![]() In 2010, Alan Wake was quickly a diamond in the rough for its cliffhanger story and rabbit hole of mysteries, seemingly designed even then with an eye toward the bigger picture, the Remedy Connected Universe. There's long been a unique relationship between Remedy and its fans, where the developer catered to an audience of passionate lore-divers in project after project. From the depths of the mining caves to the summit of Mirror Peak, Bright Falls is unforgettable and rich with history and secrets in equal measure. A blue tint swallows up every scene, except for the rare golden hours of daylight Alan enjoys during his hellish trip. The wind swirls the trees restlessly as the fog hides monsters just out of view. While most of the things written above make Alan Wake a good game, it became something greater, a cult classic, for other reasons. The forests of Bright Falls literally breathe around you, and scenes alternate between narrow paths full of swarming enemies and larger exploratory sections hiding fun secrets only Remedy would create, such as a live-action homage to Rod Serling's aforementioned classic anthology. Strangely, the DLC uses even more platforming as a misguided attempt to change up the gameplay loop. It's not used too often - Alan is a novelist, not an athlete, after all - but whenever it does come up, it feels extremely faulty.Ī slight delay in Alan's jump and some geometrically challenging landing spots mean the game's physics sometimes gets in the way, and players may miss jumps and fall to their deaths on occasion. ![]() It borders on looking like a modern-day game now, though there are things that couldn't be fixed without a full remake.Īt the forefront of those issues is an awkward jump and vaulting system. It's a well-done but fairly predictable remaster overall. ![]() Epic said a fix for this is planned, but the patch had no announced date before I wrote this review. Thankfully, I don't have to worry about that with Alan Wake Remastered, as the game runs in 60fps now.Īlong with that, characters' faces are much improved, as is the lip-syncing, save for an issue that sometimes appears during cutscenes that distances the animations from the audio ever so slightly. As we're a year into the new generation, I've found it hard to go back to 30fps games as of late. My favorite of those improvements is the higher frame rate. Visually, even the original game holds up pretty well today, but the remaster definitely improves things in a number of areas. Combined with expert pacing, good or better voice acting, and a licensed soundtrack of moody hits from David Bowie, Nick Cave, and more, it's apparent early and often what's made Alan Wake a beloved game all these years. It's never quite a horror game, but in situations where Wake is overrun by the Taken, sometimes without even a gun, the tension truly mounts. Enemies will flank you, throw things like hammers, and charge with chainsaws in hand. When it's not the "Taken" in human form, it's possessed objects like cars and fridges being flung at you by poltergeists, or flocks of shadowy crows. Wake's iconic flashlight blasts the darkness away like destroying a shield, leaving them open to gunfire. In Bright Falls exists a Dark Presence that takes over townspeople, turning them into sludgy shadows of their former selves. Where Max Payne gives us slow-motion gunfights, Quantum Break bends time, and Control invents paranatural abilities, Wake uses light. The game's third-person shooting gameplay is akin to other Remedy games. Alan Wake has all the markings of a serial drama of its time, and this Lost-ian approach to building mysteries on top of mysteries is quickly irresistible.Īcross the full eight-episode "season," (six episodes plus two packed-in DLC episodes), new players will find out what has kept this game at the forefront of players' minds for years despite being mostly dormant since 2012's XBLA semi-sequel, Alan Wake's American Nightmare. It's there where Alice quickly goes missing and Wake finds himself behind the wheel of a crashed car, missing a week of time before suddenly discovering pages to a story he doesn't recall writing. Suffering from writer's block and his own general air of abrasiveness, Alan retreats to Bright Falls, Washington, a logging town with a dark history not immediately apparent to Alan and his wife Alice. In this episodic thriller that borrows from Stephen King, David Lynch, and The Twilight Zone in roughly equal measure , players take on the role of the titular crime novelist. It's an ocean." Alan Wake Remastered: A Lake of Improvements, An Ocean of Promises But Alan Wake Remastered isn't just a game. ![]() With Alan Wake Remastered, Remedy is bringing the game to new platforms and longtime devotees alike, and in classic Remedy fashion, there are new secrets to be discovered.Īs a game, it mostly holds up 11 years after its debut. ![]()
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