Alone in the dark, sounds ominous doesn't it? It's kind of like those childhood memories, for some people at least where night time or darkness manifests some sort of fear; and why not? There's always something mysterious about darkness and when humans are deprived of their most used sense (the eyes) a heightened state of awareness is reached as the other senses take on a primary role. It's the uncertainty of darkness that raises the pulse and brings into the fore an excitement in many and fear in others.

From a gaming point of view, the darkness is something that plays a pivotal role in many games and for gamers is something were used to and often expect. There are certain games where the darkness is your friend and something to relish such as in the Splinter Cell games; in other games the darkness serves as an instrument of fear. Well this is the premise behind Alone in the Dark which debuted on the PC back in 1992 and was the first survival horror game which pioneered the genre and went on to spawn several sequels on various platforms.

For the uninitiated, survival horror games usually thrust players into horrific situations (normally using a third person viewpoint) where it's a character or perhaps several with the aim of surviving the terror which unfolds. Players have to use their wits, guile and sheer reactionary skills to basically survive. Luckily survival horror games come with a vast array of real world weaponry (depending on the game) to use against anything that moves in the dark! There is usually a puzzle element involved which can be as simple as finding a key for the correct door or operating some sort of mechanism to open up hidden areas and such like. This blend of lateral puzzle solving combined with edge of your seat thrills and exciting combat make survival horror games a joy to play. However I think the key ingredient and one that adds to the suspense of these games are the fact that players don't have massive amounts of health to rely on; although players are usually able to heal themselves by finding the right items that seem to be conveniently left by an unknown force in the right places. This life like fragility makes for a more involved experience as a gruesome death is never far away and so extra panic is caused when facing the enemies in such games.

Well things have been rather quiet what with the last Alone in the Dark game appearing in 2001 across numerous platforms. However Eden Games have been busy working on their new Alone in the Dark game titled Alone in the Dark: Near Death Investigation. There are very few details regarding the game other than it will follow its roots and remain a survival horror game.

Alone in Dark: Near Death Investigation; sounds like a TV series doesn't it (for some reason CSI springs to my mind but that's probably because they both share the word investigation)? Well the team at Eden are keen to stress that this is in fact one of their aims in terms of the game's presentation. The team are planning on providing the gamer with an episodic adventure which gamers will be familiar with if they watch the numerous series' on television such as 24. Whereas traditional survival horror games often have one story that players play through from start to finish; Alone in the Dark: Near Death Investigation aims to offer players the presentation style of a series with game play sequences that are divided into episodes or chapters. This approach isn't anything new, as several games have utilised this approach, however with the right direction and an imaginative approach the team should be able to come up with some gripping situations for the player. The team aim to keep the player focused and truly engrossed in the game's changing storyline which is based around paranormal activities in Central Park NYC. I am envisioning several different storylines being interwoven with an underlying theme, with the central character undertaking a number of very different investigations across the city. Whether we will also see the return of being able to play as more than one character is also yet to be seen, especially in regards to the episodic nature of the presentation. There's a lot Eden can do with such a flexible story telling method and it will be interesting to see how things develop once more information is revealed.

Alone in the Dark: Near Death Investigation is due out on Xbox 360 ,PS3 and PC at some point in early 2007 and with it being the first game on more powerful consoles than previous versions we can expect some excellent graphics. I'm not sure if Alone in the Dark will use a combination of pre-rendered static backgrounds or fully 3D environments but judging from the trailer you can clearly see some excellent lighting effects as well as highly detailed character models. The trailer clearly points to a title that will be big on effects and atmosphere and one that will have fans of the genre eagerly anticipating its arrival. I certainly have a lot of hope for this game especially as the series has been continuously overshadowed by the Resident Evil games; which as you probably are aware have evolved quite considerably since their humble roots on the Playstation. If the team at Eden evolve the Alone in the Dark series, which by the looks and sounds of things they are doing then perhaps Near Death Investigation will be the second defining moment for the series and one that thrusts it back into popularity with fans. I love survival horror and can't wait for more details to surface. As they say on TV, stay tuned!

Alone in the Dark: Near Death Investigation Movies can be viewed here.

Alone in the Dark: Near Death Investigation screenshots can be viewed here.