Alone in the Dark (pc) (pc) [Any %] [Single Segment] [0:09:27]
Run Information
Completion Date Nov. 24, 2014
State Obsolete
Links
Verification Thread
Run Comments

Well, I really don't know how to start this. This is the 3rd time that I write notes for this game as I never submitted my first speedrun and improved it twice. Soooo... Basically I wanted to thank Poka for his run of the game on Youtube. He actually found some tricks very useful that I probably could not find by myself and his route was really great. Then, 1 year later Aqfaq came with some ideas for a better run. We searched, we found some cool things to save an entire minut, a new run was born. Then came LotBlind in the conversation, we shared a lot of informations in the game and one day I had the stupid idea to show them an useless bug that I found with a door. Next day, they showed me how to use this glitch everywhere in the game, finding shortcuts here and there. Here started another bloody run ! It is not impossible at all that one of us find a new way to use the glitch to improve it but for now, here I am.

The goal was to do a legit run of this great game (by the way, thank you for Gog.com, Exo !) and, obviously, try to improve the chrono at the same time. It was easier than I thought: the main difficulty actually was the gameplay really peculiar and the item menu management during playing. A big part of improvement only consists to make movements rightly, avoiding to block Edward against walls and stuff. You'll understand that I can't really describe this part with precision. As there is not any real script in the game, the purpose during the run 'll be to collect the necessary items I need to reach and kill Pregzt, and sometimes the items who allow me to reach those necessary items. Oh, and forgive my aproximative english, I do my best !

Attic: First I take the item who'll kill the final boss. Damn good beginning, isn't it ? Here it comes my first improvement: I dont take the rifle in the safe, I directly go to the locker, I quickly activate the "search/open" command (it'll stay activate until I change it) and take the old indian cover, I'll need it later. Here I emphasize a gameplay detail: to run you have to press up twice, most of the time when you interact with something (including inventory), it'll cancel the run and you'll have to reactivate it. So it'll be very important to use items menu before or after the moves. However, it doesn't happens during door openings if I hold "up". I have nothing more to do here so I can quit this place.

3rd Floor - Antichamber: The only thing I really need in this entire floor is the oil can for the oil lamp. No sword, no row, who cares about weapons ? I have a freaking lantern ! Then I move on and open the door. Before going further I fill the lantern. Why now ? Well because the item is on top of the list as it's the last one that I picked up, I'll lose time to search it later in the game when my inventory'll be full of stuff. Let's continue !

Corridor: Go to the right door ! Here begins the glitch celebration. I don't enter in the room, instead I run in a space between the door and the wall. With a certain angle, Carnby is pushed through the wall and reaches the bedroom. Here it's very important to open the door BEFORE taking the vase because the Zomby-chicken (After a talk with Frederick Reynal, he told me that it was how he called the monster, I'm not joking) will come a few seconds after and I will not fight it. If it hits me it'll break the mirrors and I'll be unable to kill the medusas. Now quicly: throw the vase, take the key, use it to the dresser, take the mirrors and get out !

Landing of the stairs: I'm still followed by the Zomby-chicken so I must hurry. I go to the first statue, put the mirror on it, activate the "fight" mode and now comes the hardest trick of the run to me. I have to quickly bitchslap the Zomby-chicken, it'll imobilize it for a moment and if I did it correctly, it'll stuck it against the door in the following screen. A good timing is requested: I have to enter in its attack radius during one of its jumps, only in this case I'll have enough time to give the punch it deserves ! After that, I only have to be close to the wall so the monster'll stay stuck in the door. The rest is easy: I put the mirror to kill the medusa and I take the stairs as soon as it dissapears.

2nd Floor: Here the goals are the talisman in the library and the Matchbox in the Boudoir. To the right !!!

Boudoir: If I touch the chair, the ghost of what it seems to be Emily Artwood'll turn into bubbles who'll chase me through the whole floor and kill me if it touches me. Here's a trick that I absolutly wanted to be in the run. It may seems not difficult but running between the ghost and the gramophone without touching any of them is really tricky. I take the matchbox, leave the place and go to the door at the left of the stairs.

In the Hallway, I take the 2nd door to reach a bathroom. Before entering I activate my "search" mode in the menu. I could activate it directly when I came to the 2nd floor but weirdly when I do that the purple monster in the bathroom reacts differently (wich means he attacks me before I can leave), so I do it now. I quickly enter, snoop the furniture, find a first aid case and leave the place with a sweet moonwalk. Then I go to the end of the hallway.

Art Gallery: The first thing to do is to cover the painting of Davy Crockett (I read somewhere that it was him, I'm not sure of that but who cares ) or it throws me some auto-guided/unstoppable tomahawks in the face. It kills me with two shots (10 Life points) and walls don't stop them so I have no choice. Then I open the medical box to find a flask (If I did it before, it would have been longer to me to reach the indian cover in the item list) and I move forward. It's going to be complicated to describe this part. To be simple, I make a ninja move to avoid the deadly arrow that the red-skin painting throws me. The thing is the camera follows the arrow (who can pass trough walls by the way) so I have to be accurate with my move without seeing myself and reach the door. It's also important to eventually be touched by it so the camera can focus to Carnby again. As I'm still in the painting radius, it'll throw another arrow as soon as the first one'll touch me, so I quickly enter in the room and drink the flask just before the arrow touches me, it cancels damage. Now that the camera is back, I use the matchbox. It lights the oil lamp and makes Carnby grab it in the same time. Then i take the fake book on the desk and go back on the corridor. This time, manipulating the arrow is easier, but it's important to reach the double door in the middle of the corridor by the right so Edward'll be outside the radius.

Library: The Vagrant prowls here so let's be quick. Go to the left in the last corridor, here I put the fake-book on the shelf (the one just after the showy secret door), I enter in the secret room to take the talisman then I can leave the place by the 2nd double-door and reach the 1st floor. Poka (and a lot of other Youtubers) throwed the lantern before using the fake-book, I did the same thing until I realize that it was totally useless, or at least I don't understand the point of this.

1sd floor: Here... Well here nothing at all. I've got to reach the cellar but even the cellar-key is not necessary. I just use the glitch another time against the stairs, Carnby will eventually touch the zone behind the door who'll make him go down.

Cellar: Nothing important to say here. Being too close of the barrels when I grab the block causes damage but it does not happen all the time. I did not really understand the mecanism of this but it did not touch me this time so... Yay !

Tunnels: In the whole section cameras are weirdly placed and you'll often find a wall in front of you after a screen change, so it's important to know the place well to improve movements. A "Chtonien" comes to eat me, I am not supposed to use this way but Aqfaq found a space spot to duck the attack. Timing is very important, it doesn't work if I reach the spot too soon or too late. Of course being touched means instant death (50 damage, for the record 55 Life points is the max you can reach in the game). In this whole place, the "jump" action is available, and as I need it soon I activate it during the deadtime when I'm waiting for the Chtonien to be closer. Once the attack is avoided, I can follow the path (not too fast because simply touch the monster counts as a hit...). Funny fact: I am so not supposed to use this way that if I watch the Chtonien, it'll continue through the wall and will eventually disappear from the screen to reappear like 10 miles behind a wall but still visible (It kinda works the same when I use the glitch to pass through a wall and run out of bound for a while), and if I watch it too long the game will crash. I follow the subway until another Zomby-chicken attacks me. Wierdly, this one doesn't fall when I give him a hit, besides the camera angle doesn't help to do it correctly so I found another complicated-to-explain tactic. I come very close to him assuring that I'm aside from him. Then I jump with space button, the monster's attack won't stop me during it (however damages are real). With the jump I have to turn around the monster. To do that it's very important to release the Space button who prevent direction changing during the jump, BUT I have to re-push space button before reaching the floor, if not the Zomby-chicken's new attack will stop my 2nd jump. After that, I can restart a run and quickly reach the hulk.

Waterpart: Once again there's no time to lose because a fish-man hunts me. First thing after my fall: grab the Oil Lamp. As the matchbox'll be wet in water, I wont be abble to turn on the lantern if it burns out. Having it in hands avoid water effect (even if we can clearly see Carnby immerse the oil lamp, it's like a superpower). I follow the hidden tunnel who normally is here to comes you back at the beginning when you miss a jump during a long plat-form section that I avoid here. I come in a new huge room full of fake bridges and I quickly reach a flange to go out of the water. At this point I practically passed the whole "bridge riddle" so I only have to use the path in front of me. This part may be a little tricky at first because of approximative gameplay... But I do it fine ! A chest ? With a gem needed to reach Pregzt room ? Who cares about that ?! Get out, I have a demonic ghost pirate to kill ! About the boulder just behind, I push it more than necessary by safety. I can pass sooner but sometimes it provokes the glitch: in the next screen Carnby'll fall under the ground then he'll climb to come back to the "real ground". It's a big waste of time when he does that so it is better to take precautions. In the next room I simply follow the path, fall from the cliff and equip the lantern before going further.

Labyrinth, Pregzt & Escape: Time to use an abusive shortcut ! By using the corner-glitch in the rock-door at the entrance of the labyrinth, Carnby falls to the lower floor (wich is the water level). After that I have to follow a weird path: come back to the "normal road" (even if I'm under it) by passing through the boulder. I take a large turn willingly because if I approach the rock by the left, Carnby will reappear in the room behind the boulder. Once I'm in the first intersection, I'll be mysteriously transported in the enlightened version of the labyrinth, wich is apparently considered as a different place judging by the fact that reaching limits of the screens lead to different places in the dark labyrinth (most of time I lose Carnby or stuck him in infinite blackness). Now that the room is bright, I go to the top of the screen by making my U-turn by the right because going too much to the left makes Carnby go back in the dark labyrinth. When I'm close to the boundary, I'll reapear in Pregzt sanctuary in the middle of a wall. I can't pass through it so I have to climb to come back to the real world. Following the limit of the the screen leads me to the end of labyrinth just behind the rock-door, still in a wall. Now I come back to Pregzt room by touching a climbable edge, Carnby operates his incredible jump and finally I'm back to reality. I follow the cliff without seeing myself, wich is kinda tricky. If I fall underwater, Chtulu monster'll stuck me and if I'm too close to the walls, Carnby will climb it (not a big deal but a big waste of time). Now I simply reach the sacrificial stone by prododging some fireballs. I take the hook who'll open the rock-doors, put the talisman and throw the oil lamp on Pregzt tree-face. Once he is burning, the fish-man and all the monsters of the mansion die and some rocks fall in the room. Now I can leave this cursed-place. With the 2nd rock-door, the same glitch than before can happen. If I run against the door when it's opening, I can fall under the floor and sometimes I can't even go back at the real floor, Carnby just runs indefinitely under the background. Except that, there's no special trick to talk about until the end, I just take the shortest path using the hook on rock-doors and the secret passage by the wine cellar. Near from the beginning of the tunnels, the boulder is still present because the Chtonien did not eat it as it was rushing toward the other direction (because of my cellar path), so I'm forced to use a detour.

What a surprising night it was ! Carnby can finally go home and be hired for not having brought back the freaking piano in the attic, the reason he came here in the first place...

Thanks to the SDA communauty and to Aqfaq and LotBlind for their help and support. The speedrun wont be the same at all without their incredible discoveries. Also, thanks to Mr. Reynal for this great game, and thank you for watching !