Infogrames' Alone In The Dark was ground breaking because:
- It spawned a new genre of games: "Survival Horror" (notables include Capcom's Resident Evil and Dino Crisis series)
- Let the player choose a male or female protagonist
- Made use of 3D characters and objects (on nicely hand-drawn backdrops)
- Made use of cinematic techniques ("Chinese" camera angles, etc.) to enhance the game's atmosphere
- Scared the living bejesus outa me (see System Shock 2)
Lineage of the Alone in the Dark Series:
There’s a film in production by Artisan/Lions Gate Films as of this writing, based on the Alone In The Dark series of games, directed by Uwe Boll. It stars Christian Slater as Edward Carnby (our hero).
There’s a graphic novel/comic book available that details Carnby’s adventures between Alone In the Dark 3 and Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare.
Sources:
www.alone-in-the-dark.com
www.lofficier.com
www.justadventure.com
www.gamespot.com