Alone in the Dark: Illumination Preview

“…something like a slightly darker and not-quite-finished Left4Dead…”

 

Recently I was invited to take part in the closed beta for Atari’s new instalment in a classic series; Alone in the Dark Illumination. It is a series which I had not had the pleasure of experiencing personally until now, and so knowing little more than that it was a shooter, horror and that it makes some mesmerising use of light and dark in its special effects, I rather ambitiously jumped in…

To quickly give some background on the game, Alone in the Dark Illumination is described by its creators as a “survival-action horror experience” and after the first five minutes of play I was inclined to agree. Partly inspired by the works of literary great H. P. Lovecraft, the game follows a story in which some type of nightmarish monsters from a realm or world outside of our own have brought darkness and chaos to the town of Lorwich. Naturally then you must pick up your weaponry, find some friends and start shooting at shadows to bring the fight back to them!

Loosely speaking, that is pretty much the scenario at hand. As I said before then, I ambitiously jumped in, having mentally prepared myself for some nonsensical, jump scare-fuelled, spray and pray action. Then I found that I may have been a little over-ambitious about what to expect…

The first section of the first chapter of the game starts in an abandoned train yard, in the middle of the night and, of course, in the middle of a thunder storm. There is little lighting to speak of, but flashes of lightning in the sky provide brief illuminations of your surroundings. As promised, the lighting effects along with the deep darkness do create an impressive atmosphere in combination. You walk in the dark for a minute or two, figuring out the controls due to the lack of a tutorial and trying not to get caught out by the first creature who tries to jump you. And then you see it; the first beast of the darkness! You raise your rifle, take aim as quickly as you can, and… wait while it strolls lazily towards you? And so suddenly you aren’t as afraid or immersed anymore…

So at this point you are thinking that this must be some sort of trick; a distraction from the real threat which is about to appear! You easily dispatch this first adversary, turn around, and sure enough there are more! But they too appear to be in no rush to get you. It is a wonder that these creatures have managed to cause this town any real trouble at all as you proceed to pick them off one by one. Then, suddenly, you die without warning. It seems the creatures which had gotten close to you had depleted your health bar without any real indication that anything was happening. Then you remember that this is a beta, and proceed to restart the level and try again. It is a good job though, as if it were anything more than a beta there would be some very serious issues with this game…

It is clear that this is a very early build for Alone in the Dark Illumination, which tests out the basic workings of the game, the graphical elements and the simple fact of whether it is playable or not. All of these elements are absolutely fine too, but it is the real substance of the game which is missing right now, and that makes it hard to judge for a preview. There is very little feeling of threat or fear as you are playing, and while the creatures and their powers do suggest that they could be a good idea for an enemy, as they stand they are little more than an irritating barrier to your missions. In other words, the bare bones seem fine, but the meat, at least right now, is lacking.

The beta also keep a tight lock on a number of the key selling features of Alone in the Dark Illumination. The game boasts of different classes, varied levels and a very strong multiplayer experience, but for the purposes of the weekend-long preview fans were only given access to a single class and level. The Hunter, which was the class on offer, does not seem to have anything all that special about him. He seems like a pretty generic shooter game character, and didn’t display anything outstandingly unique in his character build. The level on the other hand did showcase the variety on offer in each chapter of the game, with a number of very different sections being showcased and a good variety of atmospheres and world-based challenges being clear between them. Some spaces were better lit, some more open and some more maze like than others, and this kept the missions fresh.

Without knowing what it will feel like to play with the different character classes, what the monsters will behave like when they are fully functional, or how the game will feel to play when it is complete, it is hard to say what Alone in the Dark Illumination is realistically offering to gamers. It boasts all the traits of a new, fresh game in its product descriptions, but at the moment it plays something like a slightly darker and not-quite-finished Left4Dead…

For all of what it was lacking however, the beta was interesting, and not just because the game and series was new to me. There were visible elements, such as the atmospheric lighting, the variety of levels and monsters, and the use of light as a tool against them, which inspire a feeling that there is a lot of promise here if gamers wait for the finished product. Perhaps the next beta will reveal more of what we can expect from Alone in the Dark Illumination, but until then it is perhaps best to simply follow the news and keep an open mind about what the finished game will truly be like.