The Microsoft press conference revealed the trailer for Alan Wake, a new mystery thriller game developed by Remedy and slated for release Spring 2010. The demo behind closed doors presented by Remedy at the E3 Microsoft booth, continued where the press conference trailer left off with more insight into the gameplay elements, storyline, and characters.

Alan Wake is a single player, story-driven game set in the Pacific Northwest. The game is presented like a TV show series, where each level is an episode, where the opening of each episode recaps previous events, and ending in a cliffhanger, with the text "To be continued."

Alan Wake is a best-selling author who's got a serious case of writer's block. His wife, Alice, suggests they take a vacation to Bright Falls, WA, deep into the woods, to get away from everything in hopes to stimulate some creative juices for a new novel. Of course this presents a perfect setting for not only for writing a thriller novel, but for other interesting events to occur. Soon after arriving, something unknown and supernatural happens and Alice disappears. Wake finds himself in a terrifying nightmare and discovers that his latest manuscript -- which he doesn't remember writing -- is coming true in every way. Wake believes that Alice has been kidnapped, and that the kidnappers want the manuscript for ransom.

The next sequence shows Wake and his friend Barry Wealer in the cabin discussing the situation. Barry says that they should go to the police or go to the FBI. But Wake says they'll kill her if they don't get the manuscript. And Wake says that a local named Rusty knows something and he's going to meet up with him.

In addition to the graphical realism and glistening detailed textures, the game seems to offer more sophisticated AI interaction that lends to a deeper story telling. To demonstrate this, while in the cabin, Remedy decided to tease Barry for a reaction. He has allergies, and is quite easily provoked by light or attention, and so they shine the flashlight on him, which sets off his allergies and causes him to start sneezing and going on a rant, complaining about mold and spores and chattering away. He then turns off the light to trigger another reaction from Barry, this time in fear of the dark.



The night and day cycle are all part of the simulation of the game, where light and darkness are the underlying gameplay elements. "We control the time of day to get the most amount of drama out of any situation. But most importantly we control the amount light, as light is the key gameplay element," said a Remedy rep. He shows us that light reveal things, and shines the flashlight when walking passed a boulder or cabin wall, revealing hand-written notes and tips. Light is the safe haven in the night and a key combat weapon used in the dark. A light source is more important for the player than a gun.

We've seen uses of light and dark as gameplay elements used as defense or offense before in The Darkness, Chronicles of Riddick, and Gears of War. Unlike these others, though, Alan Wake seems to take it an edge further with increased sensitivity and reactions of AI characters to light and dark changes. The subtleties of these reactions seem to directly impact the mood in the game making it even creepier and darker.

There are multiple light weapons including the flare gun that when shot in the sky, gives off a glow across a large area enabling players to see more, and acts as an area weapon when confronted with numerous enemies. As Wake goes deeper into his nightmare, light becomes ever more important, and darkness becomes increasingly terrifying, dangerous and the thing to avoid.



The manuscript is the very heart of the mystery, and has an incredible way of coming true. It talks about a dark presence that has been unleashed taking over vehicles, animals, an inanimate objects and turning them against Wake as he continues to search for the manuscript. We see in the demo, a poltergeist effect where crates and cars appear to be lifted and thrown at Wake by the barely visible outlines of an invisible figure. Creepy and nice. Wake shines his flashlight at where the figure may be, and the being instantly flakes and evaporates into the night, reacting to the light.

Wake tries to recover the manuscript to find out what happens. He goes off into the woods to meet up with Rusty, who has a page of the manuscript, and finds him bruised, injured with a broken leg, coughing up blood, and curled up on the floor of the cabin. Rusty says that Wake cannot allow the creature to take the manuscript, but behind Wake, a figure is walking towards them to attack, and Rusty shoots the figure. The figure is unaffected, but Wake turns around to shine the light, and the creature instantly sizzles and flakes, and begins to evaporate. Then a gun shot goes off on the creature blowing it to bits. We learn that the entities are the locals taken over by the dark presence, and nearly invincible in the dark. Therefore, Wake must use the flashlight first to soften them, which allows for a gunshot to then destroy them.

Alan Wake definitely looks interesting, particularly with a setting like the TV show Twin Peaks, with its small-town quirky characters and woodsy environment. The game at this stage of development looks amazing, and actually quite fun. The creepy and mysterious mood created by the environment, characters, sound effects, and gameplay is incredibly effective, while the use of light and dark as gameplay elements is something that the game explores even more. We are definitely excited for this game and look forward to seeing additional episodes in the upcoming months.