Grace Saunders

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Grace Saunders is a fictional 8-year-old girl from the Alone in the Dark series of video games that are credited with beginning the survival horror genre. The name Grace Saunders became somewhat infamous after it was used by Peter Ross Anderson on various Internet message boards.

1 Alone in the Dark 2
2 Jack in the Dark
3 Signature Items
4 Trivia

[edit] Alone in the Dark 2

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Grace Saunders first appeared in Alone in the Dark 2 and was kidnapped by an infamous gangster called One Eyed Jack. She is the game's second playable character for a brief portion of the game, and can be played twice in total.

Alone in the Dark 2 was also ported to the PlayStation in the UK as Alone in the Dark: Jack is Back and elsewhere as Alone in the Dark: One Eyed Jack's Revenge. It is one of the rarest games ever made, but can be found on eBay.

It is unknown where Grace Saunders came from, although she may have been from a wealthy family. Edward Carnby, the main character from the original 1992 game comes to Grace's aid after his partner Ted failed to report back. Being a private investigator, he is readily equipped to take on One Eyed Jack and his immortal band of bootleggers. Unfortunately, Edward is eventually captured himself, and the roles of the two are reversed.

Unlike Carnby, Grace cannot use weapons or open doors, so she has to use her wits to evade being caught. This includes moving from area to area carefully, but if spotted, Grace can use an item to halt her attacker. Grace's portion of the game is accompanied by a cutesy melody, keeping in tradition with her age. However, Grace Saunders is the slowest out of all the Alone in the Dark protagonists. Once Grace is eventually captured again, Edward Carnby is then free to try and save her.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Jack in the Dark

Between 1992-1993, Grace Saunders also appeared in a small promotional game called Jack in the Dark which only lasts an estimated 5-10 minutes. The game itself is not so much a survival horror game because there is no direct combat.

In this lesser-known adventure, Grace wanders into a lonely toy store on Halloween. Although seemingly abandoned, the toys are alive and Grace is immediately locked inside, and through reading a book for clues, Grace must stop the evil plot of a group of toys, lead by a scary looking jack-in-the-box replica of the infamous pirate, One Eyed Jack. Because a Christmas tree appears in the shop window, it is possible that the game takes place during the Christmas season.

[edit] Signature Items

A tub of molasses, ice cubes, a mirror, a candy cane, a broom, a teddy bear and a drum kit are used by Grace Saunders in Alone in the Dark 2 and Jack in the Dark.

[edit] Trivia

Grace Saunders is much cuter in the PlayStation version, since the game was slightly modified. Edward Carnby is also evidently different. He only wears his original attire during the opening credits. Perhaps this was to make the game look more marketable. Curiously, the game has a very early number on the side of the box, indicating that it was indeed one of the earliest PlayStation games ever released, and can be considered the "first" PSOne survival horror title (as many believe Resident Evil to be the earliest example of the genre).