Judgment
Alan Wake Remastered is a tough visual update to a classic survival horror game that first debuted on the Xbox 360. Although the gameplay seems a bit dated by today’s standards, the game’s solid text and upgraded graphics make it a great game.
Professional
- Nice story
- Looks great in 4K
Cons
- The war began to show its age
Presence
- United KingdomRRP: £ 24.99
- AmericaRRP: $ 30
The main advantage
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Available here:Epic Game Store (PC), PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X | S -
Length:About 20 hours
Introduction
Alan Wake Remastered is an updated version of Classic Survival from Remedy, the developer behind the classic series with Max Payne and Control.
At its heart is a story-driven thriller that takes you to the role of best-selling author Alan Wake as he tries to find his missing wife in the mysterious town of Bright Falls.
The remastered version is being pitched as the “ultimate” way to experience the game, originally launched in 2010, with a number of updated 4K graphics and a number of other visual upgrades.
After playing the whole game, I can confirm that it has made this promise, making it still a great option for any horror fan for the Alan Wake experience. However, the lack of upgrades to the original gameplay may make certain parts look a bit dated. Here is my full review.
Gameplay
- Alan Wake is a survival horror game
- It focuses on defeating enemies using light base weapons and guns
- No changes were made to the original
Alan Wake is a survival horror that works to help you survive and make your way through the various scripted levels in six chapters in the fictional city of Bright Falls.
The gameplay is simple: the monsters in the dark want to stop you from moving from one end of the map to the other, so you either have to cross your path or drop their gun. The latter is not as straightforward as it sounds, before using conventional weapons to kill them, your enemies, who are called “why”, must be snatched away by the light of defense.
Occasionally outside the flashback segment, each level takes place in a different part of Bright Falls, a fictional “rustic” city in the state of Washington, which serves as a good catalyst for the game’s horror focus.
The mechanics are fairly simple, but generally quite effective. The nighttime settings in the mountain forest town provide a claustrophobic feeling, with enemies literally surrounding you at every turn. You can luckily find a safe haven in a well-lit room or under a lamppost, but the game does a decent job so you never feel really safe.
This basically helps that, unlike many modern horror games, such as Evil Within 2, or Resident Evil Village, the game’s chapters are not linear, open worlds. The search only takes place at each point of the light where there are scattered item caches, which can be found by following the instructions which are visible only when you turn on your flashlight on them.
You can also find many collectibles, including Coffee Thermos and Alan’s mysterious manuscript page, which gives an overview of the plot unfolded.
However, Remedy has chosen to leave the original gameplay untouched, so there are some bits that seem a bit dated. This is especially true in war. Alan Wake’s Battle was a breath of fresh air when it was first launched, offering a level of strategy missing in the other horrors of survival at that time with a focus on using light to weaken enemies. As it turns out, in most cases, the management of your flashlight’s battery is just as important as how you store your revolver’s ammunition.
But the songplay and item management seem a little lighter for my choice. The weapon of your choice is limited to a basic revolver, a shotgun and a hunting rifle. Beyond that, flares act as a secondary light source when you are crowded by enemies and flare guns act as grenade launchers.
There is no upgrade system for any of them. Inventory management and crafting mechanics are non-existent and health is automatically restored, eliminating the need for any kind of healing item. The latter is particularly annoying, as it makes it much easier to return to the previous safe zone when you bathe.
I’m frustrated by the target system. The game sees you using Alan’s flashlight to notice, the central circle of light acting as your lattice. It’s innovative, but, to make it work, the remedy forces you to set an automatic goal. There is no way to stop it, which is really annoying. Fighting enemies with automatic targets removes a lot of the fun of shooting, especially in simple and normal settings, where ammunition is fairly plentiful. Alan’s ability to dodge is also incredibly effective, as you get used to it over time making it very easy to dance round enemies.
I would forgive it if war is not the focal point of the experience. It would also be nice to have a stealth option to change the gameplay, especially since Alan is meant to be a novelist instead of a super soldier.
To be fair, this is the same problem I’m getting remastered with many games. When I played it last year, the legendary version of Mass Effect had the same problem during the Great War due to a lack of gameplay updates. But that’s something that usually turns me off from most remastered games.
Graphics
- 4K graphics, Nvidia DLSS
- But no ray tracing
This is not to say that the Alan Wake remaster did not do a great deal. For beginners, Remedy has completely updated the game’s graphics, giving it a 4K texture that makes it look absolutely gorgeous on the RTX 3080 powered PC I tested. Remedy has added DLSS support to the game, which means it can run on playable framerates on low-space machines.
The work paid off, with the updated version surviving Remedy’s claim that the remaster is “the best way to experience Alan Wake.” The character animations and models look great in 4K, and the game’s tension, claustrophobic maps are surprisingly old.
The only minor flaw is that the game does not support ray tracing. This is a graphical setting that is featured on most top graphics cards and game consoles, including the PS5 and Xbox Series X / S. This allows games to render more realistic lighting effects and shadows in real time.
Although there are technical reasons for this, ray tracing in a game seems to be a no-brainer and a missed opportunity to use light as a weapon.
The story
- The story remains the strongest selling point of the game
- There is little replay value if you are not a perfectionist
The remedy is an organization with a single focus: creating powerful, narrative-driven, single-player games. Alan Wake is a powerful story with a combination and rhythm completely missing from the latest AAA horror.
No spoilers are moving away, but the game has a clear impact from the biggest horror movies in the neighborhood. It includes parts of the war that are clearly inspired by Phantoms that will help Stephen King run for his money.
Alan Wake’s strong, totally engaging plot does such a good job, even with a little old school gameplay, you’ll want to move on until the game is over.
The latest deal
Will you buy it?
Should you buy Alan Wake Remastered if: You are a horror fan who did not play the original. Alan Wake’s story offers one of the best scenes ever seen in a horror game, a Stephen King-like narrative that will keep you guessing until the very end.
You should not buy Alan Wake Remastered if: You want a modern, war-centric horror game. Alan Wake’s fight sometimes seems undoubtedly dated, especially compared to games like Resident Evil Village or Evil Win 2. Returning fans should not expect any new content or tweaked gameplay
The latest thought
Alan Wake does a decent job updating the classic survival horror of Remastered Remedy to look like the current generation of games. The only minor embarrassment I had was that when the focus was on light versus darkness, ray tracing was a strange omission. This, along with its great writing, which is surprisingly old, still makes it a great game for any player to experience Alan Wake.
How do we test
We play every game we review in the end, with the exception of Skyrim, which is almost impossible to achieve 100% perfection. We will always warn the reader when we do not finish a game completely before reviewing.
FAQs
It took us about 20 hours to complete the original story in our review playthrough.
Alan Wake Remastered does not currently support ray tracing light effects.
Remedy Alan Wake’s core combat gameplay or remastered version did not make any significant changes to the map.
Jargon Buster
DLSS
Deep Learning Super Sampling is Nvidia’s image upscaling technology that can improve the framerate of a game without compromising on visual quality.
Ray tracing
Advanced light-rendering technology that allows for more realistic lighting and shadow effects in the game world.
4K Ultra HD TV
4K (or Ultra HD) refers to the resolution of a TV’s display, which is equal to the number of horizontal and vertical pixels it can display. 4K TVs have a resolution of 3840 x 2160 (8.3 million pixels), which is four times that of a full HD TV. With more pixels, you’ll get a sharper, clearer picture from an equivalent-sized 1080p display.