History NightmareFuel / AlanWake

* [[{{Doppelganger}} Mr. Scratch. What the hell are you [[CheshireCatGrin smiling]] about, ya creepy bastard?! He's the BigBad of Alan Wake's American Nightmare.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[{{Music/TheDoors}} There's a killer on the road...]] [[CameBackWrong His brain is]] [[AxeCrazy squirmin' like a toad...]]]]

* [[{{Doppelganger}} Mr.]] [[BodySnatcher Fucking.]] [[DemonicPossession Scratch]]. What the hell are you [[CheshireCatGrin smiling]] about, ya creepy bastard?! He's the BigBad of Alan Wake's American Nightmare.

** [[CameBackWrong Hitch]][[AxCrazy hiker:]] "[[MadnessMantra DIE. DIE. DIE. DIE. DIE. DIE. DIE. DIE. DIE.]] [[LaughingMad HEEEHEEYAAAHAAHAHAA!!!! HAAHAHAHAHHH!!!!]]"

*** What arguably makes "The Dream of Dreams" worse is that ''there's no end of episode narration''. [[FridgeHorror Was the narrator from the dream too]]?

** Not to mention the "Quantum Suicide" episode where the guy ''shoots himself in the head'' in front of an audience as part of a probability experiment, thinking/knowing that he's going to kill an alternate universe version of himself. Of course, something goes horribly wrong... Which can quickly turn into FridgeHorror. You see, he didn't take in the fact that HE may be one of the alternate universes in which he dies, and that the unplugging of the Quantum Suicide machine was just the way the Alternate Universe killed him. Very dark if you look into it.

** While an unpleasant man in general, Nightingale's final moments are quietly existentially terrifying. Mid-way through threatening Alan, he suddenly realizes [[TheTapeKnewYouWouldSayThat he's repeating the same words from Wake's manuscript.]] He barely has any time to process this before the Dark Presence makes his move.

'''Due to the nature of the game, all spoilers are unmarked'''

! Alan Wake

! Alan Wake's American Nightmare

-->So I'll go to her. It'll be an amazing moment -- "Oh my God, you're alive!" I'll be the good, loving husband for as long as I can stand it. She'll love it. And then, one day, somehow, it'll happen. Maybe I'll slip up and she spots something. Or maybe she just starts running her mouth. And then...I'll do it. *SlasherSmile* It's gonna be ''sweet.''

* The fact that the all of the Taken were once townsfolk and that Bright Falls is a small town. When you think about it, Alan's battle against the darkness may have [[InferredHolocaust cost Bright Falls half its population.]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hitch.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[{{Music/TheDoors}} There's a killer on the road...]] [[CameBackWrong His brain is]] [[AxeCrazy squirmin' like a toad...]]]]

* The Dark Presence in general, but particularly its avatar [[spoiler:Barbara Jagger]], who is especially terrifying the scene where Alan is talking to her and she jumps at the screen and appears to be threatening the player. And, if you consider what you're doing at the time, well... she actually ''is'' threatening the player.

* Manuscript pages dealing with every aspect of your life and other peoples' interactions with you, an unnatural force possessing people who did nothing wrong, having to kill half the town and have their blood on your hands, [[spoiler: a woman with a hole where her effing ''heart'' should be,]] and two cases [[ShootTheDog in which a dog dies]]. ''How the hell did this game get a Teen rating again?!''

** Later on in Episode 4 you can find one of the caches in a farmhouse and are attacked afterward by a Taken warning you to stay away from his daughter. Farmer's daughter joke, or was he protecting his family when the darkness took him? And just past the farmhouse you can find three marked graves [[spoiler: and the Dark Presence uses the ''skeletons'' of the remains to attack you like it does with other objects]]. ''Gah.''
* The ending of "The Signal" DLC. [[spoiler:The televisions Alan's been seeing of himself almost going insane actually ''are'' what's happening to him. He manages to fight off several possessed TV's showing him losing hope and giving in to the Dark Presence. He suddenly has a blinding headache and wakes up in Cauldron Lake Lodge, a ghostly Dr. Hartman standing over him and calmly telling him it's all in his head. As Alan struggles to leave his room, the camera moves out of his eye to reveal him lying on the floor in the cabin, twitching and mumbling incoherently to himself about being unable to escape.]] Cue credits.
** And as "The Writer" reveals... [[spoiler: it's entirely sane in it's insanity. You see... the rational part of his mind is trying to re-unite with the part of him that's ready to give up. So neither Alan you see or play as is the 'real' Alan. The real Alan is Narrator!Alan.]]

* There is one moment in the DLC where [[spoiler: Narrator!Alan screams, and the tv distorts so that his gaping mouth is [[EyeScream where his eyes should be.]]]]
* The game plays a sound when you shine a light on the light-sensitive paint that sounds a lot like heavy breathing. [[spoiler: This is Zane, breathing through his diving suit-which he was in when he died.]]

** They're scary enough on their own, but the implication [[spoiler: that said paintings are drawing on the power of the lake and may not be entirely fictional]] is something else.

* Nightingale [[spoiler: getting dragged away by the Dark Presence,]] anyone? [[spoiler:He replaces Barbara Jagger as the avatar of the Dark Presence. [[MindScrew Possibly.]]]]
* [[{{Doppelganger}} Mr.]] [[BodySnatcher Fucking.]] [[DemonicPossession Scratch]]. What the hell are you [[CheshireCatGrin smiling]] about, ya creepy bastard?! [[spoiler:He's the BigBad of Alan Wake's American Nightmare]]

* The central concept is pretty horrifying. Imagine being trapped in an endless time loop for eternity where stronger and stronger monsters appear each time. [[spoiler:Yeah, Alan finds a way to end it and save himself, but what if he didn't?]] If the Taken didn't kill you sooner or later, the madness and repetition would grind your sanity away slowly until you didn't want to survive any longer. It can be pretty scary to think about.
* Eddie's radio show is normally a pretty reliable bastion of sanity and even humor. He interviews the Old Gods of Asgard along with Barry, talks about existential concepts in a positive and decidedly non-nightmarish light, and has an unbelievably pleasant voice to listen to. Then during the second cycle, at the drive-in, he's talking about fate with a caller, and something starts to happen to his voice. [[spoiler: It suddenly starts talking about the possibility that humans are merely pawns to some presence beyond their comprehension, making free will an utter illusion, living lives that are (at best) subject to the ripples of another world or (at worst) simply for the entertainment of higher beings. His voice? It's turned into that of the narrator of Night Springs. The worst part? ''This is all taking place in Night Springs''. None of the people you're talking to are actually real...or are they?]] Thankfully, the subsequent two lines are NightmareRetardant.

---> '''Caller''': Dude...umm...what?
---> '''Eddie''': Food for thought, Ricky. Just food for thought.

** What arguably makes "The Dream of Dreams" worse is that ''there's no end of episode narration''. [[FridgeHorror Was the narrator from the dream too]]?