Combat Guide – Alone in the Dark

On your search for Jeremy in Alone in the Dark, you will run into some monsters. While you are able to fight them, you’ll have to be careful about it, as your resources are limited. In this guide, we will go over all of the aspects of combat, so that you will have a better chance at fighting these creatures off.

The Basics

Combat is fairly basic in Alone in the Dark — there are a few different ways to attack enemies, you are able to dodge incoming attacks, and you can heal when needed.

Guns

The primary way you will fight most enemies is by shooting them with your guns. In order to shoot, you simply have to aim your gun at them with /, then fire with /. Additionally, you can reload your gun with /. While this is the most effective way to kill enemies, there are a couple of things to keep in mind:

• There is not an abundance of ammo throughout the game, meaning that if you don’t utilize the other methods to deal damage or don’t explore to find more ammo, you can run out if you’re not careful.
• Edward and Emily will move much slower while reloading, leaving them open to attack.
  • Additionally, taking damage or using any other action while reloading (such as picking something up or using a melee weapon), will interrupt your reload, meaning you will have to start over.

Melee Weapons

Melee weapons are another effective method of dealing with enemies, and plenty can be found throughout your investigation. Once you’ve found one, you can swing it at enemies simply by pressing / (or hold it for a more powerful attack). There are several things to keep in mind with melee weapons, however:

• While you will find plenty of melee weapons throughout the game, you can only carry one at a time.
• There are one handed weapons, and two handed ones.
  • One handed weapons will be faster, while the two handed ones deal more damage.
• Your weapons have limited durability and can break very quickly.
  • They typically have enough durability to kill one or two enemies as the only form of damage.

There isn’t much back tracking in the areas where you find melee weapons, so feel free to grab any new ones you find if you’ve used your current one at all. When combined with dodging, melee weapons can be a very effective way to kill an enemy and conserve your ammo.

Thrown Items

Another useful tool to fight off enemies are thrown items. There are plenty to find throughout the game, but they are a one time use. To use it, hold / to pick it up, then release it to throw. There are two types of thrown weapons — bottles of alcohol that can be used to ignite enemies (and yourself if you’re not careful), and bricks that will do some damage and briefly stun the enemy.

There are two important setbacks with thrown items to keep in mind, however:

• While holding and aiming a thrown item, your character will move very slow.
• Thrown items cannot be stored for later use. This means that once you pick it up, you will have to throw it before you can do anything else.

While they’re not powerful, thrown items can be useful to give you some breathing room, and do a little extra damage to help conserve your other weapons. If you have some distance between your enemy and are close to one, it’s worth tossing it at them!

Dodging

Now that we talked about the offense, let’s talk about defense. Dodging is your only real way to prevent damage in Alone in the Dark, so it is a very helpful tool. In order to dodge, you simply have to press / plus the direction you want to move. This will cause your character to quickly move in the direction that you’re moving (or backwards if you’re not pressing a direction).

Use this to get some distance from enemies or to reposition yourself, and it will greatly help keep the damage you take low!

Healing

If you do end up taking a lot of damage, you’re going to want to heal. In order to do this, press /, and your character will take a sip of their drink, healing for around 1/3 of their health. It’s important to know that you can only hold up to 5 drinks at a time, but as long as you’re not constantly getting hit, this shouldn’t be much of an issue.

Tips and Tricks

Now that we’ve gone over the basics of fighting, here are some tips and tricks to make sure that your investigation goes as smoothly as possible:

• Take advantage of melee weapons and thrown items when possible. This will help conserve your ammo for when you really need your guns.
  • There is also no need to preserve either of these, as there isn’t much backtracking in the game, and you will find plenty of both of these weapons.
• When using the shotgun, make sure to use it in close range. This will maximize the damage from it, allowing it to even kill some enemies in a single shot.
• You can avoid some encounters entirely. Many encounters will be in fairly open areas, which will allow you to run around the enemies and just avoid them altogether. This is especially helpful in situations with a large amount of them.
  • Enemies do not drop any kind of loot, so there is no incentive to kill them rather than avoid them if possible.
• Be at a safe distance when reloading your gun. Edward and Emily are very vulnerable while reloading, and getting hit or taking any other action will completely interrupt it.

Now that you know how to handle the combat in Alone in the Dark, you will have a much easier time in your search for Jeremy!