The optimization is really bad — it stutters a lot and is barely playable. The story is very average and it doesn’t feel much like a horror game. The puzzles are poorly designed and boring, and even the gunfights are underwhelming. Movement feels slow and unresponsive. Maybe if the optimization was better, I could give it a thumbs up — but unfortunately, I can't.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5)
Tested on Steam Deck OLED – Full Controller Support – 60 FPS Recommended Settings Below

I went in expecting this to barely run - it’s a modern cinematic horror game with Unreal Engine 4, big-name actors, and heavy lighting effects. But Alone in the Dark on the Steam Deck OLED is a real surprise. With the right tweaks, it runs at a locked 60 FPS in most scenes, looks great, and feels smooth to play handheld.

This is a full remake/reimagining of the original 1992 survival horror classic. You play as either Edward Carnby or Emily Hartwood, and both characters bring different dialogue, cutscenes, and small narrative shifts. The story blends Southern Gothic themes with psychological horror, wrapped in a moody, deliberate presentation that feels like a mix of Resident Evil 2 Remake and Alan Wake.

🔧 Steam Deck Performance & Settings
Here’s what I’m using to get 60 FPS across most of the game without sacrificing too much visual fidelity:

FSR: Balanced or Quality (both work well)
Vsync: Off
FPS: 60 (Deck system limiter; do NOT use in-game limiter)
Volumetric Quality: Medium
Ambient Occlusion: Medium
View Distance: Medium
Detail Setting: Medium
Particles Quality: High
Screen Space Reflections: Medium
Subsurface Scattering: Medium
Shadow Quality: Medium
Post-Processing: Medium
Texture Quality: High
Anti-Aliasing Quality: High
Shader Quality: Medium
Effect Quality: Medium
Foliage Quality: Medium
Anisotropic Filtering: x8

At these settings, I’m averaging 55–60 FPS, even during combat or in the more visually intense “dream” sequences. 1% lows dip to the mid-50s briefly, but it’s not noticeable during gameplay. Battery life is about 3 hours on the OLED model. If you drop to 30 FPS using the Deck’s limiter, you can bump a few settings to High and stretch battery life closer to 4.5 hours.

🎮 Controls & UI
Full controller support works perfectly - no manual remapping or weirdness.
Menus, inventory, and subtitles are all easy to navigate on the Deck screen.
No scaling issues I could spot, even in the inventory or map.

Also, enabling shader pre-caching in Steam helped eliminate stutters during area transitions early on. Worth checking that box if you haven't.

🧠 Game Impressions
This is slower-paced horror. There is combat, but it's not the focus. You'll spend more time exploring, solving puzzles, and digging into the story than shooting things. The vibe is oppressive and psychological, not jump-scare heavy. The acting and writing hold up well, and there’s a good amount of replay value in choosing the other character for a second run.

Final Verdict
This is how a modern remake should be done - true to the original’s tone, with modern visuals, solid pacing, and thoughtful design. And the fact that it runs this well on the Steam Deck OLED is the cherry on top.

If you like atmospheric horror with puzzles and story at the forefront, Alone in the Dark is absolutely worth playing on Deck.

Check out my video review here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=md2CN1qMAVU

Just finished my first playthrough with Emily and this game definitely did surprise me.

The characters are interesting, the story is gripping (enough) and the environment and ambience is really well done. I guess one gripe could be that the story is a little short (took me around 6 hours, with plenty of exploring!) but you can do a playthrough with each character; I just don't know how much extra that adds to the story.

I'll do a playthrough with Carnby at some point, but maybe a little break is needed first.

Definitely recommend this game if it's available at a good price.