If you're into supernatural thrillers or anything by Stephen King, It’s basically a playable Twin Peaks episode mixed with a Stephen King novel and this is a must-play.

The atmosphere in Bright Falls is top-tier. There’s a constant sense of dread when you're navigating the woods at night, and the way the shadows close in on you still feels genuinely creepy. The "fight with light" mechanic is such a smart twist on standard shooters—having to manage your flashlight batteries while being hunted adds a layer of panic that most action games don't have.

My favorite part has to be the storytelling. Finding the manuscript pages that describe exactly what’s about to happen to you creates this awesome meta-tension. It honestly feels like playing through a high-budget TV series, complete with "Previously on..." recaps and a killer soundtrack (Old Gods of Asgard tracks are still stuck in my head).

The only real downside is that Alan runs like he’s never seen a treadmill in his life, so you'll be managing your stamina as much as your ammo. But the writing and the mystery are so good that you won't really care.

Highly recommend if you want a game that’s more about the "vibe" and psychological tension than just mindless shooting.

A Finnish Classic.

Even for a game that came out over 10 years ago, this game is rough to play. If you are playing this for background info for the Control DLC or Alan Wake II, just watch a video or something. The controls are floaty and bad. The combat SUUUUUUCKS. It's not hard, it's not fun, it's tedious. Hold right click on an enemy until it pops and then shoot it 2-6 times depending on difficulty level. Difficulty just changes how many times you have to click on an enemy. I got about half way through the game and there was only ever 2 types of enemy, a guy that takes 2 hits, and a guy that takes 4 hits.

The only difficulty to the game comes from the enemies swarming you and the fact that you can't do anything to them until you put light on them for long enough. The camera control is bad, and it is made worse by the fact that the game twirls the camera around the area *every* time an enemy spawns in. You walk into an area, it's clearly going to be a place where enemies will come in, and then the camera twirls around to show off that enemies have spawned.

Then you're lucky if the game hasn't decided to just take away all your items. I find new weapons and then a few minutes later, something dumb happens and I lose everything I had. There are 3 levels of flashlight and it keeps forcing me back to the bad one that lasts like 3 seconds even though I've found at least 10 of the best flashlight.

The story is kind of interesting but the gameplay is abhorrent. I'm not judging this based on how games are in 2025, there are plenty of games that came out before this one that have much better gameplay. This is just bad.