Alan Wake Review

Alan Wake was developed by Remedy Entertainment over the course of 5 years and was published by Microsoft Game Studios and Remedy Entertainment. Written mostly by Sam Lake, the game was originally meant to be an open world survival game - the exact opposite of the company's previous title - Max Payne. Unfortunately, however, there were some difficulties merging the gameplay with the story that they wanted to tell and so the game had to be re-worked.

The intense two month reworking period saw the game's structure change from an open world survival piece to a more linear story broken up into episodes. This gave us a TV series-like approach with the story being split into 6 episodes.

Alan Wake was released for Xbox in 2010 with a PC release happening in 2012. Reception to the game was positive with praise aimed at visuals, narrative, atmosphere and pacing. The game was awarded the top spot in Time Magazine's Top 10 Video Games of 2010.

The Plot

Alan Wake is structured like crime drama television series and follows the titular character of Alan Wake, a crime author who is suffering from a two-year stint with writer's block.

In order to recharge his batteries - so to speak - he visits the town of Bright Falls, Washington. It's a nice town and things seem to be going well until his wife Alice disappears following an argument between them.

Now, he's missing a week and has to figure out what's going on in the town of Bright Falls to prevent a dark force from conquering the world and save his wife.

What I liked

I love pretty much everything about this game.

The story isn't anything special but it's done in a way that held my attention for longer than an hour (admittedly, this isn't too hard). I liked the idea of Alan finding pages to a book that he doesn't remember writing and learning about what's going on through those pages. It's a cool concept and it's done really well.

The characters are all unique and likable. The setting of the small town of Bright Falls reminds me of Stephen King's many small towns in Maine and you definitely get that 'small town' vibe. You also get a real sense of scope to this game. Every trip feels like it has some serious distance to it.

Aesthetically, the game is beautiful! Each environment is wonderfully designed and animated. The TV series style really works to split the story up nicely so that you can work with it. That said, the game is LONG. Over the course of six episodes, you uncover a lot of different aspects to the story and the world around you; making for a gaming session several hours long for each episode. The way the game is structured also keeps the tone and pacing consistent. This lends a sense of unease to the gameplay and keeps the player on the edge of their seat throughout the game.

I also really loved the soundtrack to the game; some of the songs can be a bit much and feel out of place - particularly during the end credits sequence that closes out each episode. On the other hand, the game's orchestral score is fantastic and even some of the rock tunes work really, really well. In fact, my favourite rock tune on this soundtrack is The Poet and the Muse performed by Poets of the Fall. This is the best way I've ever had backstory explained in a game and I'm not ashamed to admit that I sang along to it as best I could!

What I didn't like

I've probably sounded like a fanboy and that's fine because it's actually very true. Alan Wake has become a favourite of mine. With that said, I have to address some minor critiques that I have.

Let's start off with tropes. A key thing about horror is that it's subjective; what scares me won't necessarily scare you. One thing that will sort of grind my gears is tropes. Alan Wake does a lot of things right when it comes to horror but every so often it slips into your typical horror genre cliches.

You know when a fight is about to happen and once you've killed two or three bad guys it becomes pretty clear what works and what doesn't. This makes dealing with enemies ridiculously easy. It also heavily reduces the fear factor of the game. Speaking of reducing the fear factor, some of the jump scares in this game are just ridiculous. Some of them work really well but after a while you get tired of flinching at a loud noise.

There are also one or two character moments which I didn't like but the biggest one was Alan walking out into the dark to think and cool off after the argument with Alice. He explains when they arrive that she's got a phobia of the dark and so he knew she wouldn't follow him. Maybe it's just me, but that seems really cruel and unusual and it makes cheering for him a bit...iffy for a while.

Bonus Episodes

There two bonus episodes:

1. The Signal
2. The Writer

These two episodes were part of a set serve as a sort of epilogue to the main story and as a bridge - of sorts - to Alan Wake's American Nightmare. You have pretty much the same stuff as in the main story, the difference being that you're in an alternate dimension.

Overall, they're pretty good and definitely worth playing.

Final Thoughts: The Future of Alan Wake

Alan Wake is a favourite of mine and has been since I first played it. I haven't played Alan Wake's American Nightmare yet but I will be playing it at some point and I purchased Control back in April as a birthday gift to myself. From what I've heard there are some Alan Wake Easter eggs and hints of a sequel which is reason enough to play and see what it's like.

The game was recently given a remaster and a sequel is set to come out very soon - although from what I understand it'll be an Epic Games exclusive for a bit before heading to other platforms. You can bet that as soon as it comes to Steam I'll be playing it.

It's not quite a horror game but it's got a great atmosphere and makes a great supernatural thrill ride! If you haven't played it yet then I highly recommend it!