Alan Wake - A Game that Might Happen?

To start, I'd like to say that all signs indicate that I will be purchasing the game Alan Wake, which is slated to come out on May 18 of this year.

Mike and I have been talking about this game since it's initial announcement in 2005. Michael had been a proponent from the get go, to me it looked all right, but I wasn't quite as enthused.

From an email I sent to him in 2006 regarding the first footage they released for the game: "alan wake... are you serious with that... i mean, hey, it looks very pretty, but it doesn't appear that the engine is working right from those videos, because nothing moves quite right... and, he's scurred of it getting dark when a bunch of aliens wearing ponchos attack? it looks like some sort of alien version of alone in the dark... but... i mean, wow, it looks gorgeous... so it will be good... like gears of war, arguably the best game ever... because it's pretty."

Now, I understand what I wrote makes very little sense to anyone. I was sending the email to Mike who has learned to parse most of my retardedness into semi-coherent conversation. The gist there was that I was not impressed by what I saw. There seem to be creatures, aliens or otherworldly residents that all wear ponchos and are scaring Alan.

In the many, many, many years since, the Finnish company behind Alan Wake's development, Remedy, has done everything in their power to delay the release while simultaneously promising better and greater features and nearer and further launch dates.

Over the past five years, Alan Wake has entered the topic of our discussions many times, though it has quickly become a running joke. The unattainable perfect that will forever be just out of reach, dangled like a carrot before us.

In that time I've also had cause to change my mind about the game. While they've been changing exactly how the game will play here and there over the years, it seems that the core story has remained, and it looks to be interesting. A story about a writer who moves, at his wife's urging, to a new town, but her disappearance thrusts him into an adventure we get to play. Add to that the fact that they intend to make it more of an interactive story that will play like the first season of a television show, and that it's been in development for so very long and therefore has to be nearly flawless and you have a delicious recipe for a tasty dessert. Or video game. I forget, really.

At some point I recall stating emphatically that if Alan Wake was to be released, I would buy it simply because it had come out. Thus, I am bound to make the purchase, but had I not made that agreement with myself, I'd still be purchasing it. It simply looks like there's a chance it will be good. They seem to have focused on the storytelling, and while it doesn't look like it will quite as strong a departure from classic gaming as, say, Heavy Rain, it certainly looks promising.

Here it is, 2010, and it's been five years since they first announced this title, and it finally seems it will actually come out. I can't say I'm not excited, because I am, but something doesn't feel right. You know? I figured that this would be my white whale, I would be Ahab to this Moby Dick. Now that I might actually attain it, what more will I have to live for after this?

Of course, there's another option. As Mike put it the other day: "I hope each box is empty with a note that says the equivalent of "Psych!" in Finnish."