Survival Horror Genre: Wake By Alan Wake

Genre: Survival Horror Games in the survival horror genre where players have to use a combination of stealth, melee and ranged weapons, and running from danger to survive.They are inspired by horror fiction in other media such as films and books. Players are usually placed in surreal, unsettling and hostile environments and have little to no means of defending themselves, dying in a few hits and having to restart from set save points in the game. Another common part of these games is isolation, meaning that the player, more often that not, is alone apart from a small number of other characters that appear briefly and the use of journals and audio logs to tell the story. The genre emphasise the use of tactics and horror themed puzzle solving

They are hidden around the game world and often describe and provide warnings for upcoming events such as a difficult enemy encounter or vague instructions on how to complete a puzzle.

In my opinion, Alan Wake is one of the most unique games I have played, as it explores a variety of issues such as mental health with Wake frequently questioning whether what is happening is real or merely a delusion. A good example of this can be seen when Wake tries telling the authorities that his wife was taken from the cabin on Cauldron Lake but is told that the island no longer existed following a volcanic eruption several years ago.

I also think that the characters are relatable as they are not depicted as being perfect, rather as normal and flawed with their own problems. For example, Wake’s wife, whilst still caring for him, is exhausted from Wake’s self doubt of his abilities as a writer and uses the trip to Bright Falls as a way to help him start writing again and also in an attempt to get him to see a psychologist to explore the reasons behind his writer’s

Perhaps the most iconic of them is Pyramid Head, a character that has also appeared in other games in the series. He is a representation of James’ subconscious guilt after killing Mary and is meant to lead him to the realisation of his crime by repeatedly killing Maria, another manifest of James’ mind. She is identical to his wife but is portrayed in a more sexualised manner and is created as a way for James to see his wife again. Once he learns the truth, they disappear as he accepts what he did.

Silent Hill 2’s use of symbolism is used to give the player as much information about the characters as possible without becoming confusing to the player and to tell a story in a way that had not been done before in games. It created a sense of unease without resorting to gore and jump scares, instead relying on psychological and disturbing imagery that would leave a more memorable mark on the player after completing the