Alone in the Dark is More Focused on Psychological Horror Than Modern Survival Horror Games – Producer

Beloved survival horror franchises like Resident Evil and Dead Space have enjoyed remarkable reversals in fortune in recent years, and THQ Nordic will be hoping that Alone in the Dark – one of the oldest survival horror franchises out there – will reap similar benefits from its own upcoming revival with the upcoming expanded reimagination of the series’ original game.

With an over-the-shoulder third person camera, Alone in the Dark is obviously going to have more than a few similarities to its aforementioned peers (if superficial ones), but where its actual brand of horror is concerned, THQ Nordic associate producer Andreas Schmiedecker says the game is going to differ from other modern survival horror games by focusing more on psychological horror than the “terror” aspects of the genre- something that, according to Schmeidecker, benefit significantly from having David Harbour and Jodie Comer portraying the game’s dual protagonists.

“As you know, Alone in the Dark actually predates all other popular survival horror franchises and established most of the genre’s rules and traditions,” Schmeidecker said to GamingBolt in a recent interview when asked about comparisons with the likes of Resident Evil and Dead Space. “So we’re excited to bring it back – and we think that grounding in the original game is also what makes our re-imagination (our ‘love-letter to the original’) so interesting and unique.

“And while many other games go more into the ‘terror’ part of survival horror, we see ourselves more in the tradition of psychological horror – and in that regard we’re lucky to have David Harbour and Jodie Comer on board, whose spellbinding performances will convince everybody who’s here for the story-experience.”

In spite of a different approach to horror though, Alone in the Dark will, of course, have some key things in common with genre classics, from the core mechanical loop to the third person camera perspective.

“Mechanically, we conserve the classic survival horror elements of (scary) exploration, challenging puzzles, fraught combat and a deep story (in the best tradition of Silent Hill and earlier Resident Evil games) with the presentation of a contemporary 3rd-person game,” Schmeidecker said. “This modernization goes hand in hand with, for instance, an over-the-shoulder-camera and a control scheme that has become standard.”

During the interview, Schmeidecker also confirmed that Alone in the Dark will feature a 60 FPS performance mode at launch. Read more on that through here.

Alone in the Dark launches on October 25 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Our full interview with Schmeidecker will be live soon, so stay tuned for that.