I love the Alan Wake game, so i though I'd play through it a third time. This way i could complete it on the highest level of difficulty, try and grab a few more achievements i'm missing and, write a review about this game which is very much placed at the top of my favorite games of all time.
I've purposefully kept screenshots to a minimum and a bit vague as to minimize the "spoilage" for anyone that hasn't played Alan Wake yet.
Story
Alan Wake is an action thriller with a complex, mysterious and interesting story. While objectives are simple and easy to get behind, the story is one that might, like me, leave you with many questions by the end, making replaying it still entertaining for that reason, even going online to read about what other think of it.
The story for this game is the major driving force and revolves around Alan Wake; a successful fiction writer from New York. With the arrival of the writer to Bright Falls, a small coastal town in a mountainous region in the Pacific Northwest, a dark presence awakens and, not soon after, the disappearance of Alan's wife, Alice.
The more Alan is closer to finding her, the more he sees himself surrounded by this dark presence which, has apparently taken a keen interest in Alan's presence in Bright Falls.
Confused and trying to make sense of what is happening, Alan maintains his earnestness in trying to find his wife, giving up no chase to do so. And just to add to the mystery, Alan keeps finding loose pages of a manuscript, on which are written events that tell him of what will happen. With no recollection of ever written them, the manuscript pages have been authored by Alan himself.
Structure
The game is "divided" into Episodes, with each episode concluding a portion of the story; pretty much how chapters in a book conclude a portion of a book's story.
The final cutscene and song at the end of each episode gives out a very strong "end credits"/"to-be-continued" vibe and makes you feel like you're playing a TV show.
This mixed-medium type of game is the game developer's Remedy way of making games, commonly mixing the active experience of gaming with TV shows using strong narratives.
While the game's division into "Episodes" doesn't affect gameplay in any way, as you can immediately start a new episode after finishing the previous one. Furthering the TV show vibe, and continuing into the next episode, you're given a quick recap of the previously played episode, which makes for a unique and interesting way of experiencing the game, and one that lends for an excellent way of playing the game in increments.
Curious fact: Alan Wake was removed from sale in stores for some time due to expired music licenses, for the copyrighted songs the game uses (and they are quite a lot of them). The game was therefore unavailable for sale for quite some time, until licenses could finally get renewed, and the game put back in stores.
Environment
The game takes place in the mountainous region in which the small town of Bright Falls is located near, taking Alan through several locations - in and around Bright Falls. This gives you a very good sensation of being immersed in the "pacific northwestern, small town" setting, enjoying all the typical locations and natural vistas you'd expect to find.
Areas through which Alan has to move through vary like clock-work along the game, switching between narrow passages created by the mountainous topography, and the more open areas which allow for the existence of dense, dark forests and the man made structures you'd expect to find in said region.
Whichever area Alan encounters himself in though, as speaking about game-level here, there are always well defined paths, making navigating through any area quite simple and very straightforward to follow.
A staple of the linear type of level design that is Alan Wake.
For the most part, the game's level design allows you to venture a bit out from the beaten path, and for the most part encounter gameplay.
And although it's hard to get lost, the vast vistas and somewhat dense forests that surround Alan do make you feel like you could.
Perhaps never to return!
All in all, i think Alan Wake is a very meticulously, varied and pixel-perfect designed game, level-wise. Top-notch, and on par with the excellent environment and atmosphere the game provides, with very memorable and unique locations!
Gameplay
Alan Wake game is a meticulously tweaked, linear, action-shooter, and a very straightforward game to play. There are no side-quests with NPCs asking for help picking up laundry, no puzzle solving that will halt the action, and no crafting.
Just plain 'ol shooting and looting.
But don't let this discourage you in case you want more than that because, like I've mentioned, the story is a major driving factor of this game, and it will make the game feel full and complete. While the game's clearly divided into "moments" (action / exploration / story exposure), i feel the intriguing story strongly lingers between them, with the narration of events by Alan himself, through conversations en route to somewhere with characters you meet up with, through the aforementioned manuscript pages Alan finds, though radios you can listen in to.
And while there are cutscenes, i don't find them to be tediously story exposing. Just good breaks from the action and interesting to the plot.
Curious fact: The game was originally intended to be an open world game; the level design and changes made to accommodate the linear type of game suggest this. For example, in some areas of the game, a road can be found blocked off, but as you loop around the area, you return, in a few occasions to that road block, and unlock it. Something curious that remained from the first iterations of the game, and to ponder about what the game could have been previously.
Combat
I find Alan Wake's combat satisfying; There's not a lot of enemy types, but the amount of variations allows for a bit of strategizing, when dealing with enemy encounters. As regards to weapons, there's a small selection, but again, they're varied enough so that you're allowed to strategize against enemy variations. And they all do have their purpose, depending on how encounters turn up.
Ammo count and available weapons are not persistent throughout the game and Alan often finds himself deprived of, or limited to, certain weapons - something that further changes up the rules of combat and keeps it interesting.
Combat is also quite polished, i found, with some nice extra touches. Mechanics like the dodge which are sometimes accompanied by a short slow-motion cinematic shot make you feel like you're participating in an action movie, the fast reload which you can choose to do when you're in a tight situation and allows agency through the hands of the player, and how Alan Wake looks at enemies that are coming at you, from off-screen; these all add up to make combat feel extra satisfying.
Controls
For the most part, the controls are fluid. Running, dodging, aiming; all feel great.
But there is one instance when the controls are not the best and feel janky; jumping. At any point where you need to jump over something, it can feel a bit clunky. Either a result of the port (the PC version is an XBox port) or, it was done on purpose.
"See, our character is not a hero" (the developers' words). Alan Wake's a "city-boy", as we know. So, it could have been that the developers purposefully made his jumping mechanic bad to convey just how out of shape he actually is - like they did with his stamina, which you'll early on find out is not the best!
No major deal breaker. At all.
Vehicles
While mostly on foot, Alan Wake does do some driving to get where he needs to go. These sections of the game are closely tied to the more open areas i mentioned earlier, and the vehicle is a great addition to navigate them.
Perhaps i should have added vehicles into the Combat topic? wink And while they don't drive like the precise computer that is a Tesla, they do the job, and you'll be happy you have one!
For the completionist gamer out there however, ye be warned, these sections might be a pain in the ass due to collectibles lying around in areas you can drive through, as getting in and out of vehicles can get tedious, fast.
Final Thoughts
I love Alan Wake, from the interesting thriller story, to the environment the game takes place in and it's eerie atmosphere, the great level design, the intense combat, and the humor (which imbues a very well received comic relief from an otherwise near constant tense atmosphere!). I find there's a lot to enjoy about this game, which makes it one of the game i don't mind replaying from time to time, and right up there as one of my favorites.
So, if you're into plain old action shooters, with an interesting story to back it up and virtually no "padding content", then this game is a must play.
P.S. - There's a great explanation video on the story of Alan Wake that you can watch if you've played the game and came out scratching your head about what the hell just happened, like i did, here.
P.P.S. - The Epic Store has the remastered version on sale, if you'd like to get that version. I haven't played it yet, but i can't imagine the game looking better as the original, as i think they did a superb job, which still holds up today, imo.
P.P.P.S - I wouldn't bother with the "Alan Wake's American Nightmare" - It doesn't hold up in anyway against Alan Wake. What this game was and is, is a failed attempt and not wasting parts of a cancelled sequel to Alan Wake, transformed into a game; the developers started Alan Wake 2, say that it was going nowhere, and instead of putting what they've done in the trash, they decided to make American Nightmare. Last time i played it, it felt like crap in comparison.
P.P.P.P.S. - As a bonus to playing Alan Wake for the first time, you'll be glad to know that Remedy is currently working on a Alan Wake 2, which by their own words, "this time feels right", (alluding to the failed attempt with American Nightmare). So something exciting to look forward to as more content for this great IP.
P.P.P.P.P.S - I haven't played Control and i know it ties into Alan Wake, so that's another game you can play if you enjoy Alan Wake, as i hear there's some Alan Wake content in it, and, basiclly it's just a great game as well!
That's all the P.S's for now!
Thanks for reading, and i hope you enjoy the Alan Wake game, if you haven't already!