Alan Wake Remastered Review

Verdict

Alan Wake Remastered is a solid visual update to a classic survival horror game that first debuted on the Xbox 360. Though the gameplay does on occasion feel a little dated by today'south standards, the game'due south solid writing and upgraded graphics make it an excellent game nonetheless.

Pros

Excellent story
Looks nifty in 4K

Cons

Combat starting to show its age

Availability

Uk RRP: £24.99
USA RRP: $30

Key Features

Available on: Ballsy Games Store (PC), PlayStation 4, PlayStation five, Xbox One, Xbox Series Ten|S
Length: Roughly 20 hours

Introduction

Alan Wake Remastered is an updated version of the archetype survival from Remedy, the programmer behind classic series including Max Payne and Control.

At its center it'south a story-driven thriller that sees you lot accept the role of best selling author Alan Wake equally he attempts to find his missing married woman in the mysterious boondocks of Bright Falls.

The Remastered version is being pitched equally the "ultimate" way to feel the game, which originally launched in 2010, featureing updated 4K graphics plus a number of other visual upgrades.

Having run through the unabridged game, I tin can ostend it delivers on this promise, making information technology a great choice for any horror fan yet to experience Alan Wake. All the same, a lack of upgrades to the core gameplay tin can make certain parts feel a little dated. Hither'southward my total review.

Gameplay

Alan Wake is a survival horror game
It focuses on defeating enemies using light base of operations weapons and guns
There have been no changes made to the original

Alan Wake is a survival horror that tasks you to survive and make your mode through various scripted levels over six chapters in the fictional town of Bright Falls.

The gameplay is unproblematic: monsters in the dark want to stop yous from getting from ane end of the map to the other, so you need to either dart your mode past or gun them down. The latter isn't so straightforward equally information technology sounds though, requiring y'all to strip enemies, known every bit "Taken", of their defences with low-cal before killing them using conventional weapons.

Outside of occasional flashback segments, each level takes place in a different part of Bright Falls, which is a fictional "rustic" boondocks in Washington Country, which acts equally a skilful catalyst for the game'southward horror focus.

The mechanics are fairly simple, simply generally quite effective. The nighttime time settings in the mountainous forest town offer a claustrophobic feel, with enemies literally surrounding you at every turn. You tin can fortunately notice a safe haven in well lit rooms or underneath lampposts, but the game does a decent job making yous never feel truly prophylactic.

This is largely helped past the fact that, unlike many modernistic horror games, such every bit Evil Within two, or Resident Evil Village, the game'south capacity are linear, non open world. The merely exploration takes place betwixt each betoken of light where at that place are sporadic item caches, which can exist found past following directions that only get visible when you shine your flashlight on them.

You can as well find a number of collectibles, including java thermouses and pages of a mysterious manuscript by Alan, which offering short details virtually the unfolding plot.

Even so, Remedy has chosen to leave the original gameplay untouched, and so there are a few $.25 that feel slightly dated. This is particularly true with gainsay. Alan Wake's combat was a breath of fresh air when it kickoff launched, with the focus on using light to weaken enemies offering a layer of strategy missing on other survival horrors at the time. This largely remains the case now, with the management of your flashlight's batteries being just as important as how y'all conserve your revolver's ammo.

But the gunplay and item management feels a fiddling light for my liking. Your pick of weapons are limited to a basic revolver, a shotgun and a hunting rifle. Outside of that, flares human action equally a secondary light source for when y'all're getting mobbed past enemies and flare guns deed as grenade launchers.

At that place's no upgrade arrangement for any of them. Inventory management and crafting mechanics are non-existent and health auto regenerates, removing the need for whatsoever form of healing items. The latter is a item annoyance, as it makes information technology all likewise piece of cake to backtrack to previous safe zones when you lot muck up.

I'chiliad also disappointed by the aiming system. The game sees you use Alan's flashlight to aim, with the central circle of light interim every bit your reticle. This is innovative, but, to brand information technology piece of work, Remedy forces an machine aim setting on you. There's no way to turn it off, which is really annoying. Fighting enemies with auto aim removes a lot of the fun of shooting, peculiarly in the piece of cake and normal settings, where ammo is adequately plentiful. Alan'south dodge ability is also oddly constructive, with it being all too like shooting fish in a barrel to dance circles round enemies once you get used to the timing.

I'd forgive this if gainsay wasn't so central to the experience. It would be dainty to also have a stealth option to vary the gameplay up, peculiarly given the fact Alan'south meant to be a novelist rather than a super soldier.

Existence fair, this is the same issue I have with a lot of games getting the remastered treatment. Mass Issue Legendary Edition had the aforementioned problem during combat heavy periods due to a lack of gameplay updates when I played information technology last year. Only it'southward something that puts me off virtually remastered games in general.

Graphics

4K graphics, Nvidia DLSS
Just no Ray Tracing

That doesn't mean there's not been enough of neat piece of work done to the Alan Wake remaster. For starters Remedy has completely updated the game's graphics, giving it 4K textures that look outright gorgeous on the RTX 3080 powered PC I tested it on. Remedy has besides added DLSS support to the game, meaning it tin can run on playable framerates on lower specced machines.

The work has paid off, with the updated version living up to Remedy's claim that the Remaster is "the best mode to experience Alan Wake". The grapheme animations and models look brilliant in 4K and the game's tense, claustrophobic maps accept aged amazingly well.

The only small-scale shortcoming is that the game doesn't support Ray Tracing. This is a graphical setting featured on most acme end graphics cards and games consoles, including the PS5 and Xbox Serial X/S. It lets games render more than realistic lighting furnishings and shadows in real time.

Though at that place are technical reasons for this, Ray Tracing on a game all about using calorie-free every bit a weapon seems like a no-brainer and a missed opportunity.

Story

The story remains the game's strongest selling indicate
Unless you are a completionist there is little replay value

Remedy is a visitor with a atypical focus: creating strong, narrative-driven, single-player games. Alan Wake is the epitome of this featuring a stiff story with a cohesion and rhythm completely missing in most recent AAA horrors.

Not giving any spoilers away, but the game exudes clear influences from some of the biggest horror movies around. These include combat segments clearly inspired by Phantoms to chilling twists that would requite Stephen Male monarch a run for his coin.

Alan Wake's strong, utterly engrossing, plot does such a skilful job, that even with the slightly old schoolhouse gameplay, you'll want to keep venturing forrard until the game's conclusion.

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Should yous purchase it?

You should purchase Alan Wake Remastered if: You're a horror fan that hasn't played the original. Alan Wake'due south story remains one of the all-time seen in a horror game, offering a Stephen King-like narrative that volition go out you guessing until the very stop.

You shouldn't purchase Alan Wake Remastered if: You want a modern, combat-focussed horror game. Alan Wake'south combat feels undeniably dated at times, especially compared to games like Resident Evil Village or Evil Inside 2. Returning fans shouldn't expect any new content or tweaked gameplay.

Final Thoughts

Alan Wake Remastered does a decent job of updating Remedy's classic survival horror to expect like a electric current generation game. The only small quibble I take is that, given its focus on light vs dark, Ray Tracing is an odd omission. This, plus its stellar writing, which has aged surprisingly well make it a not bad game for any player yet to feel Alan Wake.

How we test

Nosotros play every game we review through to the stop, exterior of sure exceptions where getting 100% completion, similar Skyrim, is close to incommunicable to do. When we don't fully finish a game before reviewing information technology we will always alert the reader.

FAQs

How long is Alan Wake Remastered

On our review playthrough it took u.s.a. around 20 hours to complete the main story.

Does Alan Wake Remastered support ray tracing?

Alan Wake Remastered does not currently support ray tracing light furnishings.

Has Alan Wake Remastered's gameplay been updated

Remedy has not made any pregnant changes to Alan Wake's cadre gainsay gameplay or maps in the remastered version.

Jargon buster

DLSS

Deep learning super sampling is Nvidia's image upscaling technology which tin can better a game's framerate without reducing the quality of the visuals.

Ray Tracing

Advanced light-rendering technology that allows for more realistic lighting and shadow effects inside in-game worlds.

4K Ultra Hard disk TV

4K (or Ultra HD) refers to the resolution of a TV'due south brandish, which equates to the number of horizontal and vertical pixels that information technology tin can display. 4K TVs have a resolution of 3840 10 2160 (8.iii million pixels), which is four times that of a Total Hard disk Boob tube. With more pixels, you lot go a sharper, clearer motion picture than is possible from an equivalent sized 1080p display.

Source: https://www.trustedreviews.com/reviews/alan-wake-remastered

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