- Tested on PC
- RTX 3060 = 2560 x 1440 to 60 FPS in ULTRA
- Includes the original game + the 2 DLC (The signal / the writer)
Alan Wake released on Xbox 360 on May 14, 2010, eleven years ago... Before launching this remaster, I cherished the memory of a work with a haunting rhythm and a mysterious atmosphere. It must be admitted that I did not have all the references whose title claims inspiration. Since I've been watching Twin Peaks, part of The Fourth Dimension and devoured many novels by Stephen King. Also a decade in the world of video game, it's long, and the genre of action-adventure GST was particularly prolific during this period, enough to generate some weariness. What's this worth? remastering 2021? Spotlight!
« It's not a lake; It's an ocean. »
I'm always fascinated by how our brain can reactivate entire memory strips on the fly from a shy memory fragment. I didn't remember at all that Alan Wake It had phases of driving, or its narrative was deliberately cut in an episodic format. Each act ends in fact with a cliffhanger accompanied by a high-flying music track and starts with a « Previously on Alan Wake » summary, in the same way as the TV series with suspense.
Everything came back in a flash, as our cursed writer observed the town of Bright Falls from the bridge of a ferry. It is one of my favourite scenes as it inspires serenity and faithfully restores the charm of the small communities that crisscross the northwestern coast of the United States and Canada. I thought at the time that the developers of Remedy had caricatured this fictitious locality but it is nothing and these quiet microcosms seem to be frozen in another space-time exist well. Go for a ride around Tofino or Port Hardy in British Columbia and see for yourself! You will have the illusion of walking in the environments of the game.
« Nightmares exists outside of logic, and there is little fun to be had in explanations; They're antithetical to the poetry of feeling. »
Stephen King
quoted by Alan Wake from the beginning of the game
Let the light be!
But let's go back to our sheep and say everything from go: Alan Wake Remaster is a modest updating, which « does the job » I've got no frills. The renderings of lights are improved, the current definitions are supported, Alan and his agent Barry finally have a real face (despite very dated facial animations) and the blacks appear deeper than ever. This last point is important since the action takes place mainly in the dark. There is no doubt that lucky people with an OLED screen will take full advantage of them as the contrasts emerge from this graphic modernization.
All this contributes to a greater emphasis on the superb artistic direction and its forest environments. In terms of visual effects, the smoke volutes of the fireworks hypnotize and we take pleasure in admiring the beam of our lamp that drills through. We even surprise ourselves to stop moving to witness the pyrotechnic spectacle of our distress rockets that are extinguishing and whose reddish and trembling glow gradually fades before finally returning their place to darkness in an ultimate « pssshit ». In another register, the best resolution makes it possible to read properly posters and other descriptive panels, in the museum or the police station for example, for the benefit of immersion. On the graphic level, we therefore feel like we are playing in a beautiful title as in our 720p magnified reminiscences.
It is unfortunately the gameplay which has suffered the most the test of time, the one which concerns us all and the recent responsible for the presence of hairs on the tip of my ears. The progression structure seems to be even more direct and repetitive than in 2010. Besides, the scripts can easily be broken and most of the combats avoided, for as long as we run by cutting intersections at the right places and strategically dropping torches on the ground, to block the passage of the ghostly entities launched at our kits. The rare driving scenes also do a little work and the action much too present in the last third ends to emphasize the weakness of the ever-ending loop « spawn d ».
However, it is difficult to hold on to it, since the original came out in the middle of the golden age of the GST, an overexploited genre that ended up weary. Collisions may also be approximate, especially when Alan leaps to cross an obstacle. The dubbings, on the other hand, took an old blow and gave the feeling that the doublers recite their own text on their side, without any real exchange or spontaneity. Finally we will prefer to disable the HUD my very naughty faith, even though to mislead our sense of orientation when all that surrounds us is only pines and redwoods as far as we can see. Play again Alan Wake in 2021 really makes realize how linear it is.
Time doesn't do anything.
However, and despite some of the ageing aspects mentioned above, it must be noted that the heartAlan Wake, its atmosphere, did not take a wrinkle. And so much the better because that's what makes all his charm. We find with happiness this atmosphere at the crossroads of universes, between Twin Peaks, The Fourth Dimension, part of Stephen King's work and Poltergeist. As in the latter, the objects possessed are legion and constitute a posteriori the thematic firsts of the excellent Control, the latest of the same talented Finns. We had also had the opportunity to exchange with Mikael Kasurin which was also lead game designer on Alan Wake First of the name.
The cryptic-but-not-too scenario intrigues us and always haunts us, pushing us to go forward to find out more, even when it comes to cutting down a 60th logger after an ambush in the middle of the woods. The studio excels in the broadcast of a palpable supernatural aura and manages to make the city of Bright Falls a full-fledged character, notably through radio broadcasts that know how to set a frame and participate in the maintenance of a mysterious atmosphere. Take a moment. to listen to this one, that we savor in a lost cabin with the only background sound of the song characteristic of the loons and the night blow of the wind in the trees (please note the video extract comes from the Xbox 360 version and not from the remaster).
It is also impossible not to mention the strange series Night Springs, the fruit of a romantic relationship between Twilight Zone and The Stories of Crypt, and whose episodes are scattered throughout the adventure path. These short films to the crazy charm make both smile and give us the chicken flesh in addition to bringing their stone to the lore of the « Remedy-verse », Control and Alan Wake now officially connected via a DLC.
Alan Wake Remaster offers a certainly minimalist rereading that reminds us of all the talent Remedy has to sell to create fantastic, coherent universes at the crossroads of genres such as video game, television series, cinema and literature. Nostalgic people will be able to re-immerse themselves without a hint. As for the others who would have never set foot in Bright Falls before, you are advised to go without hesitation. As long as you are ready to accept a dated progression scheme, you will then live a memorable ten d
It was the time of the excluded X box that made you salivate as impossible. The first Gears and Alan Wake, what a slap!
Not to mention the first Mass Effect that was excluded 360 at the beginning of the machine , Lost Odyssey !!!!! What a Game !!!! , Bioshock etc.... It was the beautiful time for Microsoft !!!
I had Day One at the time with...... Perfect Dark Zero.... What a disappointment!!! (Yes yes it is my biggest disappointment EVER, an insult to Perfect Dark on N64 which was an absolute masterpiece).
Alan Wake loved it at the time (netly better than Remedy's latest productions like Quantum Break or Control to not mention them)
Too bad this game didn't have any commercial success at the time compared to great qualities (even as much as getting the game out front against a Red Dead Redemption.... It was definitely right in the wall......
I'll wait for Promos or Sale to do it again on XSX or then a Switch-in-box version if it ever comes out!
Alan Wake is my favorite too even though I had a big crush on Control! When I do it again then I will take advantage of it to also make the DLC that connects the universes of both games.
Excellent DLC that allows to understand Alan Wake from another angle.
Well, I'll talk about it again when I do. 🙂 You make me want!