The landscape for survival horror franchises is a rather bleak one. Silent Hill is in an ironic limbo, Dead Space is trapped in a vacuum, and Clock Tower has stopped ticking. Resident Evil, despite a wobble, is very much still in…residence (sorry). Until recently the Alone In The Dark franchise was locked in a dank room in Atari’s basement while legal wrangling went on for custody.

Well, doomed IP saviors THQ Nordic are at it again. Having picked up Kingdoms of Amular and Timesplitters recently, the publisher has now gained the rights to one of survival horror’s most important franchise in Alone In The Dark from Atari. It also picked up Act of War, a strategy game.

While Resident Evil gets credit for pushing survival horror into the mainstream, it’s Alone In The Dark that paved the way for Capcom’s juggernaut. Unfortunately, despite multiple attempts to revive the franchise, the godawful Alone In The Dark Illumination looked to be the sad, sour end.

It’ll be interesting to see what comes from this acquisition. A reawakening of a survival horror giant would see the genre heavyweights in rude health. Now THQ Nordic, see if EA are interested in letting go of that Dead Space IP, eh?