This version also removed the copy protection from the floppy disk release.Īs with the first instalment in the series, outside of Europe the game was distributed in North America by Interplay Entertainment and in Japan by Arrow Micro-Techs Corp, which once again developed and published Japanese-exclusive versions for the PC-98 and FM Towns computers.
#Alone in the dark ps1 cover full#
While the floppy version was the original, the CD-ROM release added a full Red Book audio reworked soundtrack, dialogue speech (in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Japanese, depending on the country the game was released) and a new playable section of Grace Saunders not present in the original version, which connected the mansion and the ship areas. There were two DOS versions of the game, the floppy disk version and the CD-ROM version. Later CD versions of both Alone in the Dark and Alone in the Dark 2 came packaged with Jack in the Dark. Jack in the Dark is an adventure game that focuses purely on puzzles and has no combat. There, the toys are alive, and Grace must save Santa Claus from an evil Jack-in-the-box. During Halloween, she enters a small toy store after dark and gets locked in it. It is a short adventure featuring the young child Grace Saunders. The game was on a single floppy in a golden wrapping featuring a Jack-in-the-box illustration on the top. It was used as a promotional game distributed at Christmas 1993 (just before Alone in the Dark 2 release). Jack in the Dark is a small game made during Alone in the Dark 2 production. Fighting his way into the house and ultimately onto a pirate ship hidden in the cliff on which Jack's house is built, Edward must survive, discover the secret of the pirates' apparent immortality, rescue little Grace, and find out why the pirates are so interested in her.
Unfortunately, Edward soon finds out that Ted has been murdered.Ĭarnby eventually finds out that the mobsters are the corporeal forms of the spirits of pirates that plundered the sea hundreds of years ago, the lot having sold their souls in exchange for eternal life through voodoo magic. Edward decides to pick up the trail when he learns of Ted's disappearance in the mansion. The trail of clues leads to an old mansion named "Hell's Kitchen" - the home of an infamous gangster boss and his gang. "Supernatural Private Eye" Edward Carnby and his partner Ted Stryker are investigating the kidnapping of young Grace Saunders. It is Christmas of 1924, three months after Alone in the Dark. Grace, a child, cannot fight and is instantly captured if the gangsters spot her, so instead she must sneak around and defeat the gangsters by turning common household objects into booby traps. The game world is larger than that of the original, encompassing not only a mansion, but also the surrounding gardens as well as a pirate ship hidden in caverns beneath the house however, unlike the first game, with the exception of the main house, its locations may only be explored in a strictly linear sequence, a pattern that would continue in later sequels.Īlthough much of the game is spent playing as Carnby, the player will occasionally take control of Grace Saunders. The player can pick up weapons on the way with firearms such as the Revolver equipped at the start of the game, Shotguns, Tommy guns, a Derringer pistol, Flintlock pistols and melee weapons such as Swords.
While the enemies are revealed to be possessed by evil spirits, and are green and zombie-like in appearance, they are far from the shambling walking corpses of the first game, and walk, talk, and behave much like ordinary people, arming themselves with guns and shooting at the player. While there are some supernatural goings-on ( Voodoo black magic), the main villains are gangsters and pirates. As De Girolami told Retro Gamer, the team was well aware of these issues at the end, but Infogrames wasn’t really concerned about tweaking the game: “The focus back then was to capitalize on the success of the first game as soon as possible, not to maintain its quality level.The original game's horror theme has been significantly de-emphasized in the sequel.
This whole section is tedious and having to cope with it from the get go is probably the worst game design decision in the whole original trilogy. The controls are clumsy at best, terribly unsuited for the task at hand, and force you to corner every enemy to avoid being stun locked by the automatic firearms. The first part of the game takes place in the garden maze of Hell’s Kitchen, where you need to fight your way through hordes of Thompson-wearing goons. Finding the action menu trimmed down to just Fight and Push should be the first indicator that something’s changed. While the mechanics are exactly the same as in the first game, now the focus lies much more on combat. The original artwork that served as base for one of the flashback images.