American Nightmare makes surprisingly good use of a trope which could have led it down the path of tedium.

User Rating: 7 | Alan Wake's American Nightmare PC

INTRO:

The first Alan Wake title prided itself on being a video game rendition of Stephen King novels with its amusing take of the theme of fourth-wall-breaking. However, it had some typical gameplay designs which had been around for ages, namely shooting things.

For better or worse, the continuation of the Alan Wake saga that is Alan Wake’s American Nightmare has more of the combat seen in the first game. In addition, it reuses its locales.

All these would have had it lambasted as repetitive, but American Nightmare makes some great twists with such a set-up.

The game starts itself off with some bewildering live-action cutscenes.
The game starts itself off with some bewildering live-action cutscenes.

PREMISE:

Initially, Alan Wake’s American Nightmare may seem like an off-shoot of Alan Wake, especially to people who had not played the first game and its DLCs.

However, it is actually a continuation of the story in the first game, but with Alan Wake finally realizing and exploiting his capabilities as a writer. The story is about his travails against a dark mirror of himself, a certain “Mr. Scratch”.

At first, it is not clear how Alan would go about fighting Mr. Scratch, but apparently, his method requires fighting across the same three places in the desert outback of the USA - thrice.

He will gather what amounts to manifestations of the deus ex machina story-writing trope (albeit heavily laden with allegories). This gives him a loop-hole of sorts to wriggle his way out of a time-looping trap and eventually drawing out his nemesis.

This premise would have made even Stephen King raise an eye-brow in amused disbelief.

However, the story has never promised to make itself understandable in the logical sense, only in the allegorical. Furthermore, it makes clever use of the time-loop trope to seemingly present the same situation again, albeit with amusingly noticeable differences.

Alas, the combat in American Nightmare is not as sophisticated as its story-telling. This will be elaborated later.

DIFFICULTIES:

There are two difficulty settings in the game: “Normal” and “Nightmare”. Both are available to the player from the start. The main difference between the two would seem typical to an experienced player; enemies are tougher in “Nightmare”, but are otherwise still as stupid as they were in “Normal”.

Another difference is that all of the manuscript pages which can be collected in American Nightmare are available in “Nightmare” (amusingly enough). In “Normal”, some of the pages will not appear.

Unless the player has doubts about his/her ability to cope, there is no reason not to play at “Nightmare” difficulty.
Unless the player has doubts about his/her ability to cope, there is no reason not to play at “Nightmare” difficulty.

TUTORIALS:

For the first half-hour or so, the player is given some on-screen instructions about what to do in order to play the game. The basic ones include how to move Alan around and look around him. There are also reminders about how bright lights are sanctuaries for Alan and anathema to the Darkness which is hunting him.

Then, the game gives instructions on what to do with the gameplay elements which are in American Nightmare but not the original game. These might not please people who had not expected and do not want an Alan Wake game to be even more of a game than it already is.

Of course, one can argue that these tutorials still deliver on what they are supposed to do.

Being told to collect manuscripts in order to unlock weapons can seem all too familiar to players who had grown out of their completionist streaks.
Being told to collect manuscripts in order to unlock weapons can seem all too familiar to players who had grown out of their completionist streaks.

SHINING UNTO THE DARKNESS:

Unlike the previous game, Alan has only one type of flashlight for use.

Another significant difference between American Nightmare and its predecessor is that the darkness is now a lot less vulnerable to light.

In fact, an observant player may notice this from the first act of the game, which seemingly occurs during what appears to be dusk. Already, there are dark things flitting and scurrying about.

In terms of gameplay, it means that enemies are no longer damaged by the default illumination of Alan’s flashlight. The Taken do not flinch at its default illumination either.

This means that the player can no longer save the flashlight’s energy when facing individual enemies by having Alan Wake run around them while occasionally pointing at them. This could be done in the previous game.

The default lighting of the flashlight doesn’t work on poltergeists either.
The default lighting of the flashlight doesn’t work on poltergeists either.

On the other hand, the flashlight does appear to recharge incredibly quickly – quicker than the portable lights in the previous game. The flashlight also seems to be more effective when enemies are closer.

These improvements make the flashlight a bit more useful in combat, though the player must learn how to manage time spent on recharging and on focus-aiming.

SHOOTING & GUNS:

Unfortunately, the act of focusing the flashlight’s illumination is still tied to the act of aiming Alan’s gun.

This means that the flashlight’s illumination would be wasted on Taken who already have their dark shields taken away.

Shooting Taken is still the main way of eliminating them of course. This has been expanded with the inclusion of new weapons.

This may give the impression that the expansion is resorting to more gunplay to expand on what the previous game did. This can seem typical to a jaded player. Regardless, the new guns are effective at what they do, but they would have been more effective if Alan is a walking armory. However, he is not.

Alan can only carry a few weapons at a time. He has to exchange guns of similar sizes if he wants to use guns other than those he has on his person.
Alan can only carry a few weapons at a time. He has to exchange guns of similar sizes if he wants to use guns other than those he has on his person.

Each of the guns appears to have its own niche. For example, the handgun is a reliable pea-shooter. The magnum packs a wallop, but its limited magazine size may be a problem if there are a lot of Taken to deal with (and there usually are).

However, Alan’s limitation at carrying weapons means that the player cannot have all these weapons available at once. Instead, the player must think about having Alan run around with a balanced selection of weaponry. This is a smart thing to do of course.

MANUSCRIPTS & UNLOCKING GUNS:

As in the previous game, the manuscript pages inform the player of what is going to happen ahead. Again, Alan has absolutely no idea of what he wrote, only picking up pages which his past self has scattered.

The magic of this story-telling device has waned in American Nightmare though; gone is the mystery about the source of these pages.

The manuscripts in this game are as foreboding as those in the previous game though.
The manuscripts in this game are as foreboding as those in the previous game though.

For better or worse, the collection of the manuscripts is now tied to a gameplay element.

When enough manuscripts have been collected, the player can have Alan walking up to luggage containers which are conspicuously lying around in unlikely places. The player can then unlock them, revealing an additional gun for Alan to use.

The player will come across luggage containers that require a considerable number of manuscripts, often not having enough manuscripts when coming across them for the first time. Ultimately though, some of the most useful weapons in the game are not found within these cases; this will be elaborated later.

HEALTH:

In the previous game, there appeared to be an aborted attempt to implement some sort of limited automatic health regeneration system for Alan Wake, as depicted through his segmented health meter. In American Nightmare, this less generous system has come to fruition.

Alan’s health meter is broken into three portions. He can recover health automatically, but only up to the maximum of the current portion which his health level was in. Any portion which has been lost remains lost until Alan goes under a street-lamp.

Speaking of street-lamps, they are back, but with a slight twist.

The game gives a brief reminder about what a street-lamp does – shortly before taking away its “safe haven”.
The game gives a brief reminder about what a street-lamp does – shortly before taking away its “safe haven”.

Lamps blow out a moment after Alan goes under them. This can seem disconcerting. It might even be an unpleasant surprise for veterans of the previous game, because enemies simply blink back into existence after the lamp shorts out.

As the playthrough progresses, the lamps become less and less reliable too, further increasing the challenge. Fortunately, functioning street-lamps are not so scarce to the point that the player would be hurting for a chance to make a checkpoint-save.

AMMUNITION CACHES:

In the previous game, ammunition was generally a precious resource, unless there happens to be crates of ammunition which are conveniently lying around to be exploited.

American Nightmare is a lot more generous with its granting of ammunition, though this is compensated against by a less convenient system for healing, as mentioned earlier, and a caveat to a certain type of ammo source.

In any locale, there are two or three places where cabinets of ammunition are affixed to walls. These cabinets fill Alan’s pockets with ammo and batteries, but they also immediately empty afterwards and will take time to respawn their goods. This means that they cannot be exploited so easily like the crates in the previous game.

This would seem incredibly inconvenient, but keep in mind that the cabinet is immediately emptied afterwards.
This would seem incredibly inconvenient, but keep in mind that the cabinet is immediately emptied afterwards.

LOOSE AMMUNITION:

Other than these, there are loose boxes of ammunition which can be retrieved to replenish ammunition for Alan’s weapons – regardless of what kind of weapons they are as long as they belong to categories which are based on weapon slots.

It can seem a bit odd at first, especially when one finds that the same ammunition item which refills rounds for shotguns and assault rifles also refill bolts for the crossbow.

This is not the first game to use the design trope of universal ammo, of course.
This is not the first game to use the design trope of universal ammo, of course.

In the previous game, these items are lying around at (more or less) understandable places, such as the trunks of cars or office cabinets (even if their presence is a bit unsettling). In American Nightmare, they are lying around for no reason other than for the player’s convenience. On the other hand, this is perfectly alright from the perspective of gameplay.

ABOUT THE NEW WEAPONS:

A player who has played many games with gun-play in them would not be surprised by the inclusion of additional weapons which are not seen in the first Alan Wake title.

Most of them are predictable things: a magnum revolver, a combat shotgun and such other high-power gun. Yet, the player will still have to deal with the Taken’s dark shields, because their shots are still completely blocked by them.

The only additional weapon which stands out is the Crossbow, if only due to its inexplicable ability to pierce through the Taken’s dark shields. Otherwise, it works a lot like the projectile-arc weapon seen in so many other games.

LEVEL DESIGNS & THE MINIMAP:

Alan Wake is no longer running around in linearly designed levels. There are only three levels in American Nightmare, but they are relatively more open than those in the previous game.

Much of them is actually empty and unremarkable rock and dirt, but the game has the excuse of being set in a fictitious version of Arizona, USA.

Considering that the locales look arid and barren (and of the same colour scheme) and that they are set during the night, navigating would have been a terrible chore. There is a mini-map for this, though it is not terribly sophisticated.

For one, it does not register topography, edges of immovable objects, walls and doorways or staircases, among other important things which Alan has to run through, around or along. These limitations hinder the player from exploring the levels efficiently.

Fortunately (or perhaps not, to players who do not like linear map designs), the levels are designed in a straight-forward manner. They may seem sprawling at first, but there are actually only a handful of points of interest in each level. The rest are winding trails, dirt, rock and cacti.

Most critically, the important places within a locale are marked in the mini-map with clear, high-contrast icons.

This tutorial pop-up comes up a bit late, but it is worth heeding anyway.
This tutorial pop-up comes up a bit late, but it is worth heeding anyway.

Unfortunately, this has detracted from the clever design that was in the previous game. In the previous game, a faraway light source served as a point of navigation for the player. This is replaced with the mini-map system in this game.

RUNNING AWAY FROM ENEMIES:

It is worth noting here that the player is rewarded for choosing flight over fight.

It is not certain whether this is a bug or not, but the animations for the Taken strongly suggest that this was intended. If the player has Alan running far enough from where enemies spawn, the Taken appear to stop running after Alan. They subsequently de-spawn.

This is just as well, because Alan Wake is a far better runner than he was in the previous game.

RESPAWNING ENEMIES:

However, in some levels, especially the drive-in theatre and the observatory, the Taken respawn in waves periodically as long as Alan is still wandering around in the outdoors. This compensates against the convenience of simply running away from enemies.

The player could run away from some enemies which had been scripted to spawn due to an event, only to run into these periodic waves of Taken.

The gameplay mechanic of storms of darkness acting as the boundaries of levels – the onset of one is shown here - also returns in this game.
The gameplay mechanic of storms of darkness acting as the boundaries of levels – the onset of one is shown here - also returns in this game.

ENEMIES:

The enemies are perhaps the weakest of American Nightmare’s designs.

Most of the Taken which had been seen in the previous games return. There is the regular axe-murderer, the charging brute and the shiv-wielding flanker. They still behave like they did in the previous game, and they are still quite stupid.

However, as mentioned earlier, they de-spawn when Alan is too far away. Therefore, the player can choose to deal with them this way instead of fighting them.

The street-lamps will not blow out if Alan does not go underneath them. Clever positioning of Alan can have Taken retreating.
The street-lamps will not blow out if Alan does not go underneath them. Clever positioning of Alan can have Taken retreating.

There are five additional enemies in American Nightmare. The contrast between them and the original set of Taken is very noticeable, which is perhaps good.

The first of these which the player encounters are actually an amalgamation of the original set of Taken. Initially, it acts like a brute Taken, walking confidently towards the player. The most significant peculiarity about it is that it lacks a dark shield. This is not a weakness though.

If the player illuminates it, it splits into two regular axe-murderers. Illuminating one of these turns it into a pair of flankers.

This allows the player to decide which enemy to fight, assuming that the player can avoid illuminating them when there are other Taken around. (This review suggests fighting them in their brute form, if only because they are bigger, slower and, of course, less numerous.)

The next one is a decidedly inhuman creature which is agile and deceptively tough. It also does not have a dark shield, but when illuminated, it does a shape-shifting animation which turns it into a murder of crows, flying away to reform elsewhere (usually behind Alan).

The problem with them is that they cannot be slain so easily like the murder of crows in the previous game while they are in their bird form. Chasing them with the flashlight’s rays does nothing; they are only vulnerable when they are attempting to close in.

The third enemy is the most pathetic among these.

This is Remedy’s attempt at creating some sort of critter-swarm archetype enemy.
This is Remedy’s attempt at creating some sort of critter-swarm archetype enemy.

The spiders’ imminent appearance is indicated by the presence of cobwebs. They come from crevices in rocks, burst out of the ground or drop from ceilings.

However, they have no advantage other than being small targets. They are easy to destroy with the flashlight’s rays; illuminating them also happens to stop their animations, making them even easier to deal with. Even if the player does not stall them with the flashlight, they are quite slow at creeping around.

It is not likely that a competent player would find them to be too much trouble.

Next, there is the game’s only Taken with a ranged attack. This malformed creature tosses what appears to be the reverse of flash-bangs; these grenades ooze darkness instead.

An observant player may notice that the grenades damage other Taken as well; cunning ones would exploit this to thin out a crowd of pursuers.

The last additional enemy is a hillbilly-like ogre with an oversized industrial tool. He is actually a much tougher variant of the chainsaw-wielding brute in the previous game. However, he has no staggering animation at all when he is illuminated. Instead, he holds up his tool to cover his face.

As is expected of such a creature, it takes a lot of damage to destroy.

This guy is one reason to scrimp on flare gun ammo as much as possible.
This guy is one reason to scrimp on flare gun ammo as much as possible.

Finally, there are the poltergeists. There are a lot less of them this time, which is just well, because they are still as easily stopped by making sure that something is in between Alan and them. However, the poltergeists in American Nightmare happen to possess objects which are much larger than those in the previous game.

CHARACTER DESIGNS:

One of the previous game’s appeals are its characters, few as they were.

In American Nightmare, only Alan himself returns in person; the others are relegated to radio shows. Listening to some of them is entertaining, especially Barry Wheeler, but this is just not as appealing as having them appear in person (e.g. seeing Barry wrap himself in Christmas lights).

There are a few additional characters in American Nightmare. The most prominent of these is Mr. Scratch, who taunts Alan through (live-action) video recordings. It would be quite apparent that he is an appalling person, which speaks well of both the actor and voice-actor for Alan Wake and his dark mirror.

It is not certain whether the other additional characters are meant to be allegories, but each one does appear to represent a narrative-driven character archetype.

The mechanic in the rest stop level is a bystander who gets caught up in Alan’s travails. It can be pleasing to know that through the course of the story, Alan could actually make a difference about her plight, despite the Groundhog Day set-up.

The astronomy physicist whom he meets next is a cool-headed lady who expresses curiosity at Alan’s reality-bending capabilities, thus contrasting herself with other characters who generally could not believe what is happening.

These two characters are made more notable because they are used as the reasons for why the time-loop story trope in this game is not as tedious as one would expect. The same cannot be said about the third character though.

The museum curator is not as sophisticated or helpful as the other two characters whom Alan meets.
The museum curator is not as sophisticated or helpful as the other two characters whom Alan meets.

TIME LOOP:

It has to be said first that this part of the game would not have been mentioned in this review if not for the fact that it affects gameplay.

That said, throughout the game, the player will have Alan going through three large locales, eventually looping back to the first. The reasons for this would be withheld, because they are practically spoilers.

The second time around, the player who has watched/read/heard stories which concern time loops like Groundhog Day and 12:01 might expect having to do everything all over again. Fortunately, this is not the case, because Alan Wake is not the only sentient being who is experiencing the time loop.

As mentioned earlier, there are a couple of additional characters in American Nightmare who are used as the reasons for why the time loop trope is not so tedious. In the levels which are associated with them, they help reduce Alan’s workload.

The mechanic does the busywork of fetching and delivering things which he did the first time around, whereas the physicist points out where he could to stop the Taken from causing trouble in the first place. That the physicist could do so is also rationalized by the savings on time which Alan gets from getting the mechanic’s help.

Third time’s the charm – the observatory gets brighter with every time loop.
Third time’s the charm – the observatory gets brighter with every time loop.

Unfortunately, the museum curator will not be of much help, though this slack is not entirely her fault. Still, the level which is associated with her (the drive-in theatre) becomes more and more of a slog with each time-loop.

A MINOR DISAPPOINTMENT – ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS:

In the previous game, there were environmental hazards which the player can use against the Taken, the most noticeable being canisters of fuel. These were conveniently placed around unlikely places.

In American Nightmare, this convenience has been exchanged for more believability. Explosive canisters are now found in places like storage areas, for example.

However, this has also made them a lot less useful, i.e. their significance to the gameplay has been downgraded. For one, the explosive canisters in American Nightmare are rarely found where the Taken would spawn.

These electrical arcs are indeed painful, but there are few opportunities to make use of them to fry the Taken, mainly because they rarely spawn near these hazards.
These electrical arcs are indeed painful, but there are few opportunities to make use of them to fry the Taken, mainly because they rarely spawn near these hazards.

VISUAL DESIGNS:

Where the previous Alan Wake title had foreboding and oppressive environments, the ones in American Nightmare feels a lot more open. However, night is perpetual in American Nightmare and there are few scenes of respite.

Gameplay-wise, it is easier to spot Taken in this game, whereas in the earlier game, the distortion brought about by the winds of darkness can obscure them.

American Nightmare can look a bit dull, however. This is mainly because it is set in a fictitious representation of Arizona. Red rocks, gravel and sand can quickly become boring to look at. The edifices of humanity can be even duller (if the player is contemptuous of what is familiar, of course). At the very least, the human-made environments look quite detailed and believable.

Cactus models have the same physics as bush models, which make them look weirdly rubbery.
Cactus models have the same physics as bush models, which make them look weirdly rubbery.

Like its predecessor, American Nightmare makes use of disconcertingly sudden onset of storms to warn the player about the consequences of breaching a level’s boundaries. This is, and still is, a lot more sophisticated than resorting to invisible walls.

However, it does not always keep this mind; there are some minor cases of invisible walls, usually occurring at large formations of rocks which Alan cannot hop all over.

American Nightmare features more of the mostly believable motion-captured animations seen in the previous game. Alan’s set of animations have been ported over virtually whole-sale, as were the original Taken’s.

However, the new characters and new enemies can seem a bit stiff.

The lack of body language during conversations is noticeable.
The lack of body language during conversations is noticeable.

SOUND DESIGNS:

American Nightmare perpetuates most of the sound designs which were heard in the previous game. This is good, of course, because the first game’s sound designs are one of its strong suites.

There are some amusing nuances with the voice-overs. One of these is that Mr. Scratch’s name is almost never uttered correctly; the utterance for “scratch” is replaced with static instead.

Still, there are a few ways in which American Nightmare seems inferior to its predecessor.

For one, the Taken no longer make amusingly inane utterances like they did in the previous game. This was one of their main appeals. That they no longer do so makes them feel even more like typical goons.

The selection of soundtracks for American Nightmare is a lot more limited too. However, this could be argued as a consequence of the game being a standalone additional chapter to the first Alan Wake.

CONCLUSION:

If it is to be compared with combat in the first Alan Wake game, the combat in Alan Wake’s American Nightmare is more sophisticated and more challenging. However, it offers nothing remarkably new, especially when compared to the slick combat seen in Remedy’s earlier games, namely the Max Payne titles.

American Nightmare does not benefit from the sense of mystery of the first Alan Wake. When this is coupled with the game’s focus on combat, the result appears to be a typical run-of-the-mill third-person shooter, except that the player can choose to run away from enemies.

However, it is the game’s peculiar reuse of its locales which would make it memorable (with the exception of the third locale). Where most other games with the time loop story-trope would have been tedium ad nauseam, American Nightmare executes it such that what the player achieved earlier leads to differences both gameplay-wise and in the narrative sense later.