I really like this solo adventure a lot. Prior to this, my only other solo CoC experience was Alone Against the Flames, which is a much shorter and more basic module. Alone Against the Dark, on the other hand, actually feels like a full campaign experience. There's globe-trotting, there's an ancient conspiracy, there's a nefarious cult, and there's an ancient artifact that everyone is trying to get their hands on. In other words, it has all the trappings of a classic CoC adventure. The story is definitely a bit on the lighter, pulpier side of CoC, but I think that it works for this kind of experience and there is still plenty of horror and mind-being insanity here.

I was surprised by how well the gameplay works as a solo experience and how much it really does remind me of playing CoC with friends. Obviously it's not as good as sitting around the table with other human beings, but if you're a forever GM like me, it's a good way of getting a taste of that player experience. And I was surprised by the amount and depth of the content here. This is a pretty substantial adventure and will take you several sittings to get through.

I do wish that certain sections of this adventure were handled a bit better. Without going into spoilers, there were several moments in the campaign that I was really looking forward to, only to find that the way that this book handled them was a bit anti-climactic. The module also has a tendency to take control out of the player's hands and not allow you to make rolls during some moments where it really feels like you should be allowed to make one. Usually this is done to move the plot forward, but it can feel a bit cheap sometimes. But in a solo adventure like this, that sort of feeling is kind of inevitable.

But there are plenty of unexpected twists, turns, and surprises to be had here and I really enjoyed my time with Alone Against the Dark overall. Like any good CoC scenario it can be very lethal, you usually have the ability to keep playing as a different character if your current one dies.

My advice to get the best experience out of this module: Play as the pre-gen characters, put your extra points into skills that you feel that character would concievably have (don't meta-game and just pick the important skills), and use the time-keeping calendar that the game gives you. It might feel kind of lame to have to keep track of every hour of time, but it really does make the experience much more immersive and, in my opinion, fun.

I played this after playing a few other Solo CoC adventures, and boy was this an uptick in difficulty, but in a good way in my opinion! The addition of having to manage your own time, as well as the twists and turns in the story, had me invested within minutes of playing. We, the Solo players, want and need more Solo CoC options like this!!!