Alan Wake: Finding the Good Within the Bad

An analysis of why I love Alan Wake, despite hating actually playing it.

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Potential spoilers for the first Alan Wake. No spoilers for Alan Wake 2.

Alan Wake, as a story, absolutely rocks. As a gameplay experience, I struggle to think of a game I've enjoyed playing less in recent times. That said, I simply can't bring myself to say it's a bad game—with every quirk and mechanical decision being narratively justifiable in a way that actually enriches the overall experience for me. In this analysis/critique, let's talk about how this fact got me to examine my own role as a critic, and try to find the good within the bad of Alan Wake!

0:00 - Alan Wake's story is incredible
1:34 - Shame I hated playing it
4:33 - But I can't call Alan Wake bad
5:42 - Alan Wake's mechanics make sense
7:33 - Alan Wake is not a great author and that's OK
9:14 - Giving Remedy the benefit of the doubt
10:10 - Can a game like this be called bad?
11:38 - Outro

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Max Payne footage from Raycevick -    • Max Payne... 16 Years Later  
Sudden Stop footage from Edaym -    • Alan Wake - the Sudden stop 1 & 2  
American Nightmare footage from Gamesradar -    • Alan Wake's American Nightmare - Open...  

Animated text intro by Isaac Holland -   / drazgames