Remembering Alan Wake 10 Years Later

[Nick Calandra]

Nate (or Shinobi602) on Twitter, recently returned with his The Joy of Gaming series and took a look back at Alan Wake as it just passed it's 10th anniversary.

Remembering Alan Wake 10 Years Later - The Joy of Gaming

This week's The Joy of Gaming episode digs into Alan Wake, 10 years after its original release.

www.escapistmagazine.com

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

I don't think Alan Wake "paid homage" to Stephen King so much as it crawled into his bed wearing a teddy and a come-hither smile. It wasn't a bad game, but from what I've heard, American Nightmare was a direct improvement. (One day I'll get around to playing it!)

 

[Hawki]

I don't think Alan Wake "paid homage" to Stephen King so much as it crawled into his bed wearing a teddy and a come-hither smile.

"Come play with us, Alan..."

 

[BrawlMan]

Liked Alan Wake, but I found Shadows of the Damned better. AW does have one advantage over Shadows as you can skip cut-scenes. What sucks they had a sequel planned for Alan Wake, but it got canned. Remedy actually had a demo and everything.

 

[Trunkage]

Liked Alan Wake, but I found Shadows of the Damned better. AW does have one advantage over Shadows as you can skip cut-scenes. What sucks they had a sequel planned for Alan Wake, but it got canned. Remedy actually had a demo and everything.

If they got a sequel then, we wouldn't have Control now. So a win in my books

 

[B-cell]

I found alan wake to be best third person horror game. better than any resident evil.

 

[BrawlMan]

If they got a sequel then, we wouldn't have Control now. So a win in my books

Too bad we got Quantum Break; a worse version of Vanquish. I am glad Control did well and everything, but a sequel to Alan Wake could have happened before them working on the former.

 

[Chimpzy]

I sort of like Alan Wake, or rather I like the concept of Alan Wake. A horror game framed as a tv series with a narrator who may or may not be reliable is a fun one and inspired by Stephen King and a whole bunch of other horror classics. It's a fun idea. It's kind of a shame the core gameplay loop wears out its welcome pretty quickly. American Nightmare adds some much needed enemy variety, but that doesn't really fix everything.

The stage fight is the shit tho.

 

[Trunkage]

I sort of like Alan Wake, or rather I like the concept of Alan Wake. A horror game framed as a tv series with a narrator who may or may not be reliable is a fun one and inspired by Stephen King and a whole bunch of other horror classics. It's a fun idea. It's kind of a shame the core gameplay loop wears out its welcome pretty quickly. American Nightmare adds some much needed enemy variety, but that doesn't really fix everything.

The stage fight is the shit tho.

It was a cool concept. But execution... Also Barry is almost as bad and whiny as Alan. the two of them together is the worst

 

[MrCalavera]

It was a mild dissapointment for me. Remedy had a huge amount of my goodwill, after their Max Payne games being one of my favorite shooters ever, so i even bought the Collector's Edition. But AW never *clicked* with me. It wasn't that scary, the gameplay was serviceable and most of the King/Twin Peaks references were lost on me at the time. The graphics were really good atleast.

Spoiler

Plus the idea of story/narration "bleeding" into real world, was a cool one.

Thinking about giving it a 2nd run, though. Maybe someday.

It wasn't a bad game, but from what I've heard, American Nightmare was a direct improvement. (One day I'll get around to playing it!)

You should. The gameplay was an improvement, felt more dynamic, to resemble tone change that now veers more into slasher/grindhouse territory. And it's a bite-sized DLC, so it doesn't overstay its welcome.

 

[Dalisclock]

I sort of like Alan Wake, or rather I like the concept of Alan Wake. A horror game framed as a tv series with a narrator who may or may not be reliable is a fun one and inspired by Stephen King and a whole bunch of other horror classics. It's a fun idea. It's kind of a shame the core gameplay loop wears out its welcome pretty quickly. American Nightmare adds some much needed enemy variety, but that doesn't really fix everything.

The stage fight is the shit tho.

Pretty much my feeling on the matter. I like the idea and the Twin Peaks, I'm gonna be nice and say "Homages", are always appreciated. But yeah, the "Shine light on thing, shoot thing" loop got never got any more interesting after it was established early on.