Ground Control to Major Tom.

A Psychological Action Thriller. Right there on the cover. Many movies, books, or games have used those words to boost sales, and every time, I am sorely disappointed. I remember when Saw was being advertised for the first time, and every commercial used that exact sentance to describe the movie. Nothing but lies. Lies and fucking slander.

In the case of Alan Wake, the newest release by Remedy Studios, a more fitting tagline could not have been found. Remedy, makers of the fucking phenominal Max Payne games, have shown once again that they are one of the best in the business at their craft. They have taken some old tropes, applied them to a game’s structure, and mixed them together in such a seamless way, that it results in a wholly new idea. Alan Wake is an excellent mix of subtle horror, tense action, and engaging plot. It is, in every sense, a psychological action thriller. Not to mention it has an excellent soundtrack.

The game starts with the titular Alan Wake, a successful writer, narrating himself through a nightmare. He is being hunted by a murderer of his own creation, and is led through the rapidly destabalizing landscape by a being of intense light. As he snaps out of his sleep, he is comforted by his wife Alice. They’re about to arrive in Bright Falls, a small isolated town in the pacific northwest. Alan hasn’t written anything in two years, and they’ve decided that a break away from New York might cure his block. As they embark into the town, meet the people, and get directions to their cabin, some weird shit starts going down. The isolated cabin is nothing less than hair shrivelingly creepy, complete with crows, animal trophies, and rickety shacks. Moments after the sun goes down, the real nighmare begins.

The game cuts to Alan, bloody and confused, hanging from his car at the bottom of a cliff. From here we must navigate him past the darkness to safety and, more importantly, answers. The plot is, weirdly enough, episodic. Each new episode starts with “previously on Alan Wake”, which I thought was kind of cool, personally. Like the story was a little miniseries. At the beginning of each episode, Alan’s circumstances turn to shit, and he is thrust into the night, armed only with a flashlight. The game’s main mechanic is to combat with light. You have a flashlight that you can use to weaken enemies, wich can then be finished off with your revolver. You can also pick up flares, a flare gun, and even Flashbang grenades. Some situations require you to be creative with ambient light sources, and overall the idea stays fresh.

Alan Wake‘s plot is intriguing and incredibly well written. When a story has multiple perspectives and layers, and I can’t tell which one is real, I would say it succeeds. The setting is tense and spooky, blended with a subtle layer of dread. At certain points, I found myself actually not wanting to explore for pickups, because fuck dude, I’m not going down that path. That way is dark and scary, and there’s no way. This game actually managed to override my gaming OCD habits. Kudos.

So I loved this game. It’s a solid story wrapped in some solid gameplay. That said, I finished it in a couple days, so I still recommend renting it rather than buying. A surprise title out of the always dark Remedy studios, it’s definately worth checking out.