History VideoGame / AlanWake

A television adaptation of the first game, picked up by Creator/AMC, was [[https://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/alan-wake-tv-show-1202938003/ first announced in 2018]], with Peter Calloway (''Series/CloakAndDagger2018'', ''Series/Legion2017'') initially signing on as showrunner and writer before leaving in 2022 due to scheduling conflicts. [[https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/alan-wake-amc-showrunner-exit-1235306033/ Jon Jashni and Jeff Ludwig]] serve as producers alongside Creator/SamLake.

Remedy released a remaster in 2021 on X-Box, PlayStation, PC and (eventually) Switch.

* CreatorInJoke: There's a QR code on the second level of Hartman's lodge. Scanning it opens a page [[http://www.alanwake.com/wp-content/uploads/constipation.gif on the Alan Wake website]] that is an animated GIF of the above cameo with the demotivator caption "That looks [[VideoGame/MaxPayne "Payne]][[JustForPun ful]]".

On September 7, 2021, ''Alan Wake Remastered'' was announced by Remedy writer Sam Lake on fansite ''The Sudden Stop'' for an October 5 release of the same year.

An UsefulNotes/XboxLiveArcade spin-off, ''Alan Wake's American Nightmare'', came out February 15, 2012. You can see the trailer [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjle1amsR50 here]]. Rather than the first game's Stephen King, psychological feel, it was inspired by Creator/QuentinTarantino, pulp and sci-fi horror, and urban legends. Remedy has stated that this is not ''Alan Wake 2'', but a stand-alone title. Following the events of the first game, Alan finds himself inside one of his own ''Night Springs'' episodes and has to do battle with the darkness once again.

* CuckooNest: Played arrow-straight where the protagonist awakens at an insane asylum and is told he has hallucinated everything prior. The protagonist does not believe a word of it. [[spoiler: And he is right.]] Later in the DLC chapters, [[spoiler:as he has been split in two personalities, the insane and suicidal part of him tries in a desperate bid to stop the rational and determined part in his attempt to do a SplitPersonalityMerge by suggesting this idea to him once again. It still doesn't work]].

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* PretentiousLatinMotto: The phrase written on the sundial (created by [[spoiler: Thomas Zane]]) at Dr. Hartman's clinic says "In tenebras cadere", which roughly translates to "To fall into darkness".

* ProductionForeshadowing: ''Remastered'' contains references to Watery, Washington, as well as Ahma beer and Coffee World, all of which would carry some plot significance in ''VideoGame/AlanWakeII''. In addition [[spoiler: [[https://youtu.be/XzJmrgIqvTo?si=wo6fT0v4cwNmkjAR Vision 03]], one of the hidden manuscript pages found there, [[https://youtu.be/37XSh81--iM?si=A8_noY_kFvZdhxCn perfectly describes the opening level]] [[AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent in which we play as Nightingale]].]]

** ''VideoGame/{{Control}}'' seems to establish that [[spoiler: Alan remains in the Dark Place, and all of the events that occurred within ''American Nightmare'' were either the product of Wake's imagination, or the fake Thomas Zane's cleanup of Mister Scratch[[note]]Seeing as how fake Thomas is a movie director and ''American Nightmare'' takes place in a movie, along with fake Thomas claiming he took care of Scratch, it seems to be the latter[[/note]]. One of Wake's pages recovered by the FBC reads: "For ten years I've tried to write my escape, only sinking deeper. I used to know where fiction ends and reality begins."]]

** What fails to realize is that [[spoiler: he can't escape the loop either.]]

* AbandonedMine: Bright Falls Coal Mine

** An even ''more'' literal version occurs in The Writer DLC, where said possessed float breaks apart and ''throws itself at you''.

** Wake is loosely based on Sam Lake, Remedy's lead writer, and he writes a novel starring himself as the protagonist. And to top it off, Sam Lake also appears as... Sam Lake during Alan Wake's late show interview... See also the {{Take That}} since, for ''VideoGame/MaxPayne 1'', Sam Lake did double duty as the basis for Max's face.

** The Signal turns the small cellar into a larger boiler room, with ''lots'' of boilers to take advantage of and earn the "Words Will Never Harm You" achievement in the process by blowing up every single one of them.

* CowboyCop: [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]]. Agent Nightingale is a rough-around-the-edges, no-nonsense G-man who won't let regulations get in the way of ''justice''... [[KnightTemplar and has the personality]] [[JerkAss of actual cops]] [[RevengeBeforeReason like this]], and his trigger finger quickly gets everyone in town hating him.
** Ironically, the novel reveals he was the exact opposite of this trope alongside his partner, to the point where he didn't even touch alcohol. [[spoiler:His partner was either killed or abducted by the Dark Presence, which turned him into TheAlcoholic CowboyCop we see in the game.]]

* CreepyCrows

* DisappearedDad: Alan never knew his father. No reason is given for his absence. When Alan was seven years old and suffering from nightmares, his mother gave him the Clicker. She told him that his father gave it to her, making it more mythical in Alan's mind. In The Signal, a raving Alan in one of the televisions admits his denial that he does not care that he never knew his father.

* {{Doppelganger}}: [[spoiler:Mr. Scratch, Alan]]'s physical clone.

* EnemyWithin: [[spoiler:Dark Alan]] from the Signal DLC is [[spoiler:Alan's psychotic JerkassWoobie]] side '''[[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds turned up]] [[DeathSeeker to eleven]]'''.

* [[EvilMeScaresMe Evil Me Annoys Me]]: [[spoiler:Dark Alan]].

* FatalFireworks: Some of the fireworks equipment in the Anderson farm can instantly kill the weaker Taken. [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in the [=DLCs=] - You can light up words that cause firework explosions, or let sparks fly from spinning wheels, but they would only remove the Taken's protective shield.

* HealingCheckpoint: Safe Havens in ''American Nightmare'' heal you. In the original game you have RegeneratingHealth, but Safe Havens make you regenerate more quickly.

** Mr. Scratch in ''American Nightmare'', full stop.

* LovecraftCountry: It's on the other side of America, though.

* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Barbara Jagger for Thomas Zane.

** In American Nightmare, with the exception of one or two brief appearances, Mr. Scratch is shown as a real person. This includes when he shows up on TV screens to taunt Alan AND when he shows up physically for confrontations during cutscenes.

* TheMuse: [[spoiler:Barbara Jagger was Thomas Zane]]'s, and Alice is Alan's.

* OnlyTheAuthorCanSaveThemNow: InUniverse and {{Justified}}. [[spoiler:Alan wrote the story the Dark Presence is using, which allows him to rewrite the story to save Alice and Bright Falls.]]

* [[RailingKill Railing Fall]]: While meeting with the kidnapper on a wooden viewing balcony, at one point Alan punches the kidnapper hard enough to break the railing he's leaning against and send them ''both'' falling to the ground below.

* [[ScrewTheWarWerePartying Screw the Darkness, We're Partying]]: After fighting off Taken people and vehicles, Alan and Barry make it to the Anderson house. Barry then finds the brothers' moonshine.

* SuperCellReception: In ''The Signal'', the GPS feature of Alan's phone works, despite being inside a mental world brought upon by the Dark Place. Alan himself [[LampshadeHanging mentions that there's no way it should work in those circumstances]]. [[spoiler:It turns out, Zane is guiding him.]]

** In Dr. Hartman's clinic, you meet a game designer by the name of Emerson. Hartman explains his role and describes video games as "trash," but took him in since they require "some small creative effort." Considering the game has a high story-to-gameplay ratio with many ShoutOut[=s=] to famous books and films, and how art plays a role in the game's plot, it seems to be a likely TakeThat towards detractors of the Video Games As Art argument.

* TheoryOfNarrativeCausality: [[spoiler:If you don't come up with a good reason why things happen while writing in Cauldron Lake, the Dark Presence will come up with a reason for you.]]
** [[spoiler:Thomas Zane learned this the hard way.]]
* ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight

** An episode of Night Springs, the show Alan started his writing career with, drops the name of another book Alan would later write, ''Sudden Stop''.

* [[invoked]] TorchTheFranchiseAndRun: Alan is planning to end his popular Alex Casey series by killing off the titular character.

* TheWarRoom: The Well-Lit Room.
* TheWarSequence: Defending the stage at the Anderson farm.

* WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer: Tor, literally. His standee in The Signal contains the quote "You're all nails to me!"

* WhoWritesThisCrap: Walter's last words after being killed by his Taken best friend. He comments that it's like a really bad sequel to a good movie where [[FaceHeelTurn the hero's best friend has become the bad guy for no reason]], which is most likely a [[SelfDeprecation self-deprecating]] ShoutOut to the VideoGame/{{Max Payne}} series, in which [[spoiler:Max's ally from the first game, Vladimir Lem, becomes the villain of the second.]]

** VideoGame/{{Control}} seems to establish that [[spoiler: Alan remains in the Dark Place, and all of the events that occurred within American Nightmare were either the product of Wake's imagination, or the fake Thomas Zane's cleanup of Mister Scratch[[note]]Seeing as how fake!Thomas is a movie director and American Nightmare takes place in a movie, along with fake!Thomas claiming he took care of Scratch, it seems to be the latter[[/note]]. One of Wake's pages recovered by the FBC reads: "For ten years I've tried to write my escape, only sinking deeper. I used to know where fiction ends and reality begins."]]

* AxCrazy: Mr. Scratch.

* CutsceneBoss: [[spoiler:Mr. Scratch.]]

* GreaterScopeVillain: Alan mentions that Mr. Scratch is just a tool of the [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]] living inside the Dark Place (of which the Dark Presence was just one), whose purpose is to open the doors of reality to let them into the real world.

* HeadsIWinTailsYouLose : It's certainly Mr Scratch's opinion of the situation.
--> '''Mr Scratch''': "You die, you lose. You quit, you lose. You make it to the end of the loop, you ''still'' lose!"

* NothingIsScarier: Instead of linear stages that are almost always sending Taken your way to run or fight from, a great deal of American Nightmare, especially if you're after all the manuscript pages, is spent wandering large, open and eerie environments with rarely a Taken encounter to be had.

* OneToMillionToOne: A special Taken in American Nightmare can turn into a flock of crows as a means of teleporting and moving towards Alan. The crows can then combine again to return to the Taken's humanoid shape.

* SerialKiller: Mr. Scratch.

* SlasherSmile: Mr. Scratch.

* WolverineClaws: Some of the new Taken sport these.

A proper sequel, ''VideoGame/AlanWakeII'', was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_l8ZYXrTT0&ab_channel=GameSpot officially confirmed]] at The Game Awards 2021, set for release in October 2023. The upcoming game makes a GenreShift from the previous installments into full-on SurvivalHorror.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse:
** Barry, Sheriff Breaker, and Cynthia Weaver don't appear at all in Episode 6 or the ending.
** A Mouse is subverted in Episode 1. A caller on a night radio show says that his dog Toby had run after something rustling in the bushes and is now missing. This is a WhatHappenedToTheMouse until you play again on Nightmare Mode and unlock an extra manuscript page. [[KickTheDog Toby's fate is not happy]].

* [[StealthSequel Stealth Prequel]]: To [[spoiler: ''VideoGame/{{Control}}''.]] A late-game collectible in that game describes [[spoiler:the FBC's investigation into what happened at Bright Falls.]] Alan's story would be more directly continued in the "AWE" DLC of that game.

* AlternateRealityGame: Remedy launched a well-hidden (to the point that ''very'' little documentation of it exists outside of the ''Alan Wake'' wiki) ARG alongside this game, titled ''This House of Dreams.'' Players could find it by searching the internet for the [[SdrawkcabSpeech blackmasked]] message in "Balance Slays the Demon", leading them to a CharacterBlog by a woman who finds a collection of Thomas Zane poems in an old house she's renovating, and is subsequently plagued by dreams about Alan, Zane, and the Dark Place, as well as various paranormal encounters. It ended fairly abruptly after five months, but is referenced in an EasterEgg in ''VideoGame/{{Control}}'', Remedy's subsequent game [[spoiler:that happens to be a {{stealth sequel}}/sidestory to ''Alan Wake.'']]

* SpiderSwarm Some of the new enemies Alan faces are small hordes of giant spiders. Luckily, they can be killed fairly quickly with just the flashlight.

* PausedInterrupt: Averted. When one character interrupts another, their speech briefly overlaps.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Pretty much everyone who interacts with Agent Nightingale, from the sheriff and the town cops down to random citizens, absolutely hates the guy, because it turns out that alcoholic CowboyCop types are actually really unpleasant to deal with. Everyone is particularly appalled by Nightingale's willingness to fire his gun with absolutely no consideration for the possibility of collateral damage.

[[caption-width-right:350:Saying he goes on a harrowing adventure is an understatement!]]

A proper sequel, ''VideoGame/AlanWakeII'', was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_l8ZYXrTT0&ab_channel=GameSpot officially confirmed]] at The Game Awards 2021, with a projected release date of 2023. The upcoming game makes a GenreShift from the previous installments into full-on SurvivalHorror.

A psychological action thriller for the UsefulNotes/Xbox360 from Creator/RemedyEntertainment, this game tells the story of Alan Wake, an author of popular and best-selling thrillers who suffers from a long case of writer's block. On a vacation to the peaceful town of [[TownWithADarkSecret Bright Falls]] with his wife, Alice, things start to get strange when his wife is kidnapped. Alan forgets an entire week and begins finding pages of a new book that he apparently wrote himself, but which describes the events that he is currently living.

Influenced heavily by other major horror/mystery works, you could say it is Creator/StephenKing meets ''Series/TwinPeaks'', with a large dash of Creator/HPLovecraft added to the mix. Others have described it as the [[NothingIsScarier House]] ''[[Literature/HouseOfLeaves of Leaves]]'' of video games, and they are not that far off from the truth.

A proper sequel, ''Alan Wake II'', was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_l8ZYXrTT0&ab_channel=GameSpot officially confirmed]] at The Game Awards 2021, with a projected release date of 2023. The upcoming game makes a GenreShift from the previous installments into full-on SurvivalHorror.

* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: The [[spoiler:not]] kidnapper is merely referred to as "the kidnapper" throughout the game. You don't find what his actual name is [[AllThereInTheManual unless you find the relevant pages of the manuscript]]. [[spoiler:It's Mott.]]

* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'', loosely. While MP was inspired by FilmNoir books and novels, AW is inspired by supernatural thrillers (of screens large and small) and horror writers like Stephen King.

* OverprotectiveDad: On the way to the Anderson farm, there is a secret stash in a house. After leaving the house, a Taken greets you with "You stay away from my daughter!"

** After the cable car crashes Alan, loses his gun and flashlight and is surrounded by numerous Taken. Suddenly, a flare is dropped into their midst, and the Taken are destroyed in a hail of pinpoint gunfire. Who is Alan's savior? The kidnapper. [[spoiler:Even though technically he's just a con-man.]]

* TheLittleShopThatWasntThereYesterday: Episode 1 reveals [[spoiler:There was no cabin on couldron Lake.]]

* SkepticNoLonger: Sheriff Breaker spends most of the game thinking that Wake is having a mental breakdown, and doesn't believe his stories of shadowy attackers and monsters. And then Agent Nightengale is stolen by the darkness right in front of her. One of the first things she says after she witnesses Nightengale's death is "Tell me how we can stop these things" with no hesitation at all.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Pretty much everyone who interacts with Agent Nightengale, from the sheriff and the town cops down to random citizens, absolutely hates the guy, because it turns out that alcoholic CowboyCop types are actually really unpleasant to deal with. Everyone is particularly appalled by Nightengale's willingness to fire his gun with absolutely no consideration for the possibility of collateral damage.

* EverythingTryingToKillYou: Poltergeist objects, ordinary objects that are touched by the Dark Presence and are flung at the player.

** In American Nightmare, Mr. Scratch is always shown as a real person. This includes when he shows up on TV screens to taunt Alan AND when he shows up physically for confrontations.