Alan Wake Review

Alan Wake is a bestselling author who has been unable to write a word for the past couple of years, and his wife Alice believes a change of scenery might break the block. The couple heads to the small town of Bright Falls, but it doesn’t take long after they arrive for things to go very wrong: a story Alan has no memory of writing starts coming true around him, and he has to piece together what is happening while trying to stay alive. The game’s vistas and backdrops are consistently striking, and the environments do a great deal of work in pulling the player into the unfolding events.

The core of the gameplay is built around a flashlight-and-gun combination that has rarely been executed this well. The enemies, called the Taken, can’t simply be shot down — a player has to shine the flashlight on them to weaken them with light before bullets become effective. The flashlight also doubles as the aiming reticule, so wherever it points is where Alan will fire. The Taken are rarely encountered alone, and their AI is sharp enough to try to flank the player, which means constantly scanning the surroundings for the next threat. There’s no melee attack, but a well-timed dodge triggers a brief cinematic near-miss that can also weaken an attacker if the flashlight is aimed correctly during it.

Enemy types vary in toughness, forcing quick decisions about whether to clear weaker Taken first or focus down a more dangerous one. The flashlight itself has a low and a high beam — the high setting weakens enemies faster but drains the batteries much quicker, adding a constant resource-management choice between conserving power and surviving the next few seconds. Exploration rewards players with upgrades, including stronger flashlights and better weapons such as a hunting rifle upgrade over the standard shotgun. Checkpoints are frequent and visibly marked by sources of light, like street lamps, which act as safe havens where enemies won’t attack and health regenerates — quickly in the light, slowly in dark forest areas. Even away from the Taken, the environment itself turns hostile at times, with possessed vehicles and flying debris adding to the tension.

Remedy’s presentation choices stand out just as much as the combat. The game is structured in episodes much like a television series, complete with a closing song and an Alan Wake logo between chapters, and each new episode opens with a brief recap of prior events. In-world televisions let players watch snippets of “Night Springs,” a show in the vein of the Twilight Zone, and scattered manuscript pages — written by Alan but never remembered by him — offer insight into the plot along with foreshadowing of what’s ahead. The flashlight can also reveal hidden messages and items written into the environment that are otherwise invisible.

Where it stands today

Alan Wake 2 released in 2023, continuing the story and keeping the franchise culturally current well over a decade after this first installment.

Verdict

Alan Wake is a fantastic title that was well worth the long wait, pairing a stunning environment and soundtrack with a light-versus-dark combat system that stays tense throughout. The option to revisit cinematics and listen to the soundtrack afterward adds replay value, and the game rewards a second playthrough for players chasing the full story. Remedy delivered a strong start to a new series here, scoring 9/10.