Alan Wake to me offered a hollow, vapid experience that reeked of 7th console generation design. Although the combat was generally pretty fun, with its snappy flow and quick pace, the story was never enough to keep me interested. The characters and tone are all over the place, never being able to decide if it wants to take itself seriously or not. It attempts to emulate Twin Peaks in that way, but ultimately fails. In many ways it feels like a different CBS show, something safe and made for cable that will register as inoffensive to the people its beamed to. It does redeem itself in the later half by playing with some interesting ideas and concepts, but it never leaned into that hard enough to redeem it for me.