Download Alone in the Dark

Alone in the Dark is a very creepy and scary game. Its story and theme are based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft. To tell you the truth, I never completed it, since it used to scare the living daylights out of me. I just didn't have the nerves to play it. It seems funny now, but try to lock yourself in a dark room, turn up the volume and you'll see what I'm talking about. 

The introduction sets the atmosphere perfectly, and it builds up consistently throughout the game. The story takes place in a haunted house. A certain Jeremy Hartwood died there (possibly through suicide), and it will be your task to investigate what really happened. You will be given a choice between two characters to control throughout the game: Emily Hartwood, who is Jeremy's niece, or Edward Carnby, a private detective. The storyline will not depend on the character of your choice, and their features are equal so it doesn't really matter which one you choose. 

You will start your adventure in the attic, because you have reason to believe that an important clue has been hidden in an old piano there. This game combines elements of both adventure and arcade. The minute you start, monsters will start waking up throughout the house and will be coming after you. Depending on the difficulty setting, there will be more or less of them, but an infinite number in either case. This means you will have to play quickly. You won't be able to afford the time to stop and think about what to do next. At the beginning, you will only have your arms and legs for fighting, but as you progress, you will also find guns and swords to fight with. While defending yourself from the monsters, you will also have to complete your original task - solving the murder mystery. 

You can probably guess that this game is non-stop action for both your fingers and your brain. But it doesn't just end with excellent story and gameplay. This is also one of the first games to offer three-dimensional graphics that run smoothly even on x386 processors. This was made possible by combining beautiful static backgrounds with not-so-beautiful polygonal characters. It's a compromise that had to be made, but the overall result was breathtaking back in 1992 when the game was published. You have to admit that just by looking at the screenshots, you would say this game requires at least a fast 486. Well, I would like to finish the review here, but it does not end with a brilliant graphics engine either! The game's sounds are great mood setters and will probably cause goose bumps every now and then! Enough said! If you are not convinced by now, you'll never be! A mark of 5, of course, and a definite recommendation.

The primary download supplies a rip of the CD version, leaving the sound effects and the narrated voice overs intact, but without the music tracks. However, those music tracks were compressed into MP3 and included in the archive, if you want to listen to them in a Media Player. You can find the disk version in the extras section.

Optimal Settings

- cycles: 10000. Increasing the cycles won't harm the game but some animated scenes may occur too fast for you to enjoy them if you do and running will be harder to pull off (double tap of the cursor up key).

Unarchive the folder in the root directory of your HDD drive (example: C:\AITD). Run the game by starting the DOSBox shortcut placed in the archive. For more information check the readme included in the archive.