Stephen King meets Twin Peaks

Alan Wake is an absolute gem, weaves a beautiful and captivating story worthy of all the inspiration it draws from by seamlessly blending every form of media you can imagine to create a detailed and interesting world for you to learn about yourself.

Late Night Radio Shows, "Night Springs" the Twilight Zone-Esque Series you can happen across playing on TV's across the world, manifesto pages written by wake himself and much more are all available for you to come across, collect and experience, some of the most enjoyable collectibles of any game ive ever played and often find myself going back to watch "Night Springs" episodes on their own via youtube a few times a year.

The game also is a beautiful product of its time and is dissimilar to almost anything you can find nowadays, it sits in this weird place of having the charm and appeal with evident care taken into the game by the developers (Remedy) while also having real T-Mobile adds in the game plus other references to real IP such as Michael Keaton and "The Shining" give the game another sort of "360 Era" charm sometimes only found in larger budget games at the time while not feeling dated to play at all.

I enjoy the combat system and feel as if the gameplay as a whole holds up well, it remains satisfying to beam and gun down shadow monsters throughout your playthrough but where the game truly shines is its story and it is much so more worth while to play through should you take your time and truly try to engross yourself with the world and its characters, read the manifesto pages, talk to the npcs, walk behind that corner and check for a collectible, watch the shows etc etc. That is where the game truly shines and i think most Mystery/Paranormal/Horror/Stephen King Fan will enjoy this.


The game holds up very well and i have yet to play the remastered version so i wouldn't shy away from the original. I cant speak on the differences between the original and remastered so do your own research on that. I highly reccomend checking this game out if you have any interest at all.

I have played through the game multiple times including nightmare difficulty.

The game also ties into one of Remedy's other games "Control" so if you enjoy this i recommend checking that out as well as a sequel being released for this game.

Resident Evil 4 (2005) is a game I have never played.
Resident Evil 4 (2023) is a game I have played.

Resident Evil 4's 2023 Remake quickly has become one of my favorite gaming experiences I have had in a long time.

There is just something special about this game, despite never playing the original just the overwhelming grasp it had on the gaming industry, horror culture, pop gaming culture and more was apparently just so strong that even without playing the original I was overcome with the odd sense of nostalgia throughout playing.

It felt like playing something special and was giddy with excitement to finally experience myself throughout the entire play through. I WAS playing something SPECIAL.

I beat the game in a few days and immediately after completion I did something I almost never do, i restarted the game that night even foregoing the Seperate Ways DLC in favor of just replaying the main game on a harder difficulty with the intention of being just THAT much faster to get that next cool Ashley Cosmetic that i could use on my already planned 3rd play through of the game.

I was hooked and hooked I was.

I mention all of this before mentioning fun game play, eerie atmospheres, action set pieces ripped straight out of your favorite films from "The Raid" to "Die Hard" - It is a love letter to so many beloved tropes, franchises, games while also creating something so new and unique that it has cemented itself as great of a great as any of the influences it had drew from.

Speaking to the game as a "game" it has: Extremely Fun & Satisfying Combat, Enjoyable Characters, Great Progression System through its Treasure / Upgrade System, Better Replay-ability then any game I have ever played, Amazing Visuals (It looks seriously good) , Huge swath of Unlockables / Cosmetics / Usable In Game Items that truly make you want to keep coming back to the game.

The game gives you great versatility with how you want to play it on subsequent re-runs, there are a plethora of awesome "skips" that are known and intended you can utilize to try and shave off time, going from 1.5 Hours to beat Chapter 6 on my first play through turning into only 20 minutes on my second play through was just so satisfying and something that will keep me coming back.

I highly recommend anyone who has even a small interest in giving this game a shot to do so, well worth and one of the best games I have ever played on so many different accounts.