Day 5 features some quite good and quite bad story elements. There are some nice images here, but the writing overall is quite terrible. The end of this episode which is clearly intended to be something really dramatic falls totally flat. A couple of good fights, but more repeated challenges and also a terrible set piece in which the way to win is to act in the exact opposite manner than the scene’s emotional weight is pushing. We’re right at the end though, so I can stomach one more session.
Episode 5 begins with zoom into town with a shot of some random people talking and ending in a cell with Barry. Alan and he are in jail. Alan has a vision seeing a woman talking about keeping something safe in the light and seeing the diner at night. I get control back in the cell. Alan’s voice-over says Nightingale took the pages. We overhear Nightingale and the Sheriff talking about the pages as I pace around the cell pointlessly. Nightingale mocks me from off-screen. The sheriff taunts Nightingale for being so fanatic. Wake goes down with a flashback; it’s a typical lake-Alice-writing vision. When we come back, in CS the sheriff opened the cell to check Wake who’s on the floor. It’s dark here now. Nightingale threatens them with a gun and tries to get the sheriff to stop. But then he’s sucked away by darkness as he starts to say something and drops page as he’s taken for me. Really? That’s it for Nightingale? What was he doing here? Why was he after me? That was an awful lot of bluster and setup for a character who is going to die like 10 seconds after I’m finally face-to-face with him.
I get control and follow the sheriff, who has decided to help me get my stuff. We run across the station and she turns on the lights while I get lots of equipment. We go back to the lobby and the sheriff says Barry should stay here because a bunch of people need to be contacted including Maine, the radio guy. It seems like there’s some kind of conspiracy in the town. She mentions Night Springs (that’s the TV show) as something she’s involved with. She wants to get a helicopter to help me, so we run out the back to head to the helipad. The gate out of the parking lot is broken, so I have to climb rooftops over gate to open it for her. I find ladder up to a roof. There are lots of patches of darkness around I can step in to hurt myself, and I spend some time destroying many of them. I kill some birds and then take an exterior elevator down to the outside of the gate. The sheriff tells Alan that “Night Springs” is a joke about how weird the town is. I have to bypass the gate control by hitting A a lot which shocks Alan and opens the gate.
The sheriff and I start heading down the street and into big fights. The first one I win, and the second fight I lose as I’m not used to this weak ass flashlight right now. I get through it and blow through some more fights as the sheriff and I run through town. I get to the gate outside the clerk’s office and the sheriff has to open it. It’s an ambush and I fight the hoards of Taken off as she gets the door open. I get the helicopter keys as she fixes the fuse box in the clerk’s office to get the lights on. Barry texts that he wants us to hurry. I kill one guy as I explore, and then I find the keys and a nice large lantern.
I cut to CS as Alan walks outside to where the sheriff is. Barry is running to us. He dodges a flying truck and gets into a building; we have to go find him. I get control back and go around a building. We fight a medium-sized fight and get into the street. A guy in an apartment yells down to the sheriff, thinking all the gunfire is from deerfest. She doesn’t dissuade him. Alan tells the sheriff that all the craziness will stop when he’s gone. The sheriff unlocks and then we go through a book store back to the street and up to a church. The church lock is stuck and it’s going to take work to open. This triggers a big fight. I die once, and then we win and get into the church. The way out is through the crypt like basement, so down we go. I kill a couple of guys down there, and then get to the other side of the basement. I kick a door open and there’s a Taken outside. It’s hit by a flare and dies. Barry’s there with snide comment, dressed in christmas lights to defend him.
We all run across a parking lot and win a fight when we reach the street. We see the helipad up ahead. The sheriff and Barry get in the helicopter. I gear up with equipment around the pad, and then we’re in a CS of darkness forming. I have to hold off dark forces as they get the helicopter going. It’s honestly pretty simple to hold them off; I have more flashbangs than I know what to do with, and just blow up any crowds that appear. I hold them off fine and get on the helicopter. There’s a CS of Alan fighting his way on to the helicopter and then Sheriff and Barry telling him he better be right about finding this crazy woman.
We zoom out to a CS of the helicopter flying around The sheriff has read Alan’s work. God these characters are creepy, particularly the women. She goes to land the copter where she can, but then birds attack the helicopter. Wake falls out to the ground as the helicopter rears around. I get control and kill the birds here. All my batteries are gone and of course I have no gun again. This is like the fifth time this has happened – fuck you game. I enter a parking lot where I have to get a chain off of a garage door. I find a gun and shoot the chain, causing the garage door to open very slowly. As it opens, I get jumped and die twice. I then realize I can back into corner to take them all out and it works like a charm. I enter the garage and into another big fight. Corners are definitely the key — once you’re in the corner, you can take them one at a time. I kill them, and get out of the garage. There’s a transformer ahead of me, and I have to cross it and then get across a river to get to Wheeler’s plant.
I enter the transformer after opening a door. There are these electrified lines that remind me heavily of Heavy Rain. I have several fights within the transformers. I can flashlight enemies into wires to kill them, which is pretty neat. I get out of the transformer onto the riverbed and head toward a bridge up ahead. The bridge is stuck rotated away from the shores. I go into a cabin and start the bridge turning, but it keeps turning without stopping. I jump on the bridge when an edge approaches my side and fight off some birds. Both sides of the bridge are similar so it’s hard to tell when to jump off, but after a couple more rotations, I find the right side and jump back over. I go in a cabin there and see another not-good Night Springs episode. I go back out and see the helicopter in the air above me. I have to run a path to the power plant through lots of enemies, but the helicopter provides a spotlight. I’m not sure what the light does though. It doesn’t kill enemies or really heal me. Anyway, I kill a couple of Taken and then head for a stationary light to lose the rest. I get around the building into the power plant. I run into one last fight that I win. I enter the plant into a wall of blinding light to face an old woman – Wheeler. In CS, Wheeler wants Alan to prove he’s an ally. Alan rattles off what he knows about Wheeler, and she says she’s been waiting a long time for him.
I get control back and it’s a pretty cool space that’s covered with light bulbs and strikingly bright. Wheeler says that there’s something special at the dam, but something happened at the transformer and it’s causing the lights here to weaken. I have to cut the power to the transformer yard to reserve power at the dam. She’s crazy, but I need her help, so Alan agrees to do it. I run around the building into a little fight, and then there’s a logic puzzle to get three retractable bridges to be extended at the same time. It’s a simple puzzle and I get across to cut the power. Doing so causes the bridges to go back and forth and I die once because the game won’t let me get off of a bridge as it’s retracting. I have to fight more guys to get around the building, but I then use a flare to stall a second fight and instead run back to the safety of the power plant. Once inside, I have to follow Wheeler to get to the dam. She tells me that Jagger died and Zane tried to bring her back, but there’s a price to that. The darkness just took the shape of Jagger. Zane was famous but wrote himself out of the world to stop the darkness. Wheeler opens a large pipe, and we cut to CS of Alan and Wheeler walking down the tunnel. Alan calls Barry to tell him they will meet at the dam, but then Alan hears sounds of the helicopter going down. Alan resolves to save Barry; Wheeler says he’s crazy but she’ll meet him at the dam. Alan leaves the pipe with my obligatory slo-mo jump of six feet out of pipe.
I get control and have to almost immediately fight off birds. It’s a close fight, but I survive. I somehow go around in a circle, but I get back on track. I reach the helicopter and the crash is empty. I keep going and I find the sheriff and Barry fighting. We beat the enemies back together. There’s another fight as we go uphill including a mini-boss — the NPCs are impressed by it, but I’m totally blase now. We get to an elevator. I am the only one with the ability to hit a button I guess. I fight off opponents until elevator comes, then enter and again I am the hero with the button pressing powers. Alan explains what’s going on, and the level of the dialogue goes something like this. Sheriff: “Zane? He’s a myth?” Wake: “Well, he was real.” THIS IS A STORY ABOUT A WRITER, PEOPLE! TRY! We exit the elevator and I have to hold down a button to keep a door open so they can get in the dam proper. I do so, but of course then the door breaks and seals. I have to run up the dam by myself on the outside. Spindles of darkness attack me and I have to break them with light, but they open up path for me to a walkway to the dam. The lights go out along top of the dam (where I have to go), and I then have to fight off birds to cross the walkway and get to the top.
Once I’m at the top, there’s a wave of enemies I have to ward off. I can fight them with a spotlight I can control, but I do die once because the tip about the spotlight comes too late. I manage to fight them back the second time. When the fight’s over, there’s a flash of Alice in the darkness as Wake has another vision. I come back, and Jagger says (in a voiceover) that Alan will go no further. It’s now a running scene as I have to get past the darkness, complete with falling planks and disappearing ground. I die once (I blame the camera), and then I die again; running puzzles in this dopey-camera-angle game are neither clear nor fun. I keep dying at this one jump. I then decide I’m not going to run this time — I’ll just take my time and see if there’s an answer I’m missing. Yup, taking it slow (i.e. doing the OPPOSITE of the mood of the scene) is the way to win. I make it past the “running” scene to the end of the path, and find Wheeler and the gang in a lit elevator. Barry is suffering from a weird bug; he keeps running in elevator for no reason. The elevator stops and we enter the well-lit room.
In CS, Alan enters the well-lit room. It contains a page of Wake’s past that Zane wrote. He also finds the clicker, which he gave to Alice, but which Zane put here. Seriously, the secret weapon is a clicker. Sigh. Alan takes the clicker and says he can finish this, and that’s the end of episode 5. Title card and another bad song, maybe the worst yet — some awful Nickleback crap I can stand for maybe five seconds. I watch the recap and call it a night.
“There are some nice images here, but the writing overall is quite terrible.”
I’ll be interested to read elaboration on this point later, if it’s in here.
“The end of this episode which is clearly intended to be something really dramatic falls totally flat.”
This one as well.
“A couple of good fights, but more repeated challenges and also a terrible set piece in which the way to win is to act in the exact opposite manner than the scene’s emotional weight is pushing.”
Lol, and this one too!
“We overhear Nightingale and the Sheriff talking about the pages as I pace around the cell pointlessly.”
Heaven forbid a game let you control the character for a few seconds even though you can’t break out of the jail.
“Nightingale threatens them with a gun and tries to get the sheriff to stop. But then he’s sucked away by darkness as he starts to say something and drops page as he’s taken for me. Really? That’s it for Nightingale? What was he doing here? Why was he after me? That was an awful lot of bluster and setup for a character who is going to die like 10 seconds after I’m finally face-to-face with him.”
Check the intro. Not everything has to be explained in the end, nor should it be. For anyone interested in what little exists of his backstory (which doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the larger plot, mind you), there is some info on him written in ‘The Alan Wake Files’. But on the subject of why the dark presence took him I will say, the way I figure it, it comes back down to “People have to die” in horror stories; the game foreshadows this even. And what better targets than those who would confine Alan, thereby keeping him from reaching the end of his journey, which the game says was going to grant the dark presence even more power?
“God these characters are creepy, particularly the women.”
If you’re talking about the facial animations (again), I agree. They could’ve used a lot more work. I didn’t find it THAT distracting, however…
“All my batteries are gone and of course I have no gun again. This is like the fifth time this has happened – fuck you game.”
Expecting a horror/thriller game to let you hoard equipment is silly.
“There’s a transformer ahead of me, and I have to cross it and then get across a river to get to Wheeler’s plant.”
You mean Weaver’s 😛
“I go back out and see the helicopter in the air above me. I have to run a path to the power plant through lots of enemies, but the helicopter provides a spotlight. I’m not sure what the light does though. It doesn’t kill enemies or really heal me.”
It slowly burns the darkness off the Taken when/if they walk through it while trying to get to you. It’s actually pretty effective.
“Anyway, I kill a couple of Taken and then head for a stationary light to lose the rest. I get around the building into the power plant. I run into one last fight that I win. I enter the plant into a wall of blinding light to face an old woman – Wheeler. In CS, Wheeler wants Alan to prove he’s an ally. Alan rattles off what he knows about Wheeler, and she says she’s been waiting a long time for him.”
Weaver, Weaver, Weaver! Yeah, I liked this scene. I liked how smart this lady was, that Alan obviously not being one of the Taken wasn’t the only concern she had. She knew there were HUMAN threats to her purpose, which is why Alan had to prove he knew she was affiliated with Zane, etc.
“We get to an elevator. I am the only one with the ability to hit a button I guess.”
Well you were the only one milling around instead of standing firmly in one place, what did you expect 😉
“Alan explains what’s going on, and the level of the dialogue goes something like this. Sheriff: “Zane? He’s a myth?†Wake: “Well, he was real.†THIS IS A STORY ABOUT A WRITER, PEOPLE! TRY!”
So because Alan presumably uses bigger words in his writing, he should talk like that outside of books, particularly when he’s just trying to find his wife among small-town strangers? To me, this is authentic. This is how people talk when they’re under pressure and not trying to sell anything/impress anyone.
“Once I’m at the top, there’s a wave of enemies I have to ward off. I can fight them with a spotlight I can control, but I do die once because the tip about the spotlight comes too late.”
How could you miss the spotlight? You see it beaming brightly as soon as you get up the ladder. And the narrative which says “The searchlight could even the odds” comes right after the Taken appear (in a slow-motion cinematic, no less).
“I die once (I blame the camera), and then I die again; running puzzles in this dopey-camera-angle game are neither clear nor fun. I keep dying at this one jump. I then decide I’m not going to run this time — I’ll just take my time and see if there’s an answer I’m missing. Yup, taking it slow (i.e. doing the OPPOSITE of the mood of the scene) is the way to win.”
How is being careful opposite the mood of the scene? Would you or would you not, even if being chased by monsters, be cautious enough of such a high-off-the-ground jump that you approach it carefully?
And you should’ve been used to the camera by this point. It never bothered me (though I too missed that just a couple times before nailing it).
“In CS, Alan enters the well-lit room. It contains a page of Wake’s past that Zane wrote. He also finds the clicker, which he gave to Alice, but which Zane put here. Seriously, the secret weapon is a clicker. Sigh.”
It was actually pretty cool the way it works in the end, though. Idk, this didn’t bother me either. I’m glad they didn’t give him what I’m sure most critics of the game would’ve loved – some sort of high tech laser machine gun or something! Ultimate weapons like that can be a lot of fun, but not in thriller/horror, c’mon.
“Alan takes the clicker and says he can finish this, and that’s the end of episode 5. Title card and another bad song, maybe the worst yet — some awful Nickleback crap I can stand for maybe five seconds.”
“War” by Poets of the Fall is not only NOT like a Nickleback song; it’s a very good one! You should’ve listened for longer than five seconds, you probably would’ve liked it.