Review:
Alan Wake: The Writer

Despite being released back in May, the story of writer Alan Wake still isn’t finished yet. With the six episode game and the first epilogue chapter released, it’s about time the final part of the story was finally revealed to the world. Fortunately, it’s well worth the wait. Be warned if you haven’t played the game or the first DLC storyline, there may be spoilers ahead.

After risking life and limb to rescue his wife from the clutches of the Dark Presence, Alan found himself seemingly trapped within the Dark Place, a nightmarish world where words are the greatest weapon and new horrors lurk around every corner. At the conclusion of part one, ‘The Signal’, Wake discovered that he was not trapped in the Dark Place, he was somewhere far worse – his own mind. This finale sees him attempting to navigate his own hazy memory, trying to return to sanity to himself. Can he do it when the rest of his own shattered mind wants to give in to the darkness?

While the first part of the finale felt restrained and limited, with just a few really cool memorable moments, this second half is where developers Remedy really let themselves go. ‘The Writer’ is chock full of jaw-dropping moments and set-pieces that will leave your head spinning even as you watch it.

One moment you’re leaping across word-rocks that hang over an endless chasm, the next you’re running around inside a spinning cabin, trying to find the way out. Before long you’re leaping across debris being spin around by a nightmarish tornado, then you find yourself sprinting through memorable locations from the first game that have all been placed inside an enormous Ferris wheel. Even the final desperate scramble to safety and the end boss battle are hugely exciting and incredible in their intensity. From the moment you start, this feels like a true evolution of the Alan Wake idea – far more so than ‘The Signal’ could even hint at.

The level design is simply brilliant, managing to combine the open world feel of the game with the terrible emptiness of the Dark Place. Your goal is a lighthouse on a vast and unending horizon, but you can always turn around and see the winking lights from the lodge you started the chapter off in. It’s a simple idea and a powerful one that means you’ll always know where your goal is.