Alan Wake

I know I'm way behind on finishing (or in any sense playing) Alan Wake, but I did like that game a bunch. There was a few things that kind of bothered me, however.
 
Alan Wake, to me, is supposed to be a horror game. But it's not. The only time I got scared was when I thought I had killed every Taken in the area and then found one sneaking up on me and burrowing a hatchet in my spine. I just never felt as if the Taken were that big of a deal. Sure, I died by their hands at times, but I never felt as if they were scary or even particularly threatening. They were just a hindrance for me to get past to advance the story. Two Taken are coming at me. Control them with the flashlight and pop two bullets each in them with the revolver. Three or more? Drop a flashbang or a use flare and shoot. I almost always had flashbangs and flares to spare.They didn't freak me out as much as the enemies in, say Doom 3, did and all they did was pop out at you from shadows causing you to hate the jump-scare forever.
 
What I think it comes down to is that none of the characters seem very scared of the Taken. They don't even seem that bothered. Sure, Barry ran around like a girl a few times, but the times that happened, I only recall it being the Dark Precence coming after him, not the Taken. Alan himself seem more annoyed than terrified at the prospect of fighting them. What scares him is the Dark Precence and the possibility that Alice is dead. But even that gets defused by the end of the game when "he's sure" Alice is still alive.
 
The other thing that stuck out about the game to me was the frequency at which you lost all your equipment. I had the best flashlight and tons of ammo for both the pump action shotgun, the revolver and I also had alot of flares and flashbangs. More than I could spend, actually. Then what? He gets knocked out, taken to the police station, washed up on shore, falls down a cliff or gets randomly found by another character aaaand cue cutscene: You're back the the worst flashlight and 12 rounds in your revolver. I guess I can take solace in the fact that you almost instantly find, and max out, everything you need.
 
Just a though.

I know I'm way behind on finishing (or in any sense playing) Alan Wake, but I did like that game a bunch. There was a few things that kind of bothered me, however.
 
Alan Wake, to me, is supposed to be a horror game. But it's not. The only time I got scared was when I thought I had killed every Taken in the area and then found one sneaking up on me and burrowing a hatchet in my spine. I just never felt as if the Taken were that big of a deal. Sure, I died by their hands at times, but I never felt as if they were scary or even particularly threatening. They were just a hindrance for me to get past to advance the story. Two Taken are coming at me. Control them with the flashlight and pop two bullets each in them with the revolver. Three or more? Drop a flashbang or a use flare and shoot. I almost always had flashbangs and flares to spare.They didn't freak me out as much as the enemies in, say Doom 3, did and all they did was pop out at you from shadows causing you to hate the jump-scare forever.
 
What I think it comes down to is that none of the characters seem very scared of the Taken. They don't even seem that bothered. Sure, Barry ran around like a girl a few times, but the times that happened, I only recall it being the Dark Precence coming after him, not the Taken. Alan himself seem more annoyed than terrified at the prospect of fighting them. What scares him is the Dark Precence and the possibility that Alice is dead. But even that gets defused by the end of the game when "he's sure" Alice is still alive.
 
The other thing that stuck out about the game to me was the frequency at which you lost all your equipment. I had the best flashlight and tons of ammo for both the pump action shotgun, the revolver and I also had alot of flares and flashbangs. More than I could spend, actually. Then what? He gets knocked out, taken to the police station, washed up on shore, falls down a cliff or gets randomly found by another character aaaand cue cutscene: You're back the the worst flashlight and 12 rounds in your revolver. I guess I can take solace in the fact that you almost instantly find, and max out, everything you need.
 
Just a though.

It isn't scary because it isn't a horror game.

" It isn't scary because it isn't a horror game. "

The constant loss of equipment bugged me too.

" @Icemael said:

" It isn't scary because it isn't a horror game. "

Giant Bomb differs. "

"It's a horror-themed game, sure, but so is Castlevania. Alan Wake isn't meant to be scary. The developers have said that multiple times. "

Yeah dude think of it more as a thriller. You sure complained about the little shit a lot. What about the amazing graphics/ storytelling/ etc etc. I guess the intricacies were lost on you...

It has a great sense of eerie atmosphere but isn't one to make you jump as such, that said though I was alone in a house just having a good look through some cupboards...then something went past the window and I let out a manly yelp.

Right. Alan Wake is an awesome game. I think the story telling is some of the best I've seen in a long time and the graphics didn't let me down once. They really did an amazing job at creating atmosphere and made me connect with the characters. But I guess complaining about two minor things makes me a real hater.

scared the shit out of me. I have an unnatural fear of the dark, though, so yeah.

Well, maybe it's just me then. Most people I've talked to thought Dead Space was a very scary game while I didn't.
 
Alan Wake sure is one of the best games I've played for a long time and I might have worded my first post poorly, because I was scared when I played the, just not WHILE fighting the Taken, but I was jittery as hell when I thought they might be some around. That's part of why I didn't go off into the woods looking for termos' and radios. I was too unnerved by the mist and the lighting. There's some fine lighting in that game.
 
Also, the Anderson brother's are awesome.

Frankly I can't wait til the 2nd DLC pack comes out for the game, I've been loving it lately.  I also just recently finished up Nightmare difficulty and to be honest it really wasn't bad at all.  I mean yeah I died a few times but I never really got hung up on any part and got through it pretty easily.