THQ Nordic Announce New 'Alone In The Dark' Title

In 1992 Atari's Alone in the Dark set a precedent for video game horror and established many of the tropes that would define the Survival Horror sub-genre. Unfortunately,  Alone in the Dark was overshadowed by the likes of Silent Hill and Resident Evil and largely disappeared from the public consciousness after 2015s widely-panned and largely forgotten Alone in the Dark: Illumination. This led to THQ Nordic purchasing the rights to the Alone in the Dark franchise in 2018.

At the THQ Nordic Digital Showcase on 12th August 2022, the publishers announced that Swedish studio Pieces Interactive was working on a "re-imagination of the original trilogy." Based in Skövde, the development studio previously worked on titles in the Magicka and Titan Quest series. Alone in the Dark will be their biggest project yet and the studio has brought in Mikael Hedberg (writer of SOMA and co-writer of Amnesia: The Dark Descent) to pen an original story that incorporates "characters, places, and themes from the original '90s trilogy."

 

Doom Jazz artist Jason Köhen has created a soundtrack that "provides eerie and haunting melodies to create a tense, twisted and haunting audio atmosphere" which, partnered with Guy Davis' (The Shape of Water, Nightmare Alley) new monster designs, is sure to instill terror into the hearts of gamers.

Going from the trailer shown at the THQ Nordic Digital Showcase, the gameplay itself will take inspiration from contemporary survival horror titles, primarily Resident Evil 2 Remake, as it shifts to third-person, over-the-shoulder action. Just like in the original game from 1992, players will play as either Emily Hartwood or Edward Carnaby. Set in the 1920s American south, Carnaby is a private investigator hired by Hartwood to locate her missing uncle, an assignment that leads the player character to Derceto Manor, a home for the mentally ill. Haunted asylums are a tried and tested trope in the horror genre, but Alone in the Dark's "noir-setting" and "Lovecraftian horror elements" should set the game apart from its peers, walking the tightrope where "the familiar meets the surreal." 

Alone in the Dark has no release date but will be on PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5.

 

Alex David Johnson, (@AlexJohnWriting)
News Editor, NoobFeed