THQ Nordic is ‘reimagining’ survival horror classic Alone in the Dark, with Soma and Amnesia: The Dark Descent writer Mikael Hedberg at the helm.
Alone in the Dark, for those too young to remember, is widely considered to be the granddaddy of the survival horror genre, with the 1992 original pioneering the fixed-camera spook-house formula that would go on to influence the likes of Resident Evil and Silent Hill.
THQ Nordic’s reimagined version of Alone in the Dark – which is being handled by Swedish developer Pieces Interactive – takes the basic premise of the 1992 original, in which private detective Edward Carnby helps Emily Hartwood investigate her uncle’s suicide at the gloomy Derceto Mansion, and shakes it up a little for modern audiences.
Pieces says the goal for its reimagining is “psychological horror done right”, and its focusing on what it considers the core tenets of the genre: exploration, combat, puzzles, and story.
For this new Alone in the Dark, though, writer and director Mikael Hedberg is playing up the Southern Gothic angle implicit in the original with its Louisiana setting, and will be opening that out with exploration sections that see Carnby and Emily Hartwood venture away from the Derceto Mansion, travelling through portals to forgotten cemeteries, bayous, and beyond.