Alone in the Dark needs to take "major step," says Villette

Antoine Villette, founder of I Am Alive developer Darkworks, has told VG247 he believes Alone in the Dark can still be great, but only if Atari is prepared to make radical changes to its format.

"When we took Alone in the Dark in 2001 it was to renew the franchise with names, characters, we tried to put it in a modern base and modernise it a little bit," said Villette, talking of the Darkworks-developed Alone in the Dark: A New Nightmare.

"Now I think that with this franchise, if Atari wants to do something [further], it has to be a major step towards other things: perhaps other platforms, other game systems, other gameplay.

"Alone in the Dark has this chance to have this fantastic title: they have to work with that. Perhaps to be a little purer about it and move away from what has become the classical survival horror game with Resident Evil, Biohazard, and let it be Alone in the Dark.

"When you forget that there's been four or five instalments in the franchise, you can do something fantastic with it."

The last Alone in the Dark game from Eden Studios - still to release on PS3 - wasn't well received critically, and Atari boss Phil Harrison has already said he doubts another game of its ilk will be greenlit by the firm.