In 1992, Alone In The Dark heralded one of gaming’s most popular and enduring genres: survival horror. With its limited inventory, underpowered protagonists and reliance on simple puzzles for progression, it heavily influenced the vastly more successful likes of Resident Evil and Silent Hill. Because it never gained the traction of those franchises, it has been rebooted twice already (on top of numerous sequels). And now comes a third attempt to break through.

This new game ‘reimagines’ the original, this time with David Harbour (Stranger Things) and Jodie Comer (Killing Eve) as the playable leads. It’s set in the same gothic mansion located in the US south, again infested with eldritch horrors inspired by the works of HP Lovecraft. The monster design has been overseen by Guy Davis, a key collaborator of Guillermo del Toro, and it’s written by Mikael Hedberg who penned one of gaming’s greatest narratives in the superbly creepy and existentially profound Soma.

With the huge successes of recent Resident Evil games, and numerous Silent Hill entries on the horizon, survival horror is in rude health. The impressive talent behind this new entry gives it a fighting chance.

Alone In The Dark is out now on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.