View source for Alone in the Dark 3


{{Infobox video game
| title      = Alone in the Dark 3
| image      = Alone in the Dark 3 cover.jpg
| caption    = MS-DOS version box art
| alt        = MS-DOS version box art
| developer  = {{collapsible list|title={{nobold|[[Infogrames Multimedia]]}}|AMT Savan Corps <small>(PC-98)</small>|Brainstorm Software <small>(Mac)</small>}}
| publisher  = {{collapsible list|title={{nobold|Infogrames Multimedia}}|{{vgrelease|EU|Infogrames Multimedia|NA|[[Infogrames|I•Motion]]|JP|AMT Savan Corps (PC-98)|JP|[[Electronic Arts Victor]] (Windows, Mac)}}}}
| director   = Christiane Sgorlon
| producer   = [[Bruno Bonnell]]
| programmer = 
| artist     = 
| writer     = Hubert Chardot<br />Christian Nabais
| composer   = Frédéric Mentzen
| engine     = 
| series     = ''[[Alone in the Dark]]''
| released   = {{collapsible list|title={{nobold|February 1995}}|
'''MS-DOS'''<br />{{vgrelease|EU|February 1995<ref>{{Cite news |date=February 4, 1995 |title=''Alone in dark'' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/823113678 |access-date=August 1, 2024 |work=[[Nuneaton News|Heartland Evening News: the Voice of Nuneaton, Hinckley, Bedworth and Atherstone]] |pages=48 |quote=The eagerly awaited third game of the excellent ''Alone in the Dark 3'' series is released this week on PC-CD ROM.}}</ref>|NA|March 16, 1995}}'''Windows'''{{vgrelease|EU|1995|JP|June 21, 1995}}'''Mac'''<br />{{vgrelease|NA/EU|1996}}{{vgrelease|JP|June 21, 1996}}'''PC-98'''{{vgrelease|JP|December 8, 1996}}}}
| genre      = [[Survival horror]]
| modes      = [[Single player]]
| platforms  = [[MS-DOS]], [[NEC PC-9801|PC-98]], [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]], [[Mac OS]]
}}
'''''Alone in the Dark 3''''' is a 1995 [[survival horror]] video game developed and published by [[Infogrames Multimedia]]. It is the third installment of the ''[[Alone in the Dark]]'' video game series. The video game was released for [[MS-DOS]] in 1995. It was ported to the [[NEC PC-9801|PC-98]] later that year. Versions for [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] and [[Mac OS]] were also released in 1996.

==Plot==
It is July 1925 and after Edward Carnby's success in his previous two investigations, a journalist has nicknamed him the 'Supernatural Private Eye'. This time, he is called to investigate the disappearance of a film crew at a two-bit ghost town known by the name of Slaughter Gulch located in the [[Mojave Desert]] in California. Among the disappeared crew is Emily Hartwood, Jeremy Hartwood's niece from the original. Edward soon discovers that a [[curse]] has gripped the town, and an evil cowboy from the Badlands named Jed Stone is the villain who is responsible for the crew's disappearance. Lurking around town are many trigger-happy sharpshooters, deranged prospectors, and bloodthirsty lost souls whom Edward must ward off with both his strength and his wit.

==Gameplay==
The main [[Theme (visual arts)|theme]] of this game is the [[Wild West]], as Carnby is pitted against a town filled with "zombie [[cowboy]] outlaws" who attack him with revolvers and [[lever-action]] [[rifle]]s. More traditionally mindless, shambling zombies begin to appear about midway through the game. Towards the end of the game, the concept of radioactive [[mutation]] plays a significant role in the story, and the player ends up fighting monstrous creatures created from the radiation.

==Release==
This was the first game in the series not to be released on floppy disks. Rather, it was released as a [[CD-ROM]] game since the initial release, with full [[Red Book (audio CD standard)|Red Book audio]] soundtrack and dialogue speech (in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese and Portuguese, depending on the country the game was released, and with the Mac version specifically featuring a different English dub) like the CD-ROM re-releases of the previous two games. It was also the first game in the series to be exclusively released for several computer formats and therefore did not receive any official console release unlike the previous two games.

Outside of Europe, the game was distributed in North America by [[Interplay Entertainment]]. In Japan, a [[NEC PC-9801|PC-98]] version of the game was developed and released in 1995 by AMT Savan Corps,<ref>[https://www.nicozon.net/watch/sm2093547 アローンインザダーク3を普通にプレイ（PC98 CD Ver）]</ref> a merge of the company previously known as Arrow Micro-Techs Corp which published the previous games for Japanese computers. There was no FM-Towns version developed this time. In 1996, the Windows and Mac OS versions were also released in Japan by Electronic Arts Victor as ''Alone in the Dark 3: Ghosts in Town''.<ref>[https://pc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/article/960601/eav.htm エレクトロニック・アーツ・ビクターの最新海外ゲーム6月分]</ref><ref>[https://www.nicozon.net/watch/sm23222356 アローンインザダーク3をサクサク進める予定の実況プレイ Part01]</ref>

A [[3DO Interactive Multiplayer]] version of ''Alone in the Dark 3'' was announced but never released.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/stream/3DO_Magazine_Issue_10_1996-05_Paragon_Publishing_GB#page/n32/mode/1up|title=Preview – Coming Soon|magazine=[[Paragon Publishing|3DO Magazine]]|issue=10|publisher=[[Paragon Publishing]]|date=May 1996|pages=33–34}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/stream/3DO_Magazine_Issue_12_1996-07_Paragon_Publishing_GB#page/n32/mode/1up|title=Preview – Coming Soon|magazine=[[Paragon Publishing|3DO Magazine]]|issue=12|publisher=[[Paragon Publishing]]|date=July 1996|pages=33–34}}</ref>

The official guide to the game (''Alone in the Dark 3: The Official Strategy Guide'', Prima Publishing, 1995; re-released by the author, 2019) was written by Steve Schwartz in cooperation with Infogrames.

==Reception==
{{expand section|date=March 2022}}
{{Video game reviews
| Allgame = {{rating|4|5}} (MAC)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.allgame.com/game.php?id=22800&tab=review |title=Alone in the Dark 3 (Macintosh) Review |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141115114127/http://www.allgame.com/game.php?id=22800&tab=review |archive-date=15 November 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref><br />{{Rating|4|5}} (PC)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.allgame.com/game.php?id=16899&tab=review |title=Alone in the Dark (PC) Review |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141115153636/http://www.allgame.com/game.php?id=16899&tab=review |archive-date=15 November 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
|rev1=''[[PC Gamer]]''
|rev1Score=88%<ref>{{cite web|first=Liam|last=McDonald|url=http://www.pcgamer.com/reviews/1337.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/19990820033955/http://www.pcgamer.com/reviews/1337.html|title=Alone in the Dark 3|magazine=[[PC Gamer]]|archivedate=August 20, 1999|date=May 1995|accessdate=January 18, 2025|url-status=live}}</ref>
}}

==See also==
* ''[[Undead Nightmare]]'', another horror Western video game

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb title|302252}}
*{{MobyGames|id=/alone-in-the-dark-3}}

{{Alone in the Dark}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alone In The Dark 3}}
[[Category:1990s horror video games]]
[[Category:1995 video games]]
[[Category:Alone in the Dark]]
[[Category:Cancelled 3DO Interactive Multiplayer games]]
[[Category:Classic Mac OS games]]
[[Category:DOS games]]
[[Category:Electronic Arts Victor games]]
[[Category:Games commercially released with DOSBox]]
[[Category:Infogrames games]]
[[Category:NEC PC-9801 games]]
[[Category:Single-player video games]]
[[Category:Sequel video games]]
[[Category:Video games about zombies]]
[[Category:Video games developed in France]]
[[Category:Video games set in 1926]]
[[Category:Video games set in California]]
[[Category:Video games with pre-rendered 3D graphics]]
[[Category:Western (genre) video games]]
[[Category:Windows games]]

{{Wikipedia attribution|original_title=Alone in the Dark 3|access_date=2026-02-25}}