Overview
This guide is an introduction about the game and some good survival tips that are needed, teaching you about the different enemies, weapons and mechanics.
Introduction to Alan Wake
Alan Wake is a thriller survival, 3rd person game in which you control a man named: Alan Wake. The tutorial will tell you the basics of what you need to know and the rest can be figured out as you play further into the game. You will need a fairly decent computer to handle this game as the textures and graphics are good but take up a lot of CPU and RAM (this was back in 2012). The game has an amazing story line that is very gripping right from the start as you are constantly begging for answers and more questions are being thrown at you. To begin with you do not quite understand each character but as the game unfolds you are more aware of what different character are like and are never sure who to trust. Alan Wake is a great game and is played in episodes which is always nice as it gives you a break between each one without getting too overwhelmed.
Alan Wake: Gameplay Basics
The tutorial is great for explaining the extreme basics (point, shoot, sprint & dodge) but what they don’t tell you is how to properly defeat the “Taken” (The enemies consumed by the darkness). When you aim your flashlight on them a circle will appear and will slowly get smaller and smaller until it disappears and a small ‘poof’ comes from the enemy, this means that the enemies outer shield is now broken and all you need to do is fire your weapon at them to defeat them. Holding down RMB (Right Mouse Button) will shine/force the flashlight light onto the enemy making the circle disappear quicker. I will talk more about the guns within my “Weapons” section of this guide. There are different types of “Taken” enemies, 5 main ones and some extras which I will get onto later. to start with:
The Common Taken, they will start off my throwing basic knives and rocks which can
be avoided, before getting up close and doing melee attacks but can be dealt with simply with 2-3 revolver bullets after their shield is broken.
Flankers, these nasties move very fast and deal damage to you with several fast strikes up close with their duel sickles, once their shield is broken however then can be killed with just 1 revolver bullet!
Tele-Flankers, they move even faster than Flankers and can only be seen as a blur when they move which is why it is key to WAIT until they stop moving then break their shield and shoot them, if you take shots whilst they are moving you will soon find yourself short of ammo. Number of shots to kill changes!
Assault Taken, these are the 2nd hardest Taken to fight amongst the main 5, they look like massive men wearing massive padded lumberjack suits under massive padded winter coats wielding massive axes. You will need to always be alert when fighting these guys as if you lose track of them they can come out of behind a rock and kill you, you will need to keep your distance and try your best to break their shields as soon as possible, they take 4 revolver shots to kill, 2 with a shotgun and pump-action shotgun and just 1 with the hunting rifle on normal mode. The next main Taken is the:
Assault (Chainsaw) Taken, these guys are stronger, faster and harder to kill than the normal Assault Taken and can kill you in 1-2 hits, keeping your distance is the key here, stay calm, break the shield and shoot, don’t miss any shots as you want to get rid of these guys before anything else. 6 shots with a revolver, 3 from a shotgun, 4 from a pump-action shotgun and 2 from a hunting rifle on normal mode.
Ravens, are simple to kill, either break the shield and shoot them with your revolver or use a flare gun/ flash bangs or flares (Will be explained in the Weapons section).
Poltergeists, are possessed objects that fly towards you, simply break their shield and there done with!
Liquid Darkness, can be spotted easily on the ground and black blobs, just shine your light on them, don’t touch them and you’ll be fine!
Alan Wake: Secrets
When walking or running around you may notice some yellow blobs on a rock or a yellow arrow painted on a wall, these are helpers within the game, the reason why they are there is explained within the game so I will not tell you! Just follow the arrow(s) until you come across a chest with a large yellow painting above it (the paint can only be seen when you flashlight is shining on it). These chests contain lots of lovely loot like ammo, new guns/ weapons and batteries, HOWEVER a lot of the time after you are finished picking everything up you will turn around and jump because about 4-5 Taken have appeared behind you, just stay calm and deal with them.
Coffee Thermos’, these have no effect on the game other than 2 achievements (collect 25 coffee thermos’ and collect all 100) they are scattered all over the landscape some in obvious places and others in very hard to find places but It’s always fun trying to find them!
Manuscript Pages, these are useful as depending on where you are in the game you will often find one about future events that will happen very shortly and can give you a little heads up about what you are going to be facing, other than that there is an achievement or 2 related to collecting them and it is nice to read them all in order once you have them all! However some pages are only obtainable through Nightmare Mode!
Alan Wake: Weapons
There are many different weapons and types of weapons in Alan Wake, for you I’m gonna break it down nice and simply.
Light Based Weapons:
The Flashlight: Simple, not very powerful but can get the job of breaking shields done at a slow rate. Consumes batteries at an average rate.
The Heavy-duty Flashlight: Much larger battery capacity that the default flashlight and can break the Taken shields much quicker as it’s more powerful!
Lantern: More powerful that the Heavy-duty Flashlight but does not have as much battery life as the Heavy-duty, but will break shields even faster.
Heavy-duty Lantern: Combination of the Heavy-duty and the Lantern is the most powerful hand-held light in the game, more powerful, brighter and lasts longer.
Flare: You can use Flares when you are over-crowded with Taken and need some breathing space to reload or to finish of some shields when you need to replace the batteries in your light. They are most effective against Poltergeists but do not burn for very long.
Flare Gun: This gun can kill up to 4 Taken with one well aimed shot, very effective against Ravens but you need to reload after each shot which can be a little frustrating.
Flash bang Grenades: Extremely powerful, lob one at the Taken when you are in extreme trouble and all your worries will be saved!
Conventional Weapons:
Revolver: Holds 6 bullets at a time, so you will want to constantly reload whenever possible. Bullets will go through the Taken as long as there is another Taken directly behind it, killing both of them! Weakest gun but still powerful.
Shotgun: Powerful at short distance, only holds 2 shells and shells will go through the Taken as long as there is another Taken directly behind it, killing both of them! Powerful at short range, not ideal if there is too much action going on as a lot of time is spent reloading.
Pump-action Shotgun: 8 shells, fires slightly slower than the shotgun, great at mid to close range.
Hunting Rifle: The strongest gun in the game, hold 5 rounds and can take most enemies out in 1-2 depending on enemy and difficulty level!