Alan Wake Review | What We Write in the Shadows
Alan Wake is a phenomenal title with excellent twists and turns of story, that’s only been slightly marred by the archaic systems shown…
Alan Wake is a phenomenal title with excellent twists and turns of story, that’s only been slightly marred by the archaic systems shown with age. Despite this, Alan Wake remains as some of Remedy’s best work. NameBrand.
It’s a bit late for me to jump into Alan Wake, with the sequel just releasing, and the remaster still existing, but I dived the original. Something that was immediately remarkable to me was how well the episodic content worked, even though this design choice is quite dated and obtuse by today’s standards. It was nice to play a chapter, close the game, and then come back to it the next day or a few days later, and repeat. Remedy knew how to pace it.
Alan Wake is clunky at times and more than anything I attribute it to its age. Before Alan Wake, I recently completed playing through Control for the second time, which plays excellently. Comparing the two, it’s clear to me that Remedy has been working on polishing the overall player experience over the years. More than anything, it seems the tech and know-how of the time just wasn’t quite there. This made it easy to forgive some of the clunkiness and shortcomings.
It has some of the most interesting storytelling I’ve ever experienced with a game, and some of those moments will live with me for quite a long time. I don’t think it gets to levels of Control kinds of cool, but, I think Alan Wake does a great job of making you ask “What’s real?” and “How does this all fit together?”, which makes for an equally puzzling and intriguing narrative. It makes me wonder what they’ve done for the sequel, which I’m excited to eventually get into when it drops on Steam.
Overall, for what it was worth, I had an exceptional time playing Alan Wake despite its few shortcomings, and I think that just goes to show how much work Remedy put into the game so that it could stand the test of time. I recommend it. Good spooky vibes for perhaps a spooky season if you’re into that sort of thing. Great narrative if you like that. Usually on sale for cheap. Not too long of a game. Why not?
Originally published at https://backloggd.com.