Alone in the Dark Chapter 1 follows the story of Emily and Edward as they arrive at Derceto Manor in search of Jeremy Hartwood after Emily receives a distressed letter from him. As the duo goes through the manor, they get a first-hand experience of a different place seemingly detached from their own reality, confirming that Jeremy’s plight is beyond just mere mental fatigue. Read ahead as we go through Chapter 1 of Alone in the Dark and share some tips, puzzle solutions and collectible locations.
Starting the game
As you start a new game, you get to choose the difficulty of the game:
Easy – Focuses more on the story and narrative.
Standard – Intended experience and difficulty.
Hard – Monsters are harder and resources are scarce.
The difficulty can always be switched through the options menu.
Afterwards, you also get to choose the type of guidance that you’ll get as you explore through the chapters: Old School and Modern. Modern makes the experience smoother and easier by providing useful hints and highlights for any key items, while Old School requires a more thorough search for items and points of interest. These settings can also be changed and can be further modified through the options menu.
The game then introduces the two protagonists: Edward Carnby and Emily Hartwood. Emily Hartwood hires private detective Edward Carnby after she receives a disturbing letter from her uncle, Jeremy Hartwood. In this letter, Jeremy suspects that Derceto Manor, the institution he has been taken into, is being ran by a cult and that all the staff and patients are in on it.
As the two arrive at Derceto, you then get to choose who you will play as for the rest of the game. You will get to experience the game through different perspectives and you will also get to experience different dialogues, cutscenes, and levels. For this guide, we will be going through both Emily’s and Edward’s playthroughs, noting differences between them, if there are any.
Objectives:
Look for a way inside the house
Head inside the garage. Take note that you are initially equipped with a handgun and a drink vial. The drink vials will serve as your healing potions later on. For now, you can only carry 5 vials.
Check inside the nearest stable with the light to find a Clue – Flashlight and the Kitchen Garden Key. You can toggle the flashlight on in case you need illumination or off if you want to stay undetected.
Proceed deeper into the garage and you will find a locked door that you can open with the key. You will then reach the garden where there are a couple of things to inspect.
Immediately to the left is a shed with a chained door; keep note of this shed for now.
Check the spot behind the statue up ahead to find a hole that has a bucket floating on water deep below.
Continue into the conservatory for now where you will see a huge tree. Near the tree is a broken pot that has the Housekeeper’s Key.
Go up the stairs on the other side and you will find a case near the spiral staircase that has Pistol Bullets in it which will be your ammo for your handgun.
Go back down the stairs and look for the room on the side of the stairs. Use the Housekeeper’s Key on the door to open it, allowing you to get inside the house. You will also unlock the Welcome to Derceto Achievement by stepping inside the house.
Find the front door and let Detective Carnby/Emily Hartwood inside
Inside the housekeeping room, turn right to where the linens are kept to find some Drinks.
Check the next room up ahead to find the Clue – Family Bible and some more ammo inside a case.
Proceed through the next door to reach the kitchen. Check the cabinets to find more drinks and ammo.
Go through the closed door for now to reach the pantry where there is a chest containing more drinks. Check the other corner where you will find the Lagniappe – Rat Poison on the floor.
Lagniappes are collectibles that can be found throughout the game. These lagniappes are part of sets which, when completed, will unlock different kinds of bonuses and effects. Collecting all lagniappes will require playthroughs of both Edward’s and Emily’s campaigns. Lagniappes carry over to different playthroughs/saves on the same game client; keep this in mind when playing with multiple saves simultaneously.
Head back to the kitchen and proceed to the other end of the room that leads to the cellar. Turn right for now and you will find a locked gate; take note of this gate for later.
Inspect the shelf where you will find the Lagniappe – Streetcar Ticket.
Go back to the main path and take the closed door to the left to get into the boiler room. You will find the Clue – Sabotage.
Inspect the side of the boiler where you will find a circular plate that has a puzzle on it. You can’t solve the boiler puzzle for now until you find the missing pieces. Also, the leak on the pipe will not allow you to get to the other side of the room.
Go back out into the main path and you will find another door nearby. Behind the door is a staircase that leads inside the house. Up the stairs, the door to the left is locked. The next nearby door leads to a bathroom.
Next to the bathroom is the orderly room where you can find Clue – Lottie’s Diary by the desk.
You can also get the Clue – Derceto Floor Plans by the board on the wall.
You can use this as a map to see the layout of the entire Derceto Manor, including the rooms you have explored, completed, and have yet to visit, plus the puzzles you have encountered.
From the board, you will also get the Piazza Key. Use it to open the door that leads to the piazza, just beside the library. Take note of the stairs that lead to the second floor for now. Pass through the piazza while taking note that there’s a shortcut going back down to the garden until you reach the stair hall.
At the stair hall, the door to the right goes through the hallway that leads to the grand parlor which is locked for now. Go to the nearest door to your left for now to reach the reception room. Make sure to not overshoot towards the main door up ahead to prevent the cutscene from playing before you can enter the reception room.
Inside the reception room is where you will find the Clue – The Picayune Post.
Check the shelf by the reception window to find the Lagniappe – Rubber Stamp. You can’t head into the clerk’s room yet, but the other door will allow you to get into the treatment room; the other door connecting to the doctor’s room is currently inaccessible.
Head back out to the stair hall and approach the main door.
A cutscene will then play where you and your partner manage to get inside the manor. You will then see two different cutscenes depending on who you play. On Emily, you will see MacCarfey, Grace, and Mags, while on Edward, you will also see Ruth.
You will either be taken by Grace to Jeremy’s room or be accompanied by the three patients.
Search Jeremy’s room for clues
Inside Jeremy’s room, a lockbox with a tile puzzle on it. There is also a locked seamer trunk by the foot of the bed. On the larger table is where you can find the Clue – The Commonplace Book. Inside this book are some sketches that provide clues to some of the talisman plate puzzles within the manor.
There will also be a speech bubble icon near your partner. Look out for these speech bubbles and interact with them as soon as you see one to start a conversation with that person. You will be able to unlock the Chatterbox Achievement once you interact with each and every speech bubble throughout the game.
You will also find the Painted Tile by the table which you can use on the lockbox to solve its puzzle. Move the tiles around until you complete the image of a tree.
This will trigger another cutscene where you find a sketch of a talisman inside the lockbox. Your partner also discovers a portrait of Jeremy which Emily wishes to bring with her.
As they take the portrait, one of the two goes out of the room ahead of your chosen character. As your character tries to catch up, they find themselves in a completely different hallway with their partner nowhere to be seen. Looking back into the room, they see that the door to the balcony now ajar. They peek out and find themselves overlooking an empty town street when the manor was supposed to be situated in a secluded area.
Investigate the corner store
You find yourself at the French Quarter with the street below only having one store that is lit. Go out of the room and in to the hall, then take the stairs down. Open the door that leads outside.
Before heading out, you will see a shambling figure standing just up ahead. Use your handgun to shoot the figure which appears to be a humanoid creature made out of roots, but be careful as there is another one just hiding to the side. Clearing one out using your ranged weapon will unlock the Now You’re On the Trolley! Achievement.
Continue down the path where the other root creature ran through and you will eventually reach the road. The path to the left is blocked by thick mist, but you can check the trashcan and the soda cart for some consumables and ammo. Head down the other way until you reach the Johnny the Conqueror store.
A cutscene will then play where a guy comes out from another room in the store. In Emily’s playthrough, the guy ambushes her, but stops when he recognizes her. In Edward’s playthrough, they handled their encounter calmly.
The guy introduces himself as Batiste, one of the orderlies of the manor, who has found himself also trapped in the strange place while looking for Jeremy. He mentions that Jeremy has been wearing a talisman that kept him safe, the same one that appears on the sketch. You then receive Batiste’s Keys that you can use over at Miss Jackson’s place where Jeremy got his talisman from.
Inspect the key further to find out that they can also be used to open the clerk’s office and the library back in Derceto.
Make sure to check the store for consumables before heading out, including the Lagniappe – Preserved Reptile close to where you were talking to Batiste. This lagniappe would have fallen on the floor when playing Emily, while it would be on the table when playing Edward. Also, check back with Batiste for a conversation.
Find Miss Jackson’s place to learn more about Jeremy’s talisman
Go back out to the street and take the path to the left. Look for the small path just beside the store to find a Pipe that you can use as your melee weapon. Prepare to get ambushed by an enemy which will serve as a target practice for your melee weapon. Killing an enemy with a melee weapon for the first time will unlock the Come At Me! Achievement. Be mindful that these weapons can break after a number of hits.
Up ahead is another enemy. These enemies can spit out grubs and can grab hold of you, to which you will have to button mash to set yourself free. You can either shoot it down or use the bottles and bricks on the ground and throw them away from the path ahead to cause a distraction.
Once cleared, continue down the road where you will see a lit path behind a gate. Before going through the gate, check the post shack nearby to get the Hatchet which will serve as your melee weapon.
Use Batiste’s Keys to get through the gate. As you get to the open area, prepare your weapons as two enemies will be rushing in to your position from the other gate up ahead.
Once they are both taken out, go up the stairs where they came from, but be prepared for an enemy coming from the right once you reach the top. Behind this enemy is where you can find the Lagniappe – Ju-ju.
Follow the lit path to reach Miss Jackson’s place. Go to the table to find the Clue – Talisman and unlock the In Between There Are Doors Achievement.
Use the Talisman to get back to Derceto
There’s not much more to check out in Miss Jackson’s place other than the locked door that you can open later. For now, interact with the disc on the table where the talisman goes.
On this disc, you will have to enter three specific digits to activate the talisman and bring you back to the Derceto. Check the Talisman Schematics in your Investigation tab to find out that the code for the talisman is 3-5-8.
Once the correct code has been placed, the locked door will open. Going through the door will take you to Dr. Gray’s office back in Derceto. Another cutscene will play where Dr. Gray talks about Jeremy’s disappearance and dismisses the existence of the Dark Man. The chapter ends as your character leaves the Doctor’s office and meets up with their partner once again.
See next: Chapter 2