The audio also sounded exactly as I’d remembered it. It felt easy to aim and when those moments occurred where I did need to run away, it at least felt smooth and comfortable if I were to put it in a different way, I’d say that my frame rate ran consistently. Despite the jarring filter that had been applied to my vision, I was still able to face off against my enemies, a flashlight in one hand and a gun in the other. How I made it through alive is beyond me. When I faced off against the Taken - the plight of Bright Falls and my primary enemy during my journey - the visuals became even worse to the point of almost becoming incomprehensible at certain points. Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked) They looked blurred, their faces obscured not from the dark presence that would befall many of Bright Fall's inhabitants, but from a Nintendo Switch port which, somehow, makes them look worse than they did a dozen years ago. It was even more apparent during the day when I would encounter friends like my literary agent, Barry Wheeler, along with new faces like Carl Stucky and Deputy Grant. It too had lost its lustre and I could only imagine how bizarre it would appear to an outsider looking in.Īs I progressed through the town of Bright Falls in what would ultimately be a 10-12 hour search for my wife before the credits rolled, I was horrified to discover that the visual downgrades I stumbled upon at the beginning of my journey appeared everywhere else. My arms looked as if they were built by Lego and my clothes jittered as I moved my limbs. The same effect that was warping the environment had apparently affected me too. I looked down at my own body and gasped in horror. Trees that once swayed in the wind now stood motionless, like cardboard cutouts dotted around a cheap film set. The fauna looked softer, almost muddy, with jagged edges. ![]() The world looked the same and yet wildly different. As I gazed at the environment around me, a feeling of deep concern grew in my mind. A lighthouse stood in the distance, fog gliding through the air. I woke up on a deserted road, the darkness of night creeping in. Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked) Chapter 2 - Visual Nightmares Would it live up to the memories that resided in my mind? I took a deep breath and entered the world of Alan Wake on Switch. It also, to my delight, included the two extra DLC expansions: 'The Signal' and 'The Writer', making this as much of a complete package as I could hope for. Ah yes, Alan Wake was remastered for modern platforms in 2021, making its way beyond the Xbox ecosystem after its developer, Remedy Entertainment, broke away from its partnership with Microsoft and teamed up with Epic Games to launch a revamped version of the game. So why is it here? Why is the Alan Wake icon on my Nintendo Switch? I had to know, I had to find out. It was the combination of this and the slick, intuitive gameplay that made Alan Wake a firm favourite among 360 owners, but, besides a PC release in 2012, the game was ultimately doomed to remain on a single home console. ![]() Split into chapters and presented as if it were ripped straight from the mind of its own hero, Alan Wake had flavours of Stephen King and Twin Peaks in equal measure, and this resonated with me deeply, ultimately shepherding the game into my top ten of all time thanks to its remarkable ability to tap into my own passion for quirky horror. It wasn’t your average action-adventure game. He soon discovered that the town held dark secrets and a penchant for the supernatural. It starred a seemingly ordinary man - the titular protagonist and writer - who embarked on a desperate search for his missing wife, Alice, in the small mountain town of Bright Falls. I remembered that Alan Wake had been released on the Xbox 360 to critical acclaim, and the game itself had a strong impact on my life. My mind was instantly thrown back to the year 2010 when I was a scrappy 21-year-old holding down a part-time retail job while just starting what would ultimately be a fruitless three-year course at university. The name was instantly recognisable, yet I hadn’t seen it in what felt like years. It was bold in its simplicity a name encompassed the otherwise black image, with a silhouetted man standing within the capital letter ‘A’, flashlight in hand. As the main menu flashed into existence before me, a new icon caught my eye. In the pleasant, reasonably well-kept living room of my small, comfortable home, I sat down on the sofa with a warming mug of strong, milky coffee and booted up my Nintendo Switch. Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked) Chapter 1 - An Overdue Return
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |