There are times when I suffer through something that I do not otherwise enjoy… so that I can achieve greater understanding. There have been many times where a sequel has hooked me on a franchise and then I find myself obligated to go back and try and experience the original game so I can fill in the gaps in my knowledge. Alan Wake is one of these games, and to be truthful… this is not the first time I have attempted to play the game. I can think of two other times where I have installed this game and made a vague effort to get engaged. The first was due to the critic acclaim the game received and the second was an attempt to prepare myself for playing through Control. In both cases I bounced pretty hard because I have to say the game play… is not exactly endearing.
In Alan Wake you spend most of your time playing freeze tag with a bunch of shadow monsters… that apparently they call “Taken”. I am wondering if Bungie sniped this term at all for the very similar shadowy reflections of baddies in the Destiny universe. Essentially in order to destroy one of these shadow clones you have to burn away the darkness with the flashlight and only then can you actually harm them with the array of guns that you pick up along the way. Guns mind you that you seem to constantly be misplacing because multiple times during the game have I found myself whistling in the breeze with nothing to protect myself. The only really satisfying weapon… is the flare gun which is effectively a one hit kill… but there is never more than a few rounds at any given time so you ration it heavily.
Why I am sticking around however is that the story is really damned compelling. The entire game is divided up into multiple episodes and presented like it were a television show. At the beginning of a new episode the game gives you a “previously on Alan Wake” segment replaying the highlights of the previous section. Another thing that is super interesting about the game is how it utilizes full motion video, which I am guessing is a hallmark of a Remedy game based on how much it happened in Control. I find myself stopping to watch whatever happens to be on television or listening to each radio broadcast before moving on with the game play.
At this point I am committed… but honestly had I known then what I know now… I maybe would have just watched a lets play series on the game. I don’t really find myself enjoying the actual game play at all, and quite honestly… HAD I played Alan Wake first, I maybe would not have played Control. All said I am glad the events went down in the order that they have, and I am hoping that Alan Wake 2 ends up feeling a bit more like Control. It isn’t that this is a bad game, it is just a game that is doing a gimmick and has fully committed to said gimmick. It succeeds in doing the thing that I think it set out to do… which is making you feel outmatched and mostly useless at every turn. Side note… I don’t love the horror games where you find yourself fumbling around with only an iPhone knock off to protect you. I want to face evil with guns a blazing… or at least a really good bullwhip that has a knack for making candles produce power ups.
Last night I wrapped up episode four and if my reading is correct that means I have two left to go until the official end of the main story. I am deeply uncertain I will stick around for the DLC, especially if it is more of the same. Great story however, so ultimately I guess that will be the determining factor if the writing and narration can keep me hooked. I mean I get why this game was heralded, because I am sure at the time it was doing something wildly different to what the rest of the games were offering. However steam is now full of hundreds of fumble around hopelessly in the dark while something stalks you games, and that is not really my genre. It is interesting however piecing together what happened here, because the AWE DLC in Control only gives you the vaguest of overviews. For now I am going to keep my head down and push through so I can see the rest of the story.