Will Alan Wake on PC be worth the wait?

I love to be scared - the anxiety, the adrenaline. Whether its being enveloped by a good book, teetering on the edge of my seat in the theatre or plunging head-first into the world of survival horror, I want to be there.

It’s been almost two years since Alan Wake released for the PC.  Since then, we’ve seen two fantastic DLC episodes released and are eagerly anticipating the release of American Nightmare on Xbox Live.  When Remedy finally announced that they had received publishing rights for the franchise, they did what PC fans had been waiting for – announced that Alan Wake was finally going to follow the light on the PC.

The PC release will be a Game of the Year Edition of sorts, featuring the the main campaign and the two DLC episodes for about $30, $35 for a Collector’s Edition, available through digital download clients and (coming soon) a boxed retail version.

I was (and still am) extremely excited to finally be able to play Alan Wake on PC.  Despite my intense excitement, I wonder if the port to PC isn’t coming a day late (err – make that a year or so) and a dollar short?

While there are tweaks to be had to the original game, there isn’t any real new content, unless you haven’t played the DLC.  What’s really selling this is the wide variety of graphical options, including AMD Eyefinity 3D 3-screen mode and NVIDIA NVISION2 Stereoscopic 3D support in addition to being able to hide the HUD and a FoV adjustment.  Of course there’s configurable controls in the mix too – but…

This appeals to two different kinds of people – people high up on the graphic prowess and people who haven’t already played the game.  Since I already own an Xbox 360, I’ve already played through it – several times.  Alan Wake was also included as a digital download with the purchase of a new 360 for a while .  How many people out there haven’t played Alan Wake yet?  Are you still interested? 

Furthermore, it makes one wonder if the PC users scorned by the delay of the PC version would be drawn back by graphics enhancements and control configurations?  Despite the stereotype, we’re not all graphics-hungry elitists.

Regardless, at this point I’m cautiously optimistic that there will be enough support behind the PC version that Remedy will be able to release American Nightmare and eventually Alan Wake 2 on both the 360 and the PC at the same time to avoid risky re-releases and late platform ports.

Above all else, I’m hoping that if people want to play it, they’ll actually buy the game and not pirate the shit out of it…again.

  • emol

    I’m totally buying the special edition on day 1. I don’t have a 360 so it is totally worth for me.

  • Estelvea

    I expect sales to be pretty low, to be honest.

    Whatever the case may be, I’ll most certainly be buying it again. After playing it to death on the Xbox, earning every achievement, I decided to hold out and wait for a potential PC release. So it’s been a while since I last played it, anyway.

    Sure the graphics won’t see a substantial leap in quality, but I’d like to see the difference on my rig, regardless. I also recently started watching Twin Peaks. I was, and still am, a LOST fanatic, so I’m not sure why it took so long to start Twin Peaks, especially being a major influence over Alan Wake to begin with.

    So it’ll be worth it to see if I can pick up on any references in my PC playthrough. Scanning the achievement list, I already caught the reference in one achievement:

    “Damn Good Cup of Coffee” (20G)

    I can’t wait!

  • Henrik

    Iam love Alan wake.

    My intension was actually to get this for PC until that was no longer an option.

    So I choosed Xbox 360 that time.

    Now with PC and the graphical enhancments maybe we would see how Alan Wake might have been intended to be atleast graphically.

    As Alan Wake was going to be one of the first games to utilize DirctX 10 now we have DirctX 11 or 12(dont remember).

    Well I gonna get the PC version atleast.

  • Unknown

    Honestly, people shouldn’t expected Remedy to give equal treatment to PC as long as they still work with Microsoft as their publisher. American Nightmare is still not announced for PC, and even if it is I will expected it to be grossly behind the X360 launch. I know that game is a digital download but I have a feeling they will have a lot of presense on the XBLA scene due to MS support. The same should be true for Alan Wake 2 since it is going to be a boxed product that is probably going to be published by Microsoft.

    Let also not forget the whole this game is better being played on the couch BS. I know thats not Remedy’s word (its MS’s), but they are implicitly compliant since they never refuted it either (never took a stance on behalf of PC). They shouldn’t be rewarded any money if thats the case. It also sets a bad precedent for late PC releases if this two year old port turns out to be successful. It will show other publishers that they can treat PC like that and still get away with it. How late will other PC ports become than? 3, 4 or 5 years? Is Console/PC schedlue going to become like that of the PC/Mac release?

    Personally I hope it won’t sell that well, but the majority of gaming population has shown to be short sighted many times before.

  • Ben May

    Loved the graphics and setting of Alan Wake, but I didn’t think it was all that fun to play, myself. I’ll have a look at American Nightmares, but I can’t imagine myself being drawn to it if the gameplay is to be much the same as Alan Wake itself.

    Still, I hope it does well because, really, I’ve got no reason not to hope it does well, and I’m certainly pleased for those who enjoyed Alan Wake that we appear to be getting more of it.

  • Estelvea

    @Unknown

    But it’s true that it IS better playing on the couch, relaxed, rather than hunched up on your desk. That’s what I do half the time with my rig, with an Xbox controller in hand.

    The mouse and keyboard being better than a controller is a myth, too. I hold my own and come out top, near enough on any MP game I play, from BF3 to Crysis 2. Well, except CounterStrike. That’s the only game where K/M is needed, as it’s all about speed and twitch reflexes.

    With all the crap that goes on in shooters these days, and the variables, it doesn’t matter what you use to play, it’s all down to your personal skill level. That being said, I don’t often play shooters anymore.
    ___

    Back on topic, though, you shouldn’t be calling the rest of the gaming population short-sighted and put yourself on a pedestal like a typical PC Elitist. It gives the majority of PC gamers a bad name, myself included.

    Maybe you should own a console alongside your PC, like many do. That way, I don’t have to miss out on fantastic console exclusives like Red Dead Redemption or Dark Souls. Instead, it saves you moaning and bitching about “blah blah blah, we’re mistreated. PC master Race FTW”.

  • Unknown

    @Estelvea
    I have never called out consolers for anything in my post, so don’t group me as a PC elitist. Consolers can play however they want to, I don’t care, but their method doesn’t work on PC. And no matter how much you like using a controller, that is simply your subjective opinion and by no means a fact. To use that as a factual statement, especially regarding a game like Alan Wake that does not need or have to be controlled by a controller, is insulting. After all, there are people who find play SSF4PC with only the keyboard, so I will not believe in this line of reasoning. And I personally find play Batman:AC to be better with KB/M than a controller, but I won’t tell people that it is the definitive way to play it.

    I find that the control scheme matters a lot when playing a game, that differentiates between a good experience and a bad one. I don’t whine about not having console exclusive on PC, because I won’t care about them. It saves me time to play more PC games. I won’t complain if companies decide to make more console exclusive, as long as they have the same kind of attention on PC as well. But if they focus on console at the expense of PC, which is what they are doing now, then I think PC gamers have gounds to complain about it.

  • Mass Distraction

    Wait… there’s something wrong with the first sentence :D I’m guessing it should say “XBox”.

  • Estelvea

    @Unknown

    It’s not an opinion. It is a fact. Keyboard and Mice gamers aren’t automatically leagues ahead in terms of skill as your kind likes to proclaim around the internet.