Line #41 ShoutOut/AlanWake


1	As expected from Sam Lake, ''Alan Wake'' is a veritable cornucopia of references to other works of popular fiction.
2	----
3	* Creator/StephenKing is a blatant referencing point, ''what with "Stephen King" being the first two words you hear.''
4	** King is often mentioned in Alan's work, which justifies the occasionally similar themes such as the animated objects you encounter. It even turns out Wake's a fan.
5	** While hiding in a trailer, Alan makes a reference to [[Creator/JackNicholson Nicholson]] and ''Film/TheShining'' when a Taken begins chopping through the door with an ax.
6	** Back in 1999, Stephen King had been writing a novel but suffered from almost 18 months of writer's block. Stephen King is also known to frequently visit a small town in New England to get away from the city and the population. The game's plot has a [[{{Homage}} number of parallels]] with King's novel ''Literature/BagOfBones''.
7	** During a chapter that flashes back to an epilogue, it's revealed that Wake's last book series ended when he killed the protagonist, much to the unhappiness of his fans. Wake then later ends up trapped in a cabin and is later [[spoiler:forced to write a new book against his will]], a premise very similar to Stephen King's ''Literature/{{Misery}}''.
8	** Alan Wake himself is basically a walking Stephen King reference. To the point where he has written for the in-universe equivalent of Twilight Zone, the 1980s revival of which King had written an episode of.
9	* A very large example is how Agent Nightingale [[RunningGag frequently calls Wake]] [[ReferenceOverdosed by other author names.]] Authors referenced include Creator/StephenKing, Creator/HPLovecraft, Creator/JamesJoyce, Creator/MickeySpillane, Creator/RaymondChandler, Creator/DanBrown, Creator/BretEastonEllis, Creator/EdgarAllanPoe and Creator/ErnestHemingway.
10	* In one of the cabins Alan hides in early in the game, there's an odd, circular depression on the bed. It's a possible reference ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet1984''.
11	** Thus one is crossed with LampshadeHanging, as the cutscene is an exact copy of the scene from the movie. Cue Alan making the reference aloud.
12	* Half of Barry's dialogue seems to exist simply to deliver (often hilarious) pop culture references, from ''VideoGame/{{Zork}}'' to [[Creator/AlfredHitchcock Hitchcock]] to referring to a headlamp as his flaming [[Film/TheLordOfTheRings eye of Mordor]]. And all his shoutouts are justified as he's a literary agent; he ''should'' know these things by profession.
13	* One of the protected local heritage sites is an ancient tree called "[[Creator/HPLovecraft The Great Old One]]." The information plaque mentions that local lore states the tree used to reach beyond the stars'.
14	** Other Lovecraft references include the name of Randolph the trailer park manager, and Alvyn Derleth, an unfortunate schmuck in an episode of ''Night Springs''.
15	* Remedy's previous franchise ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'' gets quite a few shout outs. Some of them include:
16	** The manuscript pages from the ''Sudden Stop'' at the start of the second chapter mention a femme fatale, dead loved ones, and painkillers. The voice narrating the pages was none other than the voice of Max himself, Creator/JamesMcCaffrey.
17	** One of the books in the Alex Casey series is titled the same as a level from ''Max Payne''.
18	** Another one is titled "The Things That I Want," which is a quote from one of Max Payne's monologues.
19	** A line of text in the end credits of American Nightmare says "Alan Wake's journey into the night will continue". The same line is found in the credits of ''Max Payne 2'', which was also written by Sam Lake.
20	** At one point, a dying [[spoiler:Walter]] express how stupid of a plot twist is in a movie when the best friend turns evil in the sequel. This is almost exactly what happens in ''Max Payne 2''.
21	** One of the diner's bathroom stalls is tagged with Mirra.
22	** In Episode 2, we're shown a flashback in which Alan enters his apartment; his greeting to Alice? "Honey, I'm home." He also has an award on his shelf that is in the design of a pair of [[BlingBlingBang golden]] Beretta pistols, echoing those Max favored in his games.
23	* A snarky and depressive man in a media-related position travels and gets stuck in a remote and redneck-filled town which celebrates a macabre day named after a macabre animal, and shit hits the fan when he has to put up with time and space-raping supernatural occurrences. [[Film/GroundHogDay Sounds familiar?]]
24	* Crossing over with product placement, but in Hartman's clinic, you can find an Xbox 360 next to a 360 game version of... no, not ''Alan Wake'', that'd be too easy. It's a copy of ''Night Springs''. Which no, of course, doesn't actually exist.
25	* Another much older Remedy game is also referenced: There's a poster for the original DeathRally hanging in in the same room you find the ''Night Springs'' game. It also gets namedropped in The Signal DLC.
26	* [[ShowWithinAShow Night Springs]] is an obvious homage to ''Franchise/TheTwilightZone''. Also, in Alan's nightmare at the very beginning he's driving and a signpost on the road shows that "Night Springs" is up ahead. Fans of the ''Twilight Zone'' will remember the intro narrative "There's a signpost up ahead; your next stop is the Twilight Zone!"
27	* The entire concept of fiction being literally brought to life is a huge shout out to the plot of ''Film/InTheMouthOfMadness'', including a battle against literal words!
28	* You can drive a car that, sans some cosmetics, could be the General Lee. They even offer a few ramps for you to jump off, though doing so does nothing other than give you the opportunity to yell "Yeehaw!" More obviously, though, the car is the right model and color to be the "Classic" from the ''Franchise/EvilDead'' series (a 1973 yellow Oldsmobile Delta 88), which also appears in most of Sam Raimi's other movies as a cameo.
29	* Following the Evil Dead car reference is the windmill at the Anderson farm, which looks like the windmill Ash finds himself in in ''Film/ArmyOfDarkness''. Against a backdrop of a dark stormy sky, like in said movie.
30	* The achievement "They're Heeeeeeeeeeere!" is awarded for destroying [[Film/{{Poltergeist\|1982}} possessed objects]].
31	* The achievement "Damn Good Cup of Coffee", obtained by collecting 25 of the coffee thermoses hidden throughout the game, seems to be a reference to a repeated line in ''Series/TwinPeaks''. Special Agent Cooper sure does love him some coffee.
32	** The fact that those are 25 cups may be a reference on itself.
33	** Likewise, The Lady of the Light draws heavy inspiration from the Log Lady, even carrying a CompanionCube lantern wherever she goes, akin to the Log Lady's log.
34	** Bright Falls's diner bears a striking resemblance to the R & R Diner in ''Twin Peaks''.
35	** The character Carl Stucky is a reference to Creator/CarelStruycken, who appeared as the ghostly tall man in season two.
36	** Sheriff Breaker's cutout in The Signal DLC refers obliquely to the "secret society" that she had Barry contact in the game and is advertising a fake book entitled "The Only Girl in the Bookhouse." In ''Twin Peaks'', the Bookhouse Boys was a secret society devoted to protecting the town from a supernatural evil in the woods.
37	** Near the beginning of the game various characters mention good coffee, great air and Douglas firs. All these elements were mentioned when introducing Agent Cooper.
38	*** The manuscript game introducing agent Nightingale: "Agent Nightingale didn't want to be in Bright Falls. These little communities revolted him. And he didn't like the trees or the coffee."
39	** Act I of Episode 5 is named ''Night Life in Bright Falls'', which is a transparent reference to ''Night Life in Twin Peaks'', a piece of the soundtrack from the show [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7psOw0ilJl4]].
40	** The Original Twin Peaks series also ends with an evil double of the Main Character being unleashed on the world.
41	** With the new Twin Peaks season Thomas Zane shares almost the same role as Phillip Jeffries.
42	** Also JUDY is very similar to Barbara Jagger's role to Mr. Scratch/Dopplecoop BigBad.
43	** While their personalities are almost opposite both Mr. Scratch and Dopplecoop share the motivation of wanting to be free outside their realm.
44	** The fact that the first area of the game is a saw mill may also be a reference, as a saw mill is an important subplot of the show.
45	* One of the achievements is "What Light Through Yonder Window Breaks", a reference to Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet. The description, once you get it, is "It is the east, and the FlareGun is the sun to 50 Taken." a continuation of the quote.
46	* There's a mode where you can playback cutscenes. Naturally, they have names to help differentiate between them. One of them is named, "[[MemeticMutation It's a]] [[Franchise/StarWars Trap]]."
47	* In the downloadable chapter "The Signal" Alan answers a call from Zane, who has been trying to make contact with him. Zane asks Alan over the phone "I am trying to reach you. Can you hear me? Can you hear me now?" This last question is the line best known in the older Verizon commercials. This could be considered an EnforcedPlug since, incidentally, there are constant reminders of Verizon throughout the game. There are road billboards, an in-game television commercial, and the phone Alan acquires in "The Signal" is Verizon brand, which happens to show itself very obviously on screen. Particularly amusing when you consider the fact that Zane left the mortal world long before modern cell phones were invented.
48	* The Bright Falls Book Store has a book about catching [[VideoGame/CommanderKeen Dopefish]].
49	* When Alan saves Barry and Sarah from a swarm of Taken in Episode 5, Sarah comments, "You sure know how to make an entrance. We were just about to make like [[BolivianArmyEnding Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid]]."
50	* Barry and Alan get separated in Episode 4, with Alan at the top of a cliff and Barry at the bottom. When Barry proclaims that he can make it alone, Alan mutters, "Now he's Franchise/{{Rambo}}."
51	* One of the trailers for ''American Nightmare'' is called the "[[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Super Effective]] Sales Trailer."
52	* Occasionally you'll hear long air-raid like sirens, ''a la'' ''Franchise/SilentHill''.
53	* In a television scene in ''American Nightmare'', Mr. Scratch shows off various "tools" that he finds useful. Most of them are knives and other sharp objects, and he describes rather blatantly the morbid implications and uses of each variant. One is a roll of duct tape; all he says is that he can't tell you how much he's [[Series/MacGyver1985 MacGyvered]] with it.
54	* The battle at the Anderson Farm is more or less a Stage Battle from ''VideoGame/BrutalLegend,'' minus the RTS elements.
55	* The achievement for acing the battle against the words in ''American Nightmare'' is "[[WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation No Punctuation]]." Significant, because Yahtzee panned the game for the MetaFiction elements, which he felt were heavy-handed. Remedy must be good sports...
56	* The song played at the end of Episode 2 is "Haunted" by Music/{{Poe}}, itself a companion album to her brother's novel Literature/HouseOfLeaves, serving as an allusion to that book as well.

Context ShoutOut / AlanWake