Alan Wake's American Nightmare
| Alan Wake's American Nightmare | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Developer(s) | Remedy Entertainment |
| Publisher(s) |
Microsoft Studios Remedy Entertainment (PC) |
| Distributor(s) | Nordic Games |
| Writer(s) | Sam Lake |
| Composer(s) | Petri Alanko |
| Platform(s) | Xbox 360 Xbox One Microsoft Windows |
| Release |
Xbox 360
|
| Genre(s) | Action-adventure, psychological horror, third-person shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Aggregator | Score |
| GameRankings | (X360) 77.42% (PC) 73.37% |
| Metacritic | (X360) 76/100 (PC) 73/100 |
| Review scores | |
| Publication | Score |
| 1UP.com | B |
| Eurogamer | 7/10 |
| G4 | 4/5 |
| GameSpot | 7/10 |
| GamesRadar | 8/10 |
| GameTrailers | 8/10 |
| IGN | 8/10 |
| Joystiq |   |
| OXM (US) | 8.5/10 |
| VideoGamer.com | 8/10 |
| UGO | B |
Alan Wake's American Nightmare is an psychological horror action-adventure video game developed by Remedy Entertainment and published by Microsoft Studios. The game is a downloadable follow-up to its predecessor, Alan Wake, but is not a sequel per se, rather serving as an in-universe spinoff. The game is an Xbox 360 title and was released on 22 February 2012 worldwide. A Microsoft Windows version was released on 22 May 2012 in North America, 29 June 2012 in Europe and 15 November 2012 in Australia.
Like its predecessor, the game received mostly positive reviews. Critics praised the change of style and tone from the earlier themes of isolation, light versus darkness, and melancholy, utilizing psychological horror tropes, found in Alan Wake to the madcap, Pulp-influenced themes in Alan Wake's American Nightmare, utilizing black comedy tropes.
The plot of American Nightmare is framed by the narration of an episode of the fictional TV show, "Night Springs," which follows the style of The Twilight Zone and appeared on television screens throughout the original Alan Wake.
Alan Wake's friend and manager, Barry, is asleep in a motel room. The narration explains that Alan is attempting to chase down the "herald of darkness", Mr. Scratch, who is Alan's evil doppelganger created by a dark force. Scratch is determined to take away everything Alan loves, including his wife, Alice. Alan, as the "champion of light," has the ability to rewrite reality, and was able to write his escape from Cauldron Lake in Washington. He ends up near the small town of Night Springs, Arizona, and learns that he has been missing from the real world for nearly two years.
A nearby oil derrick erupts with several foes controlled by Mr. Scratch. Seeking light, Alan runs to a nearby motel, where he encounters Emma Sloan, who at first thinks he is Mr. Scratch, since they look identical. She tells Alan that Scratch was at the motel the night before, and provides Alan with a typewritten page, a way to alter reality to destroy the derrick and stop the foes. Alan follows its instructions, which causes a meteor to collide with an artificial satellite, sending it hurtling towards the ground, where it then collides with the oil derrick. While Alan is away performing this task, the dark forces consume Emma.
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Wikipedia