0
Posted November 3, 2014 by Jom Guiao in Gaming
 
 

Atari reinvents ALONE IN THE DARK series with Left 4 Dead elements

Atari is bringing back Alone in the Dark just in time for the holiday season with Alone in the Dark: Illumination. Unlike the previous games in the series, Illumination is heavily influenced by games like Left 4 Dead, Resident Evil and Alan Wake. The studio responsible for its creation, Pure FPS, introduces co-op and online play into the series with the hope of giving something fresh to the franchise.

aloneinthedarkillumination

Pure FPS is headed by Jason Brice, the previous head of indie studio Plastic Piranha.  Plastic Piranha released Rekoil earlier this year but was met with less than favorable reviews.

Brice, however, was not not deterred as he “took the foundation of what was working” at Plastic Piranha, and “shed most of the Rekoil” team for Pure FPS. they brought in 38 former Plastic Piranha employees and has been manning Illumination with 20 of their people while outsourcing also outsourcing. The project was born when Brice was offered Alone in the Dark by members of Atari when they met in a Christmas golf tournament last year.

Pure FPS engineer, Michael Allar, said that the studio wanted to distinguish themselves from the current horror games that are currently attracting attention in the market. This departure from the look and feel of current horror games, gives them good positioning as they will not have to compete with games like The Forest from Endnight Games.

While shifting from the puzzle elements of the previous incarnations to a more action oriented game, they decided to retain the Locraftian elements which the franchise is known for. The gameplay is reminiscent of Left 4 Dead and Resident Evil, and will feature four playable characters for the player to use.

The four playable characters are: The Hunter, The Witch, The Priest, and The Engineer. Each character is equipped with weapons and abilities specific to them. The Hunter has an assortment of guns, the The Witch is packing a revolver and some lightning magic, The Priest is blessed with dual pistols and divine powers, and The Engineer is carrying around a shotgun and specializes in electronics.

Some characters also draw their origins from the previous games. The Hunter is a descendant of Edward Carnby, the main character of the previous Alone in the Dark games, while the Witch is a descendant of Emily Hartwood, also a protagonist in the previous games.

You can play through three campaigns, each with four levels that change whenever you respawn. You are forced to seek out different paths and routes, making it a different experience each time you replay a level.

Alone in the Dark: Illumination is set for release this holiday season on Windows PC for $29.99 but is now available for pre-orders on Steam.

 


Jom Guiao