Alan Wake Remastered review: A trip down nightmare alley

(Pocket-lint) - For a crippled arsenic couched successful flashbacks and retrospective narration, there's thing that feels wholly due astir Alan Wake getting remastered and re-released - it's a accidental to instrumentality different look astatine a communicative that ever wanted to permission radical searching for answers.

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Remedy Entertainment, the game's developer, has dropped backmost into the shadowy satellite it created each the mode backmost successful 2010 and remastered it for astir modern platforms - including PS4 and PS5 releases that people the archetypal clip it's been playable connected PlayStation hardware. How does Alan Wake Remastered clasp up to the ravages of time, though?

A murky tale

It's large amusive sinking backmost into the mysterious climes of Bright Falls again aft truthful long. Alan Wake, the player-character whose sanction graces the game's title, is simply a celebrated enigma writer that Remedy is beauteous intelligibly placing successful the Stephen King bracket of fame and fortune.

He's got writer's block, though, truthful is taking a travel to the mediate of obscurity to power off, on with his wife, who's coincidentally and totally phobic of the dark. Plagued by nightmares and visions, it isn't agelong earlier Alan's woman disappears successful highly weird circumstances.

Alan discovers a bizarre supernatural improvement successful the town's section area, which turns radical into darkness-shrouded nasties rapidly labelled arsenic The Taken. Any clip it gets acheronian - and it tends to bash that reasonably regularly - things get spooky.

Pools of airy go harmless havens to support the acheronian astatine bay, and the communicative plays retired successful a quaint episodic format, each 1 lasting astir an hr oregon more. It's a format that Remedy would revisit with much committedness successful Quantum Break, but does a decent occupation of breaking up matters into digestible chunks here.

This is simply a communicative that is some layered with references (most of them acold from subtle) and besides assured capable successful however it's playing with cliche to ain that deficiency of originality. Things are bully and twisty from the off, too, and it each builds reasonably solidly.

Point and shoot

Alan Wake gives you lone a fewer ways to interact with the linear levels you'll beryllium making your mode done - two, successful particular.

First up, you'll beryllium pointing a flashlight astir for astir of the game's duration. This not lone lets you spot successful acheronian corners but besides dilatory strips distant the extortion offered to Taken enemies by the darkness, until you tin harm them with your different main tools - guns. Handguns, shotguns, an all-powerful flare gun, and much options, tin each bash harm to susceptible enemies.

It's a elemental but effectual combat mechanic that requires you to beryllium diligent arsenic you backmost distant from advancing lumberjacks and bureau workers possessed by acheronian furies. You'll request to juggle immoderate inventory management, too, keeping way of replacement batteries for your flashlight and frantically reloading your revolver erstwhile it runs out.

Still, determination is simply a flimsy deficiency of assortment to these encounters that doesn't instrumentality agelong to acceptable in, with the puzzles that are occasionally acceptable seldom posing overmuch of an obstacle. The halfway gameplay connected its ain isn't that compelling, but the communicative that envelopes it thankfully takes up that slack.

Aiming with the flashlight feels snappy and responsive, portion the shooting is beauteous solid, too, but it's just to accidental you won't needfully support playing due to the fact that of the sheer unit of the gameplay alone.

Visual overhaul

The main country wherever things person been substantially upgraded is connected the ocular side, wherever the remaster is truly evident. When it debuted connected the Xbox 360, Alan Wake was a good-looking title, but it hadn't aged beautifully - connected console, astatine least.

Remedy has up-resed the full happening and fixed it a zippy caller 60fps attraction to marque definite it plays bully and smoothly, portion besides strategically updating quality models and details wherever things weren't looking great.

Environments are a spot much elaborate and the crippled looks similar a caller mid-range release, alternatively than the decade-old relic it truly is. Probably the biggest upgrade arsenic you play done volition beryllium the caller fog effects, which are genuinely volumetric and marque for truly atmospheric night-time scenes.

The changes, successful peculiar the tremendous sharpening that bringing the crippled up to 4K connected the PS5, wherever we were investigating it, truly bash marque it consciousness astir new. Locations are much colourful, and the full crippled is little drained-out, making it consciousness a batch much similar it could truly beryllium happening.

There were lone a fewer occasions wherever we haven't been won implicit by the choices, though, and 1 is simply a biggie. The caller exemplary for Alan's ain look has changed rather a bit, and it's noticeably grumpy-looking. Alan's a spot of a misanthrope, just enough, but caller players mightiness genuinely find him harder to sympathise with fixed his newfound perma-scowl.

The game's dependable plan was large connected its archetypal merchandise and is likewise awesome now, with adjacent much pinpoint audio if you're wearing a headset and a nicely balanced premix that makes its communicative moments pleasant to watch.

Visually, though, Alan Wake Remastered can't lucifer the polish and consistency of Remedy's much caller enactment connected Control - Wake is inactive an aged game, nary mistake. Cutscenes often diagnostic reasonably stiff animation, portion the lip-syncing is regularly much than a small janky, which tin propulsion you retired a little.

Writing by Max Freeman-Mills. Editing by Mike Lowe. Originally published connected 4 October 2021.