Systems: May 14, 2010, & February 16, 2012
Release Date: Xbox 360, Windows
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios & Remedy Entertainment
This is going to be a difficult article to write, partly because I feel like I do not have a whole lot to say that I pretty much did not already cover in my First Impressions article. Most of the developments that happened in the game beyond the basic mechanics of going from Point A to Point B happened within the story and the inclusion of two additional enemy types. Sure, there were the different types of guns and the larger and more powerful flashlights (but were they really more powerful if the enemies became stronger too?) and my tactics did frequently change based on how much ammunition I had for any particular gun or if I had flares/flashbangs, but the biggest change in the game primarily happened in how the story unfolded and the revelations and realizations that occurred to Mr. Wake.
Part of my brain approached this article how I would if I were to write about the first season of Twin Peaks, which Alan Wake was heavily based on in regards to the setting of a small town in the Pacific Northwest, and the eccentric characters in the town of Bright Falls. This is not too far off of a way of thinking of this game as it was designed and presented with a serial TV series in mind with each section of the game being its own episode, complete with a "Previously, on Alan Wake" recap of key events that happened in the previous chapter, a cliff hanger ending nearly every episode, and complete with end credits and usually, a banger of a song.
There were several times during the game where I felt that I had lost the story, that I was only traveling from one end of a linear stage to the next, often following the next lit lamp post or a building with a light on. At one point, Conklederp asked why I was at a farm full of concert equipment and fireworks, and all I could remember was that it had something to do with two rocker guys that I had previously met at a diner, then again at some kind of mental health hospital and they told me I should go there. And even after listening to the record that Alan was directed to listen to, I was still confused why the character of Alan Wake felt that this record held some kind of epiphany. It was not until the next episode that why all of those events had been important, which if you take into account some of the storytelling of Twin Peaks, is actually par for the course. By the end of the game though, all, or most of the pieces had fallen into place, with the exception of who and/or what Mr. Scratch was, as his brief introduction by Thomas Zane made it seem like I should have known who he was.
The biggest thing about Alan Wake that bothered me though was all of the various collectibles. The coffee thermoses. The signs to read. The hidden storage boxes. The radio shows listened to. The TV shows watched. The pyramid of cans knocked over. This created the feeling that Alan getting back to the cabin to find out what happened to Alice as trivial when you could get out of your car to look through a campsite for a pile of cans to knock over. Unless this was some attempt by the developers to make some kind of statement about Alan's history with alcohol? I can understand the number of manuscript pages as those were actually relevant to the story although I still do not like that there were certain pages locked behind a difficult skill wall. This feels like a cheap way to create replayability where it did not need to exist.
I do not know if I am in the minority, but I do consider Alan Wake to be a survival horror, as a lot of the set pieces take place in dark areas, there is typically limited ammunition, or at times a lot of handgun ammo and only a few shotgun shells and one flare and flashbang grenade each. There was relief every time you made it under a lit lamp post because you knew that the enemies would either disappear completely or just not follow you through the light. And then the lamp post would burst and you would need to run/stutter-jog to the next light source. I know the game gets categorized as an action/adventure game, even by Remedy Entertainment, but I personally consider this to be a solid survival horror that takes a slightly different direction in terms of the setting and the enemies.
I was more-or-less impressed with myself in terms of beating the game, although because I did not collect all the things, I would not dare say that I completed the game. There were a few instances where I thought I might have been lost, but because so much of the game was linear with some light puzzle solving (thankfully no sliding block puzzles), I never felt so lost that I needed to consult a guide to help me find my way. There were a couple of instances where I needed to replay a combat scenario several times because I kept dying, but for the most part, the game never felt impossible or that enemies acted like the bullet sponges that survival horror games (looking at you Resident Evil) like to throw at players, especially at the end of the game. I did enjoy the game enough to warrant an immediate playthrough of the two Specials (DLC) after the main game.
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