Alan Wake is a good game.
The graphics look really good for a game released in 2010. The story is big and bold, with decent twists and turns. The characters are pretty fun and memorable for the most part. The gameplay and combat are very simple, and the setting, tone, and atmosphere of Bright Falls were the highlights of the game.
If you are a casual player looking for something to pass the time, this game is for you, but the same cannot be said for players that familiar with these type of games.
The problem is that Alan Wake doesn't really do anything remarkable in this genre of narrative-driven video games. Countless games before and after Alan Wake brought something new and fresh to the genre, and Alan Wake sits in this weird position of doing everything that makes a narrative game good without doing enough to stand out from others.
The game primarily focuses on its narrative. While this isn't necessarily bad, in my opinion, the problems become obvious during the non-story sections where we have to traverse long, linear levels alone and fight hordes of enemies. With such a simplistic combat system, the game becomes very tedious and boring. During my Nightmare playthrough, I was just rushing toward the cutscenes because the gameplay had become stale and repetitive.
I think the main reason this happened is because the game tried to have its cake and eat it too. Either make the levels shorter or focus more on combat. Or just add a companion who reacts to things. The game isn't that scary anyway, and Alan's monologue isn't really doing much.
The story is very decent. I love stories set in idyllic small towns that harbor dark secrets beneath the surface, and that's probably the main reason I enjoyed the story more. Again, it's not the best video game story ever written, but it's serviceable.
That's probably my biggest issue. The game is good, decent, and serviceable, nothing more and nothing less. This is not a huge deal for casual players, but if the game wants me to play it more than once, for achievemnets or just fun, I think it should have done more.
Finally, there are two DLCs. They are more like a continuation of the main story. I don't know why they automatically load when you finish the game instead of having a separate selection option. You have to select them from the mission select menu. They're alright. The story is okay, but the gameplay and level design had a little improvement.
