3.5/5 ★ – Hill417's review of Alan Wake Remastered.

For the past couple of years triple A games attempting to emulate a cinematic experience has been the new normal. If we try to trace back to where that trend started, it’s easy to point the finger at Alan Wake. With its episodic structure, compelling story, and complex characters I think we owe a lot to modern gaming to this 2010 cult classic. Our story begins with a writer named Alan Wake going on vacation with his wife Alice in a town called Bright Falls, Washington in the hopes he can overcome his writers block. After the couple gets into a fight Alice mysteriously is thrown into the lake, Alan dives in after her, but suddenly wakes up behind the wheel of a crashed car… a week later, with no memory of what happened. To make matters worse there are these possessed shadow monsters chasing him with the only thing that can harm them is the light. Alan narrates the what’s happening like it’s an audiobook which really helps immerse you into the story and his mindset. You can get a more insightful look into his mind with the “Manuscript” collectibles, they’re pages of his book that recap the events, but can also serve as a warning of potential surprise attacks. One example: I decided to go off the beaten path and explore the area where I found a manuscript page that said a chainsaw wielding maniac would attack me right before I opened a red door. Taking that into consideration I decided to save some ammo. It would help me in the long run when that event would come to surpass and I narrowly survived. An example like this is what makes collectibles worth seeking out, rather than just saying “hey you got it” it’ll reward me for my troubles. Can’t say the same about the coffee mugs which reward you with nothing. The other collectible are episodes of the TV show “Night Springs” which is a clear homage to the “Twilight Zone”. Again they don’t give me any bonuses, but they are fun mini TV episodes, so there is that at least. What do you get for finding almost three hundred items worth of collectibles: nothing. After all that searching could the game at least given us a machine gun or infinite ammo? If we’re going to go the extra mile and search for everything then at least give us a tangible award. The combat on paper doesn’t sound challenging. “You just shine the flashlight at the enemy and shoot them” to prevent the game from being to easy is that every time you use the flashlight it’ll drain the batteries and said batteries are scarce. Along with ammo too. You get very few weapons: a revolver, a shotgun, a flare gun (which is the equivalent of an RPG in this scenario), and flash bang grenades. We’re given very little to work with, but that’s what makes the combat so tense and fun. Although it slowly becomes stale and repetitive with no new mechanics introduced later on (until the DLC, but we’ll get to that in a moment). A little bit of variety would’ve been nice in the enemies as well. It’s the same three types: normal sized people with weapons, seven foot tall people with weapons, and a swarm a birds (which are the absolute worst). Alan Wake’s narrative is told via episodically rather than the traditional level based structure, there’s six episodes with the two “special episodes” being DLC called “The Signal” and “The Writer”. The DLC is where the more interesting ideas come to play. If you shine your light on certain words like “boom” or “fireworks” then they’ll manifest and explode to thin out the enemies, another example is when they’re are barrels up a hilltop and if you shine the light on those then they’ll role down and explode. If we had gotten some of these ideas in the main game then combat wouldn’t have been so repetitive and kept things more exciting. Even the level designs are more interesting with the town becoming even more of a nightmare version of itself with everything twisting and becoming so disoriented I couldn’t tell what was up or down or real or not. Of course that’s not to say that there aren’t freaky and intense moments in the main game its just that the more memorable ones are just saved for last. Still the story is very intriguing and worth playing alone. Alan Wake is a very interesting game that should be experienced. With 90% of the game taking place in the woods provide for some unsettling moments whenever your back is against the wall and Alan’s story about saving his wife and the mystery surrounding her disappearance in a paranormal, but grounded setting makes the game feel like a early Netflix show that unfortunately never got another season despite its cliffhanger ending. Just like any cult classic series I think a revival/sequel is long overdue.