Alan Wake is a very special game for me.
I had just recently lost my grandma by the time I could get my hands on the game. We were very close and my very rational response to losing her was to shut people out. When I put Alan Wake into my 360 I became lost in that world and that story and it helped me get over my grandma’s death.
I loved the characters, Alan and Barry, I adored the pacific northwest setting the game took place in, and against popular opinion, I swooned over the Stephen King-esque story. Above all those elements though, the music is what hit me the strongest.
Up until Alan Wake, music in games hadn’t moved past just background noise for me. I never hated it, but I also never loved it. It was there to keep things from being too quiet. It never had any more meaning than that to me.
Alan Wake changed that for me because the music became something more than just background noise. The music in Alan Wake meant something. Hell, the music even becomes an integral part of the story.
I loved how the music was used in tandem with the story and with the story format. Each level or “episode” of the game ends with a different song, and each one seemed to fit so well with what was happening in the story. Each tune added an entirely new dimension to those moments.
Alan Wake changed the way I listened to games. It brought out a love for the music and how it could work with, not just a cutscene, but gameplay as well to give you an entirely different feel.
Recommendations
These are some of my favorite songs from Alan Wake. They are in no particular order and they all populate my iTunes account.
· Children of the Elder God
· The Poet and The Muse
· A Writer’s Dream
· Welcome to Bright Falls
· Coconut
Honorable Mention: Mass Effect 3
This isn’t a very original choice but you can’t deny that Mass Effect has some great music in it. The whole game has a very epic feel and the music portrays that perfectly. ‘Leaving Earth’ strikes quite a chord with me every time I hear it. I’m not sure the Mass Effect franchise would be what it is without the stellar music in it.
