Alan Wake Will Leave You Afraid

JudoChinX

June 2, 2010

Ever since I was introduced to the Resident Evil franchise at the age of 10, I've always had a soft spot for the survival horror genre of games. I might be a little masochistic, but feeling uneasy while enjoying entertainment has appealed to me for as long as I can remember. Scary movies, games, books: I love them all. As my tastes in such material matured, I began appreciating the more psychological side of things. It wasn't enough to have things jump out at me. I wanted the characters and stories to get inside my head and stay with me. I had to be afraid even after it was over. Alan Wake caught my attention for these reasons and has been in development for what seems like an eternity. It's finally complete and it was worth the wait.

AWSide (7K) Horror often deals with ideas of good versus evil and that carries over to the Alan Wake gameplay. Defeating enemies requires a two pronged approach. The taken (locals taken over by darkness) as they're called have a protective shield (the darkness) preventing conventional weapons from harming them, so the first thing you need to do is to remove this shield. This is done by shining light upon your enemies, which can be done in several ways. The tool you'll use most often for doing this is your trusty flashlight. Though this is the weakest of all light sources you'll find, its primary 'fire' can be used indefinitely, while you can use a more focused beam to stun pursuers and quickly destroy shields at the cost of having to manage battery power as though it were ammo. Other ways to remove darkness include spotlights, flares (some of which can be fired from a flare gun), flash bangs, streetlights, and spotlights. Once the shield has been removed, you're then free to finish off your antagonists with a real weapon. There's nothing too unusual here. Just your standard third person shooter / survival horror fare. You'll start with a revolver and eventually upgrade to a shotgun and hunting rifle. Most of these things are self explanatory, though the streetlight might not be. The game has, what it refers to as, safe havens. While struggling to survive attacks from the taken, you'll usually see a streetlight off in the distance. At this point, you have a couple options. First, you can right out defeat the taken. If that's something that is unappealing for some reason, you can risk running to the next safe haven, an illuminated area of the level where your enemies can't pursue you and where you'll regain health at an accelerated rate.

One thing that sets this particular game apart from other games that I'd classify as survival horror is the abundance of ammo. I rarely found myself in a situation where I had to simply retreat for lack of another solution. The real challenge lies in dodging and intelligently selecting and disabling the most dangerous foes. It's a nice change to see a game encourage me to make quick and important decisions instead of forcing me to conserve items. That being said, running is usually a viable option. Just head for the nearest safe haven, excel at dodging attacks, and you'll survive without solely relying on weapons.

Alan Wake wouldn't have been much were it not for atmosphere and the game is permeated with it. Every step you take through this game's world serves to offer additional insight into the world that Remedy has created. The game takes place in a small town somewhere in the Pacific Northwest, and every step through the world reinforces that. The locals are a tight knit bunch and welcoming, though you get the impression that the town, Bright Falls, has a bit of a past. Much like with gameplay, the world in Alan Wake is surrounded by the ideas of light and dark. It's not just a metaphor in this tale. Light is safety, and darkness is danger. Most of the story is told during the daytime, while most of the thriller sequences take place in darkness, but even at that, the game doesn't take itself overly seriously. There are light hearted moments that offer the player a break from all the doom and gloom. Alan Wake is a game that's aware of its roots. References are frequently made to Stephen King, The Twilight Zone, and many other influential works that have contributed to pop culture. It's clear that the game's writers are big horror fans and understand what it takes to make a fun and terrifying experience.

The story begins with Alan Wake, a very successful mainstream author, taking a quiet trip with his wife to Bright Falls. Alan has suffered from writer's block for the past couple of years, and hopes that this vacation will help clear his mind. Once in town, the couple rents a cabin on a lake, and the fun begins. After a small argument, Alan leaves the cabin to collect his thoughts, and after a short time, his wife screams for help. Alan rushes to the back of the cabin, only to see his wife disappear beneath the lake's surface. Alan dives in after her, and the screen fades to black. Alan wakes a week late only to find that he's missing a considerable amount of time. Both his wife and the cabin that they were staying in have vanished and so the story starts. Throughout the game, you'll find pages of a book that Alan wrote, yet can't remember writing. The manuscript pages offer a back story to the town, residents of the town and premonition of events to come. It's an interesting take on storytelling that works well to create a sense of dread and mystery that most games don't. The story is fun and fast paced. The ending is pretty ambiguous, yet hopefully things are tied up in future DLC, which Remedy has promised to release. The game takes place in episodes each lasting 1.5 - 2 hours each with a total of six episodes. Each episode begins with a summary of what happened in the last episode, and ends on a cliffhanger that leaves you wanting to continue playing well into the night.

A self proclaimed psychological action thriller, Alan Wake takes a traditional survival horror game, trims off some of the less appealing aspects, adds a great combat system, and repackages it all for a delightful experience that few will want to miss. Even if you're someone who would normally skip this style of game, I'd encourage you to give it a shot. This might be the game to change your mind.