5/5 ★ – AaronMurray00's review of Alan Wake.

I got an Xbox Series S recently and the first game I decided to play on it was a game that's 10 years old...why? Alan Wake was a game that escaped me for a while. Releasing as an Xbox 360 exclusive in 2010, I never had the chance to play it until now. I was always a PlayStation guy but with Xbox offering a really awesome low price entry into next gen, I took advantage of that as I really was desperate to jump into Game Pass & Xbox's new focus on it's ecosystem. I'm a huge fan of psychological thrillers whether it's in movies or games. It's a cool genre to tell stories in and for Alan Wake, it was obvious that this was coming from fans of the genre too. The game is so deeply rooted in homages & tributes to the works of David Lynch (my favourite director) & Stephen King. It uses the love of these two people and their works to create a blend of horror & quirk that many games haven't attempted before. The story & atmosphere in this is without a doubt it's highlight. The title character is a hack writer suffering from a writer's block. Alongside his wife, he takes a vacation in the town of Bright Falls and quickly finds himself in a nightmare of his own creation. I'll keep things spoiler free because the narrative here is genuinely something special and deserves to shock & awe. It's funny, creepy and with the game taking a nice steady 10 hours to beat, is super well paced. Alan Wake tells it's story through 6 episodes much like the games of Telltale & Dontnod. Rather than releasing them separately, Remedy released Alan Wake as a full package from beginning to end. In a lot of ways, the game has a pace that's familiar to Netflix and the many streaming services we have now. Each episode ends with a cliffhanger that is instantly paid off in the next. It's a really awesome way to deliver a game's story and kept me invested the entire time. The weakest part of the game is easily it's combat. The enemies in this require the use of light to take down their defenses with a gun being the final blow. It's simplistic and not particularly difficult but it doesn't really progress beyond that in the campaign. New weapons are introduced that are stronger but overall the combat stays largely the same. It's not enough to bring the game down however. Alan Wake's strengths lies in its story & atmosphere. It's a genuine blast to play through even 10 years later. It's certainly dated nowadays but with the rumours of a remaster in the works, I don't see much being changed besides some facial animations and lighting. It's an absolute beauty of a game and I'm glad that the story isn't over yet.