Alan Wake ▶ Trailer
Alan Wake screenshot 1Alan Wake screenshot 2
ActionAdventureHorrorStory RichThird PersonThrillerAtmospheric

153 playing

Peak in the last 24 hours: 400

Peak in the last 7 days: 475

Alan Wake Steam store

Game description

A Dark Presence stalks the small town of Bright Falls, pushing Alan Wake to the brink of sanity in his fight to unravel the mystery and save his love.

Basic info

DeveloperRemedy Entertainment
PublisherRemedy Entertainment
PlatformsWindows
Steam DeckVerified
Release dateFeb 16, 2012
Price

Prices by IsThereAnyDeal

Minimum specs

OSWindows XP SP2
ProcessorDual Core 2GHz Intel or 2.8GHz AMD
Memory2 GB
GraphicsDirectX 10 compatible with 512MB RAM
Storage8 GB
steamyze

Review Analysis Score

Based on 437 reviews from the past 1 year

79.6/ 100
Bottom 50%

Steam rating: Very Positive (90%)

Metacritic: 83 /100

Review analysis summary (Reviewed Oct 21, 2026)

Players praise the haunting tale of a writer lost in a dark lake town, but its repetitive fights hold Alan Wake at 79.6.

👍 Strengths

201 reviews praise the story, calling it gripping and structured like a TV series with a mystery that pulls you forward, and Story & World ranks 148th of 1096, appearing in 89% of analyzed reviews. 128 praise its world and atmosphere, describing tense nights in dark forests where safety exists only in the light. 24 enjoy the game overall, and a few like the light mechanic in combat. Visuals & Sound ranks 712th of 1249.

👎 Where it falls short

120 reviews say combat lacks variety, repeating the same light and shoot cycle against the same enemies through samey woods. 64 criticize the controls, citing a clunky camera, stiff movement and an unreliable dodge. 37 say the combat is difficult in a tedious way, with stamina limits, swarms that stun lock the player and frustrating spikes, and some suggest playing on easy for the story. Gameplay ranks 1159th of 1396, and Content Volume ranks 1255th of 1351.

Representative reviews Original reviews ↗

“excellent story and atmosphere reward playing on easy mode” · 201 reviews
“enjoyed playing it despite years since release, generally satisfied” · 24 reviews
“soundtrack on point, every song matched environment really well” · 15 reviews

How it holds up

−50+5

Controls, difficulty, progression and depth
Mentioned in 52% of reviews · Bottom 20% of the games we've analyzed

Controls & feel -1.00 · Responsiveness, precision, and how the menus handle
Negative “terrible camera, movement, shooting mechanics” · 64 reviews
Positive “combat is very original and good against enemy variety” · 6 reviews

Progression 5% · Difficulty 23% · Onboarding 4% · Freedom 4% · Strategy 6%

Plot, characters and the world
Mentioned in 89% of reviews · Top 20% of the games we've analyzed

Story +3.75 · Plot, quests, writing, and the ending
Positive “excellent story and atmosphere reward playing on easy mode” · 201 reviews
Negative “story becomes tedious after chapter 3, narrative loses engagement” · 12 reviews

Characters 19% · World 54%

How much there is to do, variety and replay value
Mentioned in 46% of reviews · Bottom 10% of the games we've analyzed

Variety -3.01 · Fresh content and situations versus repetition
Negative “6 hours of repetitive combat in same green forest becomes maddening” · 120 reviews
Positive “varied activities like escaping tractors, collecting coffee, exploring Kyiv” · 1 review

Volume 14% · Replayability 2%

Graphics, art style, music and sound
Mentioned in 40% of reviews · Bottom 50% of the games we've analyzed

Audio +3.38 · Music, sound effects, and voice acting
Positive “soundtrack on point, every song matched environment really well” · 15 reviews
Negative “voice acting feels out of place and ruins immersion” · 2 reviews

Visuals 26%

Playing with others, the community and servers

Not enough data — only 1% of reviews mention this.

Playing together +2.38 · Fun of playing with friends, teammates, or rivals

Community 0% · Servers & Connection 0%

Pricing, cheaters, balance and matchmaking
Mentioned in 7% of reviews · Top 30% of the games we've analyzed

Balance -0.07 · Whether classes, weapons, and builds are evenly matched
Negative “enemies were annoying to deal with” · 2 reviews

Anti-cheat 0% · Pricing 3% · Matchmaking 0%

Bugs, performance and developer support
Mentioned in 8% of reviews · Top 30% of the games we've analyzed

Performance +0.04 · Frame rate, optimization, and loading times
Positive “very playable on modest hardware with UHD 630 and Quadro T1000” · 2 reviews
Negative “PC didn't run the game properly for years” · 4 reviews

Stability 4% · Developer support 1%

Grey means too few reviews mention it to trust. — means almost no reviews mention it.

Was this analysis useful? Sign in with Steam to vote

🎲 What kind of gamer are you? Find your title in 3 minutes.