Before Resident Evil there was...

I get irrationally annoyed whenever people say Resident Evil was the first survival horror game.  It bothers me because long before the original Resident Evil came out there were precursors such as Haunted House for the Atari 2600 and Sweet Home for the NES. Even if we're talking purely in terms of the classic mechanics of the subgenre, RE1 still released two years after another game that was extremely similar - Alone in the Dark.  

In terms of gameplay, these two survival horror games have nearly the same feature set: fixed camera angles, polygonal models over pre-rendered backgrounds and tank controls.  The settings are also pretty similar: a creepy estate, collectables, object-driven puzzles and even zombies.  The only two big improvements RE1 made were an aiming assist and voice acting.  Thematically, there are some noteworthy differences in terms of overall vibes.

Alone in the Dark was largely inspired by the short stories of H.P. Lovecraft whereas Resident Evil was influenced by zombie movies made by the likes of George Romero.  Of course, this comparison only really applies to the first entry in each respective franchise.  As we all know Resident Evil has spawned a bewildering number of sequels and spin-offs over the years, many of which took the IP in unexpected directions.  The same is also true for Alone in the Dark, though there have only been two mainline sequels and two spin-offs...until now.

The original Alone in the Dark is being reimagined and expanded upon.  It's actually not the first attempt to do so.  There was an aborted remake back in 2003.  However, it appears that this version will eventually see the light of day.  Honestly, I'm not sure how I fell about it.  The original dev team was wise to keep the focus on the Derceto Mansion since it provides that genre-essential feeling of isolation and dread.  Adding a bunch of other story elements and NPCs might diluted what made the original work.  On the other hand, there is an opportunity to make the two main characters more fleshed out.  In the original, choosing between Edward Carnby and Emily Hartwood was little more than a "do you want to play a guy or girl?" starting choice.  Neither had significant differences in terms of how they controlled,  nor did the story unfold any differently depending on the player-selected protagonist.  A reimagining could address that and perhaps intertwine the two character's respective story arcs in interesting ways.  It's a feature that the Resident Evil 2 remake missed out on with Leon and Clare.

Let's hope Alone in the Dark doesn't make the same misstep.