Developer: Remedy Ent.
Publisher: Microsoft
Release Year: 2021
You know what I don’t love in my video games? Darkness. Truly. I hate having to search corners with a flashlight. I hate being disoriented as I run into walls and can’t find the stupid exit. You know what Alan Wake is almost exclusively filled with? Darkness. And I’m playing in a relatively dark-ish room on a modern TV. I can’t even imagine how this thing looked back in 2010 when the original came out. With those awful flatscreen TVs that bled light around the corners and had not even close to black blacks. Granted, I’ve seen worse when it comes to feeling around in pitch black rooms and spaces, but I did get really tired of it. Which, frankly, is my fault. Your primary weapon in this game is a flashlight, after all. So, I should have known better.
I came to this game — which, once again, originally came out in 2010 — by way of Control. Another Remedy game that apparently takes place in the same universe. In fact, Alan Wake, the man, is mentioned in the Control narrative. And I really enjoyed that game, so why not this one? After playing both, I’d say Control is a way superior gaming experience, but I get why this one got some props. First, there is the story. Describing it will make me sound like an insane person, but here goes my best try. There is this popular crime fiction author, Alan Wake. He is suffering from a bout of writer’s block, so he decides to go with his wife on a retreat to a small, picturesque town in Washington state. Right off the bat there are some serious Twin Peaks vibes going on in this weird logging town. And Alan is clearly going through some shit. They end up in a prety crappy-looking cabin overlooking a creepy lake. You’d think they could afford better digs based on their NYC apartment, but who am I to quibble? While unpacking, Alan’s wife tells him that they actually came to Bright Falls to meet with some psychiatrist to help Alan get over his block. You know, because they don’t have those in NYC where they live? But, yeah, Alan is also confused and pretty pissed that he’s been tricked by his wife and best friend / agent, Barry, into some sort of intervention. The guy does seemingly have a history of alcoholism and some pretty deep mental instability. Imagine his state of mind when he storms into another room in the cabin, only to return to his wife being dragged by some dark force out of the cabin off the cliff’s edge and into the dark lake. And so begins the misadventures of Mr. Wake.
The name Alan Wake is not subtle. And neither is this game. It is layers and layers of meta on top of meta. It is not clear if Wake is having a psychotic break or is in a coma and imagining everything, or even if he’s actually experiencing all the spooky things going on around him. Ghost-like spectres of lumberjacks and woodsy hooligans coming at him as he runs around trying to find his wife. The wife who got dragged into the lake and drowned? Or was maybe kidnapped? Or was never really there? Honestly, the narrative is absolutely impossible to follow in any logical way, but they do a good job of making it seem like it makes sense. The very meta driving force being that everything that is happening to him he actually wrote in a script that the game is following. As part of your journey — playing as Wake — you find your manuscript pages along paths and behind stuff, which give you a little bit of a preview of what is to happen to you. He’s writing his own nightmare into existence. But doesn’t remember writing it. Even as the person playing the game, it’s unclear what’s real and what isn’t. Are all these dudes with knives and axes and chainsaws coming after you real, or just a figment of his imagination. Which you have to assume is part of the whole mind-fuck aspect of the game. But is all called into question when Barry shows up in Bright Falls to check on him and is also attacked by these dangerous apparitions. And trucks. And garbage. Because, yes, this dark spirit also inhabits inanimate objects, which fly at you and try to crush you. So, it’s not in his head? Or is Barry’s presence just in his head, too? I honestly don’t know.
As mentioned, your main weapon is a flashlight. The darkness recoils at light. The flashlight does some damage to your foes, but you can also find and use a pistol, shotgun, rifle and flare gun. Along with flash bangs and flares. It’s a little unclear why or how guns have any effect on these ghosts, but what’s a video game without some firearms? The gameplay is pretty typical. Get to this point, then get to that point. With lots of cut scenes and drama. The vibe, in addition to being Lynchian, is also very Stephen King coded. A mixture of supernatural and suspenseful horror. So, while you’re running around finding people who can get you closer to your wife, you run into creepy townspeople and old crones and psychotic doctors. But mostly you’re traversing the woods in a pre-destined path, occasionally driving cars and trying to avoid running out of ammo. The flashlight thing… It’s kind of goofy. I get the whole they-hate-the-light aspect, but I just found the constant reliance on a hand torch to be a bit monotonous. The gameplay is also lacking — like you can’t really duck or crouch. Which is weird. There is some sort of fake-ish “bullet-time” type action that feels ripped from the old Max Payne game, but it’s merely used to dodge oncoming ghouls. I’d call the options… simplistic. Considering the thing originally came out fifteen years ago — and was remastered in 2021 — it looked pretty decent. Certainly not modern-decent, but there weren’t many times where things glitched or got all 2010. Granted, the fidelity of faces and some of the other finer details aren’t exactly sharp. But it’s a dark game, so there isn’t that much to see outside of the cut scenes.
As I’ve mentioned, I’m pretty bad at video games. I didn’t find this game particularly difficult, though. Sure, it took me forever to finish — and does that typical thing where you feel like you’re just about to get there and your character is diverted for the 50th time to save someone or find one more clue — but I didn’t die quite as much as I do on other games. The trick is mostly to run. Run as fast as you can. Because dawdling only spawns more bad guys who surround you in the dark and act as a drain on your resources and stamina. Since the game doesn’t really have a “stealth” mode like a lot of games — remember, you can’t even really duck or crouch — you don’t have a lot of options to sneak by enemies. So you either have to light a flare to fend them off, take them on or just sprint as best you can to get to the next checkpoint. All of which makes the thing feel a bit repetitive. There isn’t any personality to these dudes coming after you. They’re just silent blue collar ghosts from what I can tell. But, again, the focus here is on the story and the meta narrative that kind of mixes together both a literary and TV medium into its structure. Which is a little confusing, truth be told. It’s about a novelist. And represents itself as a book manuscript written into reality. Yet the game itself is structured into episodes. With an almost “last time on…” dynamic. You know, like a TV show. Why the conflation of novel and TV series? Nobody knows. So, you’re an author writing a story that you’re now living, but it’s also a TV show that someone is watching who isn’t you? Yeah, the creators got a little over their skis here. Or left some vestigial piece in there of a game that once had a different structure or focus. I’m not sure which. Whatever the case, if you’re into a story-heavy game that veers into horror and really goes for it in terms of layered storyline, it definitely checks those boxes. I’m glad I played it, but really need something with a little more light in my next go.
