It's understandable that there's still some lingering disappointment that Remedy's new Alan Wake game isn't a fully-fledged sequel, but Alan Wake's American Nightmare is more than DLC. As a standalone spin-off, it's a new, short-form reinterpretation of the Alan Wake formula rather than an add-on for the existing game. Set inside an episode of the Twilight Zone-alike in-game TV show Night Springs, it's a five-hour action thriller that takes its inspiration from classic horror, science fiction, urban legends and pulp Americana. Think of it as the short story to the original Alan Wake's novel.
The setup is simple: in his younger days, Alan Wake wrote more than a few episodes of the surreal Night Springs television series himself, and now he seems to be trapped inside one. The action is narrated by the familiar Night Springs narrator rather than Wake himself, and like in the first game, the central narrative conceit is the concept of Alan' manuscript coming to life. As a reflection of the downloadable form, though, developer Remedy has adjusted the balance of action and story. Where Alan Wake was two-thirds story and one third action, Remedy says, American Nightmare is two thirds action.
The reveal demo opens in a classic setting: outside a roadside diner. American Nightmare wears its pulp and sci-fi inspirations proudly on its sleeve. The colour palette is saturated and bright rather than washed-out and shadowy, and its set in the Arizona desert rather than forested hills, lakesides and valleys, giving the game a comic-book feel that's an interesting contrast with the original Alan Wake.
The combat has changed, too. There's still that solid light mechanic at the centre of it all: you have to shine Wake's torch at darkness-shrouded enemies to cleanse them before filling them with bullets. But instead of torch, flare and pistol, there's a much wider arsenal to play with, and a bigger selection of enemies to face. Aside from the possessed humans we've seen before, there are monsters that split into five when the light hits them, scurrying creatures that burst into a cloud of smoky birds when shot, and lumbering chainsaw-wielding behemoths.
I'm shown a lot of fighting in this reveal demonstration: Remedy is obviously keen to show how it has addressed players' complains about Alan Wake's samey content. But as you'd expect from the series, there's more to American Nightmare than a series of gunfights. There's still plenty of supernatural action, with cars flung around by dark forces and mild puzzles where Wake must recreate the scenario on the manuscript page in front of him to move this strange tale forward.
It's a stylish game, and a polished one, too – it might be a download title, but that doesn't mean that Remedy is taking production values any less seriously. There are licensed tracks from Kasabian and the Old Gods of Asgard – Club Foot is put to particularly good use as Wake flees from the burning wreckage of an oil refinery flying through the air behind him. It's only after a few hair-raising action sequences that we're shown Wake's nemesis, the deceptively harmless-sounding Mr Scratch – a murderous psychopath who gets his kicks from leaving videos of himself torturing and murdering victims in Wake's path.
These live-action videos are quite jarring in the colourful context of the rest of the game, but they are effectively shocking. It's hammily written, but unlike the longform Alan Wake, American Nightmare doesn't seem to take itself remotely seriously, and it actually sits more comfortably as mildly ridiculous pulp horror than it did as a semi-serious thriller. Our demo ends as Mr Scratch threatens to do horrible things to Wake's wife, Alice (the poor woman – she's already been through a lot). We're told that Scratch is an evil double of Wake himself; he certainly has the same talent for borderline-nonsensical self-narration.
Alan Wake's American Nightmare shows a studio that's adaptable and ready to try its hand at new things. As well as the core five-hour adventure, there will be leaderboards and a horde-mode-style arcade arena to add value. But I'm not sure that American Nightmare needs those extra features to justify its existence. There's ample room for short-form episodic thrillers in the modern gaming diet.
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