My favorite of those improvements is the higher frame rate. Visually, even the original game holds up pretty well today, but the remaster definitely improves things in a number of areas. Combined with expert pacing, good or better voice acting, and a licensed soundtrack of moody hits from David Bowie, Nick Cave, and more, it's apparent early and often what's made Alan Wake a beloved game all these years. It's never quite a horror game, but in situations where Wake is overrun by the Taken, sometimes without even a gun, the tension truly mounts. Enemies will flank you, throw things like hammers, and charge with chainsaws in hand. When it's not the "Taken" in human form, it's possessed objects like cars and fridges being flung at you by poltergeists, or flocks of shadowy crows.
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Wake's iconic flashlight blasts the darkness away like destroying a shield, leaving them open to gunfire. In Bright Falls exists a Dark Presence that takes over townspeople, turning them into sludgy shadows of their former selves.
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Where Max Payne gives us slow-motion gunfights, Quantum Break bends time, and Control invents paranatural abilities, Wake uses light. The game's third-person shooting gameplay is akin to other Remedy games.
#WAY OF THE 4 ELEMENTS REMASTERED SERIAL#
Alan Wake has all the markings of a serial drama of its time, and this Lost-ian approach to building mysteries on top of mysteries is quickly irresistible.Īcross the full eight-episode "season," (six episodes plus two packed-in DLC episodes), new players will find out what has kept this game at the forefront of players' minds for years despite being mostly dormant since 2012's XBLA semi-sequel, Alan Wake's American Nightmare. It's there where Alice quickly goes missing and Wake finds himself behind the wheel of a crashed car, missing a week of time before suddenly discovering pages to a story he doesn't recall writing. Suffering from writer's block and his own general air of abrasiveness, Alan retreats to Bright Falls, Washington, a logging town with a dark history not immediately apparent to Alan and his wife Alice. In this episodic thriller that borrows from Stephen King, David Lynch, and The Twilight Zone in roughly equal measure , players take on the role of the titular crime novelist. It's an ocean." Alan Wake Remastered: A Lake of Improvements, An Ocean of Promises But Alan Wake Remastered isn't just a game.
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With Alan Wake Remastered, Remedy is bringing the game to new platforms and longtime devotees alike, and in classic Remedy fashion, there are new secrets to be discovered.Īs a game, it mostly holds up 11 years after its debut.