Alan Wake
Moderate overall intensityWhat's in it
Third-person combat with firearms and a flashlight against shadow-possessed humans called the Taken; hits show blood but enemies dissolve into dark smoke rather than being gored or dismembered.
Characters drink alcohol and smoke on screen, and a supporting character's drinking is a recurring trait.
The story centers on a writer's spiraling dread, the disappearance of his wife, and a struggle with sanity as reality warps around him.
A survival-horror atmosphere of nighttime forests, a menacing 'Dark Presence,' sudden enemy ambushes, and startle moments, without graphic imagery.
Moderate profanity in dialogue during tense and frightening moments.
Flocks of shadow-possessed ravens swarm and attack the player and are fought off as a combat encounter.
Who can reach your kid
What it is
Alan Wake is a single-player action-horror game in which a best-selling novelist searches the small town of Bright Falls for his missing wife while a supernatural 'Dark Presence' corrupts the world around him. Gameplay mixes exploration and story with combat: you weaken shadow-possessed human enemies (the Taken) and swarms of dark ravens with a flashlight before finishing them with firearms. Content includes realistic gunfire with blood but no gore or dismemberment, a frightening and tense horror atmosphere, mature themes of sanity loss and grief, some profanity, and depicted alcohol and tobacco use. There are no sexual content, microtransactions, or online interactions.
How it's framed
The game frames its violence as survival against an encroaching supernatural darkness, with light itself as the core defensive tool. Its horror and dark themes are treated as a psychological thriller about a writer confronting a manuscript that seems to be rewriting reality; menace and dread are built through atmosphere and story rather than graphic gore.
Details
- Developer
- Remedy Entertainment
- Publisher
- Remedy Entertainment
- Released
- Feb 16, 2012
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