For as long as survival horror has existed, confounding puzzles and bewildering navigation have been staples of the experience. Granted, they did fall out of fashion for a brief period in the late-noughties — when games like Dead Space and Resident Evil 5 pivoted in a more action-oriented direction — but generally they have been mainstays of the genre ever since the very beginning.
Although it’s up for debate where those origins actually, you know, originated, the original Alone in the Dark at least belongs in the conversation. It may have arrived a little later than kitschy Fmv outings like Night Trap and some of those side-scrolling movie tie-ins — which, let’s be honest, were just bog-standard platformers anyway — but it’s where the style as we understand it today was properly codified.
Indeed, Frédérick Raynal’s trailblazer pioneered most of the ideas that we now associate with classic survival horror,...
Although it’s up for debate where those origins actually, you know, originated, the original Alone in the Dark at least belongs in the conversation. It may have arrived a little later than kitschy Fmv outings like Night Trap and some of those side-scrolling movie tie-ins — which, let’s be honest, were just bog-standard platformers anyway — but it’s where the style as we understand it today was properly codified.
Indeed, Frédérick Raynal’s trailblazer pioneered most of the ideas that we now associate with classic survival horror,...
- 3/19/2024
- by Harrison Abbott
- bloody-disgusting.com
After a couple of delays, Thq’s belated remake of Alone in the Dark is almost upon us and we couldn’t be more hyped. After all, the title is poised to breathe fresh life into what was once recognized as the granddaddy of survival horror (even though it predates that label by a good few years).
You see, despite its far-reaching influence — which can be felt in everything from classic Resident Evil to mainline Silent Hill entries— this IP has been languishing since the turn of the millennium. Owing to a string of increasingly dodgy sequels, very few gamers under the age of thirty are likely to hold the series in high esteem, while its protagonist, Edward Carnby, is hardly as iconic as his nearest counterparts in Leon S. Kennedy or James Sunderland.
Mikael Hedberg, however, is still very fond of Alone in the Dark, believing it to be...
You see, despite its far-reaching influence — which can be felt in everything from classic Resident Evil to mainline Silent Hill entries— this IP has been languishing since the turn of the millennium. Owing to a string of increasingly dodgy sequels, very few gamers under the age of thirty are likely to hold the series in high esteem, while its protagonist, Edward Carnby, is hardly as iconic as his nearest counterparts in Leon S. Kennedy or James Sunderland.
Mikael Hedberg, however, is still very fond of Alone in the Dark, believing it to be...
- 2/1/2024
- by Harrison Abbott
- bloody-disgusting.com
“With all of the remakes going on today, you can never be sure what you’ll get at the end.”
It was with this cautious scepticism that veteran game designer, Frédérick Raynal, initially greeted the news of his most famous creation, Alone in the Dark, getting another do-over.
Which is an understandable reaction, given that this franchise has a singularly bad track-record when it comes to being fumbled by outsiders. And that’s putting it lightly, as anybody who has ever played 2015’s risible Illumination will attest.
You see, while other survival horror classics like Resident Evil and (to a lesser extent) Silent Hill have managed to evolve with the times and cling to their relevancy, Alone in the Dark has suffered quite a spectacular fall from grace.
Very few players under the age of 30 will remember the series with all that much fondness, given that its entries have been...
It was with this cautious scepticism that veteran game designer, Frédérick Raynal, initially greeted the news of his most famous creation, Alone in the Dark, getting another do-over.
Which is an understandable reaction, given that this franchise has a singularly bad track-record when it comes to being fumbled by outsiders. And that’s putting it lightly, as anybody who has ever played 2015’s risible Illumination will attest.
You see, while other survival horror classics like Resident Evil and (to a lesser extent) Silent Hill have managed to evolve with the times and cling to their relevancy, Alone in the Dark has suffered quite a spectacular fall from grace.
Very few players under the age of 30 will remember the series with all that much fondness, given that its entries have been...
- 5/26/2023
- by Harrison Abbott
- bloody-disgusting.com
2Dark is the visceral new horror game by Alone in the Dark creator and famed pioneer of survival-horror games, Frédérick Raynal. The game is a grim journey of stealth and courage into the heart of corruption, offering a gritty and deceptively intricate new adventure of stealth and horror in which death is the only certainty.
The physical version of 2Dark will be available on March 17th with a whole host of premium content:
An exclusive version of the 2Dark game disk. The original soundtrack, as recorded by a symphony orchestra, remastered on a 21-track CD. A Steelbook color-themed to the game. An exclusive 2Dark artbook, “The Art of 2Dark” containing more than 100 illustrations and uncut behind-the-scenes details (only for PS4 and PC)
From the press release:
Plagued by a string of child abductions, darkness hangs over the once-picturesque city of Gloomywood like a curse. After witnessing the murder of his...
The physical version of 2Dark will be available on March 17th with a whole host of premium content:
An exclusive version of the 2Dark game disk. The original soundtrack, as recorded by a symphony orchestra, remastered on a 21-track CD. A Steelbook color-themed to the game. An exclusive 2Dark artbook, “The Art of 2Dark” containing more than 100 illustrations and uncut behind-the-scenes details (only for PS4 and PC)
From the press release:
Plagued by a string of child abductions, darkness hangs over the once-picturesque city of Gloomywood like a curse. After witnessing the murder of his...
- 3/14/2017
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
PQube have announced they are teaming BigBen Interactive to release 2Dark, the visceral new horror game by Alone in the Dark creator and famed pioneer of survival-horror games, Frédérick Raynal, in the UK.
2Dark is a grim journey of stealth and courage into the heart of corruption, offering a gritty and deceptively intricate new adventure of stealth and horror in which death is the only certainty.
From the press release:
Plagued by a string of child abductions, darkness hangs over the once-picturesque city of Gloomywood like a curse. After witnessing the murder of his wife and abduction of his children, former detective Mr. Smith vows to find justice and bring an end to the misery.
Use your cunning to infiltrate Gloomywood’s bastions of cruelty. Investigate to uncover the secrets of the deranged psychopaths within, seek retribution for their crimes, and bring the captured children to safety. If only it were so simple…...
2Dark is a grim journey of stealth and courage into the heart of corruption, offering a gritty and deceptively intricate new adventure of stealth and horror in which death is the only certainty.
From the press release:
Plagued by a string of child abductions, darkness hangs over the once-picturesque city of Gloomywood like a curse. After witnessing the murder of his wife and abduction of his children, former detective Mr. Smith vows to find justice and bring an end to the misery.
Use your cunning to infiltrate Gloomywood’s bastions of cruelty. Investigate to uncover the secrets of the deranged psychopaths within, seek retribution for their crimes, and bring the captured children to safety. If only it were so simple…...
- 1/23/2017
- by Kat Wheat
- Nerdly
If you were a gamer back in the ’90s with fond memories of the horror masterpiece Alone in the Dark, then you’ll probably be thrilled to know that its director, Frédérick Raynal is working on a new game called 2Dark… Continue Reading →
The post 2Dark from Alone in the Dark Creator Frédérick Raynal Confirmed for Consoles appeared first on Dread Central.
The post 2Dark from Alone in the Dark Creator Frédérick Raynal Confirmed for Consoles appeared first on Dread Central.
- 3/16/2016
- by David Gelmini
- DreadCentral.com
The creative minds behind Alone in the Dark have announced that their latest game, 2Dark, will be launching on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, to bring the thrills to console gamers.
Gloomywood Studios is hoping to scare you on your home consoles with 2Dark. The game was previously announced for PC, but today brings word it's coming out to the latest generation, with tweaks to make it optimized for each platform:
Gloomywood, the new development studio headed up by the Alone in the Dark® creative force Frédérick Raynal, today announced that its upcoming stealth-horror adventure game 2Dark will be coming to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The title was previously announced for a release on PC and Mac.
Mr Smith’s quest to save missing children from the clutches of demented serial killers will be fully optimized for each release platform - for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 this means tailored controller...
Gloomywood Studios is hoping to scare you on your home consoles with 2Dark. The game was previously announced for PC, but today brings word it's coming out to the latest generation, with tweaks to make it optimized for each platform:
Gloomywood, the new development studio headed up by the Alone in the Dark® creative force Frédérick Raynal, today announced that its upcoming stealth-horror adventure game 2Dark will be coming to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The title was previously announced for a release on PC and Mac.
Mr Smith’s quest to save missing children from the clutches of demented serial killers will be fully optimized for each release platform - for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 this means tailored controller...
- 3/11/2016
- by feeds@cinelinx.com (Jordan Maison)
- Cinelinx
Let’s face it… thanks to Uwe Boll and some very poor decisions on Atari’s part, the Alone in the Dark franchise is dead. Any future installments are likely to send fans into a state of depression. Thankfully, the creator of… Continue Reading →
The post Alone in the Dark Creator Frederick Raynal Working on New Game 2Dark appeared first on Dread Central.
The post Alone in the Dark Creator Frederick Raynal Working on New Game 2Dark appeared first on Dread Central.
- 10/27/2015
- by David Gelmini
- DreadCentral.com
An exhibition featuring 80 games, interviewers with developers and playable Pac-Man; for the next six months, seminal titles of gaming's past will dominate the Smithsonian American Museum of Art.
More details after the jump.
You know what the most boring conversation of recent memory has been for me? The whole video-games-as-art "debate" that sprang up a few years ago. It's such a tedious semantic argument, begging for validation for a 40-year-old industry that has produced both high and low works. I have to imagine cheerleaders on the pro side of the debate should feel vindicated by the exhibition currently running at that venerable institution, the Smithsonian.
Titled The Art of Video Games, it'll be taking over the third floor of the Smithsonian through September, focusing on "the interplay of graphics, technology and storytelling through some of the best games for twenty gaming systems ranging from the Atari Vcs to the PlayStation 3," using stills and video.
More details after the jump.
You know what the most boring conversation of recent memory has been for me? The whole video-games-as-art "debate" that sprang up a few years ago. It's such a tedious semantic argument, begging for validation for a 40-year-old industry that has produced both high and low works. I have to imagine cheerleaders on the pro side of the debate should feel vindicated by the exhibition currently running at that venerable institution, the Smithsonian.
Titled The Art of Video Games, it'll be taking over the third floor of the Smithsonian through September, focusing on "the interplay of graphics, technology and storytelling through some of the best games for twenty gaming systems ranging from the Atari Vcs to the PlayStation 3," using stills and video.
- 3/19/2012
- by Charles Webb
- MTV Multiplayer
One of the go-to anecdotes Simple Machine founders Kurt Bieg and Ramsey Nasser have about their iPhone golf-meets-Twitter game Twirdie involves a five-year-old picking up the game for the first time. According the the duo—classmates from the Parsons School of Design who found sudden success recently with the release of their rhythm game, Circadia—the first time the junior gamer in question picked up the game, he sat with it for over two hours, typing away terms into the game's interface, using trending words on Twitter to putt the ball back and forth across the green to get it into the hole.
For Nasser and Bieg, this story, which they told me during a brief Gdc 2012 interview and recounted again during the Experimental Gameplay Session, neatly sums up the appeal of the game which challenges users to flex their social awareness, regardless of their age, background, or nationality. Twirdie...
For Nasser and Bieg, this story, which they told me during a brief Gdc 2012 interview and recounted again during the Experimental Gameplay Session, neatly sums up the appeal of the game which challenges users to flex their social awareness, regardless of their age, background, or nationality. Twirdie...
- 3/14/2012
- by Charles Webb
- MTV Multiplayer
Two decades to the year after Edward Carnby first got in over his head in the original 3D survival horror, the game's designer, Frederick Raynal took the stage at Gdc 2012 to discuss how he and the team at Infogrames created the PC classic that inspired Resident Evil, Silent Hill, and quite by accident, the Uwe Boll movie with Christian Slater.
"If you see a dog burst through a window [in another game], remember that we had this eight polygon bird coming through the first polygon window," Raynal joked about an early scare from Alone In The Dark, referencing one of the first Resident Evil's biggest shocks several years later. Raynal detailed the evolution of the first game in the first 3D survival horror game, keeping pace with changes in PC hardware and realizing the first adventure of series protagonist Edward Carnby.
It was by December '91 that an early version of Edward was in the game,...
"If you see a dog burst through a window [in another game], remember that we had this eight polygon bird coming through the first polygon window," Raynal joked about an early scare from Alone In The Dark, referencing one of the first Resident Evil's biggest shocks several years later. Raynal detailed the evolution of the first game in the first 3D survival horror game, keeping pace with changes in PC hardware and realizing the first adventure of series protagonist Edward Carnby.
It was by December '91 that an early version of Edward was in the game,...
- 3/12/2012
- by Charles Webb
- MTV Multiplayer
Little Big Adventure is to be remade for current generation hardware, according to the game's creative team. Didier Chanfray, Frédérick Raynal and Sébastien Viannay, who developed the original title for Adeline Software International, told GoG that they are working an updated version. Chanfray announced in August that downloadable reissues of Little Big Adventure and its sequel Little Big Adventure 2 were "under negotiation", as was a "remix" of the original for touch-screen devices. The team has now confirmed that a Little Big Adventure remake is in the works, hinting that (more)...
- 1/2/2012
- by By Mark Langshaw
- Digital Spy
A 1999 demo promoting the ruinously expensive Shenmue (called “What’s Shenmue?”) featured an exclusive scene in which then company president Yukawa-san could be seen slumped at his desk, head in hands, surrounded by piles of unsold consoles (above). Deep down, Sega must have known the Dreamcast didn’t stand a chance even before they axed it two years later.
Even though the Sega Dreamcast enjoyed a relatively short lifespan (officially somewhere between its 1998 Japanese launch and late 2002 termination) and wasn’t supported at all by the most powerful publisher of the day (Electronic Arts) the well-loved machine still boasts an impressive library of titles.
Even extending this “best of” list, from the originally planned 10 to a whopping 30 games, has seen me leave out such gems as cult top-down shooter Ikaruga, well-regarded sports sim NHL 2K2, online deathmatch game Outtrigger, stylish BioWare-made shooter MDK2 and Street Fighter III: Double Impact (to...
Even though the Sega Dreamcast enjoyed a relatively short lifespan (officially somewhere between its 1998 Japanese launch and late 2002 termination) and wasn’t supported at all by the most powerful publisher of the day (Electronic Arts) the well-loved machine still boasts an impressive library of titles.
Even extending this “best of” list, from the originally planned 10 to a whopping 30 games, has seen me leave out such gems as cult top-down shooter Ikaruga, well-regarded sports sim NHL 2K2, online deathmatch game Outtrigger, stylish BioWare-made shooter MDK2 and Street Fighter III: Double Impact (to...
- 8/29/2011
- by Robert Beames
- Obsessed with Film
Alone In The Dark creator Frederick Raynal is working on a new game for Ubisoft. The designer has released a cryptic teaser for the project via his website, but is yet to reveal its title or any further information. Raynal is best known for his work on the original Alone In The Dark trilogy, as well as the cult classic (more)...
- 3/21/2010
- by By Mark Langshaw
- Digital Spy
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