Alan Wake

Alan Wake is an action-adventure third-person shooter game developed by Remedy Entertainment and published by Microsoft Game Studios.

The game was first released in North America, Europe, and Australia for Xbox 360 in 2010, while the later Windows PC version was developed by Nitro Games and published by Remedy Entertainment in 2012.

Years later, a remastered version was developed by D3T and published by Epic Games Publishing. This remastered version of Alan Wake was released for the Sony PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PCs, Microsoft Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S in 2021. It would also be ported to a Nintendo Switch version that was released in 2022.

The game was successful enough to warrant the sequel Alan Wake 2, which is set for release on October 17, 2023.

Plot and location

The 2010 Alan Wake game is set in the small town of Bright Falls, Washington. Here, the protagonist Alan Wake, the emotionally distraught and struggling writer of a bestselling thriller book who tries to solve the mysterious disappearance of his wife, Alice.

The abduction occurs during their vacation, but the main hook of the plot is that the events are mirroring the ones in his latest novel, except Alan does not recall writing said novel. The plot and eerie survival horror elements in Alan Wake can be compared to the Silent Hill franchise.

Alan Wake consists of six episodes and the story continues with two special episodes, The Signal and The Writer, which are available as the downloadable content from the remastered version.

Gameplay

The game has the elements of psychological thriller and action game. The player controls the novelist Alan Wake, exploring across the small town of Bright Falls, Washington and trying to solve mysteries as the story progresses.

The player can encounter enemies, known as Taken, the deadly shadows that appear everywhere. The Taken can equip their own various weapons such as knives and shovels, while some Taken use more supernatural abilities like teleporting between areas. There are also ravens and moving objects that Alan can encounter and choose to either avoid or fight.

Alan Wake features a day and night cycle, where the Taken appear but are noticeably weaker during the day. The Taken are protected by the darkness that serves as a shield, which can be reduced during the day and it recharges during the night. The Taken are also weak against lights and direct gun shots. Flashlights and Guns are the best items that Alan can equip to deal damage to the Taken and cancel out the darkness, leaving the Taken vulnerable. The player can acquire ammunition to reload guns and batteries to recharge flashlights. Defensively, Alan can perform a slow-motion dodge attack when enemies are close to him.

Aside from the items and weapons players can pick up, there are environmental elements that can be used against the Taken. Light sources such as searchlights are effective to take down the Taken faster, and streetlights can help prevent the Taken from coming. Explosive weapons are also effective to destroy the Taken faster. The player can also ride in a car to hit the Taken on the road or use headlights to banish the darkness.

In the course of the game, players will find manuscript pages as the main collectibles which came from Alan's novel, Departure. There are a total of 106 manuscript pages to collect which are scattered throughout the Bright Falls, while 13 of them are only available in a Nightmare difficulty. The Nightmare difficulty playthrough is necessary in order to complete all manuscript pages.

Aside from manuscript pages, there are other collectibles in Alan Wake such as can pyramids, radios, TVs, signs, chests, and coffee thermoses, while some newer collectibles can be found in the later DLC episodes.

Visuals and other features

Alan Wake was influenced by many references from films, TV series and books, as well as other video games in the horror genre. The most prominent influence are the works of bestselling author Stephen King, with nods to stories like The Shining and Christine.

The game also features the Easter Egg product placements, which includes famous brands and products. The soundtrack for Alan Wake includes original and licensed songs.

Thanks to the game's success, spinoffs were later released. Alan Wake's American Nightmare is the spin-off standalone game that was released in 2012 on Xbox Live Arcade. Meanwhile, Bright Falls is a live-action web series. It consists of six episodes and serves as a prequel of the game featuring Jake Fischer, who serves as the main character for this expanded prologue.

The remastered version of Alan Wake includes the DLC episodes, The Signal and The Writer. This remastered version has high-definition graphics with 4K resolution and visually enhanced cutscenes. Interestingly, the product placement Easter Eggs were removed from its original version, likely due to expired licensing agreements.