Alone in the Dark 1 gives to the player the option of choosing between a male or female protagonist (Edward Carnby or Emily Hartwood respectively), and are then trapped inside the haunted mansion of Derceto after dark. The player character starts in the attic (the place of Jeremy's suicide by hanging), having ascended to the top of the mansion without incident, and is then tasked with exploring the mansion in order to find a way out while avoiding, outsmarting or defeating various supernatural enemies including slave zombies, giant bipedal rat-like creatures, and other even more bizarre foes. Though starting with no weapons except fists and feet, the player character can find and utilise weapons.

In Alone in the Dark 2 the original game's horror theme has been significantly de-emphasized. While there are some supernatural goings-on (Voodoo black magic), the main villains are gangsters and pirates. While the enemies are revealed to be possessed by evil spirits, and are green and zombie-like in appearance, they are far from the shambling walking corpses of the first game, and walk, talk, and behave much like ordinary people, arming themselves with Tommy Guns and shouting at the player. The game world is larger than that of the original, encompassing not only the mansion, but also the surrounding gardens as well as a pirate ship hidden in caverns beneath the house.

Finally in Alone in the Dark 3 the main theme is the Wild West, as Carnby is pitted against a town filled with "zombie cowboy outlaws" who attack him with revolvers and lever-action rifles. More traditionally mindless, shambling zombies begin to appear about mid-way through the game. Towards the end of the game, the concept of radioactive mutation plays a significant role in the story, and the player ends up fighting monstrous creatures created from the radiation.