Welcome, FutureOlogists, to another edition of TILFT! For those of you who haven't noticed the nifty little tabs levitating just over the nav bar, TILFT is one of our new site features. It stands for Things I'm Looking Forward To, and right now its focus is on that most wonderful of seasons: summer. Over the next few weeks, Ology's best and brightest will be checking out the best upcoming content and bringing it to you as only a group of really smart, ridiculously attractive Millennials can.
The subject of today's TILFT is none other than Alan Wake. If you're big into thriller novels, you might know Mr. Wake already, but for those unfamiliar with his work, think Stephen King meets Castle. Aside from being a mover and shaker in literary circles, Alan is also the star of his very own video game, due out May 18th for the Xbox 360. Today I'm braving the darkness to let you know exactly what to look forward to in Alan's first adventure.
The Town of Bright Falls, WA:
Looks nice, right? The sleepy little town of Bright Falls is a great place to kick back and get those stubborn creative juices a-flowin'. As the game begins, Alan, suffering from a nasty bout of writer's block, has traveled here with his wife, Alice, in an effort to recapture his wayward muse. It's a pretty good plan...as long as the sun is up. When night falls, Alan quickly discovers that (shocker!) there's more to Bright Falls than meets the eye. A sinister influence is at work in the shadows, twisting innocent townsfolk into possessed monsters. Alan's wife is missing, and pages from a mysterious manuscript are fluttering all over the little village. It looks as though the only R&R Alan will be getting is Running and..umm...running.
Note: I almost had to make this a Thing I'm Not Looking Forward To, because seriously, why do small towns get such a bad rap? It's like, New York City gets super-heroes and crime dramas and the rest of America is stuck with psychotic nightmare-people? Not cool, Alan Wake. Not cool.
If you wanna visit the town of Bright Falls before Alan arrives there himself, check out the live-action prequel to the game, Bright Falls the series.
The Flashlight
In the pic above, Alan is boldly wielding a highly dangerous weapon. He's also got a gun if you look closely. The flashlight is the core of Wake's arsenal, and it's his only defense against the photo-sensitive Taken. This means he will have to scour every building he comes across for extra batteries and conserve his energy for direct conflicts. If he gets clever, Alan can even set up flash-bulb traps that release a burst of light when activated by a passing enemy.
A flashlight makes an amazing item as well as an intriguing narrative device. Whatever symbolic potential is present in a handgun is mostly exhausted (thanks, Revolver Ocelot) but a flashlight suggests a different kind of hero altogether. Isaac from Dead Space could aim his laser sights into the darkness and fire willy-nilly, hoping to blow off enough Necromorph limbs to keep himself alive another minute. That's scary enough, I guess--but to defeat his foes, Alan has to face them head-on, illuminating the Taken in all their horror. That's probably gonna leave some psychological scars.
The rebirth of survival horror (?)
Check out that sunrise (or, if Alan's unlucky, sunset)! That is some straight inspiring going on there.
The cool setting and innovative arsenal will be a lot of fun, but most of all I'm looking forward to Alan Wake's take on the survival horror genre. Although I am a total wuss when it comes to scary movies (ask Natalie about our 30 Days of Night screening) I have always loved a good, freaky video game. Something about the ability to channel my panic into gunfire (not to mention the reset button) makes scary games a lot easier for me to handle than their cinematic cousins. Lately, though, I've been a bit disappointed in the horror genre. I just...haven't been creeped out the same way I used to be back in the glory days. Alan aims to change all that with a new reliance on psychological terror. Instead of following a gung-ho soldier or cop plugging round after round into gore-soaked zombies, it stars a very human main character just trying to hold back the darkness. I'm very excited about piecing together the mysterious manuscript, a book Alan can't even remember writing--it has a very The Number 23 feel, and for once that isn't a bad thing. Let's hope Alan Wake shakes up the lazy bump-in-the-night crew and ushers in some new scares for the October season.
Make sure to check out Alan Wake on the 18th! Lemme know what you think in the comments.
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