"Alone in the Dark" is a series of survival horror computer games from Infogrames. In most of the series, the gamer plays as private investigator Edward Carnby, who usually goes to investigate a haunted mansion or town that is full of undead creatures. The story is based on the writings of H.P. Lovecraft, although later games in the series drew inspiration from other sources including Voodoo, the Wild West, and the works of H.R. Giger. Though many credit the popular Resident Evil game series for creating the 3D survival horror genre, Alone In The Dark was actually the first 3D survival horror game when it first appeared for the PC in 1992.
Alone in the Dark
The original game in the series, and one of the first two games to use polygonal characters over pre-rendered backgrounds. The game is considered to be one of, if not, the first survival horror games. Created by Infogrames and released for PC in 1992, Interplay made a port for 3DO in 1994 that was only released in USA.
Jack in the Dark
Jack in the Dark is a small game made during Alone in the Dark 2 production. It was used as a promotional game distributed at Christmas 1993 (just before Alone in the Dark 2 release). The game was on a single floppy in a golden wrapping featuring a Jack-in-the-box illustration on the top. It is a short adventure featuring the young child Grace Saunders. During halloween, she enters a small toy store after dark and gets locked in it. There, the toys are alive, and Grace must save Santa Claus from an evil Jack-in-the-box. Jack in the Dark is a pure adventure game that focuses purely on puzzles and has no combat. Later CD versions of both Alone in the Dark and Alone in the Dark 2 came packaged with Jack in the Dark.
Alone in the Dark 2
The sequel to the original Alone in the Dark but viewed as a drastic departure from the original game. Alone in the Dark 2 is much more action-oriented than its predecessor, with a much greater emphasis on firearms and shootouts, and resulting more difficult combat. Originally created by Infogrames and released for PC in 1994, it was ported to 3DO by Interplay in 1995 and released only in USA. An enhanced port under the name of Alone in the Dark: Jack is Back was developed by Infogrames and released in 1996 for Sega Saturn and PlayStation. It was known in USA as Alone in the Dark: One-Eyed Jack's Revenge. The Sega Saturn version was also released in Japan under the original name of Alone in the Dark 2.
Alone in the Dark 3
The final game in the original trilogy and the last game to utilize the same engine and characters as the original game. Released for PC in 1995, Alone in the Dark 3 attempts to return to the gameplay style of the original game. A version of Alone in the Dark 3 for Windows 95 under the name of Alone in the Dark: Ghosts in Town was released by Infogrames in 1996.
Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare
The next generation of the Alone in the Dark series, Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare was created as a console survival horror game developed by Darkworks, and shows significant influence from the Resident Evil series. The control scheme and gameplay is much closer to that of Resident Evil than the original Alone in the Dark games. It was released in 2001 for PC, PlayStation, Dreamcast, and PlayStation 2, also with an alternative portable Game Boy Color version developed by Pocket Studios.
Alone in the Dark: Near Death Investigation
On September 16, 2005, it could be seen in a Sony release list that an upcoming Alone in the Dark game on the PlayStation 3 was being produced. In July 2006, Atari confirmed that the game was currently on development by Eden Games. The game will be released on PC, Wii, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, with alternative versions also stated for the PlayStation 2, PSP and Nintendo DS. The PC, 360, and PS3 versions will come first, sometime between March 2007 and March 2008. The others will be released at a later date. Wikipedia
