Alan Wake PC review

But the PC version still inherits other issues from the console game. Half a dozen times in the story, Alan sprints off into the forest to escape capture, loses his gun, then has to find his way through the woods to where he needs to be. Sometimes you’ll trudge through the forest to get to the next plot point only to find that the person you were meeting has moved the meeting point someplace else. Cue more forest trudging. It doesn’t ruin the experience, but it’s a very transparent excuse for Remedy to pull you into more combat situations.

Don't consider that a curse, because combat is actually very fun, though thin in later stages. For most enemies, you need to burn away the Dark Presence with your flashlight before you can blast them with a rifle or pistol. It’s a good system, but there’s not enough variety and you’ll ending up fighting a lot of the same enemies many times. The problem with combat is not in its mechanics, but in its presentation.

Every time a battle begins, tense music plays, and more often than not the camera swoops in to show you the enemies. For the elements--its story, the gunplay, the characters--that Alan Wake does well, this is a huge problem, because it undermines the tension. No matter where you go, you’ll be alerted before combat starts. Exploring a creepy saw mill is never scary because you know you’ll have a few moments to prepare if you’re attacked. Nothing ever shocks you. This neuters the game’s exploration sections. Without fear, you’re just looking at an empty building.

As a result, the gameplay feels more like an action game jammed into a horror story. It’s a good action game, but it never quite feels like it belongs. Don’t let the moments of monolithic combat or the lack of terror throw you off, though. The strengths of Alan Wake's narrative outweighs shortcomings that need to be mentioned, but can't ruin the experience.

These issues are the same ones that dogged the original release. Alan Wake is a flawed gem: imperfect to those who know how to look, but a precious jewel nonetheless. Now it’s been released on the PC in its finest form yet. For waiting an extra year and a half, PC gamers are being rewarded with the most complete version yet, with a great port which includes the base game and both DLC packs from the Xbox 360 version, all for half the price of the original game.

This impressively original title (even after nearly two years) is a great time for any fan of mysteries, especially shows like Twin Peaks and Lost. Buy it, and get lost in its twisting complexities.