YMMV / Alone in the Dark

The game series contains examples of:

• Anticlimax Boss: The first game final boss. To beat him, Emily/Edward must cross the flooded room and reach the altar while dodging the Deep Ones and the fireballs, then put the talisman on the altar, light the lamp, and eventually throw it right in the tree.
  • One of the problems is that the two last steps in order to beat the final boss aren't explained ANYWHERE. So many players just though that they had completed the game
• Awesome Music: The 2008 game, despite being notoriously buggy with controls up the arse, has downright outstanding music composed by Olivier Deriviere, who has also composed for Obscure II.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The ending of the first game, where after stopping the evil Pregzt, the player character walks out of the Hartwood manor to a sunny day, is greeted by a ride to get them out of there and gets in... only for the driver to be a laughing skeleton man that drives off with the player in tow. There is no Cruel Twist Ending, and not even a Scare Chord, with the cheerful ending music continuing anyways. The sequel doesn't bother to mention it either.
• Complete Monster:
  • Original game: Ezechiel Pregzt is a former pirate known for his barbaric murders and inhumane actions. Slaughtering entire crews of ships before he reached into the occult, Pregzt murdered other pirates who refused to assist him before setting up the manor, Derceto, in Louisiana. Sacrificing people regularly to the Old Ones, Pregzt was sealed away deep under Derceto and sought to drive the Hartwood father and son into insanity with repeated mental torture so he may possess them, all to open up Earth to the Old Ones and let them cause the apocalypse.
  • The New Nightmare: Alan Morton was a Creepy Child who developed an obsession with the monsters in the shadows. When he grew up, his obsessions increased to the point where he began experimenting on corpses to help the creatures escape from the World of Darkness into Earth. Alan eventually resorted to vivisecting human victims, among whom was his own father. He also enslaved his brother Obed to help with his schemes. By the time of the game's events, Alan intends to open the gate to the World of Darkness, unleashing its eldritch biosphere to cause The End of the World as We Know It.
  • 2008 game:
    • Lucifer, the Light Bringer, was cast down from Heaven after a failed coup, forced to live as a mortal human. Using his magic and parts of his throne, Lucifer crafted the Philosopher's Stone as a way to transplant his soul from person to person and extend his immortality. Corrupting the minds of many of history's greatest men, Lucifer hopes to one day use the Stone to reincarnate back to his proper form and summon his legion to Earth, where he will conquer the world and enslave all of mankind. Awakened from his favorite host Edward Carnby by the sinister Crowley, Lucifer rains destruction all across New York City as he hopes to do the same to the entire world.
    • Crowley is an occultist who seeks the power of the Philosopher's Stone to become Lucifer's vessel upon his reincarnation. Willing to sacrifice all of mankind in exchange for the power of Lucifer, Crowley tortures Theofile Paddington into awakening Lucifer from Edward Carnby, ordering one of his men to kill Edward afterwards. Uncaring about the destruction he's inflicted upon New York thanks to Lucifer's awakening, Crowley at the end holds Sarah Flores at gunpoint in exchange for Edward's half of the Stone.
• Contested Sequel: Oh, you bet.
  • AITD2 is covered under Sequelitis below.
  • AITD3 is less maligned than 2, but is even more of an Actionized Sequel. A lot of people enjoy the unique setting of The Wild West, the atmosphere, and it is FAR smoother to play than 2, but the puzzles tend to fall into Moon Logic Puzzle territory, the story is far more minimal, and, again, it's more action-heavy than the first game.
  • The New Nightmare, like the similarly-named Nightmare On Elm Street sequel, is often regarded as a Surprisingly Improved Sequel to 2 and 3, a return to the classic Another Side, Another Story of the first game, this time each character actually having different gameplay. The combat was much less clunky than in the originals, and the game's atmosphere and unique light-based combat against creatures of darkness tend to get praise. Well, the atmosphere gets praise a good chunk of the time. The game is NOT without its flaws, from the Scrappy Mechanic detailed below, to the use of limited "save gems", and what some believe to be a rushed, unfinished chunk of the game in Aline's story. It is also still regarded as inferior to the first game, regardless of how good it is.
  • And then we get to the Continuity Reboot, Alone In The Dark.^note also known as Alone In The Dark 2008 or Alone In The Dark: Inferno This game is one of the most contentious in the series, due to it being a high-octane Actionized Reboot with a more cinematic approach to the series that, unfortunately, borrows elements from the Uwe Boll film. This often results in either Narm or Narm Charm, depending on the person playing. The Gameplay Roulette, host of bugs and flaws, fire-based gameplay that fills the game with enemies who HAVE to be burned to be defeated, lack of scary moments compared to the other games, and those goddamn driving levels are on the negative side of things, but the game's ridiculous, unintentionally funny attempts at horror and drama, puzzles, the melee combat where you can just pick up things around you and use them as weapons, uniquely diegetic inventory and crafting system, limited resources with multiple uses^note i.e. the medical sprays that can be used either as a healing item or an Aerosol Flamethrower, and even some of the more contentious elements, such as the fire-based gameplay, have their fans and give this game a surprising cult audience within the franchise. Add to that the improved Inferno release that fixed/improved a good few disliked elements^note like the fire-based gameplay! and the depths of terrible that the series would go to with Illumination, and you have a recipe for a game that is pure Love It or Hate It.
  • Illumination is practically the only sequel that isn't contested by the fanbase. Everyone agrees it sucks. See Sequelitis for a little more information.
• Event-Obscuring Camera:
  • The original was the originator of the fixed-camera survival horror angle where movement was based entirely on camera angle, sometimes resulting in losing view of the entrance to the room just when a monster conveniently enters it.
  • The second and third game have passages that look like solid walls because of the textures and camera perspective.
  • The 2008 game occasionally has some poor angling for the third-person camera. However, the ability to switch to first person view almost any time as well as a lock-on function for melee combat help to alleviate this a little bit. However, the camera still likes to be dramatic and epic in certain scenes, so maintaining control of a car after a dramatic jump is a little addled.
• First Installment Wins: The 1992 original is the most critically well-regarded of the series and had the most definite impact on shaping the Survival Horror genre.
• Goddamned Bats: In the 2008 game, Vampirez are bats that attack if the player gets too close and are almost impossible to hit. Since they look like bats and are minions of Lucifer, they could be literally considered to be Goddamned Bats.
• Good Bad Bugs: The second game had a glitch which allowed Carnby to have over 32000 life points. At one point, the player can get a flask of poisoned wine, intended to be used to kill some guards. Drinking it takes 1000 of Carnby's life points, leaving him in negative values, which would normally kill him. However, by holding the Enter key during the drinking animation, the inventory screen will open before the death animation can start, thus allowing the player to drink the poisoned wine again, and removing another 1000 life points. Repeat the process several times, and eventually, the life counter will make a rollback, and the negative values will turn into positive values, but still around the dozens of thousands.
• Harsher in Hindsight: The Greater-Scope Villain of The New Nightmare is a Nazi heir who has reached the highest levels of the United States government (with their knowledge and consent) as part of the fight against Communism. This significantly predates both Captain America: The Winter Soldier and the American political environment following the 2016 Presidential Election.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • The second game has a document that references people named Commstock and DeWitt. To add to that even further, The Dragon of the game is Elizabeth.
  • After the 2008 reboot, James McCaffrey would then be in another video game that's also a psychological, episodic thriller where the main gameplay mechanic involves light.
  • In a seeming coincidence, Edward's partner in the second game is named Ted Stryker.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • HI GUY! ^ExplanationA deadpan line spoken by zombies in the second game (and reused late in the third).
  • I don't have your example! And FUCK you anyway!
  • I'm the Light Bringer! I'M THE FUCKING UNIVERSE! ^ExplanationA line in one of the endings of the 2008 reboot infamous for its bizarre nature and delivery.
  • "Neither alone nor in the dark" is a very common comment regarding Alone In The Dark: Illumination and the fact that it's a co-op shooter entirely based around lighting things up to hurt enemies.
• Narm: Quite a bit.
  • In the first game, upon walking down to the second floor, the double doors slam, followed by the evil laughter. Said laughter came off... rather Goofy sounding.
  • Emily's appearance in the first game. Her lips look like clown makeup.
  • Emily's combat noises of "Eh!" make her sound like she is really really not giving a shit... and her groaning death sound instead sounds like she's taking a massive crap.
  • During Edward's narration intro in the first game, he noticeably slurs slightly as he talks, sounding as if he's slightly drunk. Taken even further that in his image to the right, there is a bottle of alcohol on his desk.
  • In the second and third game, the mooks will say something upon spotting you. The things they say? "Morning sir!" "Hi guy!" or "Hey you.", all of them sounding hilarious.
  • From the 2008 reboot we get this gem; "I don't have your stone! And fuck you anyway!"
    • Also; "I'm the light-bringer! I'M THE FUCKING UNIVERSE!!!"
• Narm Charm: While the original trilogy has its share of Narm, it's mostly of the enjoyable sort. The polygonal graphics are extremely cartoonish, contrasting with the darker environments of more modern survival horror games and making the appearance of the Off-Model characters more frightening than the monsters. While the first game focused on puzzle-solving and evading monsters inspired by the Cthulhu Mythos, the other games went in more action-oriented and more over-the-top directions: the second game included the hero gunning down zombies with a Thompson while dressed in a Santa Claus costume while the third had Carnby mowing down cowboy zombies with a Gatling gun. The cherry on the cheesecake is easily the So Bad, It's Good voice acting: almost every text is read by an over-the-top narrator, often with overblown drama and ridiculous accents.
• Older Than They Think:
  • Resident Evil is often credited for inventing Survival Horror, when all it did was coin the name for it and bring the genre into the mainstream. The Alone In The Dark series invented the actual gameplay model years earlier (while survival horror as a specific theme was established by the earlier RPG Sweet Home (1989)).
  • The criticism that "You're not alone and it's not dark" isn't new to Illumination. The 2008 reboot and The New Nightmare drew identical snarky comments over the presence of a partner character and light-based puzzles.
• Once Original, Now Common:
  • The first game was probably the Western Trope Codifier (along with Resident Evil) for most Survival Horror tropes. Yet, today, the visuals and animations appear quite primitive, and some of the voice acting is far from professional, which tends to dilute the effect. The game itself doesn't look very dark either, and lacks the sorts of graphical elements that make more modern games actually scary. The game's tech does give a realistic feel to it that can be quite creepy in its own right. While the graphics of the first game may not seem impressive now, they were considered cutting edge back in 1992.
  • The series pretty much invented the Survival Horror video game genre for anyone not in Japan, inspiring many other franchises, many of which greatly improved upon the formula, making the game mechanics seem dated in comparison to some people.
• Pandering to the Base: The 2023 reboot is very noticeably a reimagining of the original game, with the first trailer showcasing the setting as being Derceto, focuses on Lovecraftian horror, and features both Edward and Emily as playable characters. Given how divisive the series' sequels and reboots were, and the original generally being considered the series' best, it's likely this trope is in effect.
• Polished Port:
  • The initial Windows / Xbox 360 version of the 2008 game was rushed out the door in a notoriously buggy and unfinished state. The Updated Re-release of the 2008 game for PlayStation 3, subtitled Inferno, fixed glitches from the other releases and even adds a few extra scenes. While not without its flaws, Inferno was vastly improved and closer to what the developers envisioned.
  • The PlayStation port of part 2, subtitled One-Eyed Jack's Revenge gives the game improved character models (higher polygon counts and more detailed textures). It also copied the control scheme of the classic Resident Evil titles, adding a run button, more responsive Tank Controls, and generally making the game a bit less frustrating to play.
• The Scrappy: Sarah Flores in the 2008 reboot, considering how annoying and useless to the plot she is.
• Scrappy Mechanic:
  • Rather than having a dedicated "run" button, the original game required you to either double-tap the walk arrow or quickly tap the action button then hold the walk arrow at a very specific rhythm. Either way, the command is extremely fickle and would not work unless your timing was 100% perfect.
  • The inventory system in the reboot. Trying to find the right items while being attacked? Have fun trying to navigate the unintuitive and difficult to use inventory system that will end with you never picking what you need.
  • Driving was flaky, hard to control, and added a lot of Fake Difficulty to the game.
  • The New Nightmare has Respawning Enemies that refill every room any time you leave and come back. This being a Survival Horror game, health and ammunition pickups never self replenish. Infinite bad guys, finite supplies; you do the math, and the decision to completely omit melee combat of any kind doesn't help. (While you can usually run around enemies thankfully there are still several rooms that are too cramped to dodge enemies without at least shooting them to stun them and you're still screwed if you're out of ammo and a boss shows up.)
  • The New Nightmare's Game Boy Color port one-upped its console big brothers by also sporting what appears to be RPG-type Random Encounters, complete with Fight Woosh that takes you to a dedicated combat zone. Problem? You can't use unarmed attacks and have no option for running way from these fights, so if you run out of ammo, you're pretty well fucked as while the encounters thankfully aren't random, if you don't pick up the ammo laying on the ground during a fight before it ends, it vanishes and the game is balanced around you picking up most of these ammo pickups.
• Sequelitis:
  • The second game is generally seen as one of the worst in the series, due to a combination of rushing it out to try and capitalize on the original's success (the director later acknowledged in an interview that they knew the game was buggy and unbalanced, but weren't concerned about the quality) and attempting to cash in on Wolfenstein 3D's success. The end result is it's essentially a shooter, but it made no attempt to change the base gameplay (you'll often end up getting shot at from offscreen, and in the unlikely event that you do manage to get an enemy in your view, good luck aiming at him) and ends up borderline unplayable. The entire "horror" thing is also completely absent, with it taking the little moments of silliness that were common in contemporary horror games and cranking them up to eleven until the game became a self-parody. It really says something when the most famous part of a "survival horror" game involves bludgeoning zombie dwarf cooks to death with a frying pan while wearing a Santa outfit. Fortunately, the third game reintroduced the adventure elements from the original and took itself a bit more seriously.
  • And then there's Alone in The Dark: Illumination. Basically just a random game with Alone In The Dark's name, it's a Co-Op Multiplayer third-person shooter where the only connection to the other games is that enemies are weakened by light. It feels unfinished, lacking ANY voice acting, missing sound effects, looking like a game from a console generation prior, and, most damming, having an almost complete lack of story. The poor reception for it seemed to have finally put the franchise to rest... until in 2022 another reboot was announced.
• So Bad, It's Good: As seen under Narm, the 2008 reboot is sometimes seen as this, especially in terms of its story.
• Special Effects Failure: In the 2008 reboot, there's a gameplay mechanic that shows scratches and wounds on Edward's body the more he gets hurt. The problem is that the wounds look like they were just glued onto Edward's body, which makes it look incredibly fake. And in some cutscenes, wounds would sometimes glitch and hang off of Edward's character model.
• Strangled by the Red String: The rather forced relationship that develops between Carnby and female companion/sidekick Sarah Flores in the 2008 Alone in the Dark.
• That One Boss:
  • Li Tung in the third game. He moves and attacks much faster than Carnby can, and can close the distance very quickly and jump-kick you from halfway across the room you fight him in. Beating him essentially requires running back and forth, popping off Winchester shots whenever you get the chance.
  • A couple from the fourth game.
    • The Procuraptor in the library can take a lot of damage, which forces you to use the rocket launcher. Even then, you can't damage it in its normal state, but shooting it with any weapon (even the revolver) will cause it to enter a vulnerable state during a few second where you can actually damage it. However, since this is not obvious, you can waste a lot of rockets by using them during the first state. If you didn't find enough rockets, expect a very long fight as you'll run out of them and have to resort to the shotgun.
    • Alan Morton. A brutal Lightning Bruiser with no clear attack pattern (thank goodness he can only attack at close range). And to top it off, he's a Puzzle Boss (your weapons can only knock him out for a while). You have to knock him out and find the right door which will lead you to a magical spear that kills him with one hit. And if you reach a door while he's up, he'll teleport and slam you down. But once you know the right door...
• That One Level:
  • The 59th Street escape sequence in the 2008 Alone in the Dark, purely because of how bad the driving controls are. Though some believe the look, sound and music in the level make up for it.
  • And the driving section with the bats, coming soon afterwards, where they drag your car up (possibly to your doom) and/or stop sticking to it completely at random; the black goo, which might or might not react to your flashlight, eating you up; and that final driving section, timed, where it's plenty possible to miss the right turn at the end.
  • Fixed in the PS3 Inferno port. While the 59th Street driving section is still unlikely to be beat at first try, the improved controls, Sarah's giving you directions as well as there being checkpoints along the way actually render the whole sequence somewhat fun if still challenging.
• That One Puzzle: The flashlight puzzle in the Morton family crypt in the fourth game. It's as simple as moving your flashlight to draw a M. However, the controls in the Playstation versions, while good elsewhere, are horrible for moving the flashlight, which means you'll likely mess up the drawing and spend a long time there having to restart over and over.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: Say what you will about the gameplay of the 2008 reboot, but sequences like climbing around on the crumbling building and the mad drive through New York are absolutely spectacular to watch.
  • Lets not forget the Game Boy Color port of New Nightmare. Sure its a bit clunky in terms of gameplay, but the level of graphical detail it displays on an 8 bit handheld console is nothing short of breathtaking.

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I don't have your Stinger! And FUCK you anyway!