Life Imitates Art: 'Alan Wake'

Renowned playwright Oscar Wilde famously once said that "life imitates art far more than art imitates life". No doubt this is an intriguing statement, but also one that is firmly anchored in the truth. This brings us quite neatly to Alan Wake, the latest action game from Max Payne developer Remedy Entertainment. This psychological thriller is about a best-selling horror author whose unfinished story starts unfurling in front of his very eyes. Of this, Wilde would no doubt approve. Digital Spy joined Remedy's head of franchise development Oskari Häkkinen to peer into the inky darkness in search of Alan Wake.

One of the most important aspects in the game's development has been in getting the lead character just right. As with Max Payne, the character's name is a play on words; as in 'Alan, wake up'. However, this is pretty much the only thing that the two men have in common, as Wake is a world away from Payne's hard boiled New York City cop.

"We always set out to make an action game and we had a good picture of what kind of main character we wanted - not an action hero or a commando but rather someone smart and likeable, an everyman in a bad situation," explains Häkkinen. "We also wanted to make a story-driven game, and we knew that narration as a story-telling feature was something that we wanted to implement. A writer, a professional storyteller, all of a sudden just seemed like a logical choice."

While creating the premise for this third-person action game, the team took inspiration from the work of author Stephen King and film director David Lynch, as well as television shows Twin Peaks and Lost. The game starts with Wake travelling with his wife Alice to the idyllic, small American town of Bright Falls. This vacation has been motivated by Wake's ongoing writer's block in an attempt to "get back his creative flow". However, after Alice subsequently vanishes, Wake is hurled into a real-life version of his own dark vision. In this, the pages of his unfinished supernatural thriller "come true before his very eyes" as the fairytale rapidly turns into a nightmare.

Häkkinen promises that Alan Wake will offer a "cinematic action experience" that is packed with "plenty of suspense and cliffhangers". The Remedy team has built the concept "from the ground up" to offer new and unique gameplay. Players will control Wake as he "desperately tries to recover the lost pages of his manuscript to find out what's happening". This is because the scenes penned by the author have a "disturbing habit of coming true" and therefore each page that is recovered will reveal more about the "dark presence that has been unleashed" in Bright Falls. Truly, life is imitating art, with some rather scary but hopefully enjoyable consequences.

The pages are an integral part of building the great thriller story but also an important component for the player to unravel the mystery," says Häkkinen. "Driving will also play a part in gameplay and there will be puzzles and clues. The manuscript pages will be integral in all of this but I don't really want to give too much away that could spoil the surprises."

Another major part of gameplay will be the use of light as a combat tool. According to Häkkinen, the game will challenge the player to "utilise the light sources around him to defeat or ward off the mysterious dark presence" that is running amok in the town.

He adds: "A light source such as a flashlight is always more important to the player than a firearm. There will be a variation of light sources in the game for the player to cleverly utilise. They will need to intelligently decide how to tackle different situations; stay and fight or perhaps use a hand flare to create a momentary safe haven."

One of the stars of Alan Wake will be the location of Bright Falls, an "idyllic small town in the Pacific Northwest". The game area will cover 10x10 kilometres and include "beautiful" scenery, such as "lush green trees, forests and snow-capped mountains". Players will also be able drive cars and enter buildings in the same way as other gaming worlds. However, attempts to build a tense narrative will mean that the free-roaming aspects will be, to an extent, constrained.

"Alan Wake is built from the ground up on open-world technology, however we've always wanted to give the player the best possible rollercoaster ride through the game, and therefore a linear structure is more logical to deliver this experience," explains Häkkinen. "Whilst the game is not a sandbox structure, the player will have plenty of exploration opportunities should they wish to look further into the game, meet the locals and find the hidden extras."

Despite starting off as both as an Xbox 360 and PC title, Remedy has since confirmed that it is now "working exclusively" on Alan Wake for Microsoft's console. Any future decision on a PC version now rests solely with publisher Microsoft Games. The title will not feature any multiplayer component, but Häkkinen says that the gameplay length will be "comparable to some other action titles on the market today". He declined to comment on any additional content, but did say that there will be great opportunities to "explore and unravel the mysteries in Bright Falls". Remedy recently showed a gameplay sequence at the E3 Expo in Los Angeles which elicited a "tremendous" response from the world's media.

Häkkinen adds: "We couldn't have asked for more. Being nominated for and also winning so many awards from various media has been a real honour - best action game, best Xbox 360 game, game of show and best original game to name just a few. Now we are on track for Alan Wake to see the light of day in spring 2010."