You are Alan Wake, a writer suffering from writer’s block. Your wife, Alice, has taken you on a vacation to Bright Falls, a small town in the state of Washington, USA. There Alan should be able to relax and not worry about his writing. But something, a dark presence, is waking up and waiting for the writer. Alice disappears and Alan has to try to save her, while the darkness is trying to get to him. Where is Alice and what is this dark presence?
Alan Wake is often referred to as a horror game among the gaming populous, but the game’s own label of psychological action thriller is way more accurate. You will not find jump scares or body horror here. Alan is also not a man to run away from danger, except if you choose to, having the ability to fight against it. Your enemies, humans taken over by the darkness, are not very scary visually. You will see a lot of lumbermen and basic town folk shrouded in darkness. I must admit though, that their voices got to my nerves and younger me could not finish this game, so there is a level of courage the player must have to be able to enjoy Alan Wake.
You are armed with guns and more importantly, a flashlight. The taken can’t be harmed when the darkness is in them, so you have to use light to get rid of it first. After that, you can start blasting away. The combat does not evolve other than getting a few new types of guns, which you get very early on. Also, the enemies are not very varied either, so the fighting can feel a bit repetitive. I did not mind this, because the basics of the gameplay felt good and the game’s other strengths made for the lack of diversity.
One of the greatest strengths of Alan Wake is the story, its mystery, and the atmosphere. The setting of Bright Falls is very fitting. It is a classic American small-town middle of nowhere, surrounded by nature, and it provides very natural isolation. You will spend a lot of time running in the dark forest, paranoid about what is lurking there with you, trying to get to different locations. The setting of Bright Falls is also mirrored in the TV show episodes you can find in the game. The show is called Night Springs, and it is about a small town that has supernatural things happening in it. Sound familiar?
Alan Wake has you begging for more as each episode ends on a cliffhanger. I liked the moments where you got to think about what had just happened while listening to the songs ending each episode. The further you get in the game the more the story ramps up. The player is presented with more information, but somehow more questions arise. One of the unique aspects of Alan Wake’s way of telling the story is the pages you can collect. These pages are part of a manuscript Alan himself has written and they will tell you things that are going to happen. I loved getting snippets of what was coming ahead because it built an atmosphere of mystery and suspense. How and why did Alan write this script? Also, it’s not always better to know what’s coming. Would you want to continue, if you knew that an axe murderer would be waiting for you?
At the end of the story, there is still mystery left, but I think it’s good. I think the answers offered to the players were satisfactory and I loved the mystery that was left shrouded for the players to ponder on. The game works as a standalone, but Remedy Entertainment could build on it, which they have since in the form of two games, Alan Wake’s American Nightmare (2012) and Alan Wake II (2023).
If you love stories that have a thrilling mystery and dark atmosphere in them, Alan Wake is for you. I think this game has aged well due to the heavy lean on the story and atmosphere. This is just a great game to spend your fall evenings playing, but after playing you might not want to take a walk in the dark forest.
Information
Developer: Remedy Entertainment
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Release date: 14.05.2010
Platforms: Xbox 360, Windows
Genres: action-adventure, third-person shooter
Pegi: 16
Photos:
Screenshot (1st picture) from Alan Wake (Remedy Entertainment), taken by the author
Promo pictures (header and 2nd picture) from the game Alan Wake (Remedy Entertainment 2010) https://store.steampowered.com/app/108710/Alan_Wake/
Achievement hunter, player of games, and collector of all things gaming.
On a battle of my time, gaming has definetely won. On most evenings, you can find me enjoing a good single player game, or playing some fps multiplayer with friends.
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