Alone in the Dark (1992 video game)

Alone in the Dark
Cover art for the North American MS-DOS release and CD-ROM version in Europe
Developer(s)	Infogrames Arrow Micro-Techs Corp (PC-98, FM Towns) Krisalis (3DO, Acorn Archimedes) Kung-Fu Factory (iOS)
Publisher(s)	EU: Infogrames NA: I•Motion/Interplay[1][a]
Director(s)	Frédérick Raynal
Producer(s)	Bruno Bonnell
Programmer(s)	Frédérick Raynal Franck De Girolami
Artist(s)	Didier Chanfray Yaël Barroz Jean-Marc Torroella
Writer(s)	Hubert Chardot Franck Manzetti
Composer(s)	Philippe Vachey
Series	Alone in the Dark
Platform(s)	MS-DOS 3DO Mac OS PC-98 FM Towns iOS
Release	1992
Genre(s)	Survival horror
Mode(s)	Single-player

Alone in the Dark is a 1992 survival horror video game designed by Frédérick Raynal. Developed and published by Infogrames in 1992 for MS-DOS, the game was eventually ported to MacOS, the PC-98, the FM Towns, the 3DO, the Acorn Archimedes, and iOS. Alone in the Dark is set in 1920s Louisiana and challenges the player to escape a haunted mansion. To advance, the player must solve puzzles while banishing, slaying, or eluding various ghosts and monsters. The player can collect and use weapons, manage a weight-based inventory system, and explore a partially nonlinear map.

Raynal was motivated to create Alone in the Dark due to his interest in 3D animation and his fondness for horror films. The game's storyline was inspired by the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft and the work of directors like Dario Argento and George Romero; Raynal's programming team worked to convey much of this story via key texts scattered about the game's environment. To overcome technical limitations, the production team also employed a fixed camera angle system to dramatically frame the movement of three-dimensional characters on top of two-dimensional background images.

Upon its release, Alone in the Dark received acclaim, with critics applauding its unsettling atmosphere, effective soundtrack, and technical inventiveness. The game also won several industry awards and is regularly included in lists of the best video games ever made. Often identified as the first 3D survival horror game, Alone in the Dark strongly influenced the production of Capcom's Resident Evil (1996), and it also spawned a series of follow-up games and two films. A reimagining of the original game, developed by THQ Nordic, was released on 20 March 2024.

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