Despite having only announced the return of Alone in the Dark a month ago, THQ Nordic has a playable demo here at Tokyo Game Show 2022. It wasn’t exactly meaty and none of the gunplay shown in the trailer was present. but there are impressions to be drawn here and perhaps even predictions.

This demo, presented on PC hardware, is actually a prologue to the main game titled “Emily in the Dark.” As one might assume from the title, it stars a young Emily Hartwood as she tries to navigate a past version of Dercerto Manor the night her uncle went missing. It’s a brief story, yet there was a lot going on in the background.

Starting with Emily herself, she’s portrayed as being used to her uncle’s quirks and paranoia. She walks in on him fretting about “them” possibly intercepting an important letter he needs to send, and he even goes so far as to question whether Emily herself is in cahoots with “them.” She has no idea what he’s on about, of course, but plays along and says she’ll send it as one of her own. The uncle then vanishes leaving Emily to mail the letter herself.

Alone in the Dark - Emily

As she sets out to complete her task, strange things immediately start happening. Doors open to rooms they shouldn’t, statues shift positions in the blink of an eye and the first floor looks like it’s been reclaimed by the swamp. Is Emily surprised by any of this? No, not really. She just let’s out an exasperated “what have you done this time, uncle?” and carries on.

Somehow, she’s already apparently used to strange goings-on in the manor! What’s up with that? Hopefully we’ll find out in the actual game. While this is all happening, there was plenty to learn about what can be expected from Alone in the Dark proper. The first is that the developers are trying to go for an actual chilling atmosphere in addition to the action seen in the preview. There was nothing outright scary here, but shifting rooms and suddenly-repositioned statues are spooky. There also seems to be strong push for a cinematic feel going on here. Emily didn’t have much in the way of movement options, and interactions with objects other than keys were carried out via quick time event. She also couldn’t be freely moved over obstacles. Instead, a mini-cutscene would play showing her doing it. Hopefully this won’t be as much of a thing in Alone in the Dark itself.

In the graphics department, Alone Emily in the Dark was looking decent. The frame rate hovered somewhere between thirty and sixty for the duration of the demo, and the actual look of most elements was solid. Emily and her uncle don’t look as nice as say Cloud or Tifa from Final Fantasy VII Remake, but they’re modeled well-enough to see their personalities show through their movements and facial expressions. Their New Orleans accents were fitting too, complimenting the characters and helping sell them.

Alone in the Dark - Dercerto Manor Gate

Dercerto Manor also has a sense of character and realness to it. While it was still odd to see a bunch of modern art statues on the second-floor landing and a swampy ground floor, the mansion was nonetheless immersive. It was an easy place to get drawn-into. This was further enhanced by the background noises and sound effects. To be clear, they weren’t perfect, but they did still help the house’s sense of place more often than they hindered it.

Going by this demo, it can be expected that Alone in the Dark will be a competent AA horror game. It’s not going to have the best production values in the world and not everything about it is going to work in its favor. Still there’s heart here; the house and characters are believable and there’s seemingly some actual effort going into the scary atmosphere. It probably won’t be a “game of the year” kind of title, but chances are good that it’ll be a fun ride regardless.