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
The ending was indeed fantastic. My jaw was on the floor and my heart was racing. I was of course expecting something to happen but still the intensity of the scene caught me off guard.
I'm a big fan of H.P Lovecraft and since Alone in the Dark (2024) takes place within the "Cthulhu Mythos" I would definitely say The Dark Man is very much real. Nyarlathotep would 100% want to revive a spawn of Shub-Niggurath. The story is great because it can be interpreted in different ways. However the entire story fits perfectly with the Lovecraft mythos including the dream world and logic it uses, the dark man, 1,000 young etc, goat without horns and all that. But it also works as a psychological story up until the very end lol. But if Shub Niggurath is real the Dark Man is real too imo and the doorways between dream worlds slammed shut the moment Jeremy was lobotomized.
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.
Nah, it didnt. Lovecraftian horror is supposed to make afraid of the unknown. I didnt get no such feeling from that game. On the other hand eternal darkness perfectly managed to capture lovecraftian vibe
Lovecraftian horror is 1) Fear of the unknown 2) Those unknown horrors never factoring in humanity to their equation and 3) The helplessness and powerlessness of man in the face of them. Every game I know of except Japanese, and maybe one Western one, that doesn't follow game design of allowing the player to win in some way. That's the point usually, and narrative prose isn't limited by this. I didn't notice anything in this that other games didn't capture or capture better, in particular the desperation and failing sanity. The game seemed to tell the player they were losing their sanity rather than it being demonstrated through the game. Eternal Darkness comes to mind.
@@blumiu2426 Many Lovecraft tales have happy endings. "Call of Cthulhu", his most famous short story, end with Cthulhu being impaled by a 1920s boat, just like Ursula in the "Little Mermaid".
@@Enriqueguiones yes, they did but they were executed poorly. There are movies that have no lovecraft mythos yet they feel so lovecraftian. For example, block island sound
I do hope that there would be a sequel, they shouldn't have hired 2 celebrities in the first place to play the 2 protagonist. Just gonna cost them even more for a second game
I think the 2024 game laid a solid enough foundation in reviving and bringing the series forward. It plays very much like a game from the early to late 2000s with modern graphics and 3rd person OTS. It's far from a masterpiece, but has reasonable cult status material for the coming years after. Unlike the 2001 reboot, this 2024 game is very faithful to the 1992 original (plus trilogy) in spirit, essence and flavor. There aren't many adventure horror games out there with an early 1900s setting, and that will be Alone in the Dark 2024's biggest strength and attraction. Also helps it's in 3rd person OTS, something most Call of Cthulhu themed games are NOT. So far, only The Sinking City (which is getting an unexpected sequel) is the only other Lovecraftian themed game I can recall that is in 3rd person OTS. If The Sinking City is getting a sequel, despite getting review scores in 2019 so similar to that of Alone in the Dark 2024, then I don't see why the latter can't get a follow up game itself. It all depends on sales performance and a sales tally of 1-2 million could guarantee a sequel in a few years. Since the game is also AA, and didn't cost much to make unlike a certain The Callisto Protocol ($162 million budget cost).
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.
That's what excited me initially of the game. I thought you would get two halves to the story. What you end up with is the same story with partially different interludes to fit the character your playing as, meanwhile the character you don't play as, is left sitting on their hands for the majority of the night before pulling out the "that's it, they're all a murderous cult" conclusion out of their ass at the last minute.
Story should similar to Resident Evil 2 (1998) Edward similar Claire A, Emily similar to Leon B by being different while taking place same time at same locations.
@@phantombigboss8429 honestly...it should've; it would've increased replay ability or ya know make it different to see. Or do something which most thought. you played the other character to see what happened. There were moments playing the game; best example i can think of: edward and emily looking into the directors room. What they could've DONE was when Edward or Emily walking into the closet cause hey they have the amulet. the other one sees them walk in and just disappear then immediately switch to them before you play the person you chose to play. that way you can get the sense of "oh...their seeing this in real time."
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.
Nothing gets messier than multiple Old Gods vying for the same vulnerable, psychically sensitive people (often artists; musicians specifically and aurhors often). The victims get pulled in different directions, to fulfill different prophecies or similar, often in opposition to whichever Old God sent them there originally. Lol
Seems like this game successfully conveyed a key Lovecraftian feeling; an inkling that theres more going on. It's important, and you dont know what it is, you cant know what it is. Its unnerving and unsettling and uncomfortable. Exactly as it should be. After all, "The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents".
I would say the game was anything but lovecraftian. Just putting out the names of some lovecraftian gods don't make it so. It was an incoherent mess that never truly felt like a lovecraftian story.
Incoherence doesn't mean conveing the Unspeakable. I never felt lost in a Lovecraft book. I felt that the character were lost. There's a big difference...
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.
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.
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 of my biggest gripes is why the campaigns are basically the same with just the cutscenes being different in the conversations. Both characters go through the same ordeals. It should have been about Emily going through Jeremy's memories with Edward going through the grounds of the mansion and them intersecting at certain points. It would have helped fill in the gaps and shown what the other character was doing when the other disappeared. How do games from 25 years ago manage to pull this off but not modern ones?
There is 1 completely different level for each character though, but I get your point there could have been more. Ultimately I don't think it's the biggest problem with the game. I think it just plays everything very safe and kinda lame. The puzzles are too light, the level design isn't complex enough to make you scratch your head, the enemies are very uninspired and demand no skill from the player to defeat (mechanical or logical with some gimmicks like the Lickers in RE2) and they don't even appear in Derceto so there is NEVER tension during exploration there as you know you are safe until you enter the nightmare world, there are only 2 bossfights and both are super underwhelming. The story was decent but it has the same problem as the other aspects, that it didn't get fleshed out enough. This game had the right ideas but needed about a year more development.
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.
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.
Oof, yeah getting so submerged in your own story you can't see it clearly is one of the big pitfalls of writing. That's where alpha and beta readers come in for those of us in publishing. The gaming world could probably do well with utilizing that resource themselves. I'd say they should bring some in as part of the QT department but let's be honest, they don't even treat the QT teams they have NOW well or give them time to do their work so good writing practices are probably going to continue to take a backseat in the industry.
I feel like everyone goes through this. When I write reports for uni, I always give it for review from someone who doesn't know much about the topic and they bring up fair feedback. It's easy to get into your writing and forget about the rest.
It's also a trademark part of lovecraftian horror. It's whole ethos is built around letting you theorise what things may have been happening, what will happen and who these entities are. Nyarlothetep among other things, is a great old one, same with Shub-Niggurath who is a super powerful lovecraftian entity.
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!
Excellent video and summery as usual. I think, possibly, that the Empty Room is a reference to the Charlotte Perkins Gilman story 'The Yellow Wallpaper'.
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
The story wasn't too confusing for me once I played both characters and paid closer attention to the documents. I really liked it because it brought me back to games like Silent Hill and The Evil Within.
What bums me out is that a combination of knowledge of Lovecraft COMBINED with the Director’s DLC commentary makes this entire story make 1,000% sense…but it shouldn’t take DLC to do that…
Wasn't expecting this, played through it once with Edward so far. Ending is pretty odd I thought, and laughed when Emily effectively had the better pistol. Actually get Sinking City vibes on the menu, and the combat was definitely similar.
Thank you for this video! I had so many questions about the story of this game and this helps! I enjoyed the game but like you said, there are a lot of things left unanswered, even with two playthroughs that the ending felt very underwhelming and honestly a little confusing and frustrating.
Thank you for putting so much effort into piecing together this chaotic story! It's clear it was a frustrating process, but people like myself, who aren't liable to find all the collectables or piece together all the fragments, learn so much about these games from your hard work, and I really appreciate your videos. I hope that a continuation of the story may tie up some of the loose ends that are so baffling, but overall, I think that you made as much sense of the plot as someone possibly could. I always enjoy the background information you give to further explain things mentioned in games, the theories you offer, and the way that your videos make me think more about the games I play. I always look forward to the next installment of Lore and Order!
The things that i can add up to your explainations are those: - People are going mad because of the fungi found by Batiste, but also because of the voodoo magic that surrounds Derceto - Jeremy's Memories (the Walter Sullivan's Otherworlds) are real also because of the same voodoo magic - The tree is Shub - Perosi was killed by the Staff, alongside Chance, Waites and Cassandra, who all refused to join the Cult (as Edward says in Emily's Story) - For the Maniacal Liar, probably is Dr. Gray (Cassandra suffers from writer's block and has suicidal thoughts, but she's not a liar or a maniac) (maybe "maniac" is a reference to the Cult) - For the Empty Room, is another part of the voodoo magic that surrounds Derceto - For Grace, as someone theorized, she's actually possessed by the big creature (we can see it at the end of the prologue, although she already knows that Jeremy has done "something") or maybe by Nyarlathotep himself - For the Stellarium, is just another memory (the journal article) that was expanded and became real (the opening to the cosmos, is always tied to Nyarlathotep, the Messenger of the Gods) - For "why Jacob's expedition was searching for the metal" is actually a reference to Terra Incognita, the book in the original AITD The "Taorella location is tied to the Constellation. why?" and the other topics you presented in the Final Thoughts, i can't explain, although maybe they will wrap things up with the sequel. Who knows. PS: Edward hearing for years the whispers, confirms that he's story is the main one, while Emily's one is just and add-up (like Resident Evil 1, the true story is a mix of both).
Cassandra's patient file says that the pain meds messed with her memory and now she lies to fill in gaps. Part of her treatment plan was to get her off of the drugs to hopefully stop her lying.
As a fan of the original trilogy i'm taking those links as canon (in so much as it can be) you see the AITD has done this kind of thing before. The Edward Carnby of the 2008 AITD is the same one as the one in the Original Trilogy, he goes missing after the events of Slaughter Gulge.. and no spoilers things happen and he ends up in "Present" day New York. Time and Space don't really mean much in a Lovecraftian based universe. Another point I thought of, Grace is special, because she's not meant to be there. She wasn't in the first game, she was in the second , the reference "We have to take her to Hells Kitchen" is relevant.
Okay, I can at least answer one of your open questions: What is Lottie suffering from? What's happening in that scene is the Black Goat Of The Woods' influence on Lottie being stronger for a moment. Lottie's body is forced into a goat's position (obviously she's somewhat fighting against it, because it hurts) and she's bleating a bit. You notice that it happens when she starts talking about the Mother Of A Thousand Young. The same thing (bleating and going into goat mode) actually happens at the end when they summon big Shub for several characters, although the camera doesn't really put a lot focus onto it I guess, because other stuff is happening, too ^^ But you can hear the sounds and it should be visible on some of them if you pay attention to it :)
Thank you for this succinct and thorough walkthrough. I wanted to play this one but don't have time, and I wasn't sure if it was worth it based on the reviews. Your videos are always so informative and so enjoyable to watch, I appreciate you so much. Have a great day!
Also im the guy that made a comment like 4 months ago after watching one of your earlier videos and I complained about the background "waiting room" music. I eat those words. This is one of my go-to channels.
Juan Luis Jorge is a reference to Argentinian Writer Jorge Luis Borges ? he wrote about libraries (he even was the director of the Nationtal Library in Buenos Aires) surreal Short stories and even made a Short Tale in the Style of HP Lovecraft
I agree it was confusing and could have been better developed. However, relying mostly on notes for the storytelling is something Alone in the Dark just does as a series, this is clearly intentional like it or not. The threads that aren't directly explained are not flaws either imo, there's lots of room for us to make connections and I also think that's intentional. As a random example, Ruth and MacCarfey seem to parallel Emily and Edward in some respects. There's the superficial comparison MacCarfey makes in his letter to Edward, Emily having some sort of connection to Ruth, MacCarfey is a red head like 92 Edward, Ruth blonde wearing green like 92 Emily. It's very probably nothing but just barely enough that it could be something and that's if nothing else something to think about. Also, MacCarfey could be a reference to Alone 1 or 3, in 3 there is a McCarfey with red hair who is an npc in the game, but more likely the reference is to a MacCarfey from the original game who was the Hartwood family lawyer. Might all mean nothing but it's nonetheless interesting to a nerd who knows the series well. And in a game that is very much taking a meta approach, where the story of the original game is directly referenced by characters as having been the way things "should have" happened. Where elements of multiple entries are combined into one narrative and their original contexts are still referred to. Where a character is literally writing the script of the story in universe, whilst another is able to see where he has deterred from the original script, in a game where an alternate ending has the cast leaving a play based on the same story. With all that there, I don't think looking for every loose end to be tied neatly and everything to work literally makes any sense. It's clearly not supposed to be like that. That doesn't mean it couldn't have been a bit clearer or that more couldn't have been developed because I do think that's a flaw. But I don't think the method of storytelling or the loose ends and endless theorising is actually a flaw in the game, even if I can understand it not appealing to everyone.
If the story presented has holes or is missing context, that isn't something notes should make up for. Other games have used notes to tell additional or complementary information, bad ones tell what should be in the main story. It means the player can miss parts of the central story and they are required to find all notes, to hunt letters that otherwise seem impractical in logic to contain the necessary information at present.
@blumiu2426 this misses the point entirely. The story telling method of the game is the notes. The notes are a core part of the gameplay. That's how it always was in this series. Just because you might personally consider any and all notes to be "extra" doesn't actually mean they are. And not all games follow the same design ideas. The point I was making wasn't that the game filled plot holes with notes (it doesn't). It was that the notes were a valid method of storytelling and were not fun little extras but the core method of storytelling. Just like Marathon, they're the point, not the cutscenes.
@@mr.sinjin-smyth That goes back to what was said in the video. If easter eggs and lore cross-over, it complicates things to not making sense. How can one character's father look like an iteration of the Edward she knows? Why would they make such a connection?
@@dommoore6180 No, it doesn't. It's been a point of criticism in multiple games. If much of the central story is in notes and you can miss them, and what's not in the notes leaves what's presented outside with plot holes, then it's not an effective form of storytelling. You skipped over my pointing out that it makes the notes actually part of the narrative/in-story, as if these things would be laying around for someone to find and tell them all they needed to know that was immediately relative to what they are going through. If you think that makes sense, your way of making a game is just as questionable. How Marathon went about it and this are not the same. The setting was entirely different and the time that game was made why notes were used. Notes being left around is somewhat a lazy method used in horror games because they can't think of an effective way of adding needed context. It's a trope at this point. The storytelling method is exploration and finding clues and items. Do notes progress the story or can you complete the game without them? If so, they are not central and you are conflating their importance to make an unfounded point. Except the fact the story is poorly told and notes are a crutch to fit things together. There are many reasons for it and may not be to blame of writer or team, but the result doesn't change. If gamer reviews reflect the same sentiment as trusted game critics, then the prevailing sentiment that this game did not do a good job telling it's story stands. Alone in the Dark is known for a poorly executed narrative and this doesn't seem to have changed much.
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.
As great as it is to have the whole picture or story, your content is more than just the story you explain, its you. Swiss cheese as this is, your input and explanations are STILL able to scrap together and make a great video with a decent plot no matter the material your given and in my humble opinion, thats talent worth watching.
Thank you for posting this, Harry. Just comes to show that even though it was hard to tie together some of the loose threads of the game, you were still able to put out an absolute banger of an episode. Just wanted to ask, are you still planning on posting the rest of the Let’s Plays for Alone in the Dark in your other channel? Been looking forward to watching you play the rest of the game. As usual, we highly appreciate your great work ❤
*@Harry* Another well put together video, and always entertaining. Thank you, I appreciate! I also use your videos to fall asleep to some nights. The longer, the better. 👨🏻🍳🤌🏼
Great video! I think the 'multi-verse' angle may be close to what they were going for. There is an unlockable scene in the attic where Jeremy makes a choice. I interpreted the choice he made in that scene led to this Alone in the Dark game, while the opposite choice lead to the original Alone in the Dark game. Could be wrong though. Thank you for showing off the other endings - I couldn't get them to trigger and couldn't find anyone who had shown them.
I have a feeling there are several plot lines that were supposed to be in the game and shed more light on what's going on, but for whatever reason were severely cut out from the final game and only some shadows of those storylines remain. For example, Perosi. If you read her letter and her patient's record, she was the one who managed to escape the previous iteration of the Cult of Mother in Derceto (The Astarte artists' colony) and somehow shifted about 15 years into the future to the current time Derceto. She also seems to know where the previous inhabitants of Derceto disappeared or she might be even the main reason why they disappeared in the first place (they seem to be locked somewhere, presumably in one of the "worlds" that the medallion creates and transfers to). She also wants to finish the Derceto cursed influence and cult once and for all and if you read one of the entries in Jeremy's diary, although it wasn't Perosi who gave him the medallion, it was she who helped him start travelling between worlds using it. Seems like she knew a lot of what's going on and wanted to use Jeremy's abilities and his pact with the Dark Man to help her destroy the cult, at least that was my impression. So all in all it seems like initially she should have had a bigger part in the story. I also suspect the writer Cassandra Beauregard's story might have been cut out completely from the game. Interestingly, if you stray from the path a bit towards the end of Chapter 2 in the Cemetery, you can find her dead body covered in blood, lying on the floor of one of the crypts. What was that all about and what about the unfinished cryptic page in the typewriter in her room where it's hinted at some understanding and control of the happenings in Derceto? There could have been something which didn't make it to the final game.
Appreciate you posting this. Honestly, no time and energy to play the games anymore, and am *REALLY* just looking forward to you posting the "explanation" of it all. That said, I did watch a playthrough of this before, and yeah, being blunt about it, the story is shit. I get the sentiment that there'll be things to be explained "in the next game", but to leave a fuck ton of it to the next game, making this game absolutely useless? Yeah, I don't think a next game is happening at all. I still vividly remember the trailer of the old alone in the dark game, like using the joystick to move the burning stick around, and lighting up the surroundings and stuff, so Alone in the dark holds a special place in my heart for that innovation alone. But this is just not it. It looks dated, it feels dated, and the story is just a big mess. Absolutely not your fault that the story is the way it is. But still, big props for trying to make a sense out of it. We (viewers) can see how much effort you've put into this, and that's why we're very appreciative of what you do.
I love the All the World's a Stage collection - all three items are remakes of items from the original AITD1 🎉 (the talisman you use to stop Pregzt's fireballs, the biscuits in the kitchen pantry and the blanket you use in the gallery to stop the hatchet projectiles)
I enjoyed the game. Just finished carnby’s story and still need to do Emily’s but yea I was super confused at the end. Hence the reason why I looked up this video. The controls were very wonky and I died a few times because of it but over all it was worth it on sale.
@@B.Fontray I think people forget that the reason a game's story is as enjoyable as it was is because it was in game format. Trying to make something into a film is entirely different as you can't immerse in a film like you can a game. You are guided scene by scene in a movie, you have control to a greater degree in a game. I don't think a person needs to study game design or film-making to understand this.
Thank you for all the hard work you do for these videos I always thoroughly enjoy them. In fact, a lot of the games that you’ve done videos for I’ve wanted to play or at least I found an interest in, but didn’t always have the time not with my full-time job and all . In fact, the game alone in the dark I was interested in and I was actually going to buy it now I’m kind of glad I didn’t. I mean don’t get me wrong. It’s not a bad game. It’s just got too much missing but I still wanted to know the story, so you doing this thank you truly I mean it😊
Honestly, I feel like the game would have been much better as a point-and-click adventure game instead of adding combat. Same way with how I felt about The Sinking City.
after playing both campaigns and putting together all documents the story is pretty clear. i didn't find confusing at all. the dev team did a good job in spreading info throught the documents imo. the only thing left unexplained is perosi death but not everything should be explained imo
The bit at the end where the narrator tells you something that didn’t happen. That they had already left before fighting the boss. I always figured that was a bug.
I think that creature we see is one of the Dark Young. Looks strikingly similar to other depictions in recent media (like the ones that show up in the light novel / manga / anime Overlord).
The tree isnt the gost, its one of the 1000 young. The black goat is shubniggurath, a giant cloud of pure life. If your in a fight with that you loose..
I think Ruth and Grace are under Nyarlathotep's influence. That explains graces behavior, Ruth's "I know more than you" vibe and the guidance thoughout the story. Futhermore, explains why they are in the temple on emily's secret ending (and the father's masks too), why grace is the chosen one (Nyer doing the gods will), and why ruth leaves with emily in edwards bad ending.
I have a theory that Ruth Tallant may actually be an "avatar" of the "Goddess" in the area a.k.a. Shub-Niggurath a.k.a. the Black Goat of the Woods or at least was a patient who had become a "vessel" or "proxy" of this entity. That's the reason why I think she appears with Grace and they both wear the masks in scene of the ending where Emily submits to the darkness. Her appearance alongside Grace with the cultists in the ending where Emily joins the Dark Man could mean that Shub-Niggurath was "contained" according to Jeremy's contract that Emily took on. Especially since Grace doesn't get sacrificed.
1:02:20 Interesting, I didn't think that Grace hated Emily, but rather that she was channeling or was being possessed by Emliy's dead father. This is backed up by the comment Emily made right after, it was something like "how did she know that".
Emily's father wasn't dead and she mentions to Jeremy, her dad was paying for his treatment at Derceto. I think Grace was channeling the abuse she received from her mom. *Spoilerish* The Edward route shows that Grace's dad took a painting his wife liked to sell, so he could pay for his daughter's schooling, took Grace with him on his way to Florida, but Grace's mom hired Carnby to go after her husband, Grace's dad's car ended up in a river, and Edward only saved Grace. Grace's mom didn't care about her so was sent to Derceto.
why not dunk on the writers? it doesnt mean they are terrible writers in general, it just means in this case, they made a shit story that while had potential, but for whatever reason just fell flat because of plot holes and unresolved things. shit writing is shit writing. it doesnt mean the person is bad. someone can be an amazing writer, but still on occasion make something that is shit. doesnt mean they are a bad writer. so yes, drunk on them when they deserve it and praise them when they deserve it. dont make excuses, be honest and say "i love his work in soma and TDD, but man this one was bad. hopefully you do better next time mate."
Thank you so much for this. I played through the gamd as emily. I dont know much about h p lovecraft so i was completely lost. The game doesnt make the story easy to follow
There is an explanation for many of the loose ends within the game, but it is not one many people like. Judging by the structure of the game and its connection to previous installments, I surmise that this game is intended to be "part one" of a continuing story. the answers to many of these questions are intended for a future installment
I actually really enjoyed this game, as a life long fan of thrillers and survivor hoor i think they did a great job. 2 seperate villians from which one is the great evil 'the demon in the tree' and one is a distraction villain 'the Dark Man' to keep intruders like Edward and Emily busy. It's actually a big moral panic everyone is living in that turns out to be true. The Dark man haunts the memory of Jeremy to explore certain clues on how to awaken a great evil below the house that the residents of this house are worshiping with their cult. It game me some major Resident evil 7 vibes (which is good since i adore that game) with the southern horror and the protagonists arriving to a desolate house to look for a relative.
ruth was in league with the dark man. in the black goat of the woods ritual in chapter 5, she is the only one not actively participating and she doing his sign of submission hints at her allegiance. i don't understand her powers though, that she can transport the character to the shipping company. however, grace really is weird. where did she pull out that syringe? what was it for? i mean, yea, she's a bit insane too like the rest. overall, i liked the story a lot. oswald was quite unfinished as a character though. he served very little purpose and was barely explained.
IMHO, the plot feels like a first-time Keeper running a CoC campaign trying to cram the entire Mythos into one adventure. That is both a bonus and a detriment. Bonus: we get a wide range of entities, locations, and concepts, so that we are never bored. The entities themselves are well-executed and often terrifying. Detriment: the the story is muddled, with plot elements spiraling out of control like the cables in a shredded tire and individual characters left undeveloped. On the whole, I loved it. Better than CALL OF CTHULHU an SINKING CITY, not as good as ALAN WAKE 2.
@@Nickc86 Nyarlathotep is one of Lovecraft main bad guys. He's always been there. Also, there's a classic HP Lovecraft story named "Under the pyramids" that it's set, obviously, under the pyramids. Egypt has ALWAYS been part of the "Cthulhu Mythos".
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
The ending was indeed fantastic. My jaw was on the floor and my heart was racing. I was of course expecting something to happen but still the intensity of the scene caught me off guard.
I'm a big fan of H.P Lovecraft and since Alone in the Dark (2024) takes place within the "Cthulhu Mythos" I would definitely say The Dark Man is very much real. Nyarlathotep would 100% want to revive a spawn of Shub-Niggurath.
The story is great because it can be interpreted in different ways. However the entire story fits perfectly with the Lovecraft mythos including the dream world and logic it uses, the dark man, 1,000 young etc, goat without horns and all that.
But it also works as a psychological story up until the very end lol. But if Shub Niggurath is real the Dark Man is real too imo and the doorways between dream worlds slammed shut the moment Jeremy was lobotomized.
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.
Nah, it didnt. Lovecraftian horror is supposed to make afraid of the unknown. I didnt get no such feeling from that game. On the other hand eternal darkness perfectly managed to capture lovecraftian vibe
Lovecraftian horror is 1) Fear of the unknown 2) Those unknown horrors never factoring in humanity to their equation and 3) The helplessness and powerlessness of man in the face of them. Every game I know of except Japanese, and maybe one Western one, that doesn't follow game design of allowing the player to win in some way. That's the point usually, and narrative prose isn't limited by this. I didn't notice anything in this that other games didn't capture or capture better, in particular the desperation and failing sanity. The game seemed to tell the player they were losing their sanity rather than it being demonstrated through the game. Eternal Darkness comes to mind.
@@blumiu2426 Many Lovecraft tales have happy endings. "Call of Cthulhu", his most famous short story, end with Cthulhu being impaled by a 1920s boat, just like Ursula in the "Little Mermaid".
The game includes enough stuff from the "Cthulhu Mythos" to be considered a worthy adaptation.
@@Enriqueguiones yes, they did but they were executed poorly. There are movies that have no lovecraft mythos yet they feel so lovecraftian. For example, block island sound
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.
Something tells me this game isnt selling well enough for a sequel to cover these loose ends
Nah they can just do that halo approach and cover all lose ends in a book 😂
I do hope that there would be a sequel, they shouldn't have hired 2 celebrities in the first place to play the 2 protagonist. Just gonna cost them even more for a second game
I think the 2024 game laid a solid enough foundation in reviving and bringing the series forward. It plays very much like a game from the early to late 2000s with modern graphics and 3rd person OTS. It's far from a masterpiece, but has reasonable cult status material for the coming years after. Unlike the 2001 reboot, this 2024 game is very faithful to the 1992 original (plus trilogy) in spirit, essence and flavor. There aren't many adventure horror games out there with an early 1900s setting, and that will be Alone in the Dark 2024's biggest strength and attraction. Also helps it's in 3rd person OTS, something most Call of Cthulhu themed games are NOT. So far, only The Sinking City (which is getting an unexpected sequel) is the only other Lovecraftian themed game I can recall that is in 3rd person OTS.
If The Sinking City is getting a sequel, despite getting review scores in 2019 so similar to that of Alone in the Dark 2024, then I don't see why the latter can't get a follow up game itself. It all depends on sales performance and a sales tally of 1-2 million could guarantee a sequel in a few years. Since the game is also AA, and didn't cost much to make unlike a certain The Callisto Protocol ($162 million budget cost).
why? i'm curious, haven't heard bad news about it@@AbsolAhm
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.
That's what excited me initially of the game. I thought you would get two halves to the story. What you end up with is the same story with partially different interludes to fit the character your playing as, meanwhile the character you don't play as, is left sitting on their hands for the majority of the night before pulling out the "that's it, they're all a murderous cult" conclusion out of their ass at the last minute.
Story should similar to Resident Evil 2 (1998)
Edward similar Claire A, Emily similar to Leon B by being different while taking place same time at same locations.
@@nintendogamingchannel1007nah
@@phantombigboss8429 honestly...it should've; it would've increased replay ability or ya know make it different to see. Or do something which most thought. you played the other character to see what happened. There were moments playing the game; best example i can think of: edward and emily looking into the directors room. What they could've DONE was when Edward or Emily walking into the closet cause hey they have the amulet. the other one sees them walk in and just disappear then immediately switch to them before you play the person you chose to play. that way you can get the sense of "oh...their seeing this in real time."
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.
Nothing gets messier than multiple Old Gods vying for the same vulnerable, psychically sensitive people (often artists; musicians specifically and aurhors often). The victims get pulled in different directions, to fulfill different prophecies or similar, often in opposition to whichever Old God sent them there originally. Lol
Seems like this game successfully conveyed a key Lovecraftian feeling; an inkling that theres more going on. It's important, and you dont know what it is, you cant know what it is. Its unnerving and unsettling and uncomfortable. Exactly as it should be. After all, "The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents".
I would say the game was anything but lovecraftian. Just putting out the names of some lovecraftian gods don't make it so. It was an incoherent mess that never truly felt like a lovecraftian story.
The schizophrenia is intentional. I actually want to hear voices in my head.
Incoherence doesn't mean conveing the Unspeakable. I never felt lost in a Lovecraft book. I felt that the character were lost. There's a big difference...
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.
Yeah, still an `Alone in the Dark´ title should not look merely like another Resident Evil clone instead.
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.
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!
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!
Indeed! Kudos to our host & moderator.
One of my biggest gripes is why the campaigns are basically the same with just the cutscenes being different in the conversations. Both characters go through the same ordeals. It should have been about Emily going through Jeremy's memories with Edward going through the grounds of the mansion and them intersecting at certain points. It would have helped fill in the gaps and shown what the other character was doing when the other disappeared. How do games from 25 years ago manage to pull this off but not modern ones?
There is 1 completely different level for each character though, but I get your point there could have been more. Ultimately I don't think it's the biggest problem with the game. I think it just plays everything very safe and kinda lame. The puzzles are too light, the level design isn't complex enough to make you scratch your head, the enemies are very uninspired and demand no skill from the player to defeat (mechanical or logical with some gimmicks like the Lickers in RE2) and they don't even appear in Derceto so there is NEVER tension during exploration there as you know you are safe until you enter the nightmare world, there are only 2 bossfights and both are super underwhelming. The story was decent but it has the same problem as the other aspects, that it didn't get fleshed out enough. This game had the right ideas but needed about a year more development.
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.
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.
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.
Oof, yeah getting so submerged in your own story you can't see it clearly is one of the big pitfalls of writing. That's where alpha and beta readers come in for those of us in publishing. The gaming world could probably do well with utilizing that resource themselves. I'd say they should bring some in as part of the QT department but let's be honest, they don't even treat the QT teams they have NOW well or give them time to do their work so good writing practices are probably going to continue to take a backseat in the industry.
I feel like everyone goes through this. When I write reports for uni, I always give it for review from someone who doesn't know much about the topic and they bring up fair feedback. It's easy to get into your writing and forget about the rest.
It's also a trademark part of lovecraftian horror. It's whole ethos is built around letting you theorise what things may have been happening, what will happen and who these entities are. Nyarlothetep among other things, is a great old one, same with Shub-Niggurath who is a super powerful lovecraftian entity.
I feel the writers of this are perpetually confused.
@@GothPaokiniggurath.
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!
Don't have time to play all the games I want to. I really appreciate these long form videos.
Yeah man. These vids are a godsend
Less and less time these days. I play more shorter indie games just bc even something that takes 4-6 hours can take weeks
My son was born 10 years ago. Unsurprisingly, my time to play video games also disappeared 10 years ago. But the passion never fades.
You are not alone on that. People my age have years between `wanna play´ & `have time to play an hour or two´.
The atmosphere of this game draws me into it. I enjoyed it a lot.
So glad you were able to get this into video format bro! Can't wait to watch it all! ❤
Excellent video and summery as usual. I think, possibly, that the Empty Room is a reference to the Charlotte Perkins Gilman story 'The Yellow Wallpaper'.
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
The story wasn't too confusing for me once I played both characters and paid closer attention to the documents. I really liked it because it brought me back to games like Silent Hill and The Evil Within.
What bums me out is that a combination of knowledge of Lovecraft COMBINED with the Director’s DLC commentary makes this entire story make 1,000% sense…but it shouldn’t take DLC to do that…
Yeah, the majority of players won't even finish the game, most don't play games to full completion let alone touch dlcs.
DLC is a hotfix ignoring that paying customers would have needed that info to start with? Sad.
Wasn't expecting this, played through it once with Edward so far. Ending is pretty odd I thought, and laughed when Emily effectively had the better pistol. Actually get Sinking City vibes on the menu, and the combat was definitely similar.
Thank you for this video! I had so many questions about the story of this game and this helps!
I enjoyed the game but like you said, there are a lot of things left unanswered, even with two playthroughs that the ending felt very underwhelming and honestly a little confusing and frustrating.
Been waiting for this one. You are one of, if not the best person to do game story breakdowns on UA-cam.
Thank you for putting so much effort into piecing together this chaotic story! It's clear it was a frustrating process, but people like myself, who aren't liable to find all the collectables or piece together all the fragments, learn so much about these games from your hard work, and I really appreciate your videos.
I hope that a continuation of the story may tie up some of the loose ends that are so baffling, but overall, I think that you made as much sense of the plot as someone possibly could. I always enjoy the background information you give to further explain things mentioned in games, the theories you offer, and the way that your videos make me think more about the games I play. I always look forward to the next installment of Lore and Order!
The things that i can add up to your explainations are those:
- People are going mad because of the fungi found by Batiste, but also because of the voodoo magic that surrounds Derceto
- Jeremy's Memories (the Walter Sullivan's Otherworlds) are real also because of the same voodoo magic
- The tree is Shub
- Perosi was killed by the Staff, alongside Chance, Waites and Cassandra, who all refused to join the Cult (as Edward says in Emily's Story)
- For the Maniacal Liar, probably is Dr. Gray (Cassandra suffers from writer's block and has suicidal thoughts, but she's not a liar or a maniac) (maybe "maniac" is a reference to the Cult)
- For the Empty Room, is another part of the voodoo magic that surrounds Derceto
- For Grace, as someone theorized, she's actually possessed by the big creature (we can see it at the end of the prologue, although she already knows that Jeremy has done "something") or maybe by Nyarlathotep himself
- For the Stellarium, is just another memory (the journal article) that was expanded and became real (the opening to the cosmos, is always tied to Nyarlathotep, the Messenger of the Gods)
- For "why Jacob's expedition was searching for the metal" is actually a reference to Terra Incognita, the book in the original AITD
The "Taorella location is tied to the Constellation. why?" and the other topics you presented in the Final Thoughts, i can't explain, although maybe they will wrap things up with the sequel. Who knows.
PS: Edward hearing for years the whispers, confirms that he's story is the main one, while Emily's one is just and add-up (like Resident Evil 1, the true story is a mix of both).
Cassandra's patient file says that the pain meds messed with her memory and now she lies to fill in gaps. Part of her treatment plan was to get her off of the drugs to hopefully stop her lying.
Good elaboration & reminders. Thanks.
I'm really glad you put out the video despite the complications hope you continue the playthrough on your other Channel Great video harry
Awesome Harry!! 🎉 Glad you pulled through - I don't blame you, the story was so hard to understand, even after 2 playthroughs
hey Harry! love the videos as always. hope you're okay and thanks for making our days better
As a fan of the original trilogy i'm taking those links as canon (in so much as it can be) you see the AITD has done this kind of thing before. The Edward Carnby of the 2008 AITD is the same one as the one in the Original Trilogy, he goes missing after the events of Slaughter Gulge.. and no spoilers things happen and he ends up in "Present" day New York. Time and Space don't really mean much in a Lovecraftian based universe. Another point I thought of, Grace is special, because she's not meant to be there. She wasn't in the first game, she was in the second , the reference "We have to take her to Hells Kitchen" is relevant.
Thanks for all your time and effort you put into this video despite the confusion. Thanks for sharing it. Brill work as always 👍👏
Okay, I can at least answer one of your open questions: What is Lottie suffering from?
What's happening in that scene is the Black Goat Of The Woods' influence on Lottie being stronger for a moment. Lottie's body is forced into a goat's position (obviously she's somewhat fighting against it, because it hurts) and she's bleating a bit. You notice that it happens when she starts talking about the Mother Of A Thousand Young.
The same thing (bleating and going into goat mode) actually happens at the end when they summon big Shub for several characters, although the camera doesn't really put a lot focus onto it I guess, because other stuff is happening, too ^^ But you can hear the sounds and it should be visible on some of them if you pay attention to it :)
Thank you for this succinct and thorough walkthrough. I wanted to play this one but don't have time, and I wasn't sure if it was worth it based on the reviews. Your videos are always so informative and so enjoyable to watch, I appreciate you so much. Have a great day!
Keep it up dude.. you're doing well mate ... please don't ever stop doing what you're doing much love brother
I thought the things the clerk was covered in looked more like barnacles like under a boat.
YES DUDE. Good on you for following through. I saw how difficult this was for you. Fantastic fu__ing work 👏
I'll just add to the pile, after the post you put out regarding the absolute chaos of the script, I'll have this on repeat, just to feed the algorithm
Also im the guy that made a comment like 4 months ago after watching one of your earlier videos and I complained about the background "waiting room" music.
I eat those words. This is one of my go-to channels.
Thank you for this video!!! I was so confused the whole time 😂 but you made me understand better ❤❤❤
Juan Luis Jorge is a reference to Argentinian Writer Jorge Luis Borges ? he wrote about libraries (he even was the director of the Nationtal Library in Buenos Aires) surreal Short stories and even made a Short Tale in the Style of HP Lovecraft
I agree it was confusing and could have been better developed. However, relying mostly on notes for the storytelling is something Alone in the Dark just does as a series, this is clearly intentional like it or not. The threads that aren't directly explained are not flaws either imo, there's lots of room for us to make connections and I also think that's intentional.
As a random example, Ruth and MacCarfey seem to parallel Emily and Edward in some respects. There's the superficial comparison MacCarfey makes in his letter to Edward, Emily having some sort of connection to Ruth, MacCarfey is a red head like 92 Edward, Ruth blonde wearing green like 92 Emily. It's very probably nothing but just barely enough that it could be something and that's if nothing else something to think about.
Also, MacCarfey could be a reference to Alone 1 or 3, in 3 there is a McCarfey with red hair who is an npc in the game, but more likely the reference is to a MacCarfey from the original game who was the Hartwood family lawyer.
Might all mean nothing but it's nonetheless interesting to a nerd who knows the series well.
And in a game that is very much taking a meta approach, where the story of the original game is directly referenced by characters as having been the way things "should have" happened. Where elements of multiple entries are combined into one narrative and their original contexts are still referred to. Where a character is literally writing the script of the story in universe, whilst another is able to see where he has deterred from the original script, in a game where an alternate ending has the cast leaving a play based on the same story.
With all that there, I don't think looking for every loose end to be tied neatly and everything to work literally makes any sense. It's clearly not supposed to be like that.
That doesn't mean it couldn't have been a bit clearer or that more couldn't have been developed because I do think that's a flaw. But I don't think the method of storytelling or the loose ends and endless theorising is actually a flaw in the game, even if I can understand it not appealing to everyone.
If the story presented has holes or is missing context, that isn't something notes should make up for. Other games have used notes to tell additional or complementary information, bad ones tell what should be in the main story. It means the player can miss parts of the central story and they are required to find all notes, to hunt letters that otherwise seem impractical in logic to contain the necessary information at present.
@blumiu2426 this misses the point entirely.
The story telling method of the game is the notes. The notes are a core part of the gameplay. That's how it always was in this series. Just because you might personally consider any and all notes to be "extra" doesn't actually mean they are. And not all games follow the same design ideas.
The point I was making wasn't that the game filled plot holes with notes (it doesn't). It was that the notes were a valid method of storytelling and were not fun little extras but the core method of storytelling.
Just like Marathon, they're the point, not the cutscenes.
The mask that Grace is making in the game resembles a lot like the original Edward Carnby in the 1992 game. Definitely an easter egg and call back.
@@mr.sinjin-smyth That goes back to what was said in the video. If easter eggs and lore cross-over, it complicates things to not making sense. How can one character's father look like an iteration of the Edward she knows? Why would they make such a connection?
@@dommoore6180 No, it doesn't. It's been a point of criticism in multiple games. If much of the central story is in notes and you can miss them, and what's not in the notes leaves what's presented outside with plot holes, then it's not an effective form of storytelling. You skipped over my pointing out that it makes the notes actually part of the narrative/in-story, as if these things would be laying around for someone to find and tell them all they needed to know that was immediately relative to what they are going through. If you think that makes sense, your way of making a game is just as questionable.
How Marathon went about it and this are not the same. The setting was entirely different and the time that game was made why notes were used. Notes being left around is somewhat a lazy method used in horror games because they can't think of an effective way of adding needed context. It's a trope at this point.
The storytelling method is exploration and finding clues and items. Do notes progress the story or can you complete the game without them? If so, they are not central and you are conflating their importance to make an unfounded point.
Except the fact the story is poorly told and notes are a crutch to fit things together. There are many reasons for it and may not be to blame of writer or team, but the result doesn't change. If gamer reviews reflect the same sentiment as trusted game critics, then the prevailing sentiment that this game did not do a good job telling it's story stands. Alone in the Dark is known for a poorly executed narrative and this doesn't seem to have changed much.
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 "it's all just a dream or delusion" so don't expect it to make sense?? That is such a cop out.
As great as it is to have the whole picture or story, your content is more than just the story you explain, its you. Swiss cheese as this is, your input and explanations are STILL able to scrap together and make a great video with a decent plot no matter the material your given and in my humble opinion, thats talent worth watching.
Thank you for posting this, Harry. Just comes to show that even though it was hard to tie together some of the loose threads of the game, you were still able to put out an absolute banger of an episode.
Just wanted to ask, are you still planning on posting the rest of the Let’s Plays for Alone in the Dark in your other channel? Been looking forward to watching you play the rest of the game.
As usual, we highly appreciate your great work ❤
*@Harry*
Another well put together video, and always entertaining. Thank you, I appreciate! I also use your videos to fall asleep to some nights. The longer, the better. 👨🏻🍳🤌🏼
I appreciate videos like this to explain messy and confusing video game plots so I don't have to confuse myself by playing them.
I hope the devs have the oportunity to learn and improve the gameplay for the next because it have a lot of potential
I remember playing the original as a kid. Good job on the video. Keep it up. I know sometimes it can be rough.
Great video! I think the 'multi-verse' angle may be close to what they were going for. There is an unlockable scene in the attic where Jeremy makes a choice. I interpreted the choice he made in that scene led to this Alone in the Dark game, while the opposite choice lead to the original Alone in the Dark game. Could be wrong though. Thank you for showing off the other endings - I couldn't get them to trigger and couldn't find anyone who had shown them.
I have a feeling there are several plot lines that were supposed to be in the game and shed more light on what's going on, but for whatever reason were severely cut out from the final game and only some shadows of those storylines remain.
For example, Perosi. If you read her letter and her patient's record, she was the one who managed to escape the previous iteration of the Cult of Mother in Derceto (The Astarte artists' colony) and somehow shifted about 15 years into the future to the current time Derceto. She also seems to know where the previous inhabitants of Derceto disappeared or she might be even the main reason why they disappeared in the first place (they seem to be locked somewhere, presumably in one of the "worlds" that the medallion creates and transfers to). She also wants to finish the Derceto cursed influence and cult once and for all and if you read one of the entries in Jeremy's diary, although it wasn't Perosi who gave him the medallion, it was she who helped him start travelling between worlds using it. Seems like she knew a lot of what's going on and wanted to use Jeremy's abilities and his pact with the Dark Man to help her destroy the cult, at least that was my impression. So all in all it seems like initially she should have had a bigger part in the story.
I also suspect the writer Cassandra Beauregard's story might have been cut out completely from the game. Interestingly, if you stray from the path a bit towards the end of Chapter 2 in the Cemetery, you can find her dead body covered in blood, lying on the floor of one of the crypts. What was that all about and what about the unfinished cryptic page in the typewriter in her room where it's hinted at some understanding and control of the happenings in Derceto? There could have been something which didn't make it to the final game.
This video lasts longer then my gameplay of the same game. Respect.
Obed Morton from Alone in the Dark 4, such a great game!
Thank you for this video it definitely would have been a challenge to make
They have a goshdarn reference to PRISONER OF ICE?!
The devs REALLY loves Accolades old horror games!
Made sense to me, thanks to you and your hard work!
Thank you for this. I did not understand the story at all and ended up with the same questions in the end
i have to guess DLC is coming someday. to attempt to tie some up loose ends.
Thank you! I love you analysis/explained and lore videos!!
Good, was waiting for you to get to this one.
It kept you waiting, eh? 😉
This reminds me of the black goat Ainz summoned in overlord. Jeremy also just said the same same spell ainz used at 16:35
So I'm not the only person who caught that as well😊
You should do GTFO lore I think it would be cool to learn more about it
Just when I was about to start rewatching some harry videos there's a new upload. 🙏
Appreciate you posting this.
Honestly, no time and energy to play the games anymore, and am *REALLY* just looking forward to you posting the "explanation" of it all.
That said, I did watch a playthrough of this before, and yeah, being blunt about it, the story is shit.
I get the sentiment that there'll be things to be explained "in the next game", but to leave a fuck ton of it to the next game, making this game absolutely useless? Yeah, I don't think a next game is happening at all.
I still vividly remember the trailer of the old alone in the dark game, like using the joystick to move the burning stick around, and lighting up the surroundings and stuff, so Alone in the dark holds a special place in my heart for that innovation alone.
But this is just not it.
It looks dated, it feels dated, and the story is just a big mess.
Absolutely not your fault that the story is the way it is. But still, big props for trying to make a sense out of it.
We (viewers) can see how much effort you've put into this, and that's why we're very appreciative of what you do.
I love the All the World's a Stage collection - all three items are remakes of items from the original AITD1 🎉 (the talisman you use to stop Pregzt's fireballs, the biscuits in the kitchen pantry and the blanket you use in the gallery to stop the hatchet projectiles)
BEST thing to open up to. This is a treat to listen to on a long drive. Thanks Harry!
I enjoyed the game. Just finished carnby’s story and still need to do Emily’s but yea I was super confused at the end. Hence the reason why I looked up this video. The controls were very wonky and I died a few times because of it but over all it was worth it on sale.
Soma has one of the best stories I've ever experienced in my life.
What a bummer
I kinda want an HBO one season Soma series... But I think I don't at the same time.
Agreed, mind blowing story
@@B.Fontray I think people forget that the reason a game's story is as enjoyable as it was is because it was in game format. Trying to make something into a film is entirely different as you can't immerse in a film like you can a game. You are guided scene by scene in a movie, you have control to a greater degree in a game. I don't think a person needs to study game design or film-making to understand this.
@@B.Fontray That would ruin Soma entirely.
I'm shocked this is from one the people who worked on of Soma, considering how bad this game is by comparison.
It's a step up in the Alone In The Dark games and my god did this franchise need it.
Thank you for all the hard work you do for these videos I always thoroughly enjoy them. In fact, a lot of the games that you’ve done videos for I’ve wanted to play or at least I found an interest in, but didn’t always have the time not with my full-time job and all . In fact, the game alone in the dark I was interested in and I was actually going to buy it now I’m kind of glad I didn’t. I mean don’t get me wrong. It’s not a bad game. It’s just got too much missing but I still wanted to know the story, so you doing this thank you truly I mean it😊
it almost creepy how I looked at this game just 5 minutes ago continue to go to youtube and here we are.
This is Alan Wake-level complexity. Nice work!
Honestly, I feel like the game would have been much better as a point-and-click adventure game instead of adding combat. Same way with how I felt about The Sinking City.
Im from Lafayette it's so nice to get some kind of acknowledgement of where i was born in something like this
hell yeah thanks for doing this video still!
Oh sh!t man, you went for it! Looking forward to it!
New video on a friday is a good omen.
Once again, amazing video 😇
Thanks Harry
after playing both campaigns and putting together all documents the story is pretty clear. i didn't find confusing at all. the dev team did a good job in spreading info throught the documents imo. the only thing left unexplained is perosi death but not everything should be explained imo
The bit at the end where the narrator tells you something that didn’t happen. That they had already left before fighting the boss. I always figured that was a bug.
Perfect, thanx Harry!
I think that creature we see is one of the Dark Young. Looks strikingly similar to other depictions in recent media (like the ones that show up in the light novel / manga / anime Overlord).
The tree isnt the gost, its one of the 1000 young.
The black goat is shubniggurath, a giant cloud of pure life. If your in a fight with that you loose..
I think Ruth and Grace are under Nyarlathotep's influence. That explains graces behavior, Ruth's "I know more than you" vibe and the guidance thoughout the story. Futhermore, explains why they are in the temple on emily's secret ending (and the father's masks too), why grace is the chosen one (Nyer doing the gods will), and why ruth leaves with emily in edwards bad ending.
57:20 I thought they were barnacles 🤔 Anyway, thanks for the thorough explanatory video! This was not an easy one 😅
I have a theory that Ruth Tallant may actually be an "avatar" of the "Goddess" in the area a.k.a. Shub-Niggurath a.k.a. the Black Goat of the Woods or at least was a patient who had become a "vessel" or "proxy" of this entity. That's the reason why I think she appears with Grace and they both wear the masks in scene of the ending where Emily submits to the darkness. Her appearance alongside Grace with the cultists in the ending where Emily joins the Dark Man could mean that Shub-Niggurath was "contained" according to Jeremy's contract that Emily took on. Especially since Grace doesn't get sacrificed.
interesting
Once again you've outdone yourself my good sir 😊
1:02:20 Interesting, I didn't think that Grace hated Emily, but rather that she was channeling or was being possessed by Emliy's dead father. This is backed up by the comment Emily made right after, it was something like "how did she know that".
Emily's father wasn't dead and she mentions to Jeremy, her dad was paying for his treatment at Derceto. I think Grace was channeling the abuse she received from her mom.
*Spoilerish*
The Edward route shows that Grace's dad took a painting his wife liked to sell, so he could pay for his daughter's schooling, took Grace with him on his way to Florida, but Grace's mom hired Carnby to go after her husband, Grace's dad's car ended up in a river, and Edward only saved Grace.
Grace's mom didn't care about her so was sent to Derceto.
@@rachelsheppard9122 Ah, you must be right! I just assumed it was the father instead. Thanks for the correction. 😁
Where are people getting the idea that this game didn't sell well? At least for PC, it was in the top 100 of Steam best sellers for almost a week.
people don't know shit
so excited to watch, wish i had popcorn.
why not dunk on the writers? it doesnt mean they are terrible writers in general, it just means in this case, they made a shit story that while had potential, but for whatever reason just fell flat because of plot holes and unresolved things.
shit writing is shit writing. it doesnt mean the person is bad. someone can be an amazing writer, but still on occasion make something that is shit. doesnt mean they are a bad writer.
so yes, drunk on them when they deserve it and praise them when they deserve it. dont make excuses, be honest and say "i love his work in soma and TDD, but man this one was bad. hopefully you do better next time mate."
Thank you so much for this. I played through the gamd as emily. I dont know much about h p lovecraft so i was completely lost. The game doesnt make the story easy to follow
I love your channel I watch your videos every night before bed 😭🩷 you’ve showed me so many games I never would’ve come across! Thank you! 🙏🏽
Thanks a lot for the video. It explained me a lot!
There is an explanation for many of the loose ends within the game, but it is not one many people like. Judging by the structure of the game and its connection to previous installments, I surmise that this game is intended to be "part one" of a continuing story.
the answers to many of these questions are intended for a future installment
I actually really enjoyed this game, as a life long fan of thrillers and survivor hoor i think they did a great job. 2 seperate villians from which one is the great evil 'the demon in the tree' and one is a distraction villain 'the Dark Man' to keep intruders like Edward and Emily busy. It's actually a big moral panic everyone is living in that turns out to be true. The Dark man haunts the memory of Jeremy to explore certain clues on how to awaken a great evil below the house that the residents of this house are worshiping with their cult. It game me some major Resident evil 7 vibes (which is good since i adore that game) with the southern horror and the protagonists arriving to a desolate house to look for a relative.
oh what a treat!
ruth was in league with the dark man. in the black goat of the woods ritual in chapter 5, she is the only one not actively participating and she doing his sign of submission hints at her allegiance. i don't understand her powers though, that she can transport the character to the shipping company. however, grace really is weird. where did she pull out that syringe? what was it for? i mean, yea, she's a bit insane too like the rest. overall, i liked the story a lot. oswald was quite unfinished as a character though. he served very little purpose and was barely explained.
IMHO, the plot feels like a first-time Keeper running a CoC campaign trying to cram the entire Mythos into one adventure.
That is both a bonus and a detriment.
Bonus: we get a wide range of entities, locations, and concepts, so that we are never bored. The entities themselves are well-executed and often terrifying.
Detriment: the the story is muddled, with plot elements spiraling out of control like the cables in a shredded tire and individual characters left undeveloped.
On the whole, I loved it. Better than CALL OF CTHULHU an SINKING CITY, not as good as ALAN WAKE 2.
Congrats for finishing the vid ! I know you struggled on that one X)
I think what makes it confusing is it's mixing two mythologies together
What did it mix? It's just Lovecraft.
@@Enriqueguiones Egyptian
@@Nickc86 Nyarlathotep is one of Lovecraft main bad guys. He's always been there. Also, there's a classic HP Lovecraft story named "Under the pyramids" that it's set, obviously, under the pyramids. Egypt has ALWAYS been part of the "Cthulhu Mythos".