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reTroSPecTive alan wake
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retrospectiveAl A n w A ke
How the team behind Max Payne ditched its slow-mo cop for darkness-dodging writer Alan Wake Dave meikleham
Publisher microsoft / DeveloPer remedy entertainment / format Xbox 360
Remedy sure loves a pithy play on words. First, it was Max Payne: not only the titular name of the Finnish developer’s policeman protagonist, but also the pill-popping cop’s constant, anguished mental state. Nearly a decade later, the studio was still having fun with monikers. Just look at a certain Mr A Wake: an insomniaplagued, pulpy horror novelist in the Stephen King mould who can’t sleep. In retrospect, we’re disappointed Quantum Break’s Jack Joyce wasn’t called Tim Traveller. Not that the on-the-nose name of Remedy’s writer is the only thing that sticks in the memory when it comes to this longdelayed psychological thriller.
Nearly eight years on from its fashionably late release, Alan Wake remains a thoroughly odd creature. Combining the slow-burning, psychological dread of Silent Hill 2, Resident Evil IV’s over-the-shoulder monster murder, and even some of the episodic traits of a Life Is Strange, it remains a game that’s hard to pigeonhole.
Playing the eponymous word jockey, you join Alan at the start of a soon-to-be-hallucinogenic, somewhat homicidal holiday with his wife, as he struggles with a nasty case of writer’s block. If Max Payne’s main enemies were booze and shady gangsters, Wake’s is seemingly his typewriter and semicolons. Cue a quasi survival horror that’s as much blasting and blinding mysterious creatures as it is ponderous forest walks and quirky conversations with busybody NPCs.
Back in the day, Alan Wake was a big deal. Hell, there was a brief time
when it was The Biggest Deal. When Microsoft first agreed to publish Remedy’s latest mind-bending virtual drama, it came at a time when Xbox was hungrily building a portfolio of exciting exclusives. The studio was still pretty hot following the success of Max Payne 2, and the hugely ambitious Alan Wake no doubt looked like a slam dunk acquisition. Well, at least that’s the impression you were given after watching the game’s reveal trailer at E3 2005. Originally envisioned as an ambitious sandbox adventure, Alan Wake underwent drastic changes during its drawn-out development. The initial reveal showed the town of Bright Falls as an open-ended environment, not the linear chunk of Twin Peaks-inspired real estate that features in the horribly tardy final product. sPitting image That debut tease also
Every character’s likeness features rockfalls and in the game belongs to a violent storms, real-life actor. Wake’s model both seemingly is based on Finnish thesp Ilkka Villi. The dude gives good stubble. setting the tone for a world that was much more governed by physics systems than the game we actually got.
Fashion faux pas
Wake’s appearance changed considerably, too. Early footage showed a man suffering a serious wardrobe crisis. A trench coat, bright red jumper and lurid orange scarf? Really, Alan? Thankfully, the version of the horror writer who turns up in the boxed game sports a tasteful tweed jacket, more becoming of the sort of literary type who… um, spends his nights fighting off shadow beasties. Between that first reveal and the final game eventually slinking onto shelves in the spring of 2010, Xbox 360 served up five mainline Call Of plAy now
on xbox one bAckwArds bAckwArds compatible compatible
Duty games, a couple of Forzas, and the first two Gears Of War titles. Considering it was in development for an age, it’s no wonder Alan Wake went through such significant aesthetic changes. Yet despite the radical makeover, the game was consistently obsessed with one major theme it would never drop: darkness.
“In Alan Wake, the themes revolve around primitive fears – the fear of the dark, the fear of water, the fear of the unknown,” Sam Lake told The Guardian, shortly after the game was released. Lake is, of course, synonymous with Remedy’s quirky identity. Not only has he acted as lead writer on almost every major release to come out of the studio since 2001, he also lent his unmistakable mug and magnificent cheek bones to Max Payne’s weary, bullet-dodging crimefighter. Lake’s fascination with Bullet Time is seemingly matched by his curiosity for the dark, because the core interplay between light and shadow informs almost every element of Wake’s bleary-eyed tale.
The game’s core loop involves keeping the dark at bay. And no, we’re not talking about Alan’s internal strife. Rather, you literally have to stay in what little pockets of light exist in this largely nocturnal adventure. Like Gears Of War’s Nightfall chapter, rare, not-rubbish Vin Diesel sci-fi Pitch Black, or that X-Files episode with all the teeny green termites, darkness is death in the game’s dim world. Among the dark forest trails, creepy farms and abandoned industrial sites, lampposts and the odd poorly lit cabin become cherished refuges.
Look who’s Taken
Playing into this darkness-dodging central premise are the Taken: a series of murdery shadows who hate the light, and appear to have crawled straight out of the writer’s worst tequila-fuelled nightmares. Thanks to the inventive dark vs light gameplay, combat remains a curious delight. Rather than rely on brute firepower, Wake has to be altogether more cunning to defeat the Taken. Sure, there are a handful of guns, but without one insanely boring household item, the small armoury Alan can scavenge – which really only consists of a pistol, shotgun and long-range rifle – would be altogether useless. What is said everyday object, you ask? A torch. No, seriously.
To inflict real damage upon the Taken, you first have to wash away the dark energy that surrounds them. You do this by primarily shining torchlight on them, though in certain instances, switching on generators or firing a powerful flare gun can wipe out the sunshine-hating swines instantly. We don’t know about the pen being mightier than the sword, but in the strange case of Alan Wake, the torch is definitely way more useful than any pointy blade.
While Al’s electric lamp is great at stunning enemies, it has to be used sparingly. Energy supplies aren’t unlimited, and to keep the lights on, you must feed the torch collectible batteries, which are spread out just sparsely enough that you occasionally have to flee from fights because you’re all out of juice. It’s in these moments, when Alan is short of AAs that the tension really ramps up; a seemingly humdrum nighttime stroll
down a dimly lit nature trail turning into a life-or-death sprint to that next lamppost. If you’re in any doubt how important those lithium-powered cells are, look no further than Alan Wake’s cheeky product placement: real-world Energizer batteries. We’re just glad Remedy didn’t make the final boss a drum-bashing bunny.
Not that the game immediately overwhelms you with its love for nocturnal nasties. When you first take a spluttering ferry across to Bright Falls, the tiny Washington-set town looks downright idyllic. The warming autumnal hues of nearby treelines clash with the gaudy remnants of a parade float, and before events can take a deadly turn in the dark, Wake must first navigate awkward social encounters with locals – like the town’s overly eager radio DJ, or a fawning waitress at the ‘Oh Deer’ diner who claims to be Alan’s number one fan. Dovetailing both the mundane and the murderous, no one does esoteric pacing quite like Remedy, even all these years on.
Because the studio was determined to make its Stephen King wannabe a relatable, steadfastly average leading character, Wake isn’t blessed with
above bright Falls is littered with excerpts from Wake’s latest book. The words often foreshadow the upcoming action.
Story tellerS
Alan Wake makes judicious use of narration to tell its tale. here are other some talky xbox titles that channelled their inner Shawshank Redemption…
maX Payne 3 talking coP
Payne loves a monologue. as such, you can hardly go 60 seconds of slowmo shooting without a narrated interlude. sPiDer-man 2 brucie bonus
this heroic sandbox employs bruce campbell to narrate the story. Unlike tobey maguire, he actually sounds half interested. thomas Was alone shiP shaPes
the puzzler is enhanced thanks to danny Wallace’s descriptive narrator. Who knew shapes lead such interesting lives?
the flashy abilities of his Xbox action contemporaries. “I felt that he needed to be an everyman,” Lake told The Guardian. “I didn’t want to have a professional action hero.” As such, Wake really isn’t all that special to control. Aside from a last ditch dodge, Alan has all the physical prowess you’d expect from a middle-aged novelist who drinks too much. Next to the likes of Marcus Fenix’s balloonarmed chainsaw scuffles, or the Gears star’s paranormally nimble Roadie Run, blacking out every 20 minutes as a result of sleep deprivation hardly ranks as a back-of-the-box-worthy signature skill.
Least action hero
Despite reasonable sales, Alan Wake never had the impact either Remedy or Microsoft would have hoped for. Played today, far removed from the half decade of tedious hype and a painful development process, it’s an interesting action thriller that combines horror and more mundane character-building in a refreshing way. The game’s chapter structure, which bookends levels with moody musical interludes and “previously on…” recaps, makes Wake feel like both a precursor to Telltale’s work on the likes of The Walking Dead, and an aspiring interactive TV show. Looking back, it’s clear to see the cross-media DNA of Quantum Break emerging in its story of shadow and sleeplessness.
Nevertheless, when you know the history of the game, and what it took to bring it to Xbox 360, it becomes harder to look past some painful joins. The remnants of that sandbox structure can be briefly felt in unnecessary, tacked-on driving sections, while it’s hard not to think that troublesome development cycle resulted in a final game that’s ultimately short on ideas. Beating back the darkness is a cool mechanic, but it doesn’t half repeat itself. Unfortunately, Mr Wake is a bit of a one-trick (vaguely poetic) pony.
Still, this horror hybrid remains interesting enough that it deserves a follow-up. Despite some decent DLC – Alan Wake’s American Nightmare – the studio has never gotten a sequel greenlit. It did, however, sneak a cute Easter egg into Quantum Break, in the form of a Night Springs clip – the fictional TV show that plays throughout Wake. In an interview with Polygon back in 2016, Sam Lake also admitted Remedy is “looking for ways of doing [a new] Alan Wake“. Let’s hope the studio manages to give its writer a second edition. After all, it’d be a real shame if this sleepless scribe was left alone in the dark. n
