Developer Pieces Interactive

Publisher THQ Nordic

Format PC, PS5 (tested), Xbox Series

Release Out now

The psychiatric hospital housed in Derceto Manor may be filled with occult artefacts, haunted rooms and supernatural creatures, but its most perspective-shifting moment comes upon entering the office of Dr Gray. Our viewpoint swings from behind our shoulder up to the ceiling, mimicking the fixed camera of the original Alone In The Dark, complete with tank controls. It’s a clever moment in a game with plenty of good ideas. Yet by invoking its progenitor so directly, this reboot highlights its own deficiencies. Failing to live up to the defining characteristics of the survival horror genre, it settles into a bland middle ground.

Events start promisingly upon first meeting Emily Hartwood, who has hired private detective Edward Carnby to investigate a letter sent by her uncle Jeremy, a patient of Dr Gray’s at Derceto. We soon discover that Jeremy is missing (a fact that seems of little concern to the manor’s inhabitants), and choose to assume control of either Hartwood or Carnby in our search for answers. Set in a sun-soaked bayou in 1930s Louisiana, Derceto feels like the ideal setting for a thrilling mystery, its lavish interiors populated with an enigmatic cast of whodunnit and horror staples. Bumbling southernaccented drunkard? Check. Cigarette-smoking femme fatale? Check. Creepy child? Present and correct.