Retro game of the week: Alone In the Dark (PC)

Alone In the Dark is simply one of the best horror games ever released. Much responsible for paving the way for other "survival horror" games such as Resident Evil, Alone In the Dark used multiple fixed camera angles and low-resolution polygon zombies years before that. Developed by Infogrames (now Atari) and released in 1992, it might seem that I'm romanticising the early and mid 1990's, but as I recall it, a lot of good games were published back then. And a lot of awful games, too.

However, Alone in the Dark is clearly a innovative and artistic game. Players are given the option of choosing between a male or female character (Edward Carnby or Emily Hartwood, respectively) and then tasked with investigating the suicide of a friend at the mansion of Derceto, which is the setting of the game. The unfolding of the story is revealed when exploring the mansion, looking for clues in books and notes scattered throughout the game. The storyline clearly draws much of its inspiration from the works of the late H.P. Lovecraft. For example, the occult tomes found in the mansion's library include the Necronomicon and De Vermis Mysteriis, both taken from the Cthulhu Mythos.

Gameplay involves inventory/environmental puzzles and some pretty confusing shooting/fighting elements, later copied, refined and more successfully implemented by the Resident Evil series. If you're into scary games, don't miss out on this one.

Click here to download Alone In the Dark (5 MB).

Download of the week: Grand Theft Auto 2 (PC)

Everyone is eagerly awaiting the new trailer for GTA IV. That is, everyone with nothing better to do. It's easy to forget that one of the worlds most infamous and successful franchises started out as a top-down game in pixelated 2D.

Grand Theft Auto 2 was originally released for PlayStation and PC in October 1999. While the gameplay concepts and storyline (make your way as a low-life crook through the crime underworld) established just two years prior in the original Grand Theft Auto are essentially the same in the follow-up, the second installment in the series expanded the open-ended crime world formula with a host of new features, including the advent of multiple rival gangs.

GTA2 has been optimized to run on modern PCs and is available gratis here.

Internet game of the week: Orisinal (Flash)

There are quite a few charming games over at Orisinal, maybe too many, but if you haven't tried them already I recommend these games (represented by their icons):

Download of the week: Death Worm (PC)

I couldn't find any information at all regarding this game, but I guess there isn't much to be said about it, either. In Death Worm, you control a huge underground-dwelling worm. Your goal is to eat things above the surface - birds, people, aeroplanes, giraffes, and so on. It reminds me of the classic Amiga shoot 'em up Wings of Fury (1990), only less sophisticated.

Visit this page to download Death Worm (4 MB).

Retro game of the week: Another World (AMIGA)

(...Right, here we go. Don't get distracted this time, just finish the post. Hope it doesn't come out all nostalgic and pretentious like it usually does... Note to self: Don't forget to Wiki that rotoscoping-animation-thing... No big deal. Alright...)

Another World was all about trial and error, instant deaths and endless frustration. Still, it was one of those bright moments in gaming history. Developed by Eric Chahi in his garage back in 1990, Another World clearly reflects his solitaire vision. It has a lonely, cinematic atmosphere that's evident throughout the game. Upon seeing this game at age 12, the graphics and the gameplay mechanics were too good to be true. The groundbreaking visuals were created using an Amiga 500 with 1MB RAM and a 20MB hard drive, Deluxe Paint being the tool for pixel perfection.

While gameplay elements like combat and jumping are flawed and imprecise, adding to the already high difficulty of the game, such imperfections does little to hamper the unique and immersing experience offered. Now available as a boxed collectors edition for its 15th anniversary, Another World features high-resolution backgrounds and increased detail.

To download the demo version for Windows XP, click here.