1992, the year the original and -by far- the best Alone in the Dark game was released, was also the year the modern survival horror was born. It even was the year that gave Lovecraft fans that were sick of text adventures something else to play with: a dark, atmospheric, skillfully paced, smart game with odd angles, atmospheric sounds and terrifying geometry. Looks brilliant and surreal to this day too.
The better our technology gets at portraying things, the less frightening those things become to me.
ReplyDeleteBack when your imagination had to fill in a lot of the gaps left by enormous pixels and chunky polygons, there was room for subconscious creativity - for me, the sharp angles of the 90s hold much more potential for fear than the most carefully rendered modern demon.
Hooray for the imagination!
Absolutely agree and hooray indeed! After all, those not cutting-edge graphics of yore were pretty unique in being both evocative and beautiful and leaving enough blanks for the mind to feel in. Quite a rarity in any kind of visual art that.
ReplyDeleteGraphics are no replacement for intelligent use of camera angles, timing, and sounds.
ReplyDeleteWell said wise friend.
ReplyDelete"guttertalk said...
ReplyDeleteGraphics are no replacement for intelligent use of camera angles, timing, and sounds."
And shotguns!
Though it *was* painfully difficult to hit anything with it.
Yet also *incredibly* satisfying too :)
ReplyDeleteYou know what game reminds me of Alone in the Dark?
ReplyDeleteDeadly Premonition.
The same sort of awkward yet satisfying combat and destructible melee weapons.
First game will forever be my favorite one. It got me into Lovecraft and action-adventures. I absolutely love it. I'll feature it on DOS Nostalgia one day for sure.
ReplyDeletePS
Jack in Dark was supposed to be my Christmas episode. Oh well, maybe this year...
@ Caleb: Well, it seems I'll have to find out more about Deadly Premonition then, my learned friend.
ReplyDelete@ Anatoly: Jack in the Dark would be absolutely brilliant for a Xmas episode. And of course DOS Nostalgia really should cover AitD. Back to work!