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I remember hearing people brag about how original Resident Evil was when it first appeared, but I was thinking to myself, “This seems a lot like the Alone in the Dark game I played years ago”. From way back in 1992, survival horror began and changed video games as we know it, even expanding to become its own genre.
As mentioned, the original Alone in the Dark game from 1992 has many parallels to Resident Evil. You are trapped in a mansion full of zombies and monsters. Spiders, worms, ghosts, pirates, flying things, under-water creatures, you name it and this game has it. You find a few weapons such as knives and guns but really you are better off just avoiding any enemies whenever possible.
What makes the Alone in the Dark game so damned hard is simply the irritating monsters. Just like in Resident Evil, you have tank controls — left and right turns, up is always forward — which makes it irritating when you are cornered. Life is as scarce as bullets, so being chased is not an uncommon scenario.
Alone in the Dark is not a hard game to beat otherwise. Solving the puzzles is simply a matter of searching different areas and deciding what items are used where. Lots of books and papers are provided to give you hints and back-story on plot and synopsis.
The original Alone in the Dark game from 1992 was very good. I wish I could say the same for its sequels. The following game gave the monsters guns with disastrous results. An Alone in the Dark movie in 2005 was nothing like the game and was embarrassingly awful. In 2008, a glitch-filled game, redundantly titled Alone in the Dark, was unanimously panned by critics.
When I decided to replay the original Alone in the Dark game recently, I had to use DOSBOX. I remember as a kid, I borrowed the game from a friend down the street. It came with a tiny booklet of photos that was used for anti-piracy. I remember I wrote down the first ten pages, and the majority of the time when the game booted up, it would ask for one of these pages!
Of course it is better to buy the original game because you get the booklet and case and stuff. Luckily it is cheap and easy to find on ebay.
To get the game running well in DOSBOX, I had to speed up the processing cycle speed. I also used a cheat program called Game Wizard to give myself infinity lives, lantern fuel, and bullets. Using DOSBOX default processor, I found lives at memory address 00061DFA, shotgun ammo at 00061DEA and lantern at 00061DE0.
Played this game? Liked it? Hated it? Leave a comment because I would love to see your thoughts.