New York gothic horror
Well, we didn’t go far as we stayed in the underground car park and had a look at the inventory system. This is ‘real world’ too. When you access your inventory, the camera moves round to a top-down third person view and Carnby opens up his overcoat. Inside you can see pockets of varying sizes, so what you can carry depends on what’s already in your pockets plus what’s in your hands… So no being able to carry a rocket launcher, six types of gun, a small monkey called Reuben and four thousand rounds of ammo here.
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Click for larger imageNow the more astute amongst you will have noticed that there’s a slight continuity error in the game. That being the original Alone In The Dark games featuring Edward Carnby were based in the 1920’s. No, our modern Edward Carnby isn’t a descendant of the original Carnby, it’s the same guy, somehow transplanted to modern day New York which is in the grip of some paranormal and deadly shennanigens. Part of the puzzle is to figure out not only what’s going on and why but to also figure out why you, Edward Carnby, are suddenly in New York nearly 90 years later having not aged a day.
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Click for larger imageEden reckon that using the real world setting of Central Park will heighten the horror aspect of Alone In The Dark as they’re trying to faithfully recreate many of the park’s features (with a bit of poetic license in places, for gameplay reasons). For me, giving never visited Central Park and being unlikely to before the game comes it, this kinda falls flat. However, I did like the overall spooky atmosphere, a hallmark of the Alone In The Dark series which Eden have still captured. So whether I’m familiar with the location or not, I hope to be suitably frightened.
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