Last week was a good week as I finally got to play Alan Wake, which I had wanted to play since it came out. Having a rental account has its perks and when Lovefilm decided that they would send me it, I was happy as a pig in muck. Sticking in the game I started to play and throughout the entire game, it got me thinking. Is this game pure genius? Or is it a tragic waste of five years? I will give you fair warning, there are some spoilers.
Wake uses chapter based storytelling much like in a book, although this makes the game very linear. At the beginning of the game I felt like I was playing three openings. The first opening thrust me in the deep end of the game, instantly being chased. The second had me taking my time during the day to have a creepy end. The third was Alan wake-ing (sorry had to do it) in a car dangling over a cliff, wondering what the hell had happened, where he was and what had happened to his wife. This is where the real beginning was and then you begin to follow the story. Is this a genius way to start a story? Or is this just bad writing? I personally think that its genius, mainly because it makes you wonder what the hell is going on, for it to be then slowly explained throughout the chapter.
The next thing that Wake made me wonder about was what is actually going on. After spending entire day thinking about it, I came up with only four plausible answers in the very beginning.
1) Alan is in a coma or having a dream where he has to face both his own demons and his own fears whilst trying to wake up.
2) Alan is narrating a new book that he is writing, where he has added himself as the main character in a twisted horror story.
3) Everything is real, it’s really happening and his wife really is missing. The shadow people are really attacking him and Alan is now the protector of the world!
4) Alan is suffering from some sort of post traumatic stress disorder after the death of his wife. He has gone crazy and nothing he sees is real. Thinking the world is out to get him he plunges further into depression, seeing only what he wants to see.
In my mind all these answers are all plausible. This is also why I think the story is genius. It makes you think that there is more to the story, more to the game. You can look at it from multiple angles and still see different answers to what is going on. It also sets an atmospheric macabre tone that keeps you gripped while all the time unravelling more details to what is going on.
Towards the end of the game the storytelling becomes even more fantastic and really opens up what you think. Changing the smallest details of what your chosen scenario is. I only wish the storytelling was so open in other games.
I think overall the time was wasted while making the game although they were right to concentrate on the story, its one redeeming feature. I’m not saying it’s a bad game, it really isn’t. Its gameplay is solid, inventive and well executed, but still lacking something. In a world where people demand more variety, those five years were wasted.
That all said and the story still has me wondering, making me want to go back to the game. Making me want to play it one more time, if only to confirm or deny what I already believe is the intention of the story.
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