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    Alan Wake

    Game » consists of 14 releases. Released May 14, 2010

    When famous novelist Alan Wake goes on vacation with his wife Alice, he has no idea that the idyllic town of Bright Falls will soon be the site of a terrible battle between light and dark that could threaten everything, even Wake's own sanity.

    Does it do this jump-scare thing for the whole game?

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    I_smell

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    #1  Edited By I_smell

    I JUST started playing Alan Wake and I've bin lookin forward to it, but it was about half an hour before I hit the first flash-a-big-scary-face-onscreen-and-make-a-really-loud-noise thing.
     
    A: I jump at shit like that all the time, it allways gets me.
    B: I don't think it's funny or smart or whatever. That's like a fuckin Youtube prank, not an actual thing that you're supposed to seriously do.
    Is that gonna happen like a hundred different times through the game? Cos the first thing I did was turn it down n now everything's too quiet. If I have to play the whole game on edge incase it shouts at me out of nowhere then this is gonna suck.
    It seemed really good up til this point.

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    I_smell

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    #2  Edited By I_smell

     I'm gonna bump this cos- I actually want to get back to playing it, but I wanna know wether I should expect this stuff or not.

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    Jeust

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    #3  Edited By Jeust

    It doesn't shout most of the times, although when enemies tend to appear it changes view and heightens the mood. 

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    SomethingClever

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    #4  Edited By SomethingClever

    I'm in episode 5 I believe I don't actually remember any scary face loud noise stuff.  It's possible that I'm forgetting it just because I'm not as affected by them perhaps.  I mean, yeah when enemies come on screen they'll generally be yelling at you and the screen shifts to alert you to their presence but that is done in slow motion.  That being said, the game is pretty good about letting you know when that sort of thing could happen.  If the place gets all foggy and windy chances are you are about to get a bunch of dudes running at you.
      
    I think what they have done really helps set the mood and heighten the experience rather well which is good seeing as mood is pretty much the core of this game.  So far the only time I have jumped was when I was going to open up a chest that I expected to be totally secure and a dude jumped down through the ceiling at me.  Granted I quick burst from my light and a blast to the face from the rifle and he was done but it did make me jump.   I keep spinning the camera around when I'm watching the TVs because I expect a guy to be creeping up behind me (something left from my time with The Suffering) but as of yet that hasn't happened.

    I hope that you're able to stick with the game because it is quite enjoyable but if what you've encountered so far has been a problem for you chances are you've got a problem here because the game doesn't really change much as you go.  Once things start going weird they pretty much keep it up.  There are calm moments for sure but those only are setting you up for the crazy yet to come.

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    FlyingRat

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    #5  Edited By FlyingRat

    I have no idea what you're talking about, i don't remember even one jump scare in Alan Wake. So i would say no, it does not do that. Most of its "scaryness" if you can even call it that, comes from the atmosphere. So don't worry. This is not one of those games.

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    I_smell

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    #6  Edited By I_smell

    Ok so it turns out it does allways do this. Here's what I'm talking about, 3:15, except on a big TV and really loud. I'd just turned it up cos that whole part is pretty much silent.
    It did it again about half an hour later for no reason and showed his wife drowning or screaming or something. Then kept doing it about every half hour. It's got basically nothing to do with what's going on or the plot or anything, I think it's just there to annoy me.
    I'm otherwise lovin the game, all the foreshadowing stuff, all the weird characters, the light combat stuff is great and I like that Alan's kind of a dick. It makes me feel like this game is really smart and I'm totally into it, but then it shows a blue lady going AAAAAAAAAARRRRGH!! for a sec and I feel like I'm playing Deadly Premonition.
    Just beat Episode 2 and I might play some more later.

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    AhmadMetallic

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    #7  Edited By AhmadMetallic

    this is Doom 3 all ova again !111!!

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    kevinski

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    #8  Edited By kevinski
    @Ahmad_Metallic said:
    " this is Doom 3 all ova again !111!! "
    I agree with the DOOM parallels. It's like, "Hey, want this thermos?" *spawns five enemies around you upon picking up thermos*

    As for the original intent of this post, I don't recall anything of the sort, although the game does have a bad habit of scaring the living shit out of you with unnecessary musical changes.
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    PhatSeeJay

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    #9  Edited By PhatSeeJay

    I've played two episodes and a good part into episode 3. Being a cheap scare hater I usually stop playing most horror games. But I feel they build more on the paranoia if anything. The manuscript pages and the weather effects changing creates a sensation where I'm more building myself up.
    Also the scene where the power goes out and the face flashes, I found to be ok since it flashed in the background in between them so my focus was more on his wife since she freaked out the poor girl. So in general I feel Alan Wake is a very competent game when it comes to the scare tactics since it's more subtle and paranoia creating.

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    Hashbrowns

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    #10  Edited By Hashbrowns
    @kevinski said:
    " @Ahmad_Metallic said:
    " this is Doom 3 all ova again !111!! "
    I agree with the DOOM parallels. It's like, "Hey, want this thermos?" *spawns five enemies around you upon picking up thermos*As for the original intent of this post, I don't recall anything of the sort, although the game does have a bad habit of scaring the living shit out of you with unnecessary musical changes. "

    He's referring to the flashes of Alice sinking into the depths of Cauldron Lake with Barbara Jagger behind her.  The first flash occurs when Alan enters the room in Bird Leg Cabin before starting the generator in the first chapter, and that flash is just of Jagger's face.  The flashes appear a half-dozen or so times throughout the game, and are accompanied by whooshing sound and Alice's scream.  They can be jarring, but I never considered them jump-scares.  They're really just there to keep Alice's predicament in the front of your mind.
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    Milkman

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    #11  Edited By Milkman

    The game uses jump scares a lot. But that's a really stupid reason to stop playing the game. You're suppose to be playing the game "on edge". That's the whole point.

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    Humanity

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    The entire game is basically - run through wood, spawn shadow people, keep running.

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    Bell_End

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    @humanity said:

    The entire game is basically - run through wood, spawn shadow people, keep running.

    you can do that reductive thing with any game.

    The Last of Us - run through city, hide from men or zombies, watch cut scenes

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    Jace

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    @milkman said:

    The game uses jump scares a lot. But that's a really stupid reason to stop playing the game. You're suppose to be playing the game "on edge". That's the whole point.

    I think he's trying to say that there are better ways to make someone "on edge" than cheap jump scares, and that's what he was looking for in this game. However, if the game is just going to be jump scares for the next 12 hours, he'll pass.

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    Humanity

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    #16  Edited By Humanity

    @bell_end said:

    @humanity said:

    The entire game is basically - run through wood, spawn shadow people, keep running.

    you can do that reductive thing with any game.

    The Last of Us - run through city, hide from men or zombies, watch cut scenes

    Hey man, you're not wrong.

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    EXTomar

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    The combat gets stale in Alan Wake so don't be afraid of anything it does.

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    Freshbandito

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    After 3 years we as a community feel our research has led us to a point where we can answer the op's question. He can finally dust off his copy and finish it and be pissed that the ending is a giant question mark.

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    Vic2point0

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    #19  Edited By Vic2point0

    Believe it or not, this game actually gets a fair amount of criticism for not being scary, that's the funny part. It didn't get a lot jump-scares out of me, just kept me on the edge of my seat. I like it better that way, as I'm not a huge Survival Horror fan (This game is technically a Psychological Thriller).

    I know what you're talking about, where it briefly shows Barbara Jagger in all her creepy glory, and Alice being pulled under the water. It never really made me jump, though. They could've done it much worse, like a literally instant flash of gore or loud screaming. That would be too much, I agree. But this wasn't, IMO.

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    Justin258

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    @humanity said:

    @bell_end said:

    @humanity said:

    The entire game is basically - run through wood, spawn shadow people, keep running.

    you can do that reductive thing with any game.

    The Last of Us - run through city, hide from men or zombies, watch cut scenes

    Hey man, you're not wrong.

    What? No, he is wrong. You also move ladders, dumpsters, planks, and palettes to get around!

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    HerbieBug

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    #21  Edited By HerbieBug

    @vic2point0 said:

    Believe it or not, this game actually gets a fair amount of criticism for not being scary, that's the funny part. It didn't get a lot jump-scares out of me, just kept me on the edge of my seat. I like it better that way, as I'm not a huge Survival Horror fan (This game is technically a Psychological Thriller).

    I know what you're talking about, where it briefly shows Barbara Jagger in all her creepy glory, and Alice being pulled under the water. It never really made me jump, though. They could've done it much worse, like a literally instant flash of gore or loud screaming. That would be too much, I agree. But this wasn't, IMO.

    A lot of the lack of scary is due to the game only having one avenue by which to deliver attempted scares. It also doesn't help that the antagonists are mostly just undefined zombies with guns. And you happen to shoot and kill hundreds of them. So they aren't in any way scary or even disturbing. The game has no... um, emotional atmosphere to it. The whole thing rides on darkness and shadows. But there's no reason to fear that darkness because all the darkness ever signifies is another batch of enemies being spawn in for you to shoot. It's crap.

    Compare it against Amnesia's approach to scary, for example. Difference is very clear. Amnesia gives you ample reason to fear the dark and the madness and the occasional enemy thing.

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    I_Stay_Puft

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    I don't honestly remember any jump scares in this entire game. There were some moments during the cut scenes to introduce the new area level but other than that don't quite remember.

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    Vic2point0

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    A lot of the lack of scary is due to the game only having one avenue by which to deliver attempted scares. It also doesn't help that the antagonists are mostly just undefined zombies with guns. And you happen to shoot and kill hundreds of them. So they aren't in any way scary or even disturbing. The game has no... um, emotional atmosphere to it. The whole thing rides on darkness and shadows. But there's no reason to fear that darkness because all the darkness ever signifies is another batch of enemies being spawn in for you to shoot. It's crap.

    Compare it against Amnesia's approach to scary, for example. Difference is very clear. Amnesia gives you ample reason to fear the dark and the madness and the occasional enemy thing.

    Well again, Alan Wake is not a Survival Horror game; it's a Thriller, and the "approach to scary" is quite different between the two genres.

    And I personally loved the combat and atmosphere. The only thing I would say they did "wrong" which took away from the tension was give the player too much ammo in many locations.

    P.S. - None of the Taken carry guns?

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