Alan Wake is one of Xbox 360's most anticipated exclusives of the year - and one of the most notoriously postponed titles in the industry's history.
Just as well, then, that CVG was left pretty optimistic when we got hands on with the game last month.
Here, we ask the game's writer Sam Lake from developer Remedy all about the 360's first ever 'psychological thriller'...
What influences have you taken for Alan Wake from popular culture?
The small town of Alan Wake, Bright Falls, is in Washington. So there's definitely an echo of Twin Peaks in there. We are big fans of Twin Peaks at Remedy. It really was a revolutionary TV series at its time. You can still see its influences in more modern TV series.
David Lynch's work in general is something we like a lot. So that's definitely one thing. Pop culture in general is something we actively look to for sources of inspiration - not so much other video games, but movies and TV series and books and graphic novels. Of the more modern TV series, Lost is something we like a lot.
Lost is a very good example of good thriller storytelling in a TV series format. Then there are a whole lot of books. Stephen King is one author that we have mentioned a lot. We have a writer as a main character, who has problems in his life and whose writing starts to come true. Stephen King has a few books where the writer is the main character.
I can name a couple of other books I read early on in the project that were sort of inspiration for me; Brett Easton Ellis's Lunar Park, where he makes himself the protagonist - a very flawed writer character who is losing the grip of his reality - and there's a very good thriller called House Of Leaves by Marc Danielewski which I read before the project.
The torch mechanic is vital to the game. How can you be sure gamers won't get frustrated with it?
We are all gamers at Remedy - and all of us have played a few different games that have the problem of a flashlight that's constantly running out of battery. In Alan Wake, you do need a light source - it's essential for survival.
The batteries are not actually being drained at all, of course - this being a psychological thriller, we're asking how much is really happening and how much is happening in Alan Wake's head. He seems to be able to will his life source to burn brighter at times and to drain the dark presence protecting his enemies away faster.
Using that boost feature will drain the batteries quite bad. They do regenerate back on their own, but you can get boost faster if you use [more] batteries. It's a limited resource, and it's something to consider when playing the game. You always have your flashlight.
We've seen the intro and the Dark Woods area. Will there be plenty of variety in the final version of the game?
We have not shown everything that will happen. There is a variety of enemies and a clear escalation; an action movie-esque escalation when it comes to combat in the game.
You have The Taken - that's what we call the locals taken over by the dark presence - but there are different classes of them, who behave differently. We are also doing other things: A very strong enemy's dark presence regenerates, so that you need to keep your light on them, or they [become] just as powerful as they were moments ago. Then we have animal versions of them, like birds.
Comments
9 comments so far...
Focker420 on 4 Mar '10 said:
I hope the mailbox chews his hand off and takes that flashlight with it.
Hi im on 4 Mar '10 said:
Hey Focker, i read your comments in the "xbox will outsell ps3 this year greenberg"" and it seems you are in insistent on condeming one group of people because of their beliefs or no reason whatsoever.
i no a guy who did that waht was his name... Adolf...somethingoranother.
bet your just jealous because this isnt on ps3 you F***!!!
great game, cant wait
looks like remedy know what their doing
may the best console win
StonecoldMC on 4 Mar '10 said:
I dont understand what you mean?
Anyhoo's, I must have easily read about 20 Previews of the Game so far and I just cant wait!! I get the feeling that although im already very impressed by what Remedy have shown so far, i think there going to have quite a few surprises for us when the Game is finally released.
In a few months time, im going to be able to stop talking about Alan Wake finally being released and I can start talking about when the next installment is due
.
TheCrimsonFenix on 4 Mar '10 said:
Don't make this into yet another article crammed with xbox vs ps3 debates, jesus...
I was hoping this would have stuck to the semi-sandbox style that it had when the trailer was shown at around the 360's launch, hopefully the feel isn't lost that it gave from that trailer. I have a feeling this is going to be pretty linear, I hope I'm wrong.
StonecoldMC on 4 Mar '10 said:
As ive been followinge since 2005, I know most of the itterations that Remedy have tried to get the right formula for Alan Wake.
If they took the sandbox approach (a la GTA) then the suspense or thrilling atmosphere that Remedy were going for would have been lost.
It's going to be a story driven Game with exploration parts to it as well. Thatll do for me!!
Focker420 on 4 Mar '10 said:
First off, jealous?? why?? this guy runs around with a flashlight, i've just gotta play it. they haven't showed ANYTHING that would make me want to buy this.
Secondly aside from him murdering thousands of people, I completely agree w/ trying to maintain a pure bloodline and not contaminate it. Theres nothing wrong with that but murdering thousands wasn't the way to go about it. He just hated jews specifically.
The mailbox thing was a joke because in the article it talked about non-living objects becoming evil. I wasn't condemning the game, the game might be good, it was just focused toward the primary object in the game. his flashlight.
Ryo_Hazuki4 on 5 Mar '10 said:
It was millions, not thousands
Hi im on 5 Mar '10 said:
You agree with mantaining a pure blodline...WTF!
So you want every single, Jew, Black (and it is NOT rascist to say black dont post ur PC s**te) ,gay, autist and everyone else who had "wrong" bodys or beliefs to be "disposed"of?
im Aryan and i think Hitler gave us a badname now we have all those "2 blonds walked in to a pub" jokes
this game looks set to beat RDE and silent hill to the horror crown
im not getting it but i damn hope whoever plays it hasa good time
TykerD3 on 5 Mar '10 said:
Good speech 'I am?'. I am really looking forward to this. I hope it has a great storyline, lots to do during the day section of the cycle, and it does not play like Alone in the Dark..I have the SE on pre order and am excited to an almost perverse level. I will not mind buying DLC for this, if the story grips me and it plays well.
I wish more companies would give free DLC, like Bio Ware for the amazing xbox exclusive Mass Effect 2. Happy gaming all!
gamertag: Knifey McStab