Alan Wake

[h1]Alan Wake Review[/h1] [hr] [h1]Overview[/h1] Alan Wake has been sitting on my list for a long time, and I finally decided to play it. I also went for all the achievements, and overall I had a phenomenal experience. It is obviously an older game and some parts show their age, but the story, characters, atmosphere, and simple gameplay still hold up really well. It is not perfect, especially when it comes to repetitive combat and the insane amount of collectibles, but I am really happy I finally played it. [hr] [h1]Story and Characters[/h1] The story was easily one of my favorite parts of the game. My first playthrough took me around 12 hours with collectible hunting, and I stayed interested pretty much the whole way through. Without spoiling anything, the game slowly introduces you to Alan Wake, Bright Falls, the Darkness, and everything strange happening around you. As you progress, you gradually understand more about who these people are and what is actually going on. I really liked Alan as a character, and his narration adds a lot to the experience. It genuinely feels like you are playing through a story as it is being told. Barry is also great and brings a lot of personality to the game. The voice acting is excellent overall, and the narration, characters, and story all work together really well. [hr] [h1]Atmosphere and World[/h1] The atmosphere is fantastic. Alan Wake is mostly linear, so you always have a pretty clear idea of where to go. You spend a lot of the game around Bright Falls and its surrounding forests, usually at night with your flashlight and whatever weapons you have. The dark forests, ambient sounds, music, and constant feeling that something could appear around you create a really good atmosphere. The soundtrack was especially memorable for me. Visually, it obviously looks like a game from the Xbox 360 era, but that never bothered me. Performance on PC was also excellent in my experience. I had no crashes, noticeable bugs, or major FPS problems during my playthrough. [hr] [h1]Combat[/h1] The combat is simple but fun at first. Most enemies are protected by the Darkness, so you first have to burn it away with your flashlight or another light source before you can properly damage them. You get weapons like the revolver, shotguns, hunting rifle, and flare gun, along with flares and flashbangs. The light mechanic feels fresh in the beginning, and the game slowly introducing more tools helps keep things interesting for a while. The problem is that the basic combat loop barely changes. Towards the end I got tired of constantly stripping the Darkness from enemies and then shooting them, especially when the game started throwing large groups at me over and over again. At some points I just wanted to run past combat completely. That is also difficult because Alan's stamina is terrible. He gets tired extremely quickly, and enemies usually catch up unless you use flares or another way to slow them down. The combat never became terrible, but by the final episodes it was definitely more repetitive and annoying than it was at the start. [hr] [h1]Collectibles and 100% Completion[/h1] This was easily my least favorite part of Alan Wake. There are way too many collectibles. You have 100 coffee thermoses, 106 manuscript pages, supply chests, radios, TVs, signs, can pyramids, and more. On top of that, 15 manuscript pages only appear on Nightmare difficulty. If you are going for 100%, use a guide. The game tracks what you collect pretty well, but actually finding everything is the problem. Constantly checking a guide, leaving the main path, grabbing something, and checking what comes next completely ruins the pacing. Some episodes took me over two hours because I was making sure I did not miss anything, and with this many collectibles, missing one somewhere in a long episode is extremely annoying. I like collectibles in games, but Alan Wake simply has too many. If you are only here for the story, this is barely a problem. If you are going for all the achievements, prepare yourself. [hr] [h1]The DLCs[/h1] Alan Wake has two story DLC episodes, The Signal and The Writer, and I honestly did not enjoy either of them very much. They continue the story and introduce a cool mechanic where shining your flashlight on words can make objects, weapons, lights, and paths appear. It is a neat idea, but it was not enough to make me enjoy the levels themselves. Both DLCs felt strangely constructed compared to the main game, almost like custom levels built using Alan Wake's mechanics and assets. They are not very long and their collectibles are nowhere near as bad, but if I was not going for the achievements, I probably would not have bothered finishing them. The Signal in particular was rough for me. [hr] [h1]Late Game[/h1] The final parts of the main game also started feeling stretched out. The story was still interesting enough to keep me going because I wanted answers, but gameplay-wise I felt like I had already seen almost everything the game had to offer. By Episode Six especially, the repetition became noticeable. There was more combat and more enemies, but not enough new ideas to keep the gameplay feeling fresh. [hr] [h1]What Works[/h1] [list] [*]Great story and memorable characters [*]Alan and Barry are both excellent [*]Fantastic voice acting and narration [*]Excellent atmosphere, soundtrack, and sound design [*]Simple but satisfying light-based combat [*]Bright Falls is a memorable setting [*]Very smooth PC performance in my experience [/list] [hr] [h1]What Falls Short[/h1] [list] [*]Combat becomes repetitive later on [*]Too many enemy encounters towards the end [*]Alan's stamina makes running away frustrating [*]Way too many collectibles for 100% completion [*]Collectible hunting hurts the pacing [*]The DLCs were disappointing for me [*]The final episodes start feeling stretched out [/list] [hr] [h1]Verdict[/h1] Alan Wake is a brilliant game, and I am really happy I finally gave it a chance. If you enjoy story-focused games, horror themes, dark atmosphere, and interesting characters, there is a lot to love here. Alan is a great protagonist, the narration is excellent, and Bright Falls has an atmosphere that still works incredibly well. The combat gets repetitive, the collectible grind is ridiculous if you want all the achievements, and I could have lived without the DLCs. But the main game was still a great experience. Absolutely worth playing.