First off, thank you, thank you, thank you GOG for bringing us this release. I played AITD1 quite a bit back in the day but I never managed to finish it. The fire of playing this game again was stoked and burned readily.

The first game was exactly like I remembered it. Creepy, innovative, great Lovecraftian influences without overdoing it. All in all, extremely enjoyable. Unlike most posts here I adore the tank-control scheme, being forced to use the arrow keys was a bit of a drag however.

Then I moved on to AITD2 which I had never even tried before. Good grief, what happened? You're not alone anymore, you're not in the dark, all the mythos inspired references were gone (almost all, at least), the story itself didn't interest me one bit and the gameplay... utter torture.

Not to mention the previously logical puzzles being turned into... I don't know what, how in the old ones' names was I supposed to figure out that I should shoot pepper from a cannon at a skeleton outside the door? The parrot reference of not sneezing? Paper thin. Pretty much began loathing the game from the time where I got shot to death repeatably trying to move the statue in the second scene. Unfortunately the cherished uninstall didn't even clear up all my contempt.

I'm contemplating giving AITD3 a try since random reviews claim it went back to AITD1's formula of more puzzles than "action", but I trust the word of fellow GOGers far above that of reviewers. What do you think? Is it worth it or should I just skip it and try to repress any memories of AITD2 while keeping the good times from AITD1 close to heart?

Ok, so Im not sure about this or anything, but I seem to remember reading that the Designer left the the company. The other games were then made by someone else. I think that I may have gotten this from an article GOG posted. Not sure about any of that though. I just don't remember well enough.

The second game was indeed more action heavy, so bad I have yet to complete it.

AitD3 is definitely more to the original idea as the first, just in a ghost town setting. The game doesn't really have that much in Cthulu style horror, it more messes with the ideas of radiation mutation and mystical native american power/magics. It is much more puzzle based (with an awesome section closer to the end where you become a mountain lion). Seriously if you only skip one game, let it be 2. I loved 3, I just wish I could find the version of the game I played in the late 90s (the gameplay and story were exactly the same, but some of the voices were different, and the lyrics to the end credit song were different, and a different singer as well.)

I can't play any of the original trilogy and just got them for completeness sake I guess and the great deal of course. They are way too polygonal with stiff controls to be taken seriously.

Well, I did finish AiTD 1 and 3 multiple times. I was never able to play AiTD 2 for more than 5 minutes. And I tried multiple times. I even tried the PSX version, and, let's just say it, it's a bad game. It's as sad as that. But the third one, even if it is not the masterpiece that the first one was, is still a fairly enjoyable game with good puzzles and a fun setting. Seriously, you should at least give it a try, it's fun! Hope you'll enjoy it!