Alan Wake Remastered Review – A classic in a new jacket

It has been 11 long years since the Finnish studio Remedy, which has already successfully launched the Max Payne series, released the action-psychological thriller Alan Wake. However, the game then had a really unfortunate release date, which in America coincided with the expected Red Dead Redemption from Rockstar. The game, on which the Finnish developers have been working for about 5 years, has not attracted the attention that it undoubtedly deserves. It was also exclusive to the Xbox 360 at the time, and 2 years later Alan took a closer look at the PC. Since then, the walkway has been quiet, except for that unfortunate turn of the American Nightmare.

But a few years ago, Remedy bought the publishing rights from Microsoft. It was clear that something was about to happen. And it happened. Last summer, the AWE expansion for the Control game was released, which has already fully confirmed the relationship between the worlds of Alan Wake and Control, which the developers themselves call the Remedy Connected Universe. And now, about a year after the release of the aforementioned DLC, the original game is back. In a new jacket, with bonus content and for the first time on the PlayStation console.

• Platform: PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 (peer review), Xbox One, Xbox Series
• Publication date: 5. 10. 2021
• Developer: Remedy Entertainment, d3t Ltd.
• Publisher: Epic Games Publishing
• Genre: Action-adventure, psychological thriller
• Czech location: Yes, but only on PC
• Multiplayer: Not
• Data to download: 27 to 39 GB (platform dependent)
• Game time: 10 hours
• Sales version: Digital and physical
• Price: 749 CZK (Xzone)

Higher quality remaster

Let’s start with the fact that the new Alan Wake release is really a remaster, not a remake. The changes that have taken place in the graphics are definitely not drastic, and yet it is clear that there is something behind it. However, with the remasters, the developers have gone further than usual, and you will notice some improvements at a glance, be it better textures, reworked cutscenes, new lighting or character models. At the announcement, they caused the biggest stir ever, because the protagonist’s new face is so different from the original. The developers justify this by saying that they wanted Alan’s appearance to be closer to his real owner, actor Ilkke Willy.

Some fans didn’t take the new look very well, but I definitely liked it a lot more than the original, and the same can be said for all the other characters. Faces look more believable and much more “human”. At least as far as the static image is concerned, because eye movement and facial animation in general look very unnatural, but this is a problem that the original game already had and even Control from 2019 for players from the original Xbox 360 where the game worked in the long-surpassed 544p resolution. The enhanced version runs at 60fps and 1440p on newer consoles, which on the other hand is still relatively low considering it’s a remaster of an 11-year-old game.

Damn developers

This could be forgiven if the game achieved its goal, but it doesn’t. On the PlayStation 5, in tense situations, I felt quite noticeable dips in the image, which made my experience very uncomfortable. And I’m not even talking about cut scenes, where FPS drawdowns are even worse, and in some places they even hurt to look at. Long story short, the optimization failed and in fact it was one of the problems I had before release. In addition to Remeda, the d3t studio also worked on an improved version, which has the notorious remaster of Mafia 2. The result in the case of Alan Wake is not so catastrophic, but still very unsatisfactory. We can only hope that a possible patch will improve the optimization, but the developers did not say anything.

So the Remaster improves the graphics in several ways, but doesn’t interfere with the gameplay, other than DualSense driver support, which I find relatively successful. Tactility is relatively weak, but the game’s adaptive triggers work best, especially when using a flashlight. As a result, it’s a pity that Remedy opted for a simple remaster rather than a more significant remake, because it’s clear that this is an older game. The combat system is still fun, but the character’s movements are oddly jerky, and if you want to jump over an obstacle, you’ll soon start cursing Alan for his ineptitude. I can also mention the still unresolved stamina, which is not even indicated in the remaster, so you have to remember how far Alan will run when sprinting before he gets tired. And I must say that a little, although I am ready to forgive him precisely this shortcoming by virtue of his profession.

Now we are only getting closer to the worst. It’s a camera that unfortunately remains exactly the same as the original, which means you can’t tell one angle (over your right or left shoulder), but the game keeps changing your view all the time, which can really drive you crazy. crazy after a few hours. . And given the theme of the whole game, I’m not sure the developers thought that way all the time so we could get used to Alan’s skin. In any case, this is a big flaw that the remaster should definitely fix.

Extra content or scarce product

But enough about the improvements, I would like to dwell on one more aspect, namely the bonus content. Unfortunately, he is not very rich. Apart from the rather successful DLC The Signal and The Writer, which were originally released separately after the release of the game, there is only one superfluous – a commentary by designer Sam Lake, who is behind the plot of the entire game. It’s really good and you’ll learn a lot of new information not only about the development and history of Alan Wake, but also about Control and how the two games are connected. But beware, Sam Lake often stumbles upon spoilers here, so only include a comment if you’ve already played both games.

And finally, I would like to dwell on one more missing element. This is a product placement that was present in the original game in a relatively large amount. Energizer was on the flashlights, Ford was on the cars, Verizon was advertised everywhere. All the brands are gone in the remaster, and while some may not like it, I think it’s just a good thing, because such product placement harms the game more and spoils the impression a little.

But that’s about all the remaster has to offer, so the question is: is it worth buying? If you haven’t played the original game, you definitely have. You will probably struggle with the controls a bit, but it’s definitely worth the story and all the lore of this game. If you’ve played Alan Wake on the Xbox 360, I’d also recommend the remaster as the graphics changes are significant. But if you’ve played the game on PC, it just depends if you’re interested in Sam Lake’s additional commentary, because I don’t think the improved graphics will be attractive enough for PC players.

What else will happen to the Alan Wake brand? I believe that the AWE for Control expansion and the remaster of the first game are clear evidence that we will indeed see the coveted second Alan Wake soon. After all, the developers from Remedy do not hide the fact that another, larger project is being created in cooperation with Epic Games.