When I was sixteen, I bought tickets to see what was one of my favorite bands at the time, a symphonic metal group called Epica. These tickets included a meet-and-greet, where you could get stuff signed and chat with the band before the show. My plan was to tell them how their music was so eye-opening for me and how awe-inspiring it was compared to the music I grew up with, but when I made it to the show, it all immediately went out the window. Normally for a story like this, the specifics of the band aren’t important, but this is an exception, because the image that sticks out in my mind is of seeing the band’s vocalist, Simone Simmons. She looked amazing in the videos, but as the sort of cynical teen who would go on to criticize games for fun, I expected that a lot of a rock star’s coolness was the result of editing. However, this was far from the truth, and a fuse blew in my sixteen-year-old brain when she was a few feet away and even more of a super rockstar in real life than in the videos. I had started as a guy with a script, but became a monkey in the cockpit of a fighter jet; I had no capacity for comprehension, and the only way things weren’t going to go terribly wrong was if I exerted all my self control to just do nothing.
And that’s exactly what I did. I didn’t say a single word, I had completely shorted out, and I felt pretty embarrassed by that at the time. I felt like I wasted my one opportunity, but over the years, I’m increasingly glad I didn’t spout the same tired praise that fans always do. Just the fact that I was a youngster who used his minimal resources to get a meet-and-greet pass, only to visibly shut down when the time came, said everything that needed to be said.
The first two spoken words in Alan Wake are “Stephen King”. Spooky television sets play a parody version of The Twilight Zone as you walk by. Alan himself mentions H.P. Lovecraft stories, The Shining, and the general points of how horror stories tend to be written. It makes sense for a game about a horror writer to include these things, but this is where the audience is put into Simone’s shoes. Would you rather have someone use your captive attention to tell you all about what influenced them, or have the creative inspiration speak for itself? What makes its adulation even more questionable is how it takes the time to explain how horror is at its best when it avoids excessive explanations and leaves the mystery for the audience, to then just turn around and break that rule at every opportunity. After each chapter, there are recap cutscenes in the style of a TV show which highlight the details that players may have missed, along with occasional noir-style narration where Alan thoroughly explains what’s going on, as if to reassure his audience that everything’s following the script. Even if these things were taken out though, the narrative itself doesn’t foster a sense of mystery until the final moments, and the mood ends up being more of an action movie than anything else.
The irony of it all is what makes me down on Alan Wake, the idea that the team was so passionate about their inspirations that they ended up making something untrue to what they loved. It’s such a relatable way to fall on your face that it gives me sympathy pains, reminding me of how I ended up learning that lesson so many years ago. I understand it's hard to give up an opportunity to share your love, but the best way to say it is usually the way that requires no words at all.
And that’s exactly what I did. I didn’t say a single word, I had completely shorted out, and I felt pretty embarrassed by that at the time. I felt like I wasted my one opportunity, but over the years, I’m increasingly glad I didn’t spout the same tired praise that fans always do. Just the fact that I was a youngster who used his minimal resources to get a meet-and-greet pass, only to visibly shut down when the time came, said everything that needed to be said.
The first two spoken words in Alan Wake are “Stephen King”. Spooky television sets play a parody version of The Twilight Zone as you walk by. Alan himself mentions H.P. Lovecraft stories, The Shining, and the general points of how horror stories tend to be written. It makes sense for a game about a horror writer to include these things, but this is where the audience is put into Simone’s shoes. Would you rather have someone use your captive attention to tell you all about what influenced them, or have the creative inspiration speak for itself? What makes its adulation even more questionable is how it takes the time to explain how horror is at its best when it avoids excessive explanations and leaves the mystery for the audience, to then just turn around and break that rule at every opportunity. After each chapter, there are recap cutscenes in the style of a TV show which highlight the details that players may have missed, along with occasional noir-style narration where Alan thoroughly explains what’s going on, as if to reassure his audience that everything’s following the script. Even if these things were taken out though, the narrative itself doesn’t foster a sense of mystery until the final moments, and the mood ends up being more of an action movie than anything else.
The irony of it all is what makes me down on Alan Wake, the idea that the team was so passionate about their inspirations that they ended up making something untrue to what they loved. It’s such a relatable way to fall on your face that it gives me sympathy pains, reminding me of how I ended up learning that lesson so many years ago. I understand it's hard to give up an opportunity to share your love, but the best way to say it is usually the way that requires no words at all.