When I first played Alan Wake in the early 2010s, not too long after it came out, I was lukewarm on it. It was impressive for the time, sure, but it didn't quite stand out to me as the 'cult classic' people had been hyping it up to be, even so soon after its release.
Now, a decade and change later, with it receiving the coveted next-gen remaster, I made a point to revisit Alan Wake with a fresh perspective, especially with the sequel on the horizon. Having done so, I found that my feelings on it haven't exactly changed in either direction.
One of the biggest issues for me is Alan Wake himself. Granted, Matthew Porretta portrays him well; however, I found the character himself to be infuriating. While much of that is intentional and part of his identity as a deeply flawed protagonist, I feel like they did too good of a job here. It was hard to find him compelling when he's out-shined by nearly every other character.
Several gameplay elements didn't work as well as they should have either, namely platforming. While you don't have to do much of it in Alan Wake, the little you do is disrupted by stiff, inconsistent jumping and climbing animations that are difficult to control at the best of times.
The amount of combat throughout Alan Wake is also a bit of a misstep. It's an action game first and foremost, yes, but the 'rock concert' level (by far the best part of the game to this day, by the way) is one of the very few times that it switches things up from the standard shooting gallery in the woods otherwise.
Now that the sequel is taking things in a survival-horror direction with fewer and more meaningful combat encounters, thankfully, it seems that Remedy have noted this and re-evaluated things moving forward.
All in all, the parts of Alan Wake that should work do work, namely the narrative and episodic structure, which, while superficial, lend credibility to emulating that TV serial mystery feel. Despite my qualms and final rating, I do believe it's worth revisiting in the wake (hah) of the new entry, just to see where Remedy have come from and where they're going next.
6.5/10
Now, a decade and change later, with it receiving the coveted next-gen remaster, I made a point to revisit Alan Wake with a fresh perspective, especially with the sequel on the horizon. Having done so, I found that my feelings on it haven't exactly changed in either direction.
One of the biggest issues for me is Alan Wake himself. Granted, Matthew Porretta portrays him well; however, I found the character himself to be infuriating. While much of that is intentional and part of his identity as a deeply flawed protagonist, I feel like they did too good of a job here. It was hard to find him compelling when he's out-shined by nearly every other character.
Several gameplay elements didn't work as well as they should have either, namely platforming. While you don't have to do much of it in Alan Wake, the little you do is disrupted by stiff, inconsistent jumping and climbing animations that are difficult to control at the best of times.
The amount of combat throughout Alan Wake is also a bit of a misstep. It's an action game first and foremost, yes, but the 'rock concert' level (by far the best part of the game to this day, by the way) is one of the very few times that it switches things up from the standard shooting gallery in the woods otherwise.
Now that the sequel is taking things in a survival-horror direction with fewer and more meaningful combat encounters, thankfully, it seems that Remedy have noted this and re-evaluated things moving forward.
All in all, the parts of Alan Wake that should work do work, namely the narrative and episodic structure, which, while superficial, lend credibility to emulating that TV serial mystery feel. Despite my qualms and final rating, I do believe it's worth revisiting in the wake (hah) of the new entry, just to see where Remedy have come from and where they're going next.
6.5/10