Alone in the Dark: The Nightmare Duology

Welcome to the Alone in the Dark: The Nightmare Duology! A bundle of the only two Alone in the Dark games playable on the 3DS… well… New 3DS actually. Unless you wanna trip with the official Game Boy demake. Anyways, we got Alone in the Dark: One-Eyed Jack's Revenge (a.k.a. Alone in the Dark: Jack is Back or simply Alone in the Dark 2) and the bold reboot, Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare, both are survival horror classics (or at least cult favorites) with all the charm and jank you'd expect from the series. So, if you've got a New 3DS and a taste for old school horror, these worth a look, just maybe keep a guide handy. You've been warned.

Alone in the Dark: The Nightmare Duology

One-Eyed Jack's Revenge / Jack is Back

Alone in the Dark 2 seems like one of those early survival horror games that tried to expand on the first game but didn't quite land for everyone. In this one, you play as Edward Carnby, a detective looking into a kidnapping that leads him to a spooky mansion owned by a gangster called One-Eyed Jack. Things take a weird turn when it turns out the gangsters are actually undead pirates, which sounds like a cool idea but the execution might been a bit messy.

The gameplay looks similar to the first game, with tank controls and an inventory system, tho it added some QoL tweaks like fixed camera angles. Bet it's clunky by today's standards, but I guess that's just how survival horror was back then and based on the reviews I checked, the controls were already awkward on PC and didn't translate super well to consoles either.

The story seems fun in a cheesy way, with pirates and hidden ships, but the difficulty spikes can be brutal. There's also that infamous protection code puzzle that people say was so frustrating it became a meme before memes were really a thing. But in general, it sounds more like a mixed bag, not terrible but not as scary or polished as it could've been either.

The New Nightmare

This one's a reboot and way more ambitious than Alone in the Dark 2. You can play as either Edward Carnby or Aline Cedrac, and their stories cross paths as they explore a creepy island overrun by shadow monsters. The light and darkness mechanic seems pretty neat, flashlights actually matter and some enemies can only be taken down with special ammo like magnesium bullets. It's a clever concept, and from what I've read, the way the flashlight interacts with prerendered backgrounds was impressive for its time.

The PlayStation version gotten decent reviews, with people praising the atmosphere and puzzles, tho it still has some jank. The controls are still stiff and while Aline's sections focus more on puzzles and Carnby's on action, neither feels perfectly refined. So, it might not be as iconic as RESIDENT EVIL or SILENT HILL, but the fact that it sold over a million copies shows it had its fandom, even if it wasn't a masterpiece. And hey, at least it's infinitely better as the movie adaptation, which ranks among the worst videogame movies ever. Oof.

 

PlayStation

 

Game Boy Color