An intelligent and genuinely scary adventure with sublime action and presentation that may or may not cause nyctophobia.
Hot-shot best-selling author Alan Wake has undergone three years of writer's block and thus sets off on vacation with his wife, Alice, to clear his mind. Travelling to the sleepy logging town located in the Pacific Northwest, Bright Falls, the couple looks to just get away for awhile. It's apparent that isn't going to be quite as easy as it sounds, as almost immediately everything hits the fan. Alice ends up missing, and Alan can't remember a single thing about it. Add on top of that some truly horrifying matters regarding evil darkness messing with the town, and manuscript pages which seem to explain and foreshadow the events, seemingly written by Alan himself. It's a very unique premise, and even if some of the characters and dialogue are fairly cliche, that doesn't stop this psychological thriller from not only entertaining from beginning to end. There are some truly incredible plot revelations that will keep you glued to your seat.
The story is presented in six distinct episodes, and gives off a television mini series vibe, especially since each episode ends with a cliffhanger, and each episode begins with a recap accompanied by the line "Previously on Alan Wake". It's very tongue-in-cheek and will probably give you a chuckle or two regardless of how intense the proceedings are. It goes a long way to bolstering the pacing of Alan Wake. Each episode is a solid two hours long and the plot is constantly receiving positive influence, whether it be in new characters introduced, truly awesome set pieces, or a manuscript page that describes a horrific event that is to take place. Rarely does the game feel like it drags on, which is a main reason why you'll want to stay with the game from opening credits to end credits. A videogame story has never been told in this way, nor has a videogame ever had a story this memorable in general. It's one of Alan Wake's biggest strengths.
Of course, none of that would be important if the game wasn't at least interesting to play. Luckily, Remedy has done a fantastic job in crafting a game that not only has stylish and unique action, but one that is legitimately scary. The main enemy in Alan Wake is the dark itself, and you'll usually be accompanied by a flashlight. The darkness is able to possess axe-wielding hillbillies as well as poltergeist objects, and the way you'll be bringing them down is by shining light on them. After highlighting them long enough to rid them of the dark presence, they become vulnerable to more conventional weapons. The standard assortment are available including revolvers, hunting rifles, and shotguns. However, and quite innovatory, stuff like flare guns, flares, and flashbangs become deadly weapons when dealing with your enemies. That's not to say that at any given time you're Exorcist Rambo, and in fact, vulnerability goes a long way towards making Alan Wake as scary as it is. Alan Wake is just an author from New York City with leather patches on his elbows, and throughout most of the game, you feel like that really is the case. The darkness of the forest makes it very difficult to see, and as noises break the silence, and you can see shadows creeping their way around the background, it can be a very unnerving experience. Oftentimes you'll have plenty of revolver ammo, but you'll need an entire clip to take out some of the more intimidating enemies, and you'll find yourself without anything to fight back against the dark aside from your flashlight. This happened to me about four times while playing on hard, and these were some of the most horrifying, on edge moments I've had gaming anywhere. You do have the ability to sprint, as well as stylishly dodge attacks in slow motion, but Alan Wake's stamina leaves a lot to be desired and more times than a few you'll find yourself helpless against the terrors of the night.
There are a number of things in the environment that can help you on your adventure in the forest. Floodlights and lanterns are present a few times, and these spell safety. But in the true nature of the game, many of these require you to jumpstart a motor via a quicktime event, and often this will be as many of the "Taken" are running towards you. Several times you'll find yourself turning on a lamp just a mere inch from being killed by an axe. In the light you can restore your health and breathe a sigh of relief, before venturing on through the darkness of the forest once more. Environmental puzzles and platforming sections are present, but aren't quite numerous or difficult enough to be either memorable or frustrating. Driving sections are also strewn throughout the game, and actually do a good job of changing up the pace. It's truly awesome to blast the headlights and run over an enemy. The controls are a tad wonky, but never enough to cost you in the longrun.
Alan Wake is about a dozen hour experience on the hard difficulty, which I recommend you play on. It's not too tough (I died about 11 or 12 times the entire game), and it stays intense throughout. Aside from that, there's more than enough to see and do within the game. There are a number of daytime sections where you have the opportunity to advance the story, explore the area, and talk to citizens of Bright Falls. Doing so really enhances the experience as it draws you more into the universe. There are also televisions throughout the game which have pretty hilarious parodies of the Twilight Zone. Watching these are a nice treat and really show off the humour of the development team. It's also a chance to give yourself false safety, laughing at moments consumed with evil. Radio shows are also available to listen to, but these don't really do much neither are they entertaining. The completionist will want to listen to these, but they aren't a necessity and you won't be missing much if you don't search for these. Of course, there are also manuscript pages which heavily enhance the story and gameplay that you will want to find. These are sometimes on the direct path, but often you will need to go searching for them, and it's something you definitely should. Once you finish the game, the Nightmare difficulty becomes available, which adds one or two extra set pieces which are certainly worth playing through. On top of everything, Alan Wake features a playback feature which lets you listen to every song in the game once you've already heard it, as well as see every cutscene you've unlocked. As far as achievements are concerned, there are 100 coffee thermoses to collect, 12 can pyramids to knock over, and 30 signs to read, if you're interested. Alan Wake is a game with pretty good legs for a single player only experience. You'll want to play it through at least twice, and perhaps more if you want to see everything the game has to offer.
Not enough can be said about the game's presentation. Visually, the game is an absolute masterpiece. The atmosphere is literally unmatched as black fog consumes possessed areas, and the shine from your flashlight really highlights the incredible lighting effects. Alan's animations are decent for the most part, and the particle effects from flares, and the slow motion look of dodging really enhances the look of the game. It's beautifully disturbing. The developers picked a lot of phenomenal songs to accompany the end of each chapter, and the voice acting from the main characters is also great. Sound effects more than do their job, but the grunts from the taken can get a little repetitive and the scare factor begins to wear out after awhile. The way each cutscene and episode is presented is also great, and the way each manuscript adds to the adventure really goes far to enhance the feel of the game. One gripe to be found with the game is the heavy advertising throughout, which really strips away a lot of the atmosphere during the worst times. Energizer batteries and a Verizon commercial on one of the televisions are the big taboos of the game. Aside from the commercial influence, the presentation in Alan Wake is pretty awesome.
Alan Wake is a game that has classic survival horror undertones, most notably the scare factor, which is arguably the most important. This is a truly scary game. But it adds its own ideas to the formula, such as the focus on the use of light as a weapon, and the stylish and unique storytelling. It's a very intelligent adventure that will probably take you twelve hours to beat, but it remains entertaining for even longer than that. It's not perfect, mainly due to some useless collectibles and heavy advertising, but it's still one of the smartest, most intriguing, and most memorable games around that refreshes a genre that required a new take.