Once again, it’s time for us to talk about the game that has a ridiculous amount of hype surrounding it, even though nobody knows what it is, Alan Wake. Developer Remedy Entertainment is keeping the hype fire stoked by pulling one of the oldest tricks in the book, the viral marketing ploy, and you can be damn sure it’ll work.
Posted on the official Alan Wake forums, this new snippet of mysterious text was supposedly written by Mr. Wake himself. It was taken from promo material by the community manager and posted with Remedy’s permission:
“The amount of pages keeps growing each night. There are also new edits on the old pages. They keep getting more aggressive. The story is rewriting itself. The protagonist is now my namesake, and his wife is called Alice. The most worrying aspect: the genre seems to be shifting. It’s turning into a horror story. I can no longer be certain whether the hero can succeed or even survive. Apart for jumbled fragments of bad dreams and an oppressive feeling, I can remember nothing of the process when I wake up. But this morning, a breakthrough! When I came to my senses, I could smell her perfume on my shirt. I am close. I know it. I must push on.
– Alan Wake”
To me, this hints at Alan Wake being almost exactly like The Neverending Story. You know, where the book comes to life? Maybe Alan writes about things and they turn real. Maybe that big white flying dog is involved! If Remedy can confirm big white flying dogs, then I will fully admit that the undue hype is finally due.