Alan Wake

Alan Wake is structured as a TV-series narrative, with the campaign divided into episodes and the kind of cliffhanger pacing that turns each one into a fresh hook. Wake is a bestselling thriller novelist whose wife Alice disappears during their vacation in the Pacific Northwest town of Bright Falls. The search turns up manuscript pages from a thriller he doesn't remember writing — pages whose events are coming true around him.

The Dark Presence is the central antagonistic force, manifesting as shadow-cloaked Taken who can't be harmed by direct gunfire alone. The Fight With Light combat mechanic is the design's signature — burn the shadow off enemies with flashlights, flares, and explosive-light devices before bullets work on them. The combat rhythm becomes a question of light management as much as ammo conservation.

The PC version includes both Special Episodes (The Signal and The Writer) and higher fidelity than the original Xbox 360 release. Fully configurable mouse and keyboard support, controller support, customizable graphics settings, multithreaded engine support for quad-core CPUs, field-of-view adjustment, and HUD hiding round out the PC enhancements.