Knights of the Cardboard Castle

Like L.A. Noire which I played recently, Alan Wake is one of those games that had a very long gestation. They are also similar in how they strive to be video game versions of other media. The former tried to emulate noir films. This one tries to feel like a television show, specifically one of them in particular, Twin Peaks.

• Right from the start, this game pulled me in and never let go. I’m especially pleased with the basic premise of being a writer who travels to the quintessential American small town with many secrets. It’s a standard trope in other entertainment media, but appears only rarely in videogames. I also liked how the game put you in environments that you don’t often see in videogames, a bright and cheery waterfront, a diner, a trailer park etc. It all feels very fresh and engaging.

• The graphics are nothing short of amazing. This game makes a big deal of shadows and light and pulls this off in a big way. I’ve never seen darkness and fog used so effectively in a game. You almost always have a flashlight handy to help you see and it’s great how it forces you to constantly scan back and forth to look at things. You’ll often find yourself thinking, “Wait, what was that reflection just now?” and startle yourself. The atmospherics here are just perfect.

• The story is passable. Not great and certainly not even Stephen King quality despite the obvious references, but not too bad either. I like how fantastical elements are given a mundane face, so that a powerful quest artifact can be just an ordinary household item imbued with personal meaning and how a fortress of the light is literally a power station with powerful lights turned on 24/7 to drive back the darkness.
• The game does seem too combat heavy. While its combat mechanics are interesting at first, use light to make enemies vulnerable, then use guns to destroy them, it gets repetitive fast as this is the only gameplay the game has. Its puzzles are too simple to be interesting on their own, and while driving around in a car is somewhat of a surprise when you get to do it the first time, it really feels like filler material.
• I found the game pretty challenging but I’ve read others claiming it was far too easy. The game uses the cheap trick of frequently taking away all of your gear to make you feel constantly paranoid about running out of resources but I have to say that it is effective. I do dislike how the game unpredictably takes away camera control from you to provide a cinematic view of the scene. Enemies can and will kill you while the camera is zooming prettily around!

• I would have preferred a more adventure-type game, with meaningful clue collection and puzzle solving and less combat. The heavy combat emphasis really detracts from the excellent atmosphere. Forcing Alan Wake to run from place to place under threat of constant attack also makes it hard to explore the intriguing world the developers have created. I found myself constantly wondering whether it’s safe to linger around and explore or if the game is trying to herd me to the next checkpoint as soon as possible.
• The PC version includes the two released DLC as standard. These are interesting in that they’re set in a nightmarish dream world but also boring because they don’t resolve anything and don’t tell you anything you don’t already know from the main game. This means they’re completely optional and are only for those who want more of the same gameplay.

Verdict: very cool game with genuinely awesome graphics and a fresh setting, but repetitive gameplay. A sequel is inevitable but it needs better fleshed out game mechanics to be attractive.