The Poe song "Haunted," when mentioned in a previous class, reminded me of an action suspense thriller video game called "Alan Wake." What you are about to see is my interpretation of how I think the game is a form of post-modernistic story-telling.
1. The levels of the game itself are formatted into "episodes," like a bizarre television show. They all begin with "Previously, on Alan Wake," and a cinematic flashback reminding you of events you've completed so far. The levels end with a present cinematic sequence and then fades to a mock title screen, while playing a song from the in-game soundtrack. Poe's "Haunted" specifically plays after you beat the second "episode," in which Alan meets his wife's kidnapper in the deep dark woods and saves his literary agent and friend from a flock of evil birds (more about that later). Other songs include David Bowie's "Major Tom," Poets of the Fall's "War," and Roy Orbison's "In Dreams." The main game is six episodes long, plus two Downloadable Content Episodes, which continue the plot after the main game ends.
2. The plot arc of the game is something straight out of a horror novel. Alan Wake, a once famous writer, and his wife Alice arrive in the sleepy secluded town of Bright Falls, where they're on vacation from the big city. In the first episode, Alice, who has a phobia of the dark, is taken by the antagonistic ethereal presence called The Dark Presence, which comes from an ethereal world called the Dark Place. This force can consume people and birds and turn them into mindless thralls, which are the main enemies you encounter (outside of large, possessed machinery that the Dark Presence can manipulate). The rest of the game is about finding and rescuing Alice, while at the same time learning about what the Dark Presence is and what it's capable of.
3. 90% of the game takes place at night-time. You will also be by yourself 95% of the time throughout the game. Your only method of sight is a flashlight, which also burns away the darkness inside your enemies, making them vulnerable to your weapons, which include a pistol, hunting rifle, and in some spots, a flare gun and search light. Your enemies are possessed people of size and stature (the bigger they are, the harder they are to kill). And when you're walking around in the woods, in the game's completely beautifully rendered environments, wind blowing through the trees and rocks falling at random will scare the crap out of you. The contrast of light and dark in the game is paramount, obviously because you're trying to beat back the Dark Presence with light.
4. Outside of the plot arc of the game, Alan Wake's journey is partially a "text" that has been "authored" by another creative person - a fictional character named Thomas Zaine. He appears to you in an old fashioned diver's suit, and is the physical manifestation of light in the game, where as the Dark Presence is manifested as a woman in a mourning dress and veil. Zaine was a poet who tried to resurect his dead wife using the power of the Dark Presence, infusing it in his poetry to make the action happen (long before Wake arrives in the game). However, because his resurrected wife was tainted by the Dark Presence, he undid his action, but gave his life in the process. The spirit of Zaine comes forward later in the game, providing Wake a page he wrote, describing how Alan would defeat the Dark Presence.
* Before meeting or hearing about Thomas Zaine, at the start of the 2nd episode, players come across pieces of a manuscript Wake wrote, but had no memory of writing. These pieces relate to events that have already happened, while others are major foreshadowing elements of events to come.
The game itself spent five years in post production, so the game could be completed to its utmost potential, so players could feel like they were the protagonists of a deranged and wild suspense film. Exclusively for the XBOX 360, Alan Wake is hidden gem that takes convential gaming and morphs it into a surreal, complex story that has made it into one of my favorite all time games.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auw3_z9EyRg
Your interpretation of "Alan Wake" reminds me of a different game an older one that came out for the gamecube called "Eternal Darkness Sanity's Requiem." Much like "Alan Wake" the game takes place in episodes.
ReplyDeleteEach level involves a new character coming into contact with a book called the Tomb of Eternal Darkness. This book is considered magical and grants the user powers like spells and enchantments.
The plot of the game involves playing out the lives written within the Tomb, each a distant ancestor of the game's main character Alex. She discovers the book in her grandfather's mansion in Rhode Island and uses it to hopefully uncover his mysterious death.
Most of the game takes place in the dark and in that darkness are monsters and when you encounter a monster it decreases your sanity and once your sanity reaches a certain level weird things happen in the game to mess the player.
Here's a video of just some of the weird stuff that happens once your sanity meter is low. The game also opens up with a quote from Edgar Allen Poe "Deep into that darkness peering long I stood there, wondering...fearing...doubting..."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpRq3e9yohE
I've heard of this game. From what I've heard and reading what you wrote I can see the likeness. When I started reading this I was like yea even before finishing. That game amenisia is the same in a way. Mostly takes place in the dark, your character is crazy, you have a monster chasing you, and you have to travel around searching for the truth.
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