Introduction
Alan Wake is a third person survival horror/thriller developed by Remedy Entertainment, the brilliant minds behind the Max Payne series. It was released in late May 2010 for Xbox 360, and mid-February 2012 for PC.
The story- well, at least, at first -follows best-selling novelist Alan Wake as he tries to uncover the mystery behind his wife's disappearance during a vacation in the small rural town of Twin Peaks, I Mean Bright Falls, Washington, all while experiencing events from the plot of his latest novel coming to life. The game is structured similarly to a television series, with episodes that contain plot twists and cliffhangers and even a "previously on" recap at the start of each. There are also two DLC episodes that extend the game's ending which I will be doing after the main LP concludes.
Alan Wake is a fantastic game that does quite a few things that many video games are scared of. The story is perfectly willing to sit back and let you interpret it how you want, and the open-endedness of it all makes room for a lot of questions and speculative answers. The gameplay is varied enough to be fun, the setpieces are varied enough to stay fresh, and the graphics are just plain great. What's not to love?
As always, there will be two versions of every video: One with cut commentary so you don't have to hear me and my buddy Skippy Granola blabbing over Alan, and one with uncut commentary that is pretty self-explanatory. Keep in mind when choosing which one to watch that Alan Wake is at times a walking-through-the-woods-in-the-dark simulator and there are extended periods where Alan has nothing to say, so let that affect your decision accordingly.
Please don't. As a horror/thriller game with a plot twistier than a pretzel made out of klein bottles, it thrives almost entirely on being presented as-is. If I haven't talked about it or it hasn't shown up in the videos yet, please don't talk about it. Yes, technical wink-and-nod spoilers do count. I know the game's been out for like five years but for the sake of the thread readers don't just go CAN'T WAIT FOR THE MONSTER TRUCK RALLY BOSS FIGHT IN THE SECOND DLC or something.
