Alan Wake (Xbox 360)

Alan Wake takes the protagonist-having-writer’s-block-and-has-to-go-somewhere-to-regroup motif to a different direction by combining it with popular film motifs. The video game from Remedy Entertainment and Microsoft Game Studios combines action and psychological horror. It was originally released for the Xbox 360 in May 2010 and has finally been released for the PC in February 2012.

In the game, the titular character suffers writer’s block and leaves for vacation with his wife to Bright Falls, a fictional small town in Washington. There, his wife mysteriously disappears, prompting him to go on a quest to look for her. It turns out that Alan Wake has been experiencing events from a recent novel that he cannot even remember writing. Many of the themes explored in Alan Wake are reminiscent of horror movies. Just think of The Shining for the theme of writer’s block leading to insanity. There is also the common theme of writings coming to life.

Alan Wake also has an interesting episodic structure, which made it easy for the DLCs, “The Writer” and “The Signal” to come in. These downloadable content packs have been launched free with the PC version. The Alan Wake story is further enriched by related books and even a live action web series by the name of Bright Falls. The latter served as a prequel of sorts. The gameplay is that of a third person shooter but one that is within the structure of a cinematic story. Light is also used as a weapon to reduce the darkness.