7 Alone in the Dark tips and tricks to survive Derceto

Our Alone in the Dark tips and tricks should make your first few hours in the supernatural Derceto manor a bit more manageable. They apply regardless of whether you’re playing as Carnby or Emily, and touch on combat, exploration, and a few settings tweaks you can make to make your playthrough(s) a little smoother.

For more Alone in the Dark guides, including puzzle solutions, check out the talisman puzzle solution, the Clerk’s Office safe code, the Pregtz warehouse safe code, how to open the sarcophagus, and how to get the Barlow Lens. Otherwise, have a read of our review for our verdict on this remake of the 1992 classic.

Turn on these settings

Purists might scold us for this one, but we recommend tweaking the settings to make exploration and finding clues and collectibles easier. Go to the pause menu, select options, then gameplay. Turn on the following settings:

• Player Guidance – Modern
• Text Highlighting
• Map Highlighting
• Dynamic Objectives
• Reveal Interaction Points

Play as both Carnby and Emily

When you first fire up Alone in the Dark, you’re given the choice of playing as Carnby or Emily. While there’s no right or wrong choice here, we highly recommend playing through the game with both characters as the game is designed for two playthroughs. 

Each character has unique dialogue, NPC interactions, areas, and puzzles that aren’t just fun to experience but flesh out the narrative with extra tidbits. It’s also interesting to see how a second playthrough differs from the first but still sticks to the main story beats. Also, if you want to collect all the Lagniappe collectibles and score the trophy for your efforts, you’ll need to play as both protagonists at least once.

Dodge enemy attacks

The game doesn’t do a great job of highlighting it, but you can dodge in Alone in the Dark. Tap the Circle button (PS5) when an enemy attack is about to land and you’ll swiftly dodge out of the way. It’s a great way to avoid damage and to quickly create a gap between you and a crowd of enemies when things get hectic.

Explore every time you return to Derceto

Alone in the Dark jumps between sections in Derceto and dream-like memory sequences in graveyards, steamboats, the French Quarter, and the bayou. Whenever you return to Derceto after a memory, make sure you explore because more often than not something has changed in the manor. This could be freshly unlocked doors, new NPCs popping up in certain rooms, Lagniappe and clues appearing in others, and even solutions to puzzles you couldn’t previously solve.

Get the shotgun early

Both Carnby and Emily’s respective pistols work well-enough to take down the shadowy creatures roaming Derceto, you can up your firepower by getting the shotgun relatively early on in your playthrough. If you haven’t found it yet, it’s located in a glass cabinet on the wall in the Small Parlor just north of the Library and west of the Conservatory on the First Floor.

To open the cabinet, you’ll need to find the three Lagniappe collectibles needed to complete the Lost Children set: Rubber Stamp, Fountain Pen, and Dog Collar. All three are accessible from Chapter 2 onward when you’re first let loose to explore Derceto freely. For a more detailed guide on where to find them, check out how to get the shotgun in Alone in the Dark.

Collect Lagniappe

While entirely optional, hunting down Lagniappe is well worth the effort. Not only do they add some colour to the manor, but also grant rewards, most useful of all is access to the shotgun as mentioned above, but also new objectives, fresh lore, and even alternative endings. We tracked them all down during our playthrough, so check out all the Lagniappe locations if you need a hand.

Pick up all melee weapons you come across

Bashing and slashing enemies degrades melee weapons in Alone in the Dark. The durability isn’t all that great either and half a dozen hits is usually enough to degrade a weapon fully, which means you’ll regularly find yourself short on melee options. 

To counter this, pick up each and every melee weapon you come across, effectively wiping away degradation and maximising durability by swapping to a fresh, unused weapon. Shovels, axes, hatchets – they all work the same on enemies so don’t worry about getting rid of an older melee weapon with poor durability.

That’s about it for our Alone in the Dark tips and tricks for beginners. For more guides, check out how to solve the talisman number puzzle, the Pregtz warehouse safe code, the Perosi’s Room puzzle solution, how to get the machine gun, the Dr Gray’s Apartment talisman puzzle solution, and where to find all the Broken Plate locations for the Astronomical Clock and Boiler puzzles.