies) can be fought with bare hands and feet but you'll also find some weapons (e.g. a shotgun and a sword) later.
These action scenes dominate the game most of the time. But there is also quite a number of puzzles! They aren't too complex or hard though. And some also aren't required to be solved. They only save you a few fights.
The hardest thing about solving this game is finding some tiny items hidden in dark corners. Other than that Alone in the Dark is a very easy and short game! And that's its biggest problem! Most fights are a piece of cake, just like most puzzles. And the pure number of locations is also very limited! Solving the game in just some hours is very well possible.

Everything that's there is great: The athmosphere, the gameplay and the story (which is kept alive by books and diaries you find during your search). But there's just not enough of it! Still, it's the best part of the series because it's both fair and not completely action-dominated.


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