After years of exploiting advancing technology to draw gamers further and further into their games, developers are turning their attention to a much more difficult challenge: getting their games inside gamers’ heads. Alan Wake is a “psychological thriller,” the latest in a surge of games that aim to use character development, atmosphere and just the right dose of creepiness to make players stop and consider the actions they commit on-screen. It would have been the first game to attempt to engage players on that level had it actually released on time, but it’s been beaten to the punch on that front by a few games, most notably Heavy Rain. Alan Wake doesn’t feel nearly as ambitious as it once sounded in the face of Quantic Dream’s weird pseudo-game experiment. It’s much more fun though, with storyline, atmosphere and character development that shape the context for the gameplay instead of defining it with simple quick-time events. Players are free to interact with the game’s surreal world and all its dark secrets in a fluid and satisfying, but ultimately linear way. Alan Wake doesn’t revolutionize the video game medium, but it will definitely get inside gamers’ heads.
Alan Wake should have known better. After all, he is a writer. Any town with a name as idyllic as Bright Falls is guaranteed to be harboring untold dark secrets. Maybe the two-year bout of writer’s block that motivated his wife to drag him on this vacation somehow disabled his irony radar. Wake and his wife Alice aren’t in town but for a few hours before Alan suddenly wakes up in a car wreck to find Alice is missing along with a week’s worth of lost time and memories. Crazier still, Bright Falls is slowly being overtaken by a dark presence and the only clue to what’s going on is a manuscript with Alan’s name on it that he doesn’t remember writing. Wake’s desperate search for his wife propels the story forward and the momentum builds as he continues to uncover the secrets of Bright Falls and the darkness surrounding it. The tangled narrative threads about Alan, his personal troubles, the town and the supernatural element are unraveled in expert fashion, rife with dramatic plot twists and “holy ****!” moments that build toward satisfying answers.
The storyline is expertly paced, thanks in large part to the unique way it is presented. Alan Wake is broken up into chapters, each of which plays out like an episode of a serialized television show. In the face of actual episodic content currently available on the market, this setup initially feels a little strange for a complete retail product. That said, the production values and dedication to the delivery – right down to summaries of the last “episode” at the beginning of each new chapter – sells it in short order. Each chapter has a central theme and goal for Alan to accomplish, so they’re all somewhat self-contained. If a player has to stop playing for the night, they can finish off a chapter and feel some semblance of closure. That said, the chapters tend to end with major cliffhangers that relate to ongoing storyline, and most of them are fiendish enough to tempt even the most self-disciplined gamers into “just one more” before bed.
Even more impressive than the serialized presentation of the story is the use of peripheral elements to shade in the characters and universe. Players will find optional manuscripts that offer insights into characters from a third-person perspective, and radio broadcasts and a mock science-fiction TV show shed additional light on the weirdness of Bright Falls. The practical impact of these tricks is that the player approaches character conversations with greater context and understanding of the other character’s mindset than they’d find in other games. This means there’s less need for obvious, unnatural exposition to spell out the character’s feelings and motivations. The conversations in Alan Wake sound much more authentic and flow more naturally than in other games, even when the quality of the voice acting is uneven.
Alan Wake starts with a nightmare and continues to feel like one even after the main character wakes up. Like a dream state, the world of Bright Falls has a slight touch of otherworldliness to it, with events and reactions that would normally seem scattered taken and delivered as if perfectly ordinary. An old woman warns Alan not to venture into the dark, because he might hurt himself. Fair enough. “You don’t want to die do you?” Wait, what? The citizens of Bright Falls accept terrifying events with an eerie sense of calm, while Alan himself is constantly driven by singular, emotionally charged goals in the middle of situations that could generously be described as murky. “I didn’t know what was going on, but I had to get there.” Or do this. Or find this person. These elements are all common for nightmares, where the dreamer feels lost and confused amid familiar people, places and events. Obviously the supernatural element would fit right at home in a nightmare, but it actually tends to alternate between being mysterious and outright scary. In fact, it’s the town of Bright Falls, its unsettling inhabitants, and the mindset of the main character that make Alan Wake consistently creepy affair.
Themes of light, dark, dreaming and sanity are recurrent throughout Alan Wake, and they extend beyond the narrative into the gameplay. The town of Bright Falls is a completely different place at night than it is during the day. When the sun is up, it’s rustic but charming, a quiet place surrounded by peaceful expanses of blue water and lush forests. The art direction and attention to little details give the environment a remarkable feeling of history and of being lived in. The gameplay during daylight plays out like a thoughtful adventure game, with Alan Wake interacting with citizens of Bright Falls as he tries to figure out just where his wife is and what the hell is going on. Aside from exploring the environment and starting conversations these sections are basically devoid of gameplay, but they’re remarkably satisfying thanks to the exceptional dialogue and narrative pacing. Bright Falls is full of eccentric characters that are fun to talk to, most of them have secrets for Alan to uncover, and the tight pacing of the plot ensures that players encounter the next major development before they get tired of chatting.
When darkness falls, the terror begins. The malevolent presence taking over Bright Falls manifests through the darkness, using it to spread its influence across the town and take control over anything that falls under its shadowy blanket. Townsfolk, wildlife and even heavy machinery can be transformed into enemies and weapons at a moment’s notice. Danger can come from anywhere at any time, so the tension doesn’t subside until the sun rises. Man-made light fights the presence off almost as well as sunlight, and Alan will make creative use of flashlights, generators, headlights and flare-gun’s by game’s end. The possessed spark and shriek under the beam of a flashlight, letting out noises that sound like a mix of power tools and scared animals. The visual and aural feedback does a great job of making it feel like Alan is literally grinding the darkness off of the poor souls underneath. After peeling away the darkness with light, Alan can use more traditional firearms to finish off organic hosts. This interplay of light and bullets is the core combat mechanics in the game, and it’s satisfying despite its simplicity.
Despite a relatively small arsenal and a singular attack strategy, the combat never feels repetitive. The tension stays too high for things to get boring. Alan Wake is not an action hero, he doesn’t have an action hero’s physique or an action hero’s ammo supply. Focusing flashlight beams on enemies drains batteries at a much higher rate than normal, and it never feels like there are enough batteries lying around the woods of Bright Falls. Alan will be faced with more enemies than they have the resources to torch during these nightshifts, so players have to balance when to fight versus when to start running for the next light source. When players do decide to stay and fight, skirmishes can get frantic. It takes a decent chunk of time for flashlights to burn through the darkness covering enemies, so Alan has to keep sticking and moving to keep out of harm’s way. Whether running or fighting, there’s a constant sense of vulnerability as the player fights to keep the relentless, invincible enemies at bay. The only glaring issue with the combat system is Alan’s dodge move, which falls somewhere between clumsy and useless as far as gameplay mechanics go. It’s easy enough to use against one enemy in the open, but against groups of enemies or in tight spaces, it’s more likely to get a player killed than to safety.
Alan Wake is a fantastic experience the first time through but there’s very little reason for players to visit Bright Falls for a second time. The game is unabashedly linear, so it plays out exactly the same way every time. There’s little reason to venture off the beaten path aside from some collectible junk, and even when players do they won’t be able to wander far. Invisible walls disguised as mountain ridges, cliffs, and locked doors will keep Alan firmly on track. Some manuscript pages are only available on the unlockable nightmare setting, but that carrot will only interest completionists, achievement hunters or those gamers who absolutely fall in love with the world and need to discover every last crumb of information. The only bright spot in this area is the fact that there are still plenty of questions to be answered in Bright Falls at the game’s conclusion and Remedy Entertainment has already confirmed that DLC is on the way. Given the episodic nature of the game, Remedy could potentially churn out new episodes of Alan Wake for some time. At twelve to fifteen hours worth of content out of the box, and all of it high quality, Alan Wake is definitely more than a rental; it will just leave players wanting more.
The Rundown
Alan Wake succeeds as a psychological thriller thanks to some palpably creepy atmosphere and a pulpy narrative that manages to pose unsettling questions about human nature. Players will be thinking about Alan’s sanity, the interplay between the human conscious and unconscious, and the internal battle between light and dark long after they’ve ejected the game disk. Unique storytelling techniques push Alan’s journey forward while the central themes bleed beautifully into the core gameplay, creating an experience that is equal parts thoughtful adventure and tension-filled survival-horror. The inventive combat mechanics and pitch-perfect set-pieces will leave players catching their breath as they tremble in the dark. With a linear storyline and minimal extras, there’s not much reason to make return visits to Bright Falls, but even as a one-time experience Alan Wake leaves a lasting impression.
