Alone in the Dark 2

Alone in the Dark 2 is the 1993 sequel to 1992's survival horror video game Alone in the Dark created by Infogrames. The game is the second installment in the series.

Alone in the Dark 2 was ported to the 3DO in 1995 under the same name, and to the Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation in 1996 as Alone in the Dark: Jack is Back in Europe, and renamed as Alone in the Dark: One-Eyed Jack's Revenge in North America.

Plot

It is Christmas of 1924. Private detective "Supernatural Private Eye" Edward Carnby and his partner Ted Stryker are investigating the kidnapping of young Grace Saunders. The trail of clues leads to an old mansion named "Hell's Kitchen" - the home of an infamous gangster boss and his gang. Edward decides to pick up the trail when he learns of Ted's disappearance in the mansion. Unfortunately, Edward soon finds out that Ted has been murdered.

Carnby eventually finds out that the mobsters are the corporeal forms of the spirits of pirates that plundered the sea hundreds of years ago. Fighting his way into the house and ultimately onto a pirate ship hidden in the cliff on which Jack's house is built, Edward must rescue little Grace, and find out why the pirates have taken an interest in her.

Gameplay

The original game's horror theme has been significantly de-emphasized in the sequel. While there are some supernatural goings-on (Voodoo black magic), the main villains are gangsters and pirates. While the enemies are revealed to be possessed by evil spirits, and are green and zombie-like in appearance, they are far from the shambling walking corpses of the first game, and walk, talk, and behave much like ordinary people, arming themselves with Tommy Guns and shouting at the player. The game world is larger than that of the original, encompassing not only the mansion, but also the surrounding gardens as well as a pirate ship hidden in caverns beneath the house.

Although much of the game is spend playing as Carnby, the player will occasionally take control of Grace Saunders. Grace, a child, cannot fight and is instantly captured if the gangsters spot her, so instead she must sneak around and defeat the gangsters by turning common household objects into booby traps.

Releases

There were two PC versions of the game, the floppy disk version and the CD-ROM version. While the floppy version was the original, the CD-ROM release added a full Red Book audio reworked soundtrack, dialogue speech (in English only) and a new playable section of Grace Saunders not present in the original version, which connected the mansion and the ship areas. This version also removed the anti-copy protection from the floppy disk release.

A port for the 3DO was released by Interplay in 1995. It is very similar to the PC CD-ROM version.

The versions released for the Sega Saturn and PlayStation in 1996 featured reworked and fully textured polygonal models, instead of the flat shaded ones from the PC versions (and the 3DO port). New FMV cutscenes were also added to these ports.

Sequels

Like the first game, this sequel managed to produce more sequels:

• Alone in the Dark 3 (1994)
• Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare (2001)
• Alone in the Dark (2008)

External links