This post contains no spoilers.

I don't actually know how to start writing about this game. The writing quality is superb as it would be expected from Remedy. The ambiance sucks you right in. Gameplay elements are simple but fun. Throughout your journey enemy variety increases. There some little puzzles here and there. Even though I wouldn't say that gameplay mechanics are super rich, they never get stale. In fact, they don't need be rich. Alan Wake tries to tell a story and everything comes within the package serves its purpose brilliantly. There's nothing ground breaking about it but more than interesting enough to hold your attention from the beginning to until the very end.

I do wanna talk about something else though. The UX design in this game. The game defines itself as thriller, in the beginning. And throughout the first chapters, it makes you feel thrilled, but not scared. By the end of the game, as Alan states himself, it evolves into a horror story and the UX itself is tweaked according to that.

For example, at the beginning of the game, you feel that there's something off about the place you're in. The game achieves creating and delivering an uneasy feeling brilliantly. When someone or something about to attack you, time slows down and you're being warned. There are no jumpscares, no extremely deadly enemies that could hinder your progress. There are plenty of resources scattered around the world and if you're curious enough to discover your surroundings, the game rewards you with tons of and tons of ammunition and other tools. You never feel unsafe. If you listen to the OST carefully, you know when an enemy is about to show up and when you cleared an area entirely. There are also a lot of audio cues and signs painted on the walls on where to find more ammunition and gadgets.

The latter chapters on the other hand take place in horror genre. The atmosphere gets darker and darker. I did not feel the encouragement to discover my surroundings that I felt in the beginning of the game, in this part. You're not being warned about enemies approaching you anymore. At least not as much as the beginning of the game. Jumpscares start appearing here and there. There are moments that make you think if you should just run to a safe place rather than fighting your way through. You can't be 100% sure of if you cleared an area entirely because a couple steps in new "things" might suddenly appear. Enemies are stronger, more varied and most of the time they outnumber you in the latter chapters. There are less ammunition placed around the world, so you'll need to rely on your magnum which is the weakest gun in the game, more often. The thing that fascinated me the most is, I didn't feel like the game got harder and harder at any point while still feeling the change happened in the genre. It had a very balanced and steady difficulty throughout the whole journey with one exception which I'll touch on below.

I'd give this game a 9/10 and I believe it's one of those must plays. The way how you use your flashlight than it is being used in other games is something that should be appreciated the least, I think.

The reasons why I give it a 9/10 are (allow me to say that I'm being very nitpicky here) PC version has some mouse acceleration problems. It can be fixed easily by changing your mouse's DPI but I had to go back and forth with it a little bit to find the nice balance I wanted. Second thing is, in some chapters you're required to drive, and while driving is still fun, there's something weird about controlling the cars. They also make the encounters very very easy. The cars slide very nicely though, if you're into drifting.