Alan Wake Remastered – -apkrig

Some mysteries are better left to sleep. In Remedy’s studio, however, they decided to wake Alan Wake from a peaceful rest and, in the darkness, not yet threatened by any sequel, to shine the eleven-year-old thriller right in the face.

In the light of the fresh remaster, some details that could have escaped even the keen eyes when released on the Xbox 360 stand out, as well as the still exciting story, but unfortunately also the uncut edges of the gameplay, which eventually turned and bored years ago.

The site is rustling with madness

Welcome to Bright Falls! Maybe you got lost in it for the very first time, maybe you’ve been through it before or you visit it from time to time. Or you haven’t been in it for a precious few years. It is a typical American small town, where neither Stephen King nor David Lynch would be ashamed to plant his next work. After all, the game pays tribute to the first in the first seconds.

Nightmare writer Alan comes to Bright Falls to relax with his wife Alice while overcoming a creative block. Soon, however, he is forced to experience the story of a book he does not remember ever writing – the woman is missing, the townspeople are unusually aggressive at night, and the cottage where they stayed on vacation has not stood for many years.

The story of the worshiping classic of the thriller genre from Hitchcock to Carpenter and the burning atmosphere are, even after years, the biggest domain of the whole game. Some call it a survival horror, which I’m reluctant because Alan Wake doesn’t find it scary. Exciting and slightly disturbing, yes, more sensitive individuals will probably feel the need to have it lit up at night on the way to the toilet, but not so much because something could puff at them, rather than because of what could happen in the shadows. to hide.

Writer with a brocade

In the game darkness, men with axes, whipped by a mountain wind, roam, who do not even use heavy woodworking techniques against Alan. On the other hand, it has only a flashlight and a revolver, sometimes flares or a hunting rifle, rarely a shotgun. In short, what he just finds on abandoned gas stations, sawmills and rest areas.

Fights consisting of illuminating enemies devoured by darkness and their subsequent elimination by the conventional method were not very precise even years ago, and remaster does not help them in any way even now. The control with the camera behind him is quite awkward and the opponents are agile, on the other hand this cumbersomeness corresponds to the fact that Alan is not a trained shooter, but an ordinary person who presses the keys of a typewriter daily more than the trigger.

Unfortunately, clashes with enemies are very repetitive at the end, and Alan Wake doesn’t come up with any big joker that would particularly refresh the monotonous central mechanism, except perhaps for words that become tangible. But they come next at the very end and get a minimum of space.

The driving force is the story, because you will naturally be interested in what the hell is really going on in Bright Falls. The narrative is cut into individual chapters evoking episodes of a television series with its own subtitles, and even a summary in the spirit of “Last Seen”, which is very useless if you want to play this matter in one piece. Which is not so difficult, because you can have it behind you in ten hours, but if you get tired in the process and put it off, a recap of previous events may come in handy later. In the remaster you will also find two bonus episodes, which were originally paid downloadable content, but no longer a pulp spin-off of Alan Wake’s American Nightmare.

Modern achievements

So what’s new in the remaster? The game got a bit out of place, but only very decently: 4K and 60 FPS of course suits her on the PlayStation 5, but especially in terms of animation, it’s noticeable that it’s not coming out for the first time this year. Especially the character models and some textures look better, if you don’t examine them too closely, Remedy has smoothed a lot of jagged edges and added volumetric lighting to make the glittering moon in the night forest even more sinister and thoughtful camera shots over the city.

In terms of sound, I didn’t notice any changes, but the soundtrack remains fantastic, including a selection of songs at the end of the episodes, which include David Bowie and Nick Cave.

Even so, everything is more or less the same, and the biggest advantage is the fact that the game was first seen on PlayStation, which is quite possible for the developers to prepare the ground for a potential sequel. After all, there is another small change, namely QR codes scattered around the game world, which will lead you to a series of cryptic videos strongly indicating the existence of Alan Wake 2. Or at least return to the valley of Boiler Lake.

For Control fans

Given the circumstances, Alan Wake Remastered targets a relatively narrow target group. If you haven’t met this middle-aged writer before, you enjoyed last year’s Control from the same creators, but not because of the action, but rather because of the narrative and sense of mystery, then it makes sense to give this cult a chance.

For old acquaintances, it will be like opening an old, generational touch. It can be an ideal companion for dry autumn evenings if you are looking forward to your favorite passages, but if you haven’t forgotten the main twist yet, you may be a little disappointed after crossing three hundred pages.