'Alan Wake' aims to thrill like 'Lost,' Hitchcock, Stephen King

"My wife absolutely hates video games, but she watched me play this for two hours. For the first time, a video game was actually interesting to her. She asked me to tell her how it ended," said Oskari Häkkinen, Remedy Entertainment's head of Franchise Development, during a private interview about the Xbox 360 game Alan Wake in Paris on February 24.

"This is a beautiful story, it has an amazing plot to it, and the premise in itself is very intriguing," he continued. For over a week now, staff from Remedy have been on a grand tour of Europe, showing off the latest version of their upcoming Xbox 360 game to members of the press and blogging enthusiasts in the UK, Holland, Germany, Spain, Italy and France.

The story's premise is concerned with a successful author who, struggling with writer's block, takes a break in the scenic lakeside town of Bright Falls, northwestern USA.

An eerie turn of events lead to his wife's sudden disappearance, a week's worth of amnesia, a car crash, and the discovery of ominous pages from a discarded manuscript that he doesn't remember writing. Worst of all, pages from that book's most sinister passages start to come true, affecting friends and bystanders.

Following that initial revelation come periods of exploration and detective work during daylight hours, and frantic, fast paced, intense action under the cover of darkness that frequently overwhelms Bright Falls' surrounds, as malicious forces attempt to prevent Alan from recovering his faltering grip on reality and discovering what has happened to his beloved Alice.

Alan Wake takes many of its cues from familiar TV series such as Lost, 24, and Prison Break. Indeed, both Remedy and the publishers Microsoft have been quick to note the importance of cultural icons such as Stanley Kubrick's film of Stephen King's The Shining, Alfred Hitchcock's suspense thrillers, and the episodic, multiple season pacing of Lost.

That's significant, as the game is broken down into episodes, and giving players a satisfying conclusion whilst compelling them to come back for more has been a key part of Alan Wake's development. "Even the cast in the game is similar to the cast of a TV series. We've gone for the kind of format and presentation that would appeal to fans of mainstream TV," explained Oskari.

Each episode is even prefaced by a recap beginning with the quote 'Previously, on Alan Wake..', a motif easily recognized by anyone who has watched 24, Prison Break, or Lost in even the smallest doses. The quirky small-town feel of cult classic Twin Peaks was an undeniable influence, imbued with a somewhat darker tone but not without comic relief where required.

For a game that five years ago was touted as the reason to play a Xbox 360, its protracted development and a loyal fan base accrued from Remedy's previous efforts don't seem to have prevented the studio from reaching out to a new audience.

The game has a dynamic difficulty setting that ensures that veteran players are given a challenge equal to their skill, while those less confident of their gaming prowess can expect a more lenient learning curve as Alan Wake adapts to their playing style, toning down the toughness accordingly.

All this comes not a moment too soon for Microsoft or for Remedy. Sony's PlayStation 3 has seen a revival in fortunes following a price cut and the excitement surrounding two of its latest exclusives: Uncharted 2, an action game starring a cocksure, treasure-hunting hero, and Heavy Rain, a detective fiction that goes to great lengths to create emotional depth and accessible gameplay.

All three games have been noted for their use of cinematic tropes, albeit in different ways, and staff at Remedy are hard at work applying the finishing touches to Alan Wake, determined that it reach the same levels of critical and public praise that the other two have already attained.

It was Remedy's managing director, Matias Myllyrinne, who told gaming news site IncGamers that the company was "betting the farm" on Alan Wake's success. From what has been shown over the last few weeks, and given Microsoft's marketing might, it looks like they could well be hauling in a bumper crop come the game's launch this May.

The Alan Wake trailer can be seen its official site, AlanWake.com