I did not enjoy this game very much. The game was solid for about the first 2 to 3 episodes but after that it just draaaaaaaaaaaaaags. The combat and overall gameplay loop gets old VERY FAST. The narrative after the first two episodes starts to also get worse, with the conclusion being underwhelming and the overall direction they take being very uninspired and cliche in all the wrong ways. It's such a shame because conceptually, this game had a lot of potential to be good. Using your flashlight to weaken enemies before finishing them? A writer trying to piece together his own writing to figure out how to get out of his own horror story? It's all great stuff but it's very poorly executed. Love Barry though.

In its defense however, the two special episodes were awesome. Stuff like beaming your flashlight at floating onomatopoeias to take out enemies added so much variety to the familiar environments and combat. The narrative here was also much more interesting and much better written. Alan being his own tormentor due to his guilt about his past actions gave this experience so much more depth. I even like Barry's arc in these special episodes as well. Remedy did a much better job here and although there were a couple unanswered questions here, I'm sure it was saved for an eventual Alan Wake 2 that we never got until recently. Hopefully that game isn't as overrated as this one and actually delivers on the thirteen year wait. As much as I wanted to enjoy this game, it just didn't do it for me.