Alan Wake PC
User Score
8.0 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 717 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 591 out of 717
  2. Mixed: 59 out of 717
  3. Negative: 67 out of 717

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  1. mydixienormus
    Feb 16, 2012
    4
    poor pc performance even on top end rigs no crosshair, must aim with flash light off-center camera angle is awful there is a delay to initiate shooting and no focused/zoom mode specifically for shooting probably works better on xbox (because it has auto aim, and probably runs smoother.) no reason for a nearly 2 old xbox game to not run 60fps on top end rigs. the camera also sucks, if you try to have a centered camera view - you run crooked; you have to have a crooked camera view to run straight.


    probably will automatically get good reviews from fan boys and people that were paid to review the game. maybe it was good on xbox, but playing it on pc is like paying $30 to willingly handicap yourself.    … Expand
  2. Dethstar
    Feb 20, 2012
    8
    When I saw this was a microsoft game. I honestly reset my expectations to expect something a very linear and probably quite corny. However, I was very pleasantly surprised by AW. The game has some enhancement for the PC. Things like the crippling FOV you see on many console ports are not a problem here. The game is enjoyable and atmospheric. It is very linear but then due to the nature of the game this is to be expected, the linear nature of the game is not to the point where you dont feel in control and it plays very well. The location are is good although the game could bear some better textures it is generally very pretty. I have seen many complaints here and on steam about poor performance but I play using a quadfire so have not experienced this problem. However, I have encountered a stonking great bug in the final episodes of the game which prevent me from completing the game. Basically the script seems to have broken down. Required taken dont spawn and an event which is required for progression will not start. A very disappointing end to a game I was enjoying immensely. (Playtime approx 20-25 hours.) Overall, I would say a bit short but due to the atmosphere, story and environment in general I would say this would have been a very good buy for the 20 Euro I paid on steam if it didnt have this cataclysmic bug in my save game.… Expand
  3. Lockie
    Feb 17, 2012
    10
    I have only one question: why console exclusives are so much better than multiplatform games? The best videogame story i've ever seen in my life. Moreover, 2 years after release, but the game still looks simply awesome. Thank you, Remedy, for porting this masterpiece to PC. Great story, great graphics, atmosphere, sound, gameplay. I'm very impressed.
  4. despot
    Feb 16, 2012
    9
    Console port well done.

    Suspenseful, unique, well thought game with an interesting story and satisfying combat that makes you come back session after session, or more like episode after episode. Since the gameplay hasn't changed from the original Xbox 360 version I'll just give my opinion of the port quality.

    The porting from Xbox 360 to PC has gone pretty much perfectly and you do get t    he 2 DLC's and spiced up graphics among other PC only stuff. It runs butter smooth on my 1½ year old $800 PC and mouse and keyboard controlling has been well implemented - actually forgot even to try it with my gamepad as I felt right at home with the mouse controlling the aiming and quickly switching between weaponry on my keyboard. The thumb buttons of my gaming mouse couldn't be keybound but I think it will be patched in no time. No biggie for me since there isn't that many keybindings needed anyways.

    Only obvious giveaway that it is in fact a console port are the lower quality cut-scenes which I suppose are the very same from the Xbox 360 version - a bit weird having a much better looking actual gameplay than the cut-scenes.

    So if I wouldn't know any better and apart from the cut-scenes I couldn't tell that it's a console port nor that it's a 2 year old game for that matter - very well job done indeed.

    As for the game in general - if you like story-driven games and have the mindset for a rather scary survival-action gameplay than this is definitely the game for you. AAA-class game and the price for the new PC version really is a bargain.

    9/10 in comparison to other this gen. games. Apart from the cut-scenes and some few very minor flaws like the awkward car handling in the non-essential driving parts - my high expectations were fulfilled.    … Expand
  5. Dheu
    Jun 23, 2012
    3
    I am certain Alan Wake will garner many positive reviews that focused on the story and its "unusual" style and presentation. I admit, it is interesting and would make an excellent book or movie. The problem is that even the best novel can be turned into a bad computer game and that is essentially what has happened here.

    The story unfolds over the coarse of 20 hours as you run from one w    ell lit area to the next, fighting waves of the exact same 4 monsters, using the exact same 4 weapons and the exact same strategy all the way to the end. The Enemy AI is rudimentary. The soundtrack is non-existent. Alan Wake will occasionally narrate and explain a new revelation, or what he is feeling or what you need to do next.

    The game lacks tradition incentives to keep you playing. There are no choices, no dialogue trees, no weapon upgrades, no level-ups. Even Alan Wakes own survival is tied to the plot and thus never seems to be in question. The game thrusts you into the action without spending sufficient time on character development and then tells you that you need to do X, Y and Z if you wish to save various people you don't care about. This might work in a book or movie were we are simply spectators along for the ride, but it is asking a lot in a game where players must invest 20 hours of their own time to progress the story. I constantly found myself asking the question, "Do I really care about these people? Do I even care what happens to Alan Wake? Why do I need a key to open this door when I have a shotgun in my hand?" As a result, it is easy to lose interest. This is one of the few games I have played in my life that I have had to force myself to finish. Somewhere along the way, Remedy lost that balance between making a game with a good story and a game that is still fun to play. People invest in computers and pay top dollar for games because they want more than books or movies can offer. My advice: Buy BioShock or replay Indigo Prophecy. You can skip this one.    … Expand
  6. The_Ommadawn
    May 13, 2012
    8
    Awful on so many levels PERFORMANCE wise!!! Game itself is fantastic (finished it on Xbox when first released). Bought it for PC for the upgrade in graphics and FPS. Sadly, this is far from the truth. My rig is just 6 months old with (at the time) some of the best hardware available. It POWERS through every game I play at rock solid 60 fps on max settings. Now the problem ... Alan Wake even at medium sends my CPU/GPU into overdrive with choppy fps???. Why??? I have read the forums, made adjustments yadda yadda yadda with no improvement. Some people haven't had these issues with AW and good luck to them. Myself and 'mydixienormus' (see his comments) do, so it's not an isolated problem my end. Such a shame cos like others I was really looking forward to this title. Maybe with future patches it will be addressed as I'm sure I'm not alone here. I'm giving it a 5 out of 10 because as a game it's amazing, but with it's current performance I feel cheated and may as well have stuck with my Xbox edition. ----------------------------------------------------> UPDATE 13/05/2012 ... Since the recent patches I went back to AW and admit it runs much, much better now. I still haven't completed it but wanted to change my score to justify its current state. It's a good game full of drama. Not really a 'horror' game, but a heart stopper all the same. Score upped from a 5 to an 8.… Expand
  7. YuRown92
    Feb 17, 2012
    10
    This game I waited for a long time. I was very angry, when PC version was stopped. At last, now, when this game come on PC, I playing this game with pleasure.
  8. Naatan
    Feb 18, 2012
    6
    The story is very interesting but the gameplay leaves much to be desired. It's incredibly linear in the sense that 90% of the time you are just following a path in the woods while you shine your flashlight on enemies and finish them off with your gun. There's some distractions in the shape of puzzles but even those are just rehashed over and over again. It just feels like you're watching a movie but you have to work your way through tedious and repetitive gameplay to actually get to the story. The repetitiveness of the gameplay aside most of what's happening is also very predictable. You just KNOW you're about to get attacked when you find more than a fair amount of ammo, and when you've gone through part of the story where you don't have weapons and you finally find some again; guess how long it takes before you get to use them? More than anything I just feel frustrated playing this game, frustrated by being force-fed terrible, predictable and linear gameplay just to get to what seems like a good story.… Expand
  9. v00d00m4n
    Feb 25, 2012
    6
    This game is waste of great potential, which was killed few years ago, when Remedy suddenly shifted to console market from PC, this cause a lot of troubles, forced them to waste to many time to port code to Xbox and optimize (downgrade graphics, physics, etc) it for crappy hardware, and because of this they have too little time to work game content itself, which forced them to cut half of game which wasn't well-polished. From a great open world survival-horror-adventure, game squeezed to boring linear light-em-shoot-em-up, with many game design flaws, including total lack of melee combat which existed in almost every survival horror since the old days, because ammo is always limited in this genre and whenever you out of ammo you should fight your way with fists, pipes, axes, and everything... or you could just run away, but in Alan Wake you can not do either. Seriously, Alan cant even run like normal man, his run ability somewhere close to fat grandpa at the edge of heart attack - what was Remedy designers thinking when they limited run distance to about 10 meters? Dodging is barely works and sometime when you just want to run, Alan suddenly starts from dodge. Also enemies just the same everywhere, "taken" humans with shield of darkness, about 4 of them - white trash, cops, oversized, and special character, they only reminds me zombie, and zombies cant scare anyone. Remedy should look at Silent Hill, Cold fear or Dead space, to get the idea of how to make scary creatures. Playing linear levels where all you can do is aim flashlight, shoot, barely run and dodge away from non scary humans, and where all the adventure element are "go forward, press button to open gatedoor or pick up manuscript" - not fun at all, just boring and repetitive. Also i don't even want to talk about Riding part of game, it even worse and buggier than it was in Alone in the dark 2008 (which is by the way much better and more imaginative game than Alan, and Alan kinda ripped off many things from it, including episodic format and darkness)
    The only thing that could keep anyone playing is the story, however its very cut and some time parts just don't tied well together, because of Remedy cut too much, you always feel that something else should be between this and that and it was cut without attempt to smooth this out. And this story is impressive for non educated people who never saw Twin Peaks, and other Lynch movies and never reed King books. For me - a King and Lynch fan this story looks as predictable rip-off from Lynch movies and King books, its about 50% Twin Peaks, 30% King, 10% of other rip-off and about 10% of something original. But its well-written rip-off so i still consider story as good story, but nothing super-awesome.
    No let me talk about PC port specifics: for a game that was once PC exclusive 1st DX10 game, return to PC in form like this is insult to all the PC users who waited this game so long! GFX is worse than in time it was announced 5 years ago, dx9 only, textures blurry low res, render distance of high detail LOD is low and transition is noticeable, shadows pixelated just like GTA 4, cut-scenes pre-rendered at 720p 30fps, with a lot of compression artifacts, washed out colors that dont match gameplay gamma, and this really breaking immersion... so in addition to dated 5 years old gfx, laziness of Remedy to bring at least high res textures and real-time cut-scenes to PC, this game is slow as hell! Performance optimization not even here! With gfx like this this game should run at 60fps on 5 years old pc, but it barely runs at about 25 fps on 1 year old PC. And the funny thing - Remedy not even ported this game to PC, they hired Nitro games - 5 (yep u can see it in credits) noob monkey-programmers + 3 testers. this shameful team ported Alan to PC, and Remedy didn't even cared to provide em high res textures and real-time cut-scenes, and no one bothered to enhance gameplay after all the criticism of x360 version. Its just exact copy with few minor extra settings. Which is real shame, especially comparing to what this game once was on PC several years ago.
    This is real insult to all the PC gamers and yet another wasted opportunity to return this game to its original glory that was lost during transition to xbox 360. I hope after Remedy recieved a lot of money from PC crowd and covered development cost in 48 hours, they could invest extra more to bring PC gamers an excuse for all the troubles as 6 simple things 1) Good patch with real optimization of CODE (not the cut of already poor gfx) +dx1011 2) High res texture pack 3) Real-time cut-scenes 4) Render distance sliders that actually affects render distance 5) Tweaks to gameplay, Quick saves, or at least checkpoints after every pickup, and re-usable Save heaven checkpoins + melee combat, at least ability to knock out enemy with flashlight or gun, improvements to run and dodge 6) Modding SDK. After this i would not feel myself insulted and cheated.    … Expand
  10. Eradan
    Apr 30, 2012
    5
    I waited for Alan Wake for years, promised from the hyped press that i would get a twin-peaked-stephen-king immersive and psychotic game. I loved Max Payne 1&2. I still love horror games. Sadly i was disappointed.
    The game is well packed, nice graphics, cure for the details, amazing audio but it smells clichè from the very beginning. The storyline is somewhat interesting but su    re isn't original and the pace is broken by the action part of the game, totally separated from the narration. It's like watching a - often mediocre - cut scene, starting to merge with the story and the characters and then been thrown in the same level over and over, in the dark woods, craving for a source of light, some ammo and the next checkpoint, hoping to end it quickly to go back to the real part of the game. Yeah, it's like this. Reach a location, watch a brief scene, find yourself in the woods at night, follow an absolute linear path through enemies, find that the only difficulties in engaging them is the poor camera control and the low ammo resources, reach the next location, start over. And that's not all, since the devs should have come to realize that this sucked hard they added a lot of manuscript pages to pick up during the "exploration" (read: straight on walk), the sad thing is that this poor written pieces of paper contain spoilers about your next location and the next chunk of story, making it even less interesting to watch.
    This game should have been a 9 for its atmospheres and its potential. Don't buy it unless its price falls under 10$.    … Expand
  11. aksu113
    Feb 16, 2012
    10
    really special game
  12. Crescendo
    Jun 9, 2012
    4
    While at first glance this looked like a great game - I was looking forward to it for some time - it soon disappointed me horribly. The beginning was promising, only to become a tedious, boring variation of 16-second-cutscenes and 10 minutes of run-through-the-woods-while-taken-chase-you bit. Unnerving indeed. The story is nothing new, but fitting, the problem is that finding the manuscript pages is pretty much an ingame-spoiler that tells you exactly what is going to happen in the next cutscene. I was really hoping forward to an intelligently written, atmospheric horror game - that is probably why I didn't enjoy it much. You can say that this is my personal problem, but I don't think there's many people out there that are searching for something like this when there are better action- and horrorgames out there, while Alan Wake is a mediocre fusion of both. I'm not even going to start on how terribly clunky console-ported controls feel at times because this seems to be standard in the industry as of now.… Expand
  13. malau
    Mar 9, 2012
    4
    Shine a torch, shoot, run out of ammo, sprint, die, repeat ad nauseum. A complete lack of variety where narrative storytelling takes precedence over gameplay - if I wanted a movie, I would rent a DVD ! Silent Hill style puzzles you can forget ! There's just what I said in the opening line.
    That's a pity because the engine has rendered a beautiful re-creation of a picture postcard Washingto    n State small town - in day time at least, but alas it is an empty experience and a complete waste as you cannot explore due to all areas but the one you need to take being blocked off.… Expand
  14. WolverineGoBlue
    Mar 11, 2012
    3
    Linear, repetitive, predictable. Was looking forward to this. Waste of time. The story is fun and engaging, but action scenes are so boring, I had to give up.

    Not sure why this scores so highly ... maybe it was a good game 18 months ago.
  15. yogibbear
    Feb 17, 2012
    10
    Brilliant. Can max it out at 1080p on my q9450, 4gb ddr2, 560ti. Played this originally on the 360 and the transformation to bring this out on PC has made a lot of noticeable improvements to the graphics and definitely received quite a bit of attention in getting the controls and settings working nicely. If you need a bit of Twin Peaks meets Steven King and can enjoy a third person action-thriller game then this is for you. The story and the action are what this game worth playing, there just simply is not much like it on the market to compare to. Then the price of $30 for the CE and all DLCs and soundtrack is just a massive bonus that seals the deal as one of the best PC releases of recent "port" history.… Expand
  16. Rich246
    Feb 19, 2012
    10
    This game is long-overdue, and was worth the wait, Alan Wake is intense, and always has you on the edge of your seat, it makes you feel sorry for Alan and keeps you wondering how the story will evolve and progress, feels like Silent Hill and Resident Evil had a beautiful baby. It also has humor and some references to the real world that will make you smile, or remember a line or a scene from a movie or tv show.

    If you can get this game, you will NOT be disappointed!    … Expand
  17. seuche
    Feb 17, 2012
    1
    who invented these terrible controles? its like swiming. a very annoying camera angle in combination with the swiming movement and no aiming feedback are ruining the whole gameexperience. its made for masochists rathers than pc gamers. im used to direct, complete and precice control in games. this thing is the complete opposite.

    because of that, its unplayable for me.
  18. jacobwt226
    Mar 5, 2012
    10
    I love games like civilization V,and shogun, I hate thrillers, I hate Horror, This is my only exception. I gave it a 10 because of what it has, it has a good story, the background, and setting is amazing, on Steam, they have collector edition bundle for $35 dollars, I love it, I go to bed with a flashlight beside me (so to speak). I have entered a unending night, I love Alan wake, as soon as american nightmare comes on PC, I almost want a Xbox so I can play American Nightmare sooner... I would say that this is the 2nd best game I played, and a major time sink, but then again, if i am sinking, might as go down with the ship! I will encourage (and yell at you) to buy this game, it is not horror, it is not a thriller, it is the best game I have played that is a shooter. I also love, how it pays respect to the whole horror genre, I don't like horror as I said but man! I may reconsider just to enjoy this game more! If i were you I would be at the checkout already. I would of paid double, or more for this game, I can say that with a Bible on my hand, under oath. Best game you can buy...If you like Uncharted, or third-person shooters this is a must! Also, I am planning on buying all the books, all of the guides, everything, just to help support this game, I may even buy the clock! I would be a lot more of a critic on this game if I had not played it, NOTE: I am buying a Razer Xbox controller so I can have the best PC experience I can! A couple people will whine about how "this thing is wrong, this tree has bad textures" i took a chance on this game, and I will NEVER regret it! Love this game, and I can't say that about a lot, or maybe a few...… Expand
  19. Narquez
    Feb 16, 2012
    10
    that is the game
  20. WebsterLin
    Feb 17, 2012
    10
    I absolutely love this game. It is an ode to a type of pulp horror that isnâ
  21. vitalyx
    Feb 19, 2012
    7
    I'm making another review of Alan Wake, since I was able to tweak the settings and get half-decent performance at 1360x768 resolution.

    The game uses an original way to tell a story. The way the story is told is great - episodic format, TV and radio show sequences, manuscript fragments you find. All very original. The story itself is not bad too.

    There are bad things, like facial animatio    ns and lipsyncing, even in prerendered cut scenes and low level of detail in models and textures. There are good things like lighting effects on sparks when you shoot the "taken", their smoky shadows, disturbance effects just before the "taken" appear and volumetric light effects - all look amazing.

    Ultimately, though, the gameplay gradually becomes more and more boring. It's original in a way, because you have to use the flashlight on the "taken" before you are able to shoot them. But it's not that engaging to keep doing this over and over again for the length of the game. For me, the story wasn't interesting enough to endure the frustrating gameplay. For example Dreamfall had gameplay issues too, but it had a very compelling story that kept me playing even through the tedious parts till the very end of the game. With Alan Wake I gave up in the middle of the forth chapter.

    So, to wrap it up, the game is not that bad to stop playing after 30 minutes, but at the same time not that great to finish it and say "that was a wonderful experience".

    P.S.
    It looks like Metacritic is full of fanboys and any rating in the yellow or red automatically receives mostly downvotes. We are all sharing personal opinions here. Sorry, I didn't like your favorite game as much as you did.    … Expand
  22. blubsterer
    Feb 28, 2012
    3
    v00d00m4n's post says it all. Game with great potential gets a lousy console port with crappy gameplay and control. I'm (maybe was?) a huge Remedy fan. Played all their games from Death Rally to this piece of crap. It's looks like a disgusting trial to rip off more money from gamers.

    Remedy, i've read, you are PC gamers at heart and really wanted to make this port. If that's true, than do     us all a favor: next time do not listen to your heart if you don't consider to do it right ....… Expand
  23. flagoon
    Mar 8, 2012
    8
    As a long time Max Payne fan, i had quite high expectations from Remedy. And they didn't disappoint me a bit. The story was great, and it kept me hooked till the very end. The action sequences were good, although there could've been more open areas, and more different places. I recommend this masterpiece to everyone who likes the action thriller genre, and in generally to everyone.
  24. GPReS
    Feb 17, 2012
    10
    This is a really BAD GAME!!! BAD, because how the hell can I explain my boss that I can't stay on my work after the night comes???
    Remedy - YOU ROCK! Nice game! Way to go! =)
  25. Samout
    Feb 17, 2012
    10
    Awesome game. Very good graphics, runs very well also with older CPU, (I run full graphics 50 FPS in 1920x1080 with i7 920 2.66 GHz, Asus GTX 580 DirectCU II, 6 Gb RAM 1666 MHz)
    Atmosphere is something out of this world.
  26. jujuju
    Feb 18, 2012
    9
    No PC performance issues for me, I have a cheap ass PC, 2GB of ram and a graphic card that cost me £60 and most new games I can get medium-high so no idea what others are doing wrong because looks great for a console port on my PC, easily better than the 360 version.

    No issues with controls, try harder guys! Even then you can plug in a controller but keyboard and mouse owrks     fine for me. No crosshairs? What are you 6? Do you need Mummy to hold your hand when you cross the road? Really if you find it hard to aim in this game without crosshairs then try playing an easy game like CoD.

    Game is excellent, even the cutscenes (which I usually want to skip in games) are good. Shame it took so long to come to the PC but then Microsoft was funding the game. Remedy have done a great job at porting this.    … Expand
  27. erichlebt
    Feb 26, 2012
    6
    I have to agree with Naatan in every way. I was really looking forward to this cause I loved the old Silent Hill games and expected AW to be a little like those. The story is promising, atmosphere is excellent. What ruins this game is it's awfully dull game-play. Run through the woods, (due to bad camera position) try to aim and shoot some zombies or evade them (though Alan appears to be handicapped), get to a locations and maybe solve a switch-puzzle and watch another cut-scene of the indeed great story.… Expand
  28. k3Ck
    Mar 6, 2012
    10
    Great game and pretty good port, runs great on my laptop with maxed settings @720. The game starts off a little slow but it really starts to pick up a few hours in. I thought Alan Wake was going to be a horror game but I was wrong, it's more of an action game and it's not very scary. The story is very good and the action and scripted sequences are excellent. I'm really glad this came to the PC and $30. Over 15 hours of intense play is well worth it and I'm sure I will play it again in the future. A must buy for any action fan!… Expand
  29. Dalek
    Feb 19, 2012
    10
    This game is amazing, the performance is perfect for me. The storyline is really cool and very surprising. It's quite simple the gameplay but a challenge in a way. You have to brighten your flashlight at the enemy until a circle goes tiny and then you can shoot them down easily to their death. This is something different and a good thing. I wanted to see if it was a fail port from Xbox 360, so I pirated it and it is a perfect port. However I somehow lost my save when the game crashes and when I closed it. Which is why I'm going to buy it so I can finish the game off. Even though I spent an entire day on it. So is this game worth buying? Yes. If you want an entertaining storyline with voice acting and writing and environment chaos and something different then buy this game. It's worth it. (I don't want to say too much since it'll spoil it.)… Expand
  30. Vixremento
    Feb 22, 2012
    8
    Pretty decent game overall and quite a bit more challenging that I had originally expected. The third person movement and almost auto-aim still seems to simplify things a little but at the same time they're not shy to swarm you with bad guys so I guess without going FPS style they've done a pretty good job.  
    Auto health regeneration but with a nice added twist over the usual "    just take cover and you'll be fine" bit was welcomed! Otherwise there's a lot of exploring that prevents it from becoming "slit your wrist" linear it does it's job nicely while looking pretty sweet too. As a survival horror it's okay to good (sorry I think Amnesia set a really high bar) while as a game it's fairly fun to play through (I actually wanted to finish it unlike so many other games that I just got super bored with).  
    Performance wise it runs like a charm on my aging GTX295 at 1920 x 1200 (yeah baby!) so nothing to complain about there (shame on bigger devs for failing in this department with so many of their ports that look like crap compared to this).  
    So what's not to like with this game? Well sadly (even though Remedy has done a bang up job at this PC version as so many other Devs seem to fail at when porting to PC) it still plays like a console game and I just can't help shake that 3rd person "must play with console controller" feel it has going for it (I'd love for them to do an FPS style survival horror game made specifically for PC but I fear their console monetary rewards will prevent something like this...at least we got this one on PC finally too!).    … Expand
  31. GenuineOpinion
    Feb 18, 2012
    10
    Performance shouldn't have an impact on the game play score. The game itself is wonderfully ported. Wonderful story, as to be expected. Anything else........ Pretty much it's an all around quality game that is ominous and at times scary.
  32. whitespider999
    Feb 17, 2012
    8
    Alan wake on the pc is well made port.There are some performance quirks however and hopefully get they patched out. The game controls well, instead of it playing like a traditional crosshair based third person game, you aim with the flashlight. The movement of the flashlight is not as 1:1 instant as a first person shooter, however it controls surprisingly smoothly considering. The story is fantastic, with each segment of the game like an episode of lost, with a "on the last episode of alan wake". Each chapter/episode also ends on a really quirky and mysterious musical number. This game definitely has artistic lynchian undertones without being obscure or vague. The game is also visually stunning, the only downside is the occasional low resolution texture. Mechanically the game has the traditional horror elements, however it throws in enough twists to make it feel fresh again. Light plays a huge role in the dynamic of the entire game, with each source of light being a checkpoint of sorts and every enemy being immortal until you shine them with your torch.All of this leads to the game being quite hard, as you can be taken down in 1 or two hits, so you need to make serious use of the dodging mechanic and stay constantly aware of where each enemy is - if they get behind the player, you might be swamped and die within seconds. The combination of the light mechanics, the involving thriller/mystery plot, the episodic touches, and some serious tension make alan wake unmissable. Just make sure you have a powerful pc.… Expand
  33. kailip
    Jul 13, 2012
    0
    Alan wake. How **** a game can be. The game is all about running around in a **** forest (at least for the most part of this **** game), you get bored easily, the combat mechanics is completely retarded and the controls feel wonky, like if Alan is drunk. There's not much to do at the game, only runnin around, combat(which sucks) and collecting **** There's no variety at all. The story is good but its so confusing and has so many gaps, as if they were tired of thinking about a story and just left it unfinished. The game has a good setting and is very immersive until you get bored on the first couple of hours of gameplay. Don't even try this ridiculous game.… Expand
  34. Akaforty
    Feb 18, 2012
    10
    Even though you have to get used to the controls and the performance is pretty bad, it's one of the best games I've ever played. Most certainly in the top of the horror genre. I was waiting for this game for six years since I saw the first E3 trailer and finally, it's here and I love it! It provides an amazing story, great, thrilling combat system and absolutely stunning visual graphic style. The story is based on a main character writing stories about himself and then living it, battling the creatures of the darkness. As you progress, you get your actions narrated by Alan himself, reading the pages he wrote, which creates an amazing, eerie atmosphere. This game is brilliant.… Expand
  35. Hobiologe
    Feb 22, 2012
    10
    Well, it's one of the best Action-Thriller-Adventures of the X360 NOW and FINALLY on PC, but not a simple port, rather than a great improved version from a graphical perspective as well as additional content (both DLC episodes "The Signal" + "The Writer" included) and PC exclusive features (3D mode and multi screen support). Very well done, Remedy!
  36. offspring3003
    Feb 22, 2012
    3
    Very bad porting to the PC a good console game, horrible optimization, horrible management (management of the keyboard and mousetrap). Main gripe with the game is that the game is released 2 years later and still the difference from the console version is no (graph and control). Control on the controller very well. mousetrap on your keyboard and all the fun of the game becomes a torment!
  37. emupleasure1988
    Mar 7, 2012
    10
    Being a massive fan of supernatural drama, I was immediately drawn to Alan Wake and bought the Limited Collector's Edition at launch.

    The game involves a writer trying to understand why a book he can't remember writing is coming to life. The action comes thick and fast, and the narration by the lead character makes you feel more attune to the world constructed by Remedy. As you go through     the storyline, you meet a whole host of characters, ranging from mad to simply disagreeable, but all of them have a place to be and a purpose to serve. The story is well put together, with collectables strewn all over the town for those who want to look a little deeper.

    If you want a game that hails from the greatest horror authors and makes the concepts work, buy Alan Wake. As a side note, it's one of the few games on 360 that has never received a patch. :)    … Expand
  38. nirvycn
    Feb 22, 2012
    10
    The story in alan wake is simply awesome, and the atmosphere is the best bar none i have played, its a VERY tense game.I have a slightly above average Pc, and i can play with this maxed out at 50+fps, so ignore the guy who clearly has a below spec PC. Game is fun, graphics MUCH improved over the 360 version, the controls are tight, and a little easier than the 360 version, although they have made the difficulty levels harder for this release. Game comes with all the DLC already installed, so a lot of value with this one.… Expand
  39. Strider
    Feb 21, 2012
    10
    Amazing game. It's so rare that you actually get your moneys worth out of many single player games these days. You buy it, get it home, beat it in a few hours and you're done. This is not the case with Alan Wake, you will get several hours of gameplay for your money. The story is simply fantastic, and original, as is the gameplay itself. Your not going to just run and gun through it and survive. It's TV mini-series style presentation is also very well done. You really do feel like you are playing a supernatural TV series. The overall effect is an addictive game that you enjoy playing, that keeps you guessing as to what's going on and what's going to happen next. If you like suspenseful horror or supernatural entertainment , then you are going to like Alan Wake. Yes, this game is a console port, however the PC version is far better looking than its console counterpart. Seeing them side by side really drives this point home. If you are going to port a game to PC from an inferior console, this is how you do it. Higher resolutions, higher fidelity, and DX10 features that no console can touch. Kudos to the developer for a proper port. The game played fantastic on my gaming system. AMD 1090T at 4.1GHz, XFX DD Radeon 7950 BE, 16GB DDR3 1600. Running a live broadcast via X-Fire through the entire game. No problems from the game at all. Very happy with my purchase and the gaming experience. So not only do I highly recommend Alan Wake, I suggest you play it at night, in the dark, with the volume turned up and in its full HD+ splendor. This way you can properly enjoy the dark side of Bright Falls.… Expand
  40. ebo974
    Apr 25, 2012
    3
    No fun at all, no freedom, no exploration and always the same creatures to kill. Sorry but it's not enough to make a good game.
    Graficaly it's nice, but very frustating cause we can't use that engine for exploration etc.
    Too much forest, too dark...

    That's sad cause the story could be good support.
  41. kelticpete
    May 10, 2012
    4
    They should have made a book, or a GAME. This seems like neither. I thought with the insanely high reviews this was a no brainer when it went on sale for 15 bucks. Dear horror game coders: Clunky controls that make you feel OUT OF CONTROL do get the adrenaline pumping, but that is not fear. after playing Rage and Skyrim (first person is ALWAYS better) the controls on Alan Wake feel like I am gaming drunk off my butt. Again, crappy control of the character makes you feel out of control but that is just ANNOYING in an actual game. I just looked that the universal stats on Steam. 12% of people did not even finish the first acheivement. I did. Now I am in a town (that is not a big spoiler) I have no desire to watch a ton of cut scenes, I want to either play a game called alan wake or read a book called alan wake. Color me annoyed. I don't suck at horror games. Resident evil 1 was an all time fave. this is no RE 1. After dying like 10 times playing RE 1 I finally got to a safe area and I was so pumped for the game. I have the opposite reaction with this game. I like to explore in a gameworld, so it is annoying to start a game were you are running your a@@ off just to survive. Stop to see the graphics? nope, I can't I am too busy running. I quickly realized it was better to get hit by the bad guys while running than try and take a stand. I am sure there are upgrades and better weapons but I only give it a 50% shot that go any further. It actually made me want to go read a horror book instead of playing a "game". Off to amazon to find something to read. peace out.… Expand
  42. pandazpa
    Feb 27, 2012
    10
    Okay, okay... The performance in this game is a bit problematic for some people (I'm running ok in an old HD4850 512mb. Indeed: It could be more optimized). But what I'm reading in most comments is "my top end rig doesn't run this game @60fps all the time". C'mon!! Did you guys tried to play and understand the history? And one more thing: This IS NOT a FPS and Alan Wake is not a soldier. The gameplay is very good, the history and environment deserves a 10.
    Because the lacks of optimization in the engine I'd give an 9, but there are many people giving 0 because they were expecting an godlike Alan Wake with fps like controls or are just pissed because their new PC don't run 60 fps all the time (OMG, it goes down to 45fps... seriously?)... Because of them, I'm giving 10.    … Expand
  43. marquillos
    Mar 4, 2012
    10
    Among the best games for pc as a single player experience so far this year. Although it could be tweaked a little more, specially the run/evade key being the same, there's not much more you can ask for a game like this.
    a solid 9. Enjoy this jewel!
  44. UnbiasedOne
    May 9, 2012
    4
    When purchasing the over shoulder third-person camera angle, you'd expect to be looking over the character's right shoulder, not the character's left leg. With Alan running at your far right eye's end it draws your focus away from what you need to be paying attention to, such as that pit in front of you that you're not going to see because you are too busy looking at Alan and trying to focus around him and not the screen in front of you. When purchasing a horror game, you'd expect horror and not one and a half second cut-scenes of mashed up garbage with blaring "dark" music, because if companies have learned anything by now, which they haven't, it's that suddenly blaring the player with loud sounds or music does not create scares, just pain in the ears. To say that Alan Wake is linear is a dramatic understatement, to say it's passable is a dramatic overstatement. In the begging, Alan mentions he has lost interest in writing, it has become clear to me that companies have lost interest in their customers.… Expand
  45. Widden
    Aug 3, 2012
    1
    Extremely repetitive, moderately boring, and very disturbing to control (consolitis). If you want to just kill zombies, try Left for dead. If you're after a good story, try a good book. If you buy this, be ready for an extremely shallow, simple game.
  46. Coeco
    Jul 23, 2012
    3
    I can't help but feel that they missed to land the stone in the bucket with this one. As moody the maps are, getting spoilers from writing before every exciting combat-situation just ruins the games already lacking ability of horror because the player is far from defenseless and adrenaline does not go well with fear. The story is intriguing leaving you wanting for more but alas the publisher Microsoft decided to pull another DLC stunt (with a "manual calling them through a phone for any chance of refunds if the content is found lacking" requirement) out of their arses, covering this gem in even more dirt which is ironic considering 98% of the environments you are in contains trees and dirt. LOTS of trees and dirt as you are forced into the supposedly 21 century mandatory cut-scenes over and over again. I would be on the verge of overlooking all these flaws if it wasn't for the fact that It's a console port as well. Extremely poor performance at certain points and the aiming can be horrible when you need it the most. Remedy, come on man. You're better than this.… Expand
  47. HarryWebbinger
    Jul 23, 2012
    0
    bought Waky for 8 box on Steam, and must write, that this game is somehow a big fake after playing 1 and a half chapter ! the storyline is extremely boring and full of uninteresting stuff , and compared to games like Metro 2033 or Stalker f.a. a big bad joke. I wouldn't even allow my kids above 12 to play such a poor game.Ten years ago such a storyline would be worth 5 box maximum, but nowadays this is a big fake from the whole game distribution system !! Don´t buy it and be happy about it , is my recommendation. A price about 20 to 30 Box for this is just unbelievable bad joke… Expand
  48. Curunir
    Sep 5, 2012
    10
    I am writing solely to offset the clueless reviewers who give this game a 0-4 score and address/disprove their major complaints. a) poor performance on "top end" hardware - I'm playing it at 50 fps maxed out on an i3, gtx550ti, that's very far from top end. b) poor controls/camera angle - that is simply not true. Controls are completely lag-free and the camera angle takes about 5 minutes to get used to, unless you have some sort of handicap c) linear, no levelups - do I even need to say why this is not a problem in this genre?

    It saddens me deeply to see a considerable number of people who completely missed the point of the game, then came here to complain about issues that simply don't exist.

    Alan Wake is the best purchase I've made in a very long time, so much so that I'm actually playing it with my wife who finds both the gameplay and the cutscenes engaging enough to watch and she does not play videogames.    … Expand
  49. Flastie
    Feb 21, 2012
    10
    Incredible experience. Probably one of the best game i ever played and i putting this next to the legends like Half Life or Unreal 1. Great gameplay, ant that STORY!!! maybe linear, but you have to understands that this game is story telling game, not RPG or something. Nice and detailed half-open world, not just silly corridor game. When you combine gameplay, length and price you probably need more than 10/10 rank. Great work Remedy.… Expand
  50. Chapa9dj
    Feb 20, 2012
    10
    I was annoyed when they canceled the game on PC. It was more than a long wait. However, i never lost faith that this game could come to PC someday. Was it worth all the waiting? HELL YEAH. This is one ''no longer 360 exclusive'' game that YOU MUST PLAY. Not only because this is a gem, also because the game is an excellent conversion and a much better looking version than the one in the 360, its visually stunning. It includes a lot of visual settings to adjust the game according to your hardware, not to mention that unlike some other games, you can adjust FOV in Alan Wake.
    And yes, i repeat this is a perfect conversion, not a ''port'' because i think that word is an insult to this game

    This game brought good memories of games such as Max Payne, SH, Heavy Rain and RE4 in terms of atmosphere, which is one of the things that Remedy managed to achieve perfectly.

    What i liked: +Storyline and characters
    +The Atmosphere and the beautiful landscapes
    +The graphics
    +Gameplay
    +Soundtracks

    What i didn't like:
    Nothing really, i pretty much enjoyed every moment in this game, i loved how you are constantly under a lot pressure. It makes it very challenging.

    On a side note, i highly recommend buying this, but most importantly, the Collector's Bundle which includes the soundtrack, dev commentary, and a PDF book which contains 130 pages. This is my first contender for GOTY 2012.
    (MUST BUY) - This game has the Chapa9DJ seal of approval, so go now and buy it. Support the devs for bringing this masterpiece to PC.

    My Rating: 11/10 ... and i'm not exaggerating. Get it now or the darkness will get you.    … Expand
  51. smk123
    May 3, 2012
    9
    Without a doubt the games main strength is its storyline, throughout the whole experience it never failed to have me in suspense thinking of what might happen next, sure the combat is a bit samey, but aren't all horror games? The graphics and sound quality are superb, can't fault them in anyway, looks stunning on my machine, got it day one and I don't regret this at all
  52. Baenlynn
    Dec 22, 2012
    9
    Alan Wake is proof positive of the point that a story, properly told transcends all media and genres. A game that could be EASILY adapted for film or TV, Alan Wake is a game that is, in actuality, an interactive novel, and one that is just BEGGING for Star Trek's holodeck. Even in the intro sequence I found myself enjoying the game on a level that I have not enjoyed any other game before. Does that mean it's my favourite game? No. But even still it is a wonderful experience nonetheless. Even the fairly standard horror pacing and formula can't detract from this game, and so intricately tied to and interwoven with its plot the game really manages to tell a story while you battle shadow monsters with a Christmas light wearing sidekick (I am NOT making this up). While I am not a fan of the horror genre, and have never really read any Stephen King (to whom the tilts it's hat many times), the game was nevertheless thoroughly enjoyable. The only down-side to this interactive novel is that like a novel it is not immediately replayable. When you get to the last chapter, you don't feel any pressing need to start over again from the beginning, because what you have really enjoyed is not the thrill of the chase, being hunted by an insidious Lovecraftian shadow-demon, but the content of that story. But I think that is one negative we can all bear if games of this ilk were to become more common in the future. And really that actually makes the gameplay longer lasting easier to savour. Please Remedy, and ALL developers, give us more interactive novels, and less psychotically emotionless space marines killing freaking zombie demons from outer space.… Expand
  53. TheGrindeR
    Mar 25, 2012
    10
    One of the best game i ever played. I loved every moment in this game. The story, the graphic are so good. Game of the Year 2012.
  54. brbfeds
    Feb 18, 2012
    10
    An excellent port. It is fast and stable at all times, load times are nearly nonexistent, plays at a steady 60 FPS (vsync) with all settings maxed on my Radeon HD 6970. It even minimizes without lagging/crashing, which is more than can be said for a lot of games made exclusively for the PC.

    The game itself is fantastic. The story is gripping and the action is well-designed. Controls are t    ight and responsive. It relies heavily on atmosphere and really delivers in that respect. If you haven't played the XBOX version, this is one of the best $30 purchases you'll ever make.… Expand
  55. SkayusLTU
    Feb 19, 2012
    10
    I waited this game so long... And now I can say this is one of the best game I've ever played. Super graphic, very, very nice story and so on. I like this game so much! 10/10
    I am big fan of this game!!!
  56. R3T41L
    Mar 17, 2012
    10
    Finally some fresh air in gaming industry producing very atmospheric and intrigating adventure. Gameplay itself is a little bit repetitive killing same type of enemies over and over again but this is not type of game where some pure skills are required. It's just to keep you ''awake'' letting you know that danger is around there stalking your next move. Storyline tho is quiet amazing, deffinitely better than 90% of movies i've watched actually. Well, i need to add that Alan's pal Barry is one of the best characters ingame i've seen in a long time. When you heard him for first time you can get an idea that he's some egoistic manager who's keep calling Alan just because of moneymaking policy but as story goes on he's becoming a real friend who will die for you. His voice acting and the way he act overall reminds me somehow on Joe Pesci. : ) Overall it's a very very good product which doesnt require some crazy skill and storyline with it's atmosphere will get you after first 20 seconds.… Expand
  57. Rossjudas
    Jul 21, 2012
    3
    Nice storyline, you're immersed in a show (reminds me kind of x files) but, excepting the narration this game simply sucks.
    Is divided in 6 episodes but if if you want to see the real "season finale" you must BUY episode 7 & 8 DLC!!!
    Game-play is ridiculous: go from point A to point B, location 90% of the time you're in the woods, you'll find in you way (inside the woods) everywhere b    atteries (with a famous brand/advertising) weapons and stocks of ammo everywhere?!? while you're walking with your annoying character that cannot run for more than 5/6 seconds, you'll find black men (made all the same) that want to kill you, kill them, go to point B, watch cut-scene and there you go repeat for all the other annoying levels.… Expand
  58. Mikimax
    Apr 30, 2012
    9
    Awesome game. I haven't played a quality game like this in a LONG time.
    Story, graphics, music, game-play, everything is perfectly fused together to make this masterpiece.
  59. Qieth
    Apr 28, 2012
    9
    Alan Wake was such a pleasure to play through. One of the strongest points of the game is the immersing story, and the way it unfolds. It kept me guessing, and begging for more. The scenery of the game was breathtaking, and while there were quite a lot of "forest" areas, every single one of them was paired up with an astounding view of a valley, or beautiful mountains in the distance.

    Com    bat in Alan Wake was nice and refreshing. It was a nice touch that you simply can't shoot your enemies, but have to decide how to take on a pack. While the selections of weapons in the game was modest, you could use them to great effect. I fell in love with the way dodging works in this game, and it made defensive evasion - something that people often overlook in favor of brute force - a pleasant skill to practice.

    This game was long, and it was good. It is definitely one of the most enjoyable experiences I've had in a long time.    … Expand
  60. univega2003
    Feb 22, 2012
    10
    A beautiful arrangement heavily inspired by Twin Peaks, Stephen King, The Twilight Zone and numerous other definitive classics from the horror and suspense genre. Truly mind-bending and enjoyable.

    No performance issues. Running on a Radeon 6850 1GB GDDR5 and it runs maxed without a hiccup.

    The only minor complaint I have with the game are the facial animations. Occasionally the faces and     mouths in cut scenes are odd. Alan's mouth sometimes opens too big and looks weird when he is surprised and once in a great while there is some weird body language, but none of this is egregious or frequent enough to detract significantly from the story, and is more than likely a symptom of the fact that it was originally made for a console.

    The voice acting and the soundtrack are always spot-on. An extremely memorable and enjoyable story and experience all around. Worth it even if you only play through it once.    … Expand
  61. cmoyano
    Mar 2, 2012
    10
    hahaa, all the noobs who say the camera angle sucks. It is part of the design of the game, my god, how much hand holding do you need? like seriously? get over yourselves. OH, and for those who complain about the game not running smooth, i have no idea what you are talking about. I run at 60 fps fully maxed no glitches, no issues. One of the best ports ive ever had the pleasure to play and one of the best games i had the pleasure of playing. People complaining are all noobs who dont know how to configure their pc's to play it. And for those who complain about the design choices, go play COD with your awesome FOV and awesome gunplay where a knife is more powerful than a gun. Please. ALAN WAKE FTW! thank you remedy for this amazing game! hopefully youll stay pc now and show these console people how to make real games.… Expand
  62. kizza
    Mar 2, 2012
    9
    FINALLY ON PC, its about damn time.

    This is in my top 10 games of all time easily, the play on not just having to survive madmen but the force of pure darkness is something that has stirred the minds of people all over who have played this game, including myself.

    The darker nature of this game, delving into nightmares, the atmosphere, the intensity, all of the side stories which tie into     the theme of madness and the book pages to collect make the games replay value quite high even though not a true â… Expand
  63. camoe
    Mar 9, 2012
    10
    this game is simply outstanding i have a top end rig and the game runs perfect for me so i don't know what some users here are saying it runs great the story is very good in this game its like reading a great novel and the game play mechanics are very well done.Also remedy knows how to treat the pc players they on on the forums answering questions with in minutes and patching the game with pc players feed back and what they would like in the game i hope remedy carry on making more alan wake games for the pc… Expand
  64. spinx
    Apr 13, 2012
    9
    Great game and very good story and different gameplay mechanics, visually impressive on the highest settings... Remedy has still got it! But I must say, they will need to improve the formula if they want to make a sequel... At the end, I just wanted to know the end of the story, the gameplay became a bit predictable, but it was only at the end of this masterpiece that I had this feeling...
  65. Xanifur
    Feb 19, 2012
    9
    The story is engaging at first, then it sucks you in. Game-play is like Max Payne, but with a flashlight, with dire consequences This is a mix I hope many developers follow. I didn't expect anything less from remedy. You guys keep pushing the develop in deep storytelling and content. We love you.
  66. daveyy12
    Mar 5, 2012
    7
    I originally gave this a 4, because the controls were hard to get used to and the game had severe ammo/weapon limitations. However, as the plot developed and the game spanned across some beautiful scenery, I became somewhat addicted to this game and I was able to use most of the controls. Perhaps, I just haven't been exposed to a game where you have to rely so much on a flashlight.
  67. JvJ
    Apr 16, 2012
    10
    This masterpiece is brillant. It's not just a game, it's more much than this. Just let it recount its story and you will not be disapointed. Give it a try, it worth it !
  68. coelo
    Mar 21, 2012
    10
    This is a great game!
    There is a gimmick to it, but it is not bad at all. Feels a lot like the old Max Payne games because it is the same studio, but totally different atmosphere than Max Payne. This game makes extensive use of light and shadow and it will definitely frighten you.

    Once you get the hang of the gameplay then it should be fairly easy to get through all but the toughest areas    . The scenery is a joy to behold and is some of the best I've seen in awhile. If there is one thing that remedy does well then it is developing the atmosphere to make you feel like you are really in the game, Alan Wake is no different, great atmosphere, great story, and I really felt myself wanting to play more to evolve the story.

    I would have liked to see a bit more variety in the "bad guys", but that goes the same for nearly every game. The way that the story presents the characters makes the whole thing very believable. Basically, it feels like you are playing a Stephen King novel, and that is a pretty high compliment. There is no sex or depravity like in King novels, but plenty of frightening scenes and lots of malevolent creatures.

    Being your flashlight!    … Expand
  69. Alcapwn
    Feb 23, 2012
    10
    Pleasantly suprised with this game. I'm a big chicken when it comes to the survival/horror genre (I literally couldn't finish amnesia b/c I thought I was going to have a panic attack), and this game scared me quite a few times. The best part of this game is the "breaks" in scariness where you go around during the daytime advancing the story. This allowed me time for my nerves to calm down and I was able to continue the story. Too many games forget to do this and I greatly appreciated it. The story is very interesting imo, and I played for a solid three days to finish the game. The combat isn't anything special, but it's still fun and challenging at times. Honestly the only problem I have with the game is the spoilers built into the manuscript system. You find pages of the story you are writing throughout the game. The catch is that sometimes you find pages that haven't happened in the game yet... So when you read them it gives away a scene of the game that you will be seeing some point in the future of the episode you are in. It's kind of hard to explain, but if you don't like spoilers then don't read the manuscript pages until after you are finished with the episode that you found them in. (If you're in episode 2 it's safe to read the pages from episode 1, etc.) The game is a must buy if you like suspenseful/horror titles.… Expand
  70. Lethal1ty
    Feb 24, 2012
    9
    Amazing game!! The world needs more games like this!! Totally worth the money!! I am really glad this game was made for PC. I have to thanks Remedy out of my heart for such a awsome game.
  71. Digital_Kitchen
    May 14, 2012
    0
    God, this game is so aweful, if I facepalm any harder I'll be smearing brain into the back of my chair. Yeeaaarrrsssss ago, it got tauted is a "next gen" DX10 love child, and I was all.... ooooh ...if only the gfx were the worst part..... It suffers terribly from the "Mega Man!! Mega MAN!!! MEGA **** MAN!!!!!!!" issue so many games have. And it does that not with just gameplay, but plot, and other **** too.


    For instance:
    You hear "beep beep beep" and he NARRATES that he got a text message and describes what it could have said, instead of **** showing you an eerie text message.

    And for some reason, there is a Big Daddy in the game, like 60% through, you find out that the light in the sky doing all the "Mega Man!!!" stuff is a guy in a retro dive suit.


    Yeah, at first I thought the gfx were bad
    ...then I thought the tutorial-mega-man **** was bad
    ...then I thought the action was bad
    ...then I thought the intrusive narration was bad

    But no
    THEN they added new "enemies" : Flying ovens and refrigerators that you have to kill with your flashlight. God, I kept playing it to get my $15 worth. Now I think I'd pay someone $15 never to have to touch it again.    … Expand
  72. Blurtex33
    Feb 21, 2012
    6
    As with any multiplatform game played on a PC, it is nowhere near the quality of the console version. I would suggest that anyone who isn't a complete gaming hipster to just stick to the console version if they want to replay it.
  73. Matuka
    Aug 7, 2012
    10
    10/10. This game, is a good console port!!! Good graphics for a console port :)!
    And its really cool story driven Thriller game, and its UNIQUE! I love it, full points to this game.

    You should get this if you are intrested in a psychic triller action shooter which is fun, and also scary!
  74. Lordnine
    Mar 24, 2012
    9
    Alan Wake surprised me and went way beyond my expectations. What really made the game stand out and kept me playing was the engaging story and fun characters. Not to belittle the gameplay, which is more than sufficient, but this is a game where you continue to play to find out what happens next. My only real complaints are that the camera sticks a little too close to your character and difficulty is inconsistent at times.… Collapse
  75. Ghoster
    Sep 10, 2012
    10
    This game gave probably one of the best stories to date. Something between 80's horror flick, Twin Peaks and Lost. Gameplay is also innovative. Only problem is lack of some kind of ingame map. Game is that good that no need parts to wonder around not knowing where to go. That's bad but not crucial as there is not too much situations where you can stuck.
  76. cbkiller
    Jun 28, 2012
    2
    Alan Wake had an incredible chance to be a great action game, however there are several fundamental flaws including the flashlight-based weapon system. Beautiful scenery in and locations in this game are largely ruined by the game being predicated on darkness. NOT FUN.
  77. Deific
    Oct 23, 2012
    6
    A game that could have been so much more. What could have been an open world master-piece became a cut down, linear, repetitive and tired novel in the shape of a game. The plot thickens in places but never leaves predictable, and both the writing and voice acting is cringeworthy in places, sounding like an amateur attempt at 'serious' crime/horror writing. Even one of the characters criticises it as 'heavy on the metaphors' which it absolutely is - exhaustingly so. By the time you reach the end of the third chapter, you're willing the game to be over in the fourth, but still have several more to grind through, with the last couple feeling drawn out needlessly so. The 'climax' of the game, simply feels like the writers ran out of ideas, so threw in all kinds of surreal environments and events, none of which last more than a minute or so. The enemies through-out have no variation and you're still fighting the same enemies at the end as you were at the very start of the game. The visuals in places look fantastic (mainly during daylight which you rarely get to see), whilst in others (and for the majority of the game) they're pretty dire. The weaving plot does hold your interest at times and you do find yourself getting a little pulled in to certain twists, but they're over before you know it and you're back to predictable. Combat would feel satisfying if it didn't become tedious first. I bought it on steam for less than a fiver and it feels like I paid its worth.… Expand
  78. Batuhan87
    Aug 14, 2012
    10
    Exceptionally good story.Gameplay is fantastic.The soundtrack is also one of the best out there.Graphics are very good and its performance is good too.
  79. vlado_work
    Jul 27, 2012
    4
    I was really looking forward to play this game. The story is great, but unfortunately I had to give up... the camera was driving me crazy and difficulty is just above my level -- attacked from all sides without enough ammo, that's a combination I couldn't manage. Pity, I'd love to know the rest of the story, but I'll just probably google it.
  80. zapiz
    Feb 25, 2012
    10
    Really great game, a solid masterpiece. I think it's one of my all time favourites ever (and I'm middle-aged gamer). Also I'm once again happy that I play games only on PC. Thank's Remedy!
  81. NL-Woody
    Mar 4, 2012
    9
    Awesome game! Good PC version, no problems! great sory, gameplay and graphics but the ending was weak and the game could get repetitive. Overall worth buying 85/100
  82. mallebolge
    Apr 4, 2012
    10
    great, the game makes you think even if Alan is this crazy or what happens is real, no doubt the game is worth, has a great thriller and even being linear, there's that sense of limitation in the game. fantastic. Downside? perhaps the lack of diversity of enemies that is, we have only one type of enemy, which turns out to be nothing more nauseating way it spoils the game.
  83. DrBushie
    May 26, 2012
    10
    If this game Doesn't get 10 points from me, not sure what would. Easily one of the best games I've played past 10 years. Story that gets you hooked from the beginning, One of the Best sound tracks in gaming ever.
    Looks and sounds nice, characters really well done. world is filled with so much detail.
  84. Pekafu
    May 31, 2012
    9
    Alan Wake is one of the best games I have ever played. The storytelling is epic, The atmosphere takes one to the depths of Cauldron lake and the graphics are great. I hear people complaining about the fps being around 60, but that should be more than enough for anyone. Game is a bit too straight forward but the all the pros make up for those little cons. I wish that this game came to stores for PC earlier and there wouldn't have been X360 version. Crosshair being just the flashlight is one of the nicest details of the game. This game is not a FPS so there is no need for focused/zoom mode for shooting and I don't know what people are thinking about when they are wishing something like that for this masterpiece. If you want to play some FPS game with much shooting go buy your piece of Battlefield or COD this game is thriller a bit like Resident Evil… Expand
  85. jedix
    Jul 19, 2012
    10
    I wanted to buy this game on xbox before it was even released. Now I get it on Steam during summer sale, I'm playing it with keyboard and mouse.
    Due to the massive drama scripts, fictions and movies I've read and watched, I can guess the ending of the story a bit in episode one, but the gameplay still chill my spine. There were moments that I can feel that all body hair are erected.
    The     scary moment is completely different from the other survival zombie games. Although the path is quite linear I find no reason for it to be a maze.
    I like the idea that there is no aim without the flashlight. That makes the feeling closer to reality. After all, you won't feel scary if you aren't "inside" the game.
    Sadly, my laptop does not meet the requirement for the highest graphic setting, or it will be perfect.    … Expand
  86. mario1088
    Feb 13, 2013
    10
    Even Stephen King would not be ashamed with that quality of plot. Characters like from Twin Peaks deep and not obvious, perfect atmosphere and surroundings. My vote 10!
  87. goshnya
    Mar 2, 2012
    5
    First off, credit where it's due: the PC port is excellent. Unfortunately for me, I did not find the gameplay interesting or engaging, it was too repetitve and shallow for me. Nor did I like the story. But I suspect people who like survival horror games will really like this one. It's not a bad game, I just did not find it to be fun to me.
  88. DarkMan
    Mar 14, 2012
    9
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I really enjoyed the story of the game and to fight with light was fun, even if the story was a little strange twisted sometimes. I liked the machines going after you and to hunt them down. Altogether there were some nice ideas in it. The graphics are pretty nice, only the controls were annoying sometimes.… Expand
  89. TitaniumDragon
    Feb 21, 2013
    5
    This game is greatly overrated. What's wrong? Well, it starts off strong enough you get into the action quickly (none of this "oh I don't get to really play for an hour" nonsense) and you get into the mystery of the piece pretty quickly. What's not to like? Well, the problem is that Alan Wake suffers from two problems: 1) The action is terrible. 2) The story isn't great. The first is obvious; in the intro, you learn how you burn the shadows off of enemies, then you shoot them to death. Okay, cool, so they expand on it right? No. The ENTIRE GAME'S GAMEPLAY is exactly the same thing burn the shadows off of enemies, then shoot them. There isn't even much variety in the way of enemies there are normal enemies, that cut you; fast enemies, which are harder to hit; and large enemies, who deal more damage and take more damage to cut down. There are moving objects that lift themselves up and hurl themselves at you as well, which sounds a lot better than it actually is the physics of it is awkward and the AI sucks, meaning they often "get stuck" on stuff.

    Thus the ENTIRE game's action consists of doing the same thing over and over and over again, to enemy after enemy after enemy, with little variation. Somewhere around episode 2 (of 6) it wears thin, and there's a lot more to go.

    The collectibles, likewise, leave something to be desired. Half of them are stupid, and the other half of them, while okay, suffer from the problem that searching for them messes up the gameplay and pacing; rather than trying to get out of the woods, instead you spend hours wandering around in the woods trying to find pages and thermoses and other nonsense. It sucks; the game plays a lot better when you aren't running around trying to find stuff because (let's face it) the gameplay wears thin anyway, it is even thinner stretched out like that. It doesn't help that Alan Wake can't run for very long, and has to slow down if you have him run for more than thirty feet or so that dude is seriously out of shape.

    Okay, so the gameplay rather sucks (even if the basic premise sounds interesting). What about the story?

    Well... again, the story kind of sucks too. The problem is that you start off the game with a mystery, and all's well, right? Well...

    It becomes glaringly clear what the answer to the mystery is early on, and without that mystery, there's just... nothing really substantive. Sure, the characters run around, and Barry and Sarah are okay characters, but Alan Wake himself is a bit bland and really it all feels a bit pointless. The story isn't terrible, but it isn't amazing either, which means that it doesn't make up for the mediocre gameplay. There is a brief upswing in the story in episodes 4 and 5, where it feels more fun, but the end of the game is as bland as chapters 2 and 3 were, and feels very empty due to the loss of any other characters interacting with you.

    Overall I can't recommend this game, but I don't discourage you from buying it either; however, it is average, neither great nor terrible.    … Expand
  90. haberman13
    Jul 19, 2012
    9
    I bought Alan Wake not knowing what I was getting (Steam sale) Wow! What a game. The combat, world, music, atmosphere are all top notch. If you would like GTA4 with a more linear experience as a horror movie, with the most well done atmosphere .. ever .. than you will love this game.
  91. Ixziga
    Aug 18, 2012
    9
    I know I'm a bit late on this, but I so wish I had heard of this game sooner. This is a hard game rate on a number scale for me. Although part of me wants to rate it a ten, the number of frustrating combat scenarios, the mercilessness of the game, the checkpoints loaded for stupid reasons, the unfriendly camera and control delay, the unacceptable lag spikes on my quad core computer even with the settings at medium, and the dreadful soprano-style ending that spoiled what would have been a masterpiece; I just can't bring myself to rate this game perfect. The thing is that Alan Wake is - in so many areas - ahead of its time. It's that rare game that's more than the sum of its parts. The different aspects of the game, be it incredible graphics or near-flawless story-line, or even the true-to-life characters and voice-acting; are not just delivered with quality but implemented with a purpose, and every artistic aspect of the game successfully adds to the depth of the games artistic message. The game's horror atmosphere is one of the best, not stereotypical and predictable like Dead Space and other action/horror knockoffs. But the horror exists for a reason, the game's comedic moments exist for a reason, and the game's characters move and act for a purpose, and this purpose that so mysteriously and powerfully drives the game is something that almost no games have yet to find, and the purpose behind Alan Wake that sets it apart from the rest of the gaming scene. Alan Wake will grip you and take you down not only a path or horror but a journey that comes with it's own ups and downs. It's not a short one either, I lost 14 hours of my life to it. If I were to just rate Alan Wake as if it were a simple game, who's sole purpose is amusement, I'd give it around a 7, which is probably why the professional critic reviews of this game are what they are; but Alan Wake is far more than that. Alan Wake is an experience that needs experiencing, a true work of art. That's not something that can be described on a scale of 0-10. Other than the ending which seemed to entirely abandon the purpose and artistic message that had driven the plot for so long, this game is simply brilliant, and at times awe-inspiring.… Expand
  92. drachehexe
    Apr 5, 2012
    9
    This isn't only a great survival horror game, it's a great game period. While it has a few minor flaws they are easily overlooked because what it does right it does near perfect. The game looks outstanding and runs well on my old GTX260. Aside from how good it looks the audio is of very high quality too. The pacing of this game is great, it's always pushing you forward but letting you catch your breath at just the right time. While the scares aren't quite inline with the likes of Silent Hill 2 the story and the pacing of Alan Wake won't disappoint and provides enough chills and thrills to keep you hooked. The only gripe I have is that it took me awhile to get use to the controls as they weren't very intuitive (I use a Windows 360 controller) and combat I also found using the mouse and keyboard rather weak and laggy, if you have a controller use it. I also found easy mode a bit too easy and normal mode way to hard, I can't imagine what hard difficulty is like. All in all Alan Wake is a great game and an a great port to the PC and if you like survival horror or 3D action games than you won't go wrong with this.… Expand
  93. bollegru
    Feb 26, 2012
    9
    Have you ever felt like giving a character in a game a hug to reassure and comfort them? That is how I felt at one point early in the game.

    Highly recommended if you like the story driven kind of game.
  94. ERICLS
    Feb 26, 2012
    8
    A great game! The scenarios are amazing and the history is very good. Some times the game is a little bit repetitive and the end is disappointing but Im glad the game was released to PC.
  95. Gamera
    May 17, 2012
    10
    I heard so much good about Alan Wake, I decided to buy it. It has a decent, engaging story, that draws you in, however it's not very unique in my opinion. The reason for it, is that I read a lot of Stephen King and I'm generally into this twilight zone stuff, so I'm pretty familiar with the used elements which often feel like they have been recycled from different novels and tv shows. It's not really a problem since Alan Wake does the recycling well. The uniqueness comes from the method of how the story is being told. I'm sure that this king of thing was never done in a video game before. I like how they chose the dramatic moments of the game and how the makers keep you in the dark (no pun intended), for a relatively long time before you understand every event that happens and feels confusing at the start. The atmosphere is strong but it's not as heavy and terrifying as other survival horrors in recent memory. The fight system is very well done and also brings something new to TPS games. My only complaint is that you have to be fast therefore have to turn fast which resulted in heavy headaches in my case. That is why it took me a week to play through this otherwise not very long game. You don't have to make any choices through the story, the off battle part is basically an interactive movie. I don't think it's a negative thing, but it felt like my hand was held the whole time.
    Technically it's a very good port. The graphics are awesome and there weren't any framerate issues on my 3 year old system. I was forced to play it with mouse and keyboard because the game didn't recognize my generic gamepad. I would recommend this game to players who prefer well written and engaging stories.    … Expand
  96. Seorl
    May 16, 2012
    9
    Alan Wake is an amazing game that balances action, survival, a little bit of horror, and a captivating storyline. I found the targeting/aiming system to be a bit hit and miss, but the game allows flexible movement which makes the experience gentler. The survival aspect of it is well thought out, but not always well executed. I never did run out of flashlight batteries, and always had enough ammunition to not worry. The horror aspect of it would have been greatly increased should either of those resources been just slightly less. Regardless, this is a game everyone should check out and play. It will not be a waste of your time.… Expand
  97. Johnman
    Feb 24, 2012
    9
    My PC was told it couldn't handle this game (by the game itself), but it still could. Not maxed out, but at a very enjoyable level (perfectly ported to PC). Anyway, combat can get a bit repetitive, although the story is so great it will most probably keep you going. This game can really suck you in. It could be the awesome aftertaste I'm having right now, but I'd say this will be a classic on a par with The Endless Journey.

    There is no BS with the storyline, the game play or anything else. This is an honest game, and good. It's about time we see some serious writing in video games. I hope they make a sequel or two.    … Expand
  98. Anderen2
    Mar 24, 2012
    8
    Remedy never dissapoints me. Another good game with an interesting story to play. I see many having issues with performance, runs great with all settings at high @ i5-2500k and ATi6870 atleast. Only thing I might say is that the game might be a bit repetive gameplay-wise after a while (Duck, light, shoot and repeat). Still it was an enjoyable experience :)
  99. Fragems
    May 9, 2012
    10
    Love this game. Originally owned it on the 360 and upon hearing it was releasing on PC immediately re bought so i could do another play through. Game has one of the best stories ive seen in a video game, has very smooth controls, great graphics, and is very thrilling to play. Give it a shot you wont be disappointed.
  100. meediocre
    May 28, 2012
    8
    Despite being a couple of years old or whatever now, this still plays out as an almost very special single-player experience. You really feel compelled to play the game and get through to the ending, to find out what on earth has happened to Alan Wake's girlfriend. Has elements of Stephen King novels, Left for Dead and Twin Peaks. The story, atmosphere and setting of Bright Falls is haunting and immersive. However, the non-linear jumbled up and sometimes slightly confusing tale of a writer's descent into some kind of psychotic darkness, only barely masks the utterly linear gameplay elements. This is game that where you literally have no decisions to make, and ultimately is a bit like a survival horror shooter. The combat is a little tricky at first, but eventually it becomes quite easy to manage a torch and gun - but I did suffer a little fatigue with having to deal with the same types of enemies. Plowing through the chapters was easy and addictive, yet could have been more challenging or at least had some forks in the road where Alan could make some decisions about where to go or what to do. In conclusion then I highly recommend checking this game out - it fails at being an outstanding shooter experience, and the story might just seem a little too far-out to get fully onboard with - but it certainly hooked me in, and would love to see a proper sequel someday.… Expand
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Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
83 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 30 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 27 out of 30
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 30
  3. Negative: 0 out of 30
  1. Gamer.nl
    May 5, 2012
    70
    Alan Wake is a decent port with a few console-characteristics that cause a few annoyances. But PC-gamers finally have the option to enjoy Alan Wake's unique and gripping story.
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  2. Computer Games Online RO
    Apr 13, 2012
    82
    Yet as a finished result and, finally, as a product with an interactive purpose, Alan Wake suffers enough from trying to mix so many influences, ending very close to the "you love it or hate it" model. Eventually, maybe these are just the "pains of childbirth" for something more complex or for something else as deserving as interactivity, a new „species" that needs to be judged less for its interactive aspects and more for the ones that regard its style.
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  3. PC PowerPlay
    Apr 5, 2012
    80
    "A gripping rollercoaster ride." - Stephen King. [Apr 2012, p.52]
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