IGN AU writes: "It's hard to believe that it's been five years since Alan Wake was first conceived by developer Remedy – but here we are. For the first couple of years, there was very little to go on – just a handful of screenshots, very vague environmental video to show off some early tech demos, and a story summary that sounded very un-gamer-centric. Writers? On holidays? Darkness? Forests? Where was the structure? How would this all come together?
Years later, we finally have concrete answers – and now that we've seen a fair bit of the game, its nuances and concepts are finally coming into focus. By the gods, it looks great – that's the first thing you'll notice. But delving deeper into the experience, Alan Wake is going to shake things up for the thriller/horror genre. These are the five biggest surprises – the things that knocked our striped socks off – about Alan Wake".
