Though the story felt incomplete, Alan Wake is still an exciting experience.
The overall story was good, but not amazing. I never really felt anxious nor emotional about what was happening, and there weren't any real plot twists I was hoping to encounter. Strange stuff does happen, but not to the point of being surprising for some reason. The main draw of the story is simply the mystery, and wondering if what is going on is real or just in Alan's imagination. The characters are still well crafted though. Alan feels real and relatable, and his friend Barry adds good humor to the game. All characters are well voice acted and realized; the only issue is lip synching, but it's just a small problem. I just wish the story carried on longer and added in better twists and emotional moments.
The gameplay is better than the story. It feels like Luigi's Mansion as you shine light on dark humans to break their shadowy shield, and then use your gun to eliminate them. These Taken people come in several forms, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Other enemies come in the forms of swarms of ravens, and possessed objects, both can only be dealt with by light. The gameplay feels fresh and exciting. I only played on normal, but even then the Taken can feel overwhelming and come from any direction. In fact, most of the time they come up from behind without you even noticing. The game is nice enough to slow time down and zoom out to show you the enemies you didn't see coming from behind. There are also plenty of cinematic action as the darkness throws literally everything it has at Alan to stop him.
This was a fun game, it just felt short and lacking some story moments I would have liked to see. If you are looking for a good single player game, this one is worth trying out.