First Reviews: Alan Wake Remastered - Prettier, But Otherwise the Same
Alan Wake has finally hit the consoles. The remaster has already been examined by reviewers.
Alan Wake Remastered has received first reviews. Admittedly, there are still relatively few of them, but they reveal enough information to pass a preliminary judgment on the refreshed version of the memorable survival horror. The game will be released tomorrow on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.
Alan Wake Remastered - selected review scores:
- CGMagazine - 9/10
- God is a Geek - 9/10
- Press Start - 9/10
- Wccftech - 8.5/10
- IGN Italy - 8.4/10
- Cultured Vultures - 8/10
- EGM - 8/10
- Game Informer - 8/10
- Trusted Reviews - 4/5
- Windows Central - 4/5
- Dual Shockers - 7/10
- IGN - 7/10
- Push Square - 6/10
- Metascore - 81/100 (PS5 from 23 reviews), 83/100 (XSX/S from 13 reviews)
At the beginning it should be noted that the new version of Alan Wake is first and foremost a visual facelift, including improved lip-sync, 4K resolution support, and slightly improved character models. "Slightly" because it is in the characters that the age of the game is most evident. Locations and visual effects look much better, but there's no denying that Alan Wake Remastered clearly stands apart from contemporary big-budget titles. There is also support for certain features of the new consoles, with faster loading times and haptic vibrations from DualSense on PS5.
The only thing new compared to the 2011 release are changes to the QR codes that link to invisible YouTube videos. It's hard to call that fresh content without being ironic, though. In short, it's basically the same old Alan Wake which we played in 2010/2012. Unless we didn't get to know the expansions then - the remaster includes both DLCs.
The modest scope of changes makes - a bit like in the case of the new PS5 edition of Death Stranding - relevant opinions on Alan Wake Remastered can be found in the review of the original. It's still the same game if you don't count the visual improvements. These, as mentioned, are not revolutionary, although they definitely improve the game's appearance.
There is an obvious difference between the director's cut version of Hideo Kojima's new game and the remastered work of Remedy Entertainment - the age of the original releases. Alan Wake has aged, not only visually, and there are flaws that are more noticeable now than a decade ago. These include the sometimes excessive gameplay repetitiveness and the not very developed combat, which is no match for the skirmishes from the newer work of the same studio - Control.
Of course, there are also elements that have not aged a bit: the atmosphere, the soundtrack, and the story (although the final assessment of the latter remains sujective). Alan Wake Remastered is a good excuse to check out this, after all, iconic game, but it doesn't offer much to veterans of the original. Unless, it heralds the return of the title character in a completely new adventure, which is not another spin-off.
