Alone in the Dark/Gameplay

Controls

How to move

↑ Move forward. Press twice to run. ←/→ Turn left/right. ↓ Step back. SPACE Interract with objects.

How to attack

• With bare hands : hold down SPACE and press ↑/↓ to give a kick or ←/→ to give a punch.
• With a fire weapon : hold down SPACE, press ←/→ to adjust aim and ↑ to shoot.
• With a melee weapon : hold down SPACE, press ←/→ to attack on the side and ↑ to attack from above.

Inventory

Anytime in the game, you can access the inventory by pressing ENTER. From here, you can see your items in your possession as well as choose the kind of actions you want to do when pressing Space. These appear as follows:

• FIGHT : Allows you to punch/kick the enemies. See above how to attack with bare hands.
• JUMP : Allows you to jump over precipices. Only appears at the end of the game.
• OPEN/Search : Allows you to interact with objects around you, in order to find hidden items.
• CLOSE : Allows you to close doors. You will not need it a lot during your journey.
• PUSH : Allows to move heavier objects.

When selecting an item, you can also decide what to do with it. What follows are all the different options you can be given:

• USE : Allows you to equip yourself with the item (most often when it is a weapon), to use it with another item or with a object around you. Useless to say, this is the option you will select the most.
• RELOAD : Fire weapons only. It is the same as using bullets when you have some, i.e. it will reload your weapon, granting you additional shots with the ammunitions you've collected.
• THROW : Discards the item by throwing it far away. In some cases, it allows you to hit some distant enemies, as well as breaking the item.
• DROP/PUT : Basically the same as THROW, except you delicately place the item at your feet instead of violently hurling it. In some cases, it allows you to put the item in a particular place.
• READ : Documents only. Allows you see what is written in the book or the parchment.
• OPEN/SEARCH : Boxes only. Allows you to take its content.
• EAT/DRINK : Edibles only. Allows you to consume the item, in order to gain HPs most of the time.

Pause Menu

Just like the inventory, you can access the pause menu anytime by pressing ESCAPE. From this screen, you will be able to disable or enable the sound effects, the music as well as the High Details mode. It is also from this screen that you can save your progress and load a previous game. To save, just select a slot, give it a name and press ENTER. To load, select the saved game you want to resume and press ENTER.

General Hints

• The character you choose at the beginning of the game has no real influence on the gameplay. Just take the protagonist you like the most.
• Since your inventory is limited, you'll have to discard many items during the story. Systematically drop books, keys and containers (flasks, boxes) once you used them, as you will never need it later. The walkthrough also tells you which items to drop once they've become useless, so if you follow it by the book, you should not worry about your inventory.
• Unlike the sequels, your fire weapons do not have any limit of ammos. Therefore, use the ammos as soon as you find them.
• In the same way, do not wait before eating/drinking any edible item, as your HP have no limits in theory (actually, you can not go any further than 55 HP if you get pick every health items and don't get hit at all throughout the entire game).
• There are only six mandatory fights in the game, meaning you can most of the time get away from monsters without fighting them. Always wonder if there is another solution than risking precious HPs when encountering a monster.
• There is a lot, A LOT of deadly booby traps in the mansion that will instantly kill you if you are careless enough. Save as much as possible, since there is no save limits. If you die, you will have no choice but to restart all over again up to the beginning or from your last save point.
• The game itself is pretty short. However, the puzzles can be very tough at times. Before looking for their solutions in the walkthrough, be sure to have read in depth every document available. Most of them give a hint about how to progress in the story.