Alan Awake-What the Heck???

[Lookingglassman]

After my debacle with my fist XBOX 360 I was determined not to buy another one. Well my will is weak and the cute sales girl at my local Gamestop convinced me the newer ones have that red ring problem fixed so I bought another one.

Well it came with a downloadable version of Alan Awake. I downloaded it and finished the game and I am now sitting here wondering what the heck was it all about? I have no clue what was going on and what was happening, especially at the end.

Can someone please tell me what in the world was this about? Is this guy dreaming? Was he married? Who was the old hag/black thing chick? What is the deal with "Its not a lake, but an ocean?"

 

[Jax]

Well you did more than me I was really looking forward to the game but after 4 or 5 episodes am bored with it, I just cannot get into the game. So linear and the combat system is very repetitive and stale.

 

[Yoda]

It's definitely confusing. The retail version of the game came with a code for the first DLC episode, and they later released a second DLC episode that shed a little bit more light on the situation, though not necessarily a lot.

If you enjoyed the game the DLCs are probably a good buy. I liked them.

Anyway, as to your questions, it's been a while now since I played, so I'm probably wrong on a few points:

Spoiler: Alan Wake + DLC

The game is purposefully vague of course, and open to more than one reasonable interpretation, but there's what I gathered (and remembered):

Alan Wake is married. He wasn't dreaming. The Dark Presence was trying to force him, and Thomas Zane before him, to write its way into the world, as there are some mystical forces at play that cause artists' creations to become real in the area. Thomas Zane tried to write a happy ending when trying to free his woman, but there wasn't 'balance,' so she came back wrong, that is, kind of a physical manifestation of the Dark Presence, or the chick dressed in black.

Now Thomas Zane runs around in his stupid diving suit trying to help you out, I forget... I guess he's still kind of trapped by the Dark Presence, or something... Anyway, at the end of the normal game, Alan realizes that he can't get his wife back and have a happy ending because of the balance issue, so he sacrifices himself and takes his wife's place at the bottom of the lake.

"It's not a lake, it's an ocean," sorry, not sure what that means. To me it implies that the Dark Presence is expanding from Cauldron Lake to the world at large, Alan realizing the scale of it.

The DLC episodes take place in Alan's mind, and involve a lot of conversing with Thomas Zane. In the end you basically fight off your own insanity, hop onto your trusty typewriter and start typing up the title page for Alan Wake's "Return," cue credits. So assuming a sequel gets funded, the 'real' answers are probably waiting there, or in future installments, I'm not sure how many they originally planned. I don't think the game sold to Microsoft's expectations, so who knows if there will be a sequel. Oh, and I'm not really sure what 'Mr Scratch' is supposed to be exactly... I think he's supposed to take Alan's place in the real world while he's stuck at the bottom of the lake or something.

 

[Lookingglassman]

Jax, I thought the same thing, but plunged ahead hoping there would be a big "WOW!" but it never happened. It made no sense to me.

Yoda - Thanks, but I still don't have a clue. When this game first came out I read reviews and thought it was really cool, but after playing it I'm happy it was "free" so to speak because I would have been mad as heck if I paid $60 for it. I'm deleting it off my xbox to free up the space.

 

[Lonemagpie]

Scratch is an old name for the Devil... haven't played the game so I dunno whether they'll take that road, but...

 

[Haggis and tatties]

After my debacle with my fist XBOX 360 I was determined not to buy another one. Well my will is weak and the cute sales girl at my local Gamestop convinced me the newer ones have that red ring problem fixed so I bought another one.

Well it came with a downloadable version of Alan Awake. I downloaded it and finished the game and I am now sitting here wondering what the heck was it all about? I have no clue what was going on and what was happening, especially at the end.

Can someone please tell me what in the world was this about? Is this guy dreaming? Was he married? Who was the old hag/black thing chick? What is the deal with "Its not a lake, but an ocean?"

Story wise it was a little confusing, but it had a great atmosphere all through the game with some fantastic set pieces, although running through another forest did get a bit repetitive by the end...i loved the eerie empty towns though....i even ran through it on nightmare mode which was surprisingly not that much of a nightmare.

 

[Lookingglassman]

After my debacle with my fist XBOX 360 I was determined not to buy another one. Well my will is weak and the cute sales girl at my local Gamestop convinced me the newer ones have that red ring problem fixed so I bought another one.

Well it came with a downloadable version of Alan Awake. I downloaded it and finished the game and I am now sitting here wondering what the heck was it all about? I have no clue what was going on and what was happening, especially at the end.

Can someone please tell me what in the world was this about? Is this guy dreaming? Was he married? Who was the old hag/black thing chick? What is the deal with "Its not a lake, but an ocean?"

Story wise it was a little confusing, but it had a great atmosphere all through the game with some fantastic set pieces, although running through another forest did get a bit repetitive by the end...i loved the eerie empty towns though....i even ran through it on nightmare mode which was surprisingly not that much of a nightmare.

It did scare me throughout, so I will give it credit for that, but it was repetitive. I would have loved to have had a machine gun though.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

^^I would have given anything for a claymore and a camper spot. LOL

 

[Bishop76]

I just finished it up and thought it was brilliant and Yoda's summary is pretty solid. I took the "it's not a lake, it's an ocean" line as just a way of describing how vast the dark place was, not necessarily how large its influence on the real world was.

Well paced, difficult enough combat to make things tense, and a thoughtful story - bring on Alan Wake 2.

 

[Kadratis]

I see the story/ending/DLCs as being subjective. Somewhat similar to the original cut of the film Donnie Darko. That being said, I enjoyed it quite a bit. It was nice to see Remedy come out with another game. From what I've heard of the game sales, it's possible there will be no sequel despite the final DLC setting it up for another "novel."