We need more games like Alan Wake – a horror experience that scares you, but not the way we often see it. It has many trappings of the genre like carefully placed jump horrors, ax-wielding murders lurking in the shadows, and unsightly supernatural threats, but the real terror comes from the words and thoughts written on paper that protagonist Alan Wake expresses.
Alan is a writer immersed in his stories and it is up to the player to find out what is real and what is made up. Many of the words you read hint at terrible fates or show Alan falling into an abyss. The strong narrative pulse makes this 11 year old game seem a bit timeless, even if the gameplay shows some rust.
Alan’s story simmers from the moment you meet him, trapped in a strange nightmare that leads him to a lighthouse. The story is heavily inspired by the many works of Stephen King and David Lynch Twin peaks and is open to interpretation. My understanding of what is happening is probably radically different from yours – which makes it a hell of a game to argue about.
The whole story takes place in the small Washington port town of Bright Falls – a place Alan and his beloved wife Alice travel to to help Alan regain his writing pulse. The city is obsessed with Alan. Scattered in the strangest places are stalls where he is holding his latest book, a visual cue that not everything is what it seems. That feeling of not being able to trust his eyes or even Alan’s actions keeps the narrative tense and highly entertaining for most of the trip. An early sequence in which Alan dives into a lake is an excellent example of the dramatic changes in the narrative: the second his hands touch the water, he wakes up in his car, blood dripping from his forehead. What happened here? What moment is a dream Thoughts like these flare up through most of this dark story.
This Remedy Entertainment production looked great then and still looks great today, but the remastering efforts aren’t enough to completely hide the game’s Xbox 360 roots. The world and character models are subtly touched up to provide smaller details and a little more realism. The crisp 4K resolution makes the dimly lit forests even more terrifying and highlights some of the aged qualities, like facial animations that don’t always match a character’s emotions or Alan’s movements that are a little too mechanical and exaggerated. The game looks antiquated, but not bad. There’s an eerie (but believable) quality to it that matches the dark tone of the story.
Even if Alan is a bit bitchy and a terrible jumper, he is still fun to control. Using a flashlight beam to remove the darkness from an angry being is surprisingly intense, considering how quickly the battery drains. I enjoyed the challenge of keeping the beam on the target long enough to stun them and leave them vulnerable to bullets. A nicely crafted evasive maneuver adds some strategy to the mix and allows Alan to part with enemies or more fearsome enemies wielding chainsaws.
A certain amount of frustration arises from the lack of visibility during conflicts. In some conflicts I was not aware of a second or third enemy until they attacked me. Fortunately, Alan is in good health to get the situation under control again. And he not only fights people or even living beings. Barrels and angry, obsessed farm machinery try to crush him. They add variety to the gameplay, but are unintentionally weird in design. Beware of the tractor!
I loved collecting manuscripts that have key plot points and stopping to see a live action episode of Night Springs. Again, the story takes you in directions you wouldn’t normally see. Even the world is doing a great job conveying story moments such as: B. the wind howling ominously through the forests, and the destructibility is used to frame Alan’s breaking points or seismic narrative shifts.
Sightseeing is worth it, but I don’t get the urge to collect 100 thermos coffee flasks except to hammer home the “awake” theme. It’s an odd collectible in a game that is deeply focused on the story and the flow of the game.
After the credits of this excellent story – give yourself a few days before jumping into the DLC. Think up theories about Alan’s fate, discuss them with friends, and then see where Remedy the story takes in The Signal, a short, new DLC chapter that turns the narrative upside down again. You can then jump straight into The Writer, the final act of this first game that concludes a few story threads.
Remedy also provides a good reason to replay the game through two lanes of commentary from the development team. Feel free to tune in these comments anytime, and they provide entertaining insight into the design choices and creation of Alan Wake. One of the tracks is brand new and features reflective thoughts from the game’s writer and director, Sam Lake.
Remedy’s newest game, Control, provides an incredible scenario for a sequel to Alan Wake. It would be a shame if we didn’t get it, especially after reliving this classic game. It holds up well and shows us just how powerful Remedy is as a storyteller.
