Alan Wake’s American Nightmare is an action horror game. It follows the original Alan Wake game, but takes a very different approach.
Most of the horror elements of the original are gone, replaced by more action oriented gameplay. This isn’t an inherently bad change, and can sometimes provide a fresh take on similar subject matter. In this case, it doesn’t work well. There is no build up of tension because there is almost endless combat.
Even with the game overdoing it on the amount of combat in a horror game, it still could have been pulled off well. Dead Space is a great example of a horror franchise that transitioned from a horror-heavy original game into a combat-heavy sequel. In Dead Space 2, the combat systems are updated and polished, making the combat focus feel earned rather than tacked on. However, in the case of American Nightmare, the combat is far too mediocre to warrant becoming the new focus of the franchise. Combat is repetitive and doesn’t change between different enemy types. You simply shine your flashlight on them until they run out of “flashlight health”, then you shoot them until they run out of “gunshot health”. Every enemy has varying amounts of health and damage, but the strategy is the same for the entire game. It gets boring within the first 15 minutes, and nothing changes significantly for the rest of the game.
Visually, the game is pretty good looking. Some models have bad faces, but the game generally looks solid. The world environments are detailed, with the game’s 3 locations making up the bulk of the visual highlights. Unfortunately, the game takes place entirely in these 3 places, so there is little variety.
The game’s sound design is a mixed bag. The sound effects are decent and unassuming. Most of the audio in the game is at least average, but the handful of low points are far too low. The soundtrack has some abysmal song choices that ruin a handful of scenes. This is made worse by the fact that some cut scenes are played multiple times throughout the game, forcing you to sit through the same awful song over and over.
Story-wise, the game struggles to create a cohesive narrative that you are invested in. The plot is delivered through Twilight Zone inspired narration, which helps to make the bad writing more palatable. Still, after the initial interest the Twilight Zone style generates, you begin to see through it and focus on the plot itself, which is extremely flawed. Without getting into specifics, the story has some interesting ideas, but fails to expand on them in any meaningful way. The game seems too short to explore any of the themes that are offhandedly mentioned or referenced.
The worst part of American Nightmare is that it isn’t a terrible game, it’s just mediocre. It doesn’t have any strengths that make you want to ignore its issues, but it also doesn’t have any problems that single-handedly ruin the experience. It has just enough potential to make you think you are only at the weak point of the game and it’s about to become great. Unfortunately, this never materializes, and the game ends on an underwhelming note.
