Alan Wake is the sort of game only the people at Remedy could pull off. It has all the charm and meticulous world-building that made the Max Payne series great with the game universe having its own pop culture you're privvy to and yet managing to keep your nerves on edge.

It's not a terrifying game in the sense that Amnesia or Silent Hill are (though Silent Hill is the series I'd liken it to the most) but it does its job as a suspenseful and tense survival horror nonetheless. Using light as a weapon and having to conserve your resources makes every fight an exciting one and the pacing is very well executed, giving you the occasional downtime while the story advances.

The story is an interesting breed and pays homage to multiple works from HP Lovecraft and Stephen King to Twin Peaks and the Twilight Zone and does its job well to keep you playing. There are some over-arching themes that I found interesting, but that I won't spoil here. Suffice to say that as far as Survival Horror stories go, Alan Wake is at least moderately ambitious, thematically. The structure is an episodic one splitting the story in several manageable 2-3 hour long chapters giving you a clear cut between story arcs so that you can take a break for the day.

The graphics make for some beautiful, if perhaps a bit dated, sceneries even if most of the game takes place at night. There is attention to detail to spare in Alan Wake and it seems to be a labor of love. The sound and voice acting are subject to little criticism and I guarantee that at least one or two tracks from the score and soundtrack will wind up in your playlist.

It comes highly recommended.