May 18, 2010, marks the 15th anniversary of best games on the Xbox 360 with its distinct visual look, amazing story, and fun third-person gameplay. Alan Wake started a universe of its own for Remedy Entertainment.

Games like Alan Wake's American Nightmare and Control expanded the story with added details, but Alan Wake 2 pushed things to the max. Alan Wake 2 ended up being one of the highest-rated games of 2023, and for good reason. Even going back to Alan Wake 1 after all these years, it still feels special, unlike any other game I've played.

Alan Wake's Story Is Gripping

A Blast From Start To Finish

Probably the most notable aspect of Alan Wake, besides its visual style, is the story. Very much inspired by Twin Peaks, Alan Wake follows a writer of the same name as he soon enters the town of Bright Falls. His wife, Alice, soon vanishes, and Alan is placed right into a horror novel he had seemingly written. The opening hours are incredibly hooking, and you'll be hard-pressed to find someone who didn't see through this game to the end.

Whenever a manuscript page explains something's about to go down, it gives that powerful sense of dread.

Alan Wake's story is good because it doesn't fall into the trap of many psychological horror games, where the danger is only metaphorical. Nothing's actually trying to kill you. The danger in Alan Wake is real with the Dark Presence. The universe and how Alan needs to overcome all these obstacles feels very Stephen King-esque, with King even mentioned several times. This especially holds true in the dark ending, which is expanded upon in the DLC packs.

Further games in the Alan Wake universe are fantastic, but one nagging issue has to be the DLC content. The DLC for Control and Alan Wake 2 didn't feel special, with few new creative areas to explore. However, Alan Wake 1 did this right, giving a satisfying yet open ending. The Signal and The Writer have that "wow" factor, with wild areas to go through, living up to that psychological horror feel. Some parts in The Writer feel like Only Up 13 years before that game was released.

A big part of the story is the manuscript page collectibles. These have to be my favorite collectible in any game. The manuscript pages, written by Alan himself, are all voiced and give more details on what's going on in the story, including what's to come. Whenever a manuscript page explains something's about to go down, it gives that powerful sense of dread. There are even manuscript pages exclusive to Nightmare mode, and this was one of the first games on the 360 I actually played on the hardest difficulty due to this feature.

Alan Wake Has Both Style And Substance

Got's The Look And The Touch

Going back to Alan Wake, 15 years later, the visuals still blow me away. I played the Xbox 360 game through backward compatibility on an Xbox Series X, and it still doesn't look like any other game out there. The harsh blacks and bright white lights combined with the Series X HDR implementation create a visual style that will never become dated. Even the visuals of the DLC packs are phenomenal because Remedy reuses areas from the base game, but the world is now completely distorted with a blurry haze out of a nightmare.

Enemies often come out of nowhere, Randy Orton-style, and this proves effective for a horror game.

I would recommend playing the original game over the remastered version for that authentic feel. Alan Wake Remastered loses a bit of the original art style, in my opinion, plus Alan's new face looks off. Not only does Alan Wake look gorgeous, but it plays surprisingly well. The third-person shooting feels great with satisfying guns, nice slow-motion after killing the last enemy, and a neat dodge mechanic essential for those no-death DLC runs.

One thing that's refreshing after playing Alan Wake 2 is that enemy encounters are much more abrupt and surprising. Enemies often come out of nowhere, Randy Orton-style, which proves effective for a horror game. Alan Wake 2, while having a much better audio design, has enemies often in plain view, so it's not as scary in that aspect. The ending of The Writer DLC led to much excitement about a sequel, but for a while, it seemed like it would never come.

The Long Legacy Of Alan Wake

The End Of A Dark Road Leads To A Bright Light

After Alan Wake, there was Alan Wake's American Nightmare, an Xbox Live Arcade title that's more of a spin-off than a true sequel. The title was incredible, with superior combat to its predecessor, but it's clear this wasn't the game fans wanted. They wanted an actual sequel, but it took 11 years to come to life. In the meantime, there was Quantum Break, a very underrated Xbox exclusive, and then Control in 2019.

Like Alan Wake, Control has a phenomenal art design that'll blow you away. This game had ties to Alan Wake, which was confirmed to take place in the same universe in the second DLC pack. These added clues and details to what was going on in the Alan Wake story were awesome for long-time fans, and Alan Wake 2 finally came to fruition in 2023.

Alan Wake continues his journey in the Dark Place while introducing a new playable character, Saga Anderson. The second title has one of the best stories in horror gaming, which will be analyzed for decades. However, I still love the original and prefer it gameplay-wise.

Alan Wake 1 nailed the Resident Evil 4 third-person action feel, while Alan Wake 2 tried to emulate modern RE, and I don't think Remedy pulled it off very well. The survival horror gameplay isn't even in the same league as modern Resident Evil, and Remedy's third-person action roots are very much attributed to the original's fun factor. I still think Alan Wake 2 is better overall. However, in of which game I'd rather play, I would pick Alan Wake 1, and that's a testament to how Remedy perfectly nailed this 2010 Xbox 360 classic.