Jodie Comer’s pixelated hell: why Hollywood stars are ruining video games

Jodie Comer has been a killer, a queen and is widely tipped as a potential future Oscar winner. But in her latest project, she’s just a girl, standing in front of a door, wondering how to open it.

“I need a key,” the acclaimed actress says again and again (and again) throughout Alone in the Dark. The phrase is her mantra, her call sign, her battle cry – and by far the most repeated line of dialogue in this Lovecraftian horror, in which she stars opposite Stranger Things leading man David Harbour.

Killing Eve’s glamorous assassin Villanelle teaming up with Hawkins PD’s Sheriff Hopper? It sounds like a match forged in pulp heaven. Unfortunately, Alone in the Dark isn’t a movie or a hot new streaming series. It is a mid-budget video game from Swedish developer Pieces Interactive. And Comer and Harbour ruin it.

The stunt casting of big Hollywood names has been a trend in video games for decades. Ray Liotta voiced antihero Tommy Vercetti in 2002’s Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (an experience he found confusing, having never actually played a video game before that point). Six years later, Ricky Gervais popped up in Grand Theft Auto IV. In 2012 future Academy Award winner Robert Jr Downey donned a motion-capture suit to portray a fighter pilot in shoot ‘em up Call Of Duty: Black Ops II. More recently, Cyberpunk 2077 featured the motion-captured dynamic duo of Keanu Reeves and Idris Elba (the latter hardcore gamer who rarely leaves home without his Nintendo Switch).

But the Comer and Harbour double act in Alone in the Dark is something else – a tipping point where celebrity casting ruins the fun. In those earlier titles, the big names featured heavily in the marketing. But the actual games generally stood on their own two digital feet.

You could play Cyberpunk 2077 without ever knowing the who, what or why of Keanu Reeves. Similarly, it is fair to say GTA IV would have earned its $2 billion box office without or without the input of the once and future David Brent. In Alone in the Dark, however, it is impossible to ignore the presence of Comer and Harbour – and they spoil the enjoyment by taking you out of the game.

Either one or both of Comer and Harbour are on-screen virtually the entire time in this remake of the beloved 1992 title. As the haunted house mystery begins, you can play as either Comer’s Emily Hartwood or Hopper’s Edward Carnby. She’s a resourceful young woman searching for her missing uncle. He’s a private detective hired to solve the mystery that has engulfed Emily’s family.

Players spend 100 per cent of the game in the shoes of these famous actors – and what an intrusion it becomes. As Emily, you are never not aware that you are controlling a tiny pixelated version of the actress most recently acclaimed for her turn in Suzie Miller’s award-winning one-woman play, Prima Facie.

Comer is always committed to her performances. As Emily, she goes all-in. She invests weight and passion in every line of dialogue. When she explains that she can’t open a door because she “needs a key”, she sounds like she’s shooting for an Oscar nomination.

The only flub is her Southern Belle lilt – its wonkiness a surprise considering Comer’s widely acknowledged facility for accents. Still, you have to credit her for doing her best. The same can be said of Harbour, who brings maximum “Sheriff Hopper energy” to the role of perplexed detective.

Alas, they are fighting a losing battle, as the game is distinctly sub-par. For starters, their digital avatars are poorly rendered. Comer’s face, usually so expressive, looks like it’s been made from lumps of bread squished together. Harbour resembles a giant, pale heap of dough.

Another recurring complaint is that Alone in the Dark feels unfinished. The combat is clunky, the animation blurred. Instead of signing the presumably huge cheques demanded by Harbour and Comer, why not cast less well-known (and cheaper) actors and plough the savings into a better game?

Alone in the Dark’s developers were upfront about their motives for hiring Comer and Harbour. The hope was it would draw more eyeballs, said creative director Mikael Hedbert, who explained the public had a “parasocial” relationship with the high-profile stars of Killing Eve and Stranger Things. Meanwhile, Michael Csurics, Alone in the Dark’s casting and voice director, told the New York Times: “If you saw David Harbour and Jodie Comer were starring in a new Alone in the Dark horror film, you’d probably go see it.”

Comer had her reasons, too. She said she was drawn to video games after starring in Free Guy, a 2021 Ryan Reynolds comedy in which she portrays a computer programmer who writes the code for a Fortnite-style multiplayer shoot ’em up. “It’s so incredible to be able to kind of step out of what you usually do and explore something new and kind of challenge yourself,” she said.

Harbour’s motives were more straightforward. “I hope that people are still watching two-hour movies decades from now, but I know they will be playing video games,” he said in an email to the New York Times.

He’s 100 per cent correct. When it comes to mass entertainment, video games are a behemoth. In 2022, games generated $184 billion in global revenue, compared to the music business’s $26.2 billion and the movie industry takings of $26 billion.

Just like Hollywood, moreover, games are a showcase for fantastic acting talent. If you are looking for powerful performances, search no further than The Last of Us Part II, which featured compelling turns by Ashley Johnson and Laura Bailey as mutual antagonists, Ellie and Abby.

Similarly, 2024’s Baldur’s Gate 3 brimmed with brilliant acting – the game was an old-school fantasy RPG elevated by memorable characters such as dandy vampire elf Astarion (Neil Newbon) and morally-confused half-elf Shadowheart (Jennifer English).

But these actors aren’t Hollywood stars. They are jobbing thespians for whom video games are another way of earning a living. They don’t bring any baggage to their roles. When you play Ellie in The Last Of Us, you’re never thinking, “Oh, I’m controlling the actress from Killing Eve” – an experience many will have with Alone in the Dark.

It’s been decades since video games were perceived as a distraction for children. However, they still have a long way to go before they are regarded as the creative equal of cinema or television. You might think that giving star billing to Jodie Comer and David Harbour would help with the medium’s credibility. In Alone in the Dark, the opposite is the case. These big Hollywood names have been parachuted into a game that needs better gameplay rather than a glitzy cast.

Alone in the Dark is billed as immersive horror. Sadly, the true jump scare comes as you start playing and realise that the presence of two A-listers isn’t a bonus but a deal breaker. For the first and hopefully last time in her career, Jodie Comer is entirely surplus to requirements. Whether asking for keys or simply wobbling about the house, she murders the vibe of Alone In the Dark with a thoroughness that would turn Killing Eve’s Villanelle green with envy.