Alan Wake Remastered is a third-person survival/action game developed by Remedy Entertainment and published by Epic Games. The game follows the titular writer Alan Wake as he and his wife Alice go on a vacation to a remote coastal town, only for Alice to disappear and Alan to wake up after surviving a car crash. Alan then sets off to search for her, only to find people corrupted by some evil power. This game, a remastered port of the 2010 release, boasts increased frame rate and graphical fidelity, as well as being the complete version of the game, coming with both the base game and both expansions. However, is this remaster even worth the investment, or would it be wise to end this story before it began?
PROS:
One of the best parts of Alan Wake Remastered is the gameplay, which still feels just as good as the original. The player controls Alan as he progresses his way across the coastal town in search of his missing wife. As they progress, they are forced to fight against dangerous foes. This is where things get really interesting, as in order to deal any damage first, the player needs to weaken the enemies with their flashlight. It only takes a couple of seconds to do this, but it adds layers of tension when fighting a group of enemies as well as a lot of depth to the combat, as aiming the flashlight uses more of the battery, which will either slowly recharge over a period of time, or can be reloaded using your dwindling stash of extra batteries.
The game is also incredibly optimized for the Nintendo Switch and suffers little to no drops in framerate or graphical fidelity during even tense moments. Sprinting, shooting, or otherwise, the game holds up incredibly well. This is especially true in handheld mode, which makes this game a wonder to play on the go. Not only this, but the graphics don’t suffer a loss of quality just for being on the switch. They look just the same as on Xbox or PlayStation, which is a testament to the folks at Remedy’s ability to optimize.
CONS:
However, one of the main reasons behind this fantastic ability for Alan Wake Remastered to run so well is the fact that while the game has seen some graphical improvements, comparisons between the original and the remastered are lackluster at best and borderline unnoticeable at worst. The game still looks a lot like an Xbox 360 release, with some small lighting and textural changes being the only true distinctions. Overall, the graphics, while being on par with Xbox and PlayStation in their visual quality, the quality in question isn’t very high across the board.
Another issue is the story itself. The game follows the famous writer Alan Wake as he struggles against dangerous foes in order to locate his missing wife. However, the game’s dialogue felt extremely weak and stilted, awkwardly written and read, with Alan narrating over the game even during tense and often action-packed scenes. The story seemed to take a lot away from the game, which is almost the opposite of what one would expect it to do. But unfortunately, the game felt as though it was being hidden by the story, instead of bolstered by it, standing side by side, arm by arm with it.
CONCLUSION:
Overall, Alan Wake Remastered, while having some seriously well-optimized gameplay and graphical fidelity compared to the other consoles out there, the game itself felt lackluster in graphical quality and story, leading to an overall mediocre experience for me. If you are looking for a good, solid survival horror game with great graphics and a thrilling story, Alan Wake Remastered isn’t for you. But if you are looking for another game to pad your Switch’s library and want something a bit more current-gen, then I’d recommend trying it out.
For more information, visit https://www.nintendo.com/store/products/alan-wake-remastered-switch/
Related: Reviews by Matthew White
An avid gamer, Matthew is also an aspiring game developer. Because of this, Matthew knows not only what makes a game great, but also the hard work and artistry required to craft such a phenomenal experience.
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