Alan Wake (PC) review "Well, the woods WERE dark..."

Alan Wake is not scary, but I don't think it was intended to be. At least not in the traditional sense...

As a 2010 horror release that heavily references formula fiction, this title draws inspiration from contemporary horror paperbacks. Stephen King or Dean Koontz pop into most folks' heads in that respect, but this title smacks less of those two and more of authors who made names for themselves among genre fans in the twenty-aughts and early 2010s. Bentley Little especially comes to mind, as his novels are more darkly strange than scary, featuring such peculiarities as otherworldly insurance salesman, sinister department store chains, and god-like creatures made of paper that control people using written word. Sure, his work was at times cartoony and obviously satiric. However, it still showed that even in the most ridiculous of examples, madness is hell.

Wake features an antagonistic force that similarly isn't all that frightening, but definitely ticks the creepy-weird box: the Taken. These things assume a number of forms, from possessed humans to poltergeist-like phenomenon. In the former case, they manifest as average people that the titular protagonist has met during his quest, except with ghostly auras and distorted voices. They often approach our hero and babble some line of small talk in distorted voices, perhaps reminding us that the actual people they've possessed remain trapped somewhere in their minds, unable to do anything but watch their new bodies commit grisly acts and serve the primary antagonist, the Dark Presence.

Standing opposite of this villain is the titular, torch-wielding crime fiction author, Alan himself. Mr. Wake and his wife, Alice, decide to take a trip to the fictional town of Bright Falls, Washington to help relieve his two-year writer's block. As we all know, things go awry because horror genre. You'll never see a couple going on a trip and stumbling into cute puppies because content like that lends nothing to a sense of conflict unless the puppies are radioactive for something to that effect...



While there, the Dark Presence abducts Alan's nyctophobic wife, and our hero aims to get her back, come hell, high water, Taken, or long stretches of Pacific Northwest woods--or home, as I call it.

The Presence sends its Taken minions to deal with Alan, usually threatening to beat him to death with their blunt weaponry. They often come in swarms in an attempt to overwhelm the writer, eventually delivering bone-crunching shots as they draw close. On the flip side, Alan carries a flashlight. Laugh all you want, but its rays transform the Taken into physical entities, allowing Alan to clumsily shoot them.

Yeah, "clumsily." Like Harry Mason and his ilk, Mr. Wake is not exactly combat-trained. That's perfect, because his lack of firearm proficiency makes for taut moments. Sometimes your foes bear down on you from all angles, and all you can do is hit them with the flashlight and pop off a few blasts before running away screaming. After putting some distance between you and the monsters, you try again in the hopes that your aim is true and your ammo supply is adequate.

As you grow comfortable with control setup and response, the challenge factor adapts along with you. Rather than jumping into the same gunfight repeatedly, Wake finds various wrenches to throw in your works by increasing enemies and delivering new hazards. While early battles pit you against mostly smaller, swifter adversaries, later encounters produce hulking madmen with chainsaws and explosive-lobbing psychopaths in a variety of circumstances. For instance, you might start off with slew of average targets out in the open. Afterward, you'll battle a few large villains in closed quarters, only to rush outside and navigate narrow walkways over deep gorges while corrupted birds attempt to Ninja Gaiden you over the edge. Get past that issue and you'll enter a scuffle with mixed opponents, only this time with the added constraint of dodging enormous objects hurled at you by a poltergeist-like entity. Whatever the situation, Wake keeps you on your toes and maintains a strong pace throughout the experience.



As you can tell, this title wisely skips cerebral elements to deliver more visceral thrills, which mesh better with its action. However, this doesn't prevent it from establishing a solid, brooding atmosphere. After all, you're alone in Pacific Northwest woods at night, surrounded by darkness and a sea of trees, unable to discern what's next to you. You won't encounter much inherently fear-inducing stimuli like arbitrary noises or horrifying visions, and you won't need to. The best kind of tension is the kind you build for yourself. Plunged in the dark, it's hard not to imagine that there are Taken around every tree or hiding inside every dilapidated farmhouse.

Worse, the game rewards you for straying from the path and running headlong into the darkness by granting you access to various treasure troves and secret areas. In such places you'll find improved artillery like flashbangs, which act as grenades against the light-fearing Taken, all at the cost of endangering yourself. You never know if you're going to stumble into the blackness and find a supply crate or a painful death--and either one enriches the experience when you think about it.

My only complaint regarding the setting is it's the same damn thing for ages. Yeah, the forests out here are creepy at night--I can confirm that. However, video games benefit from diversity in regards to its environments, lest the experience grow too samey. That's what occurs here, and while I can personally tolerate shooting things in the woods and lakes of my home region for an entire campaign, other players might not.

And yes, allow me to soap box just this once: Washington is not just a big forest and Seattle. We have small cities, a semi-arid river plateau, lakes aplenty, some prairies, and enough coffee stands and marijuana dispensaries to have you hopping back and forth between anxious and chill for an entire lifetime. For the love of God, Hollywood and whoever else creates stuff based in Washington: please utilize more than just the woods.



Ultimately, I'm not going to call Alan Wake a flawless classic. In some ways it is a poor man's Resident Evil 4, but it hits the same notes more effectively than, say, Silent Hill: Homecoming. It juggles action and suspense effectively, even if it is a little cheesy and not overtly scary. However, it works well with basic tension and restrained gunplay, creating an adventure that's properly eerie and strange rather than horrifying.

And honestly, shouldn't more horror games consider taking an approach like that? I've played numerous pieces that tried really hard to scare the daylights out of me, but only retreaded tired material. If you can't scare your audience, then maybe consider aiming more for weird, off-beat, unnerving, spooky or just plain nuts. Alan Wake took a chance on that, and it paid off.

Community review by JoeTheDestroyer (October 02, 2025) Rumor has it that Joe is not actually a man, but a machine that likes video games, horror movies, and long walks on the beach. His/Its first contribution to HonestGamers was a review of Breath of Fire III.