The VERY Confusing Story of Alone in the Dark

I really liked how at the end The Dark Man turned out to be irrelevant and was simply an elaborate ruse used by the residents of Dercero to get the correct words for the final ritual from Jeremy. The ending was frankly batshit insane, I didn’t see it coming and I didn’t expect the game to fly into that much gore and craziness for the final 15 minutes. It was fantastic though. I personally believe Emily’s story is the canon one, not Edward’s. Her slowly losing her mind due to the Hartwood curse, everything being related to her and her family and all of the staff being aware of her etc. ends up making her story more cohesive overall. It also feels Emily is the main protagonist as even in Edward’s secret ending it pivots and she becomes the main focus of it

I feel like, confusing as it is, this story is one of those lovecraftian ones that manage to really capture the essence of his writings. It was clearly written by people who read and understood his stories and lore deeply, rather than just taking the cool surface level stuff, which is something even straight adaptations don't always manage to do well. I'm glad you persevered with the video even though it was complicated, I enjoyed it a lot.

Thanks for putting this out despite your reservations! I believe that the "loose ends" are intended to be tied up in the follow up game.

The game would be less confuse if the campaigns were more different. Edward story could be focused on the shub cult. Emily focus would be her uncle and "the dark man". Or each one had a different chapter.

I think the "loose threads" are intentional, trying to imply a wider universe we're not privy to. Lovecraft regularly did this, including colluding with other authors to include similar allusions between authors, implying the larger interwoven universe. But that's my fairly useless two cents.

As a writer, sometimes you get lost in your story and don't realize how confusing it could come off to someone who DIDN'T write it.

I will say, as a fan of Call of Cthulhu the ttrpg, I found the story actually pretty straightforward. Like Nyarlathotep and doing some mucked up nonsense to screw up a dark young makes perfect sense from a wider veiw of the mythos. I do believe that it was a Dark Young and not necessarily a physical manifestation of Shub-Shub (my name for her). Nyarlathotep likes to play with mortals, as the for the elder gods he is the guy that sees humans as interesting. Shub and the Dark Young would just eat us. So when one of Nyarlathotep's playthings made him an offer, he did a simple job and made a prison to hold the dark young. This dark young either being the source of the cults or a product of them.

0:33 i saw the thumbnail of this video and thought "huh the character on the left looks like jodie comer" 😂 the team behind it did a brilliant job with the art and design and, as per usual, I'm sure you've done a brilliant job with this video. i love your lore and order series as well as the cosmic horror genre so i'm super excited to watch this

One thing to keep in mind is the prologue with Grace... it seems that she was possessed by the Bull Beast. Since the Taurus Constellation (wherein resides the home of Nyarlathotep) represents the Bull, its quite possible that Grace was posessed by Nyarlathotep (the bull beast possibly being an avatar of Nyarlathotep) Also note the eclipse seen in the Grace prologue when everything went to hell.. I don't doubt that she was taken by Nyarlathotep. That's why she tormented Edward (on the Pearl brudge) and Emily with the syringe and the mask that looked like her father. Nyarlathotep loves to screw with your head.

Glad to see you didn't give up on this one in the end, despite its convoluted plot. I was worried you got lost to the madness yourself for a bit!

Ty for video. I replayed AiTD after watching this video with director's comentary on. Most of directors comentary was done by 2 people on the art team. It reminded me of the commentary included in the Amnesia games but less team members. At the end they discussed on how much Lovecraft lore vs let player decide. Commentary at begining discuss the idea of what if Jeremy doesn't die like he did in the original. How would story change? In the prologue Grace is mailing the "love letter" to Emily without zipcode. This letter is postmarked a few days before St John's Eve as seen when Emily is holding it in car. The commentary can reveal a lot as to how the team changed over years. Art team wished they could have visited Lafayette Cemetary but could not b/c of pandemic. One commentary in the drawing room was explained rebuilding constellation of the Tauras and ending his comment with how he stood by how his explaination made sense. But we never hear him in any commentary after that. But I enjoyed the game and never expect to understand story if it's related to Lovecraft. Rest is just rant b/c i want to complain about complainers. Whoever stayed with the project to the end deserve an applause. Many many games became ambitious during pandemic went into development hell. People who think the writers are lazy? It's intellectually lazy to even think the ending team was anything more than a shadow of original. But such is the loud minoirty on these forums vs the silent majority on interent. The gaming industry is going through equiviant of the realestate market crash. But atleast some games were pulished to give something to complain about and guess what...the game might not even be held by the original company. Look at Banishers of New Eden or Texas Chainsaw Massacare and look at hands it started with. It's software nothing new it's never going to workout as planned.

Very Informative and Entertaining Review. I enjoyed the game very much myself and have finished it 4 times so far (2 Edward, 2 Emily), and the story, characters, setting and creepy atmosphere are so engaging. The 1920s/30s Gothic noir rural American south is this game's biggest attraction. Since there aren't many games with this setting. Despite it's glaring flaws, I still see this latest Alone in the Dark a successful and much needed revival to this badly mismanaged series of 30+ years. It will gain an audience in due time and serve as an ideal ENTRY point for newcomers to the series going forward.

I personally loved the story being delivered in fragments and having to piece things together myself as I went along. It felt very true to how things were delivered in the older games, and left me feeling the game trusted my ability to make sense of it all without an exposition dump. So many movies and games these days go into over-explaining the plot, leaving nothing left to chew on when the credits roll. It also takes all intrigue and mystery out of things. That said - I do agree there were several loose ends in AITD's plot. Some of them felt deliberate (perhaps left for DLC or sequel) while some felt like results of content cuts (Grace pricking Emily with the sytinge etc.). The fact I finished the game a week ago and still find myself intrigued by the plot threads says something. I forget about most games/movies the moment I turn off my PC/leave the cinema. AITD is exactly my kind of game and now I'm on a quest to find other games that make me feel this way!

The atmosphere of this game draws me into it. I enjoyed it a lot.

Don't have time to play all the games I want to. I really appreciate these long form videos.

I tried to think of this game as a psychological navigation. Everything we see isn’t really happening and it’s all Jeramy’s thoughts collectively clashing at the same time, like a bad dream. Think about it if he thinks he’s too far gone or beyond help (which he does state) wouldn’t it be better to make someone up, like a loved one or an authority figure to try and navigate through his mind? An objective voice like a therapist to pull apart everything piece by piece. If you think about it like that, it makes sense.

So glad you were able to get this into video format bro! Can't wait to watch it all! ❤

yes! another long format video! i love these so much and even without watching it yet I know this one will be just as great as the rest. thanks again harry

hey Harry! love the videos as always. hope you're okay and thanks for making our days better

Been waiting for this one. You are one of, if not the best person to do game story breakdowns on Youtube.