Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare

(This is a review for the PS1 version)

This really is, or would be a GREAT resident evil clone if not for one thing: respawning enemies. Yup. Enemies will often respawn in this game.

Having a very limited set of resources such as ammunition or health pickups is a classic element of survival horror. Managing your resources in these type of games adds a layer of complexity to each playthrough. You have to consider: can you attack the enemy in this situation? Do you have the ammo? Or would dodging/running from the enemy in question be more wise? Can you come back later and clear the room out when you might have more ammo? This is where the "survival" part of the term or survival horror comes into play.

But because the enemies respawn in this game, that whole balance is completely ruined imho. In a good survival horror game from this era, the player will eventually become so skilled at conserving resources that they'll end the game with a surplus of ammo/health pickups. Here though, every time you start to amass a nice cushion of heath/ammo pickups, you'll wind up wasting it on enemies you didn't realize were going to respawn.

...and no, running past these enemies isn't as easy as it can be in other survival horrors because often you'll be in a very narrow corridor with no way to go forward down the hall without bumping directly into enemies. The game also does NOT have some sort of melee weapon (like RE's combat knife) to be there as an option when you're out of ammo. When you're out, you're screwed.

It kind of boggles my mind that these game developers CLEARLY understood what made games like Silent Hill and Resident Evil appeal to people. This game is ALMOST a classic. I love the pre-rendered backgrounds, the voice acting isn't laughable, and the story has a very nice Lovecraft vibe. I really want to love this game. You might even like this game, if nothing I've described above puts you off. But it's not for me. I need more balance in my survival horror.

While the 1992 original is a pioneer of survival horror games, this 2001 reboot is the first modern game in the series. The story, characters, setting and atmosphere are all on point and very engaging. The game has serious flaws though like re-spawning enemies, some very confusing & cryptic puzzles, and the boss fights were at times confusing and frustrating to handle as well due to their puzzle-like sequence. Even so, I enjoyed New Nightmare for what it is, and it was suppose to be the beginning of another trilogy, but those plans got scrapped, which is unfortunate. I feel the series would've been in far better shape had they just proceeded with the New Nightmare reboot trilogy. The 2008 game and 2015 Illumination were so bad, they virtually killed the series. So, it's an amazing miracle that Alone in the Dark 2024 got made which is now possibly the best game in the series thanks to modern gameplay & graphics, and being a faithful & respectful homage to the 1992 original.

Hi, Alone in the dark: the new nightmare one of the most enjoyable and scariest survival horror game ever for PS1. The graphic is great for a PS1 title , it could be better than Resident Evil if you look to the game from the bottom of you heart, the game is not forgettable also even when you finished it, you will feel like you want to play it more and more. The best part of the game is in the library, the music make you feel your body trembling with fear, the fear of the haunted mansion.

The music is well done to make your tension goes high, the lightening bolt in the sky and the thunder is also well done and it's look real somehow, the flashlight one of the best feature in the game, thats why they called this game the master of horror.

No more to say , the game is too old and even if you haven't played it yet, buy it and play it.

This game really scares me. Every details in this game look so real. The shadow of the character, lightning, thunder.

The character's movements are good. This game is like a horror movie.

Greatest horror game since Resident Evil.

First off I would say this game's gunplay is a lot better than Classic Resident Evil games. You have two different aiming mode, one is a typical Survival horror aiming but this time you can move, the second is a full 3D aiming which allows you to aim at specific places. This alone makes the gameplay better than Resident Evil (In terms of shooting).

Moving and other stuff is the same as Resident Evil, you have tank controls, fixed camera, and a lot of backtracking.

Now the bad thing is that the gameplay is very clunky, even for a 2001 game. You get keys but there are no real clear information on where to use them, so I just ended up using the keys on every door to see which one it opens. The good thing is that most keys are just used once and they are gone. A bad thing is that you don't automatically use the keys so if you have more than one you will have to go to your inventory and press "use" on both keys to see if either works. This becomes tedious very early on. If you ever played the very first Metal Gear on the MSX, it is very similar to using keycards in that game.

Another bad thing is that the enemies are extreme bullet sponges. Unlike Resident Evil, enemies in The New Nightmare does not react to your shots (for example they don't really move back and they don't fall down). This is a problem because if there is an enemy or enemies in front of you, you can't run past them and have to kill them. You will spend an entire clip on killing one of these creatures. There is really no strategy, you can't aim for the legs, shoot them, and then run when they are down. Also enemies to respawn so it is very frustrating when you clean a room of enemies, then come back later to find them back there but this time you are low on ammo.

Another thing is the game isn't really scary (although there are some nice little jump moments). The reason is that these creatures aren't scary, they are inspired by Native American folklore and H.P. Lovecraft.

Anyways, this game is just "ok."

7/10