Alan Wake is a phenomenal thriller game that will entertain and hook you whether you're a horror fan, a thriller fan, an action fan, or someone just looking for an entertaining game with fantastic story and gameplay harmony. While it may no longer be available to buy, if anyone still has inventory copies you owe it to yourself to try and secure a copy.
Failing that, your best bets are hope that Remedy/Microsoft can actually renew the musical licenses (hard as that may be considering who's within) OR buy a used physical copy for consoles.

Score
5/5


Gameplay
The game starts off simple enough; you begin within a dream while en route to the location of the game. Within the dream you're taught the mechanics of the game, from running and dodging to aiming, reloading, check points, and some do's/don'ts. It doesn't really do a lot to educate you on collectables or other out of the way things, but that's acceptable in my eyes as you should be learning and experimenting with that yourself.

Running is smoothly animated and rarely if ever has issues. Unlike the sequel, unfortunately, he's about as in shape as a typical veteran regular at Friday Magic. Admittedly, this works for the story, as Alan is a writer and thus more brain than brawn (Though being a New Yorker, I'd think he'd have SOME physicality...though I guess at least he's slim). Thankfully even if you're out of stamina, dodging is not limited or hurt in any way. On that note, dodging is a relatively fluid and solid tool, and usually comes with leeway when it comes to attacks that arrive within 2-3~ seconds of the dodge's start.

As for combat and interactables, personally I've never really had much issue with properly using switches or levers or even the opening of supplies. Generators have been smooth and if I ever failed it was always frame skips on my computer's part or me screwing up a timing. Cars aren't Forza quality, but they're solid for the rarity that they're truly used. Reloading is reliably usable (even abusable some might say) and they feel good and impactful to use. The mechanic of using light to burn away poltergeists and darkness, or remove an enemy's immunity shroud, is ingenious and something I wish more games could figure out ways to imitate and reimagine.

And there's nothing as satisfying, whether its your first panicked run or your 5th veteran replay, as standing your ground in the darkness without light and simply relying on endless dodges and managing enemies vulnerable states while blowing them away with shells and bullets galore. If you grow addicted to it, I highly recommend American Nightmare's arcade mode.

Sound
The soundtrack, both original and licensed, is hauntingly beautiful and perfectly fitting. Of particular note are episodes 4 through 6; 4 ends with the full version of an original song integral to the story called "The Poet and the Muse" by in-story band Old Gods of Asgard. Poets of the Fall, using their real band name and sound, also do Episode 5's "War" (I highly recommend the music video for fans of this game). Episode 6 ends with perhaps the most hauntingly fitting song; David Bowie's Space Oddity. Sadly this song alone almost guarantees this game will likely never see the light of relicensing again.

Beyond the perfectly chosen end credits of the episodes, the environmental sounds and songs are well chosen and articulated. From the subtle change of quiet night sounds and background music to strong winds and accompanying diminishment of light to the sudden swift drop of the aforementioned peacefulness for yells and slams or even the slicing of the air by an axe as it embeds itself near your feet, the sounds are all crafted to help encourage you to keep yourself moving. Always forward, never looking back, and always fleeing by the skin of your teeth; all this, along with the writing and gameplay, ensures you're moving at the dev's pace. And what a fast chaotic pace it is at times. As fantastic as the writing is, without the wide ranging sound effects and BGM this game would be nothing.

Writing
No matter how great a game's gameplay, if its a game with a purpose or a story the writing must be on point. Alan Wake achieves this gloriously while also subtly critiquing both itself and real world contemporaries of the same style. An especially high prevalence is given to Stephen King and his quotes and books regarding thrillers and horror. The game's also a great boon for aspiring writers to learn some lessons of literature if they've struggled to learn in the past. It gives you not only the definitions and explanations but easily experienced demonstrations in action.

From the personal growth of Alan and the slow dawning realizations of various characters to how The Darkness™ manipulates people and events, this game shows Remedy knows how to craft a solid story. It combines with gameplay and sound to form a perfect trifecta of panic and speed; you feel compelled to rush ever onward and ever faster, as not only will the story pick up but the sounds signaling hordes of death become more commonplace and the gameplay becomes more frantic and even at times borderline chaotically panicked.

But despite the seemingly rushed pace of the story, its actually well paced and developed. They take strides to leave clues and hints of the world around in the form of TV/Billboard adverts (another underused ingenious pioneer of game dev, this time for publisher/funding money) and radio collectibles. The radio collectibles involve characters from throughout the town, most of whom you meet over the course of the story a varying multitude of times. From out of the way paths offering local plaques of history and manuscript pages actually being fully written to the idle chatter and optional conversations with rare instances of characters being around you, there's so much more to experience in the game...even if it takes you more than 1 replay to find and digest them all.

If there is a downside to the writing, it would be that some of the supporting cast seem a bit too easily believing of the situation. However to contrast that, they explicitly mention they know the town has a history of weirdness and there's also the live action mini series' that preceded the game's original release. Alan's growth and self realizations could come across as "too fast" to some, but I felt as though there were hints of it being less "development" and more "mostly return to his former self with a small helping of personal growth". If accurate, its certainly less concretely put on display than other parts of the writing.

Graphics
Very pretty, and they hold up quite well even nearly 8 years later. You will regularly find yourself stopping to marvel at the pure beautiful of their Pacific Northwest. From distant mountains and hills to boundless forests and quaint log cabins; from a myriad of camping grounds to historically accurate ghost towns once home to bustling mining operations, its clear their countless trips to the US for research and authenticity paid off in spades. You're almost sure to even find yourself gaining a sense of remorse for so many locales clearly past their prime left to wither and disappear; a truth of the region to this day.

However, the same cannot be said of character models. While some hold up better than others, they all suffer from occasional awkward lip syncing. Their fingers and hands, while not remotely San Andreas levels of stiffness and actually being individually articulated, seem vastly underused. It's clear the best part of model development was facial based. While the quirkiness of the models can be grown accustomed to or even loved, the true graphic staying power of this title rests in the landscapes and environments. And in that alone, it soars...or perhaps spookily floats.