Alan Wake

You play as Alan Wake, a writer battling a sinister dark force using light as a weapon, trying to recover his missing wife and unravel the mystery of his own story. This is a horror thriller.
✅ Very dark atmosphere
✅ Strong, twist-filled narrative
✅ Good mix of action and horror
✅ Well-written plot and characters that keep us in suspense until the very end
✅ Graphically, the game looks phenomenal; in my opinion, it didn't need a remaster. It's from 2012 and is still impressive by today's standards (only the grass and bushes look bad).
✅ DLC included in the price (two special episodes that continue the main storyline).
✅ Varied locations (forests, campsites, a town, a power plant).
✅ Alan Wake's voice reading pages from the manuscript.
✅ Very good idea regarding equipment. We have a flashlight that blinds our enemies with its light, and additional items such as flares, flashbangs, and rocket launchers that provide light.
✅ Good weapon selection. We only have a revolver and two shotguns. I can't imagine having an AK-47 or M4 in this game.
✅ Very enjoyable shooting mechanics.
✅ Variable weather and atmospheric effects add to the immersion.
✅ Car driving motif has also been added.
✅ Great sound design that changes the tone of the game, keeping us on the edge of our seats. It fits perfectly with the atmosphere of the game.
✅ Dream sequences and hallucinations add an extra layer of mystery and unease.
✅ The artist's struggle with his work is a recurring motif throughout the game.
✅ Good character controls and fluid movement.
✅ Good menu options, including FOV adjustments.
✅ The game is divided into 6 episodes, plus 2 additional ones with great music after each one.
✅ The episodic structure gives it the feel of a great TV show.
✅ For fans of collectibles, the game has plenty to offer (106 typewritten pages, 100 coffee thermoses, knocking over 12 pyramids of cans, finding 30 hidden chests, 11 radio programs, 14 television programs, 25 signs, 10 alarm clocks, 6 cardboard silhouettes, and 10 games from the Night Springs series). There's plenty to explore, though I'm not a fan of this kind of content, so it's a plus for those who enjoy it.
✅ The game’s length is perfect; it's neither too short nor unnecessarily stretched out with an artificial, boring storyline.
✅ Three difficulty levels to choose from: easy, normal, and nightmare.
✅ No noticeable bugs.
✅ Very good price for such a high-quality game.
✅ Frequent save points throughout the game
✅❌ The game is linear, so, as with every linear game, everyone has to decide for themselves whether they enjoy that or not.
❌ Very weak puzzles. For example, the generator can be activated by double-clicking at the right moment. They could have introduced more complex puzzles or controlled them differently.
❌ Alan Wake's stamina is too low. He can run about 20 meters before getting tired, which quickly becomes frustrating for the player. Sprinting depletes stamina far too quickly.
❌ Jumping animation looks terrible.
❌ Poor enemy variety.
❌ The flashlight battery drains too quickly. The game could have allowed for longer battery life at the expense of fewer batteries scattered throughout the story.
❌ I don’t understand why the developers don’t allow players to start on “Nightmare” difficulty during their first playthrough.
✅✅✅ Verdict: Very Bad , Bad , Decent , Good , Very good , Excellent , Masterpiece
If you have any questions about my reviews, feel free to ask. I'm happy to answer them. All reviews are my own!! Best regards, King Viking Bezimienny, Polish Game Reviewer.

dont play for the combat, that part sucks. The story is suuuuper cool though

Play on easy. Combat is by far the absolute worst, most grueling part of this game and there's no shame in just turning it down to get to the good stuff: The story and atmosphere.

And there's plenty of that.

Alan Wake Review
Overview
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.
Story and Characters
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.
Atmosphere and World
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.
Combat
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.
Collectibles and 100% Completion
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.
The DLCs
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.
Late Game
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.
What Works
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
What Falls Short
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
Verdict
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.

---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☐ Beautiful
☑ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS
---{ Gameplay }---
☐ Very good
☑ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't
---{ Audio }---
☐ Eargasm
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf
---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☑ Grandma
---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☑ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer
---{ Game Size }---
☐ Floppy Disk
☐ Old Fashioned
☑ Workable
☐ Big
☐ Will eat 15% of your 1TB hard drive
☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it
☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data
---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☑ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls
---{ Grind }---
☑ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding
---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☑ Good
☐ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life
---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☐ Average
☑ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond
---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☑ Worth the price
☐ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money
---{ Bugs }---
☐ Never heard of
☑ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs
---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☐ 7
☑ 8
☐ 9
☐ 10
---{ Author }---
☑

One of my favorite games ever. Had to come back and 100% it.
Screw Epic Games for making Alan Wake 2 and Alan Wake Remastered exclusives. Never do that again please Remedy.

SHOW ME THE CHAMPION OF LIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT
I’LL SHOW YOU THE HERALD OF DARKNESS
LOST IN THE NEVER ENDING NIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT
DIVING DEEP TO THE SURFACE