Discussion "Alone in the Dark" reboot has been officially announced by THQ

Hello,

It appears that publisher "THQ Nordic" and developer "Pieces Interactive (Sweden)" have announced Alone in the Dark, a reboot of the third-person survival horror series for PC (Steam), and also for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series. A release date was not announced, but the game has been in development since late 2019 and is currently in the alpha state.

I have never played the original game from 1992, but this one redefined the "Horror" genre. Alone in the Dark was a groundbreaking survival horror game that's widely credited as one of the earliest and most influential examples of the genre.

Revealed today at THQ Nordic's digital showcase, the new game will be a "reimagination" of the 1990s survival horror trilogy featuring the characters, locations, and themes of the cult-classic. A playable teaser, dubbed “Grace in the Dark” and featuring its own original storyline, will be playable at Gamescom 2022 from August 24 to 28.

Original protagonists Edward Carnby or Emily Hartwood return as playable characters, and both will experience their own perspective on the story. According to THQ Nordic’s official description of Alone in the Dark, Emily embarks on a search for her missing uncle and enlists the help of Edward, a private investigator. Their journey leads them to Derceto, a “home for the mentally fatigued,” as well as strange residents, “portals to nightmarish worlds,” and deadly monsters.

THQ Nordic - Digital Showcase 2022

Here is an overview overview of the game, via THQ Nordic:

About:

Return to Derceto Manor in this reimagination of Alone in the Dark, a love letter to the 90s cult classic horror game. Discovering that her uncle has gone missing, Emily Hartwood goes looking for him with the help of private investigator Edward Carnby. Arriving at Derceto Manor, a home for the mentally fatigued, they encounter strange residents, portals to nightmarish worlds, dangerous monsters—and ultimately a plot of rising evil and its followers.

Key Features
  • A classic horror experience, featuring combat, puzzle, exploration, and story.
  • While presenting a completely original story, we incorporate characters, places, and themes from the 90s original trilogy.
  • Play as Edward or Emily and uncover Derceto’s mysteries from two perspectives, including completely different cutscenes and levels.
  • Set in the gothic American south in the 1920s, the game features a noir-setting with classical Lovecraftian horror elements, where the familiar meets the surreal.
  • Experience a deep psychological story that goes beyond the realms of the imaginable, by Mikael Hedberg, cult horror writer of SOMA and Amnesia.
  • Trapped inside the gothic mansion, you encounter mind bending anomalies and fight back the evil that has infiltrated the house…
Staff
  • Development: Pieces Interactive
  • Director and Writer: Mikael Hedberg (Amnesia, SOMA)
  • Doom Jazz Legend: Jason Kohnen
  • Monster Design: Guy Davis
  • Cutscenes and Characters: metricminds / Gate21
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L3Z5tGk0fc&ab_channel=Gematsu

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Alone_in_the_Dark_OtherWorld_OilRig_OilRigCreature_Emily.jpeg


Alone_in_the_Dark_Derceto_Outside.jpeg


Alone_in_the_Dark_OtherWorld_NewOrleans.jpeg
 
I've played only one Alone in the Dark game, and I think it was the 2008 one. It had some good use of lighting in some ways, but the movement and aiming animations weren't so good, and the driving you had to do was even worse. I really didn't care much for the gameplay either, which involved some weird platforming at times and evading these black spikes that came up out of the ground everywhere. The 2008 one was an Atari game though, and it looks like THQ Nordic want to honor the originals with better graphics and controls. I also like the look of the trailer, the game shows promise.
 
When it comes to latest Horror games, I think nothing can beat DEAD SPACE though. Even RE: Village and "The Evil Within 1 and 2" are pretty much an embodiment of horror.

I recently bought, EVIL DEAD: The game on Epic games store. Has a very short single player/solo campaign, just 5 levels, but it lacks the horror that other games have redefined. But the combat is pretty satisfying, and can be tough at times.

I even like the graphics/visuals and the game's atmosphere.
 
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Yup, I know about the upcoming 'The Calisto Protocol' horror game. Based on all the leaks, teasers/videos, and screenshots, the game looks promising. I wonder will they actually release this game on time ?

Rumored launch date seems to be December 2, 2022 ? Though, are you sure Callisto Protocol will indeed take the "horror" throne from Dead Space, and other games in this genre ? I guess we will find out when the game comes out.

The game looks promising though.
 
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Speaking of Callisto protocol, some new info has been shared. It appears that some new details have emerged for the Ray Tracing features that The Callisto Protocol will support. According to two interviews, the game will have ray-traced shadows and ray-traced reflections.

In an interview with IGN, Mark James, the Chief Technical Officer of Striking Distance Studios, revealed that the game will have hybrid ray-traced shadows. In other words, Striking Distance Studios will be using Ray Tracing in order to enhance the shadows of specific areas.

Then, in an interview with Techradar, James claimed that the game will have ray-traced reflections. In fact, the dev team will be using ray-traced reflections even for the eyeballs of characters.

Thus, we can assume that the game will feature both Ray Tracing Shadows and Ray Tracing Reflections on PC. Theoretically, the game will also support an AI-upscaling technique like AMD’s FSR 2.0 or NVIDIA’s DLSS. Lastly, The Callisto Protocol will be using Unreal Engine 4, and not Unreal Engine 5.

My guess is that this will be a heavily modified version of UE4. :D
 
Well, considering when the project started, it's not surprising they're using UE4 instead of 5. I love some of the RT and HDR effects I've seen in some games. I watched a clip a player made on his RTX 3090 of the new Spider-Man Remastered game on PC, and it looked FAR more stunning than it does on my PC, even without being able to see the full effect not having an HDR capable display.

It's encouraging that the RTX 3000 series GPUs have dropped quite a bit in price, and I'm hoping mining stays dormant for at least a while until I upgrade my system, but the prices still aren't quite as low as they would normally be this long after they released.

I'm hoping I can get something like an RTX 4080 when they drop in price. I'd like to shoot for around a $700 price, which seems low by today's standards, but $100 more than I paid for my current GPU. We're all wondering what the release prices of the 4000 series will be, and how many will be available. It's anyone's guess.
 
It's encouraging that the RTX 3000 series GPUs have dropped quite a bit in price, and I'm hoping mining stays dormant for at least a while until I upgrade my system, but the prices still aren't quite as low as they would normally be this long after they released.

I'm hoping I can get something like an RTX 4080 when they drop in price. I'd like to shoot for around a $700 price, which seems low by today's standards, but $100 more than I paid for my current GPU. We're all wondering what the release prices of the 4000 series will be, and how many will be available. It's anyone's guess.

Yeah the price of the RTX 30 series Ampere cards has dropped in the recent weeks/months, but mostly only for high-end flagship GPUs. The mainstream and mid-range/low-end GPUs are still selling way above MSRP.

I'm still holding off an upgrade this season. Like you mentioned, we still don't know the release MSRP of the ADA Lovelace cards, but I'm hoping it won't be that high as the RTX 30 series, which during the Covid pandemic were priced aggressively. Now the market situation is much better, but we can't say what's going to come next.

Even TSMC's 4N process node which Nvidia is going to opt for the RTX 40 series cards might cost more than previous-gen nodes, increasing the overall price of the end product. But this is just my own guess. Not sure how expensive the TSMC 4N process tech will be.

BTW, all the next-gen GPUs are also going to be a power hog for sure, up to 600 W+ TBP according to rumors, and the flagship cards are going to be monstrous/beefy, with even triple or quad slot design. Not to mention 3 cooling fans on top of it, lol.
 

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I recently bought, EVIL DEAD: The game on Epic games store. Has a very short single player/solo campaign, just 5 levels, but it lacks the horror that other games have redefined. But the combat is pretty satisfying, and can be tough at times.

nice to hear that the gameplay is nice. I enjoyed watching the movie years ago. Planning to try the game, since the characters are familiar to me.
 
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Yeah the price of the RTX 30 series Ampere cards has dropped in the recent weeks/months, but mostly only for high-end flagship GPUs. The mainstream and mid-range/low-end GPUs are still selling way above MSRP.

I'm still holding off an upgrade this season. Like you mentioned, we still don't know the release MSRP of the ADA Lovelace cards, but I'm hoping it won't be that high as the RTX 30 series, which during the Covid pandemic were priced aggressively. Now the market situation is much better, but we can't say what's going to come next.

Even TSMC's 4N process node which Nvidia is going to opt for the RTX 40 series cards might cost more than previous-gen nodes, increasing the overall price of the end product. But this is just my own guess. Not sure how expensive the TSMC 4N process tech will be.

BTW, all the next-gen GPUs are also going to be a power hog for sure, up to 600 W+ TBP according to rumors, and the flagship cards are going to be monstrous/beefy, with even triple or quad slot design. Not to mention 3 cooling fans on top of it, lol.
The original postings about the 4000 GPU power draws was speculation by way of a twitter post I think. Those specs (and mind you this is still not confirmed by Nvidia), have been updated.

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/40-percent-power-reduction-rtx-4080-4070
 
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