Alan Wake's American Nightmare on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information
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A thrilling new storyline, hordes of creepy enemies, serious firepower and beautiful Arizona locations, combined with a fun and challenging new game mode!
Alan Wake's American Nightmare is a action, adventure and horror game
developed and published by Remedy Entertainment.
Released on May 22nd 2012 is available only on Windows
in 10 languages: English, German, French, Italian, Spanish - Spain, Japanese, Czech, Hungarian, Polish and Russian.
It has received 8,960 reviews of which 6,527 were positive and 2,433 were negative resulting in a rating of 7.1 out of 10. 😊
The game is currently priced at 8.79€ on Steam, but you can find it for 1.27€ on K4G.
The Steam community has classified Alan Wake's American Nightmare into these genres:
Media & Screenshots
Get an in-depth look at Alan Wake's American Nightmare through various videos and screenshots.
System requirements
These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.
Windows
- OS *:Windows XP SP2
- Processor:Dual Core 2GHz Intel or 2.8GHz AMD
- Memory:2 GB RAM
- Graphics:DirectX 10 compatible with 512MB RAM
- DirectX®:10
- Hard Drive:8 GB HD space
- Sound:DirectX 9.0c compatible
User reviews & Ratings
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
Alan Wake's American Nightmare improves on gameplay with faster, more fun, and better combat but the story isn't as strong. It lacks the deep, mysterious atmosphere and emotional weight of the original Alan Wake. 🎚️ Difficulty 🔲 My grandma could play it 🔲 Easy ☑️ Normal ☑️ Hard 🔲 A challenge to be reckoned 🔲 In the heat of confrontation, (Only PVP games) 🗺️ Graphics 🔲 MS Paint 🔲 Bad 🔲 Meh 🔲 Normal ☑️ Very Good (A level up from Alan Wake.) 🔲 An original artistic direction 🔲 Beautiful 🔲 Masterpiece 📚 Story 🔲 This game has no story 🔲 Basic element of the contractual requirements ☑️ It's there for people who want it 🔲 Well written 🔲 Leading to more in-depth researches/thoughts 🔲 A model to get inspired by ⌛️ Length 🔲 0 (No story) ☑️ Short 🔲 Average 🔲 Long 🔲 To infinity and beyond 🎶 Music 🔲 Just filling noises/No music 🔲 Trivial and uneventful ☑️ Good and/or fitting the game's artistic dispositions 🔲 Memorable 🔲 Transcending whispers of a forgotten world 🕹️ Interest 🔲 I would rather watch paint dry 🔲 Hard to enjoy ☑️ Repetitive and/or uninspired ☑️ A good moment 🔲 Sticking out of the pack 🔲 You will remember it long after 🔁 Replayability 🔲 A one-time experience ☑️ For achievements 🔲 If you wait a few months/years (or with mods) ☑️ Definitely (The game includes an arcade mode.) 🔲 Infinitely replayable (or almost) 🐛 Bugs ☑️ Never heard of 🔲 Minor bugs 🔲 Can get annoying 🔲 Impacts the player's experience badly 🔲 The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs ⚙️ Requirements 🔲 You can run it on a microwave ☑️ Low 🔲 Average 🔲 High (Not well-optimized) 🔲 NASA computer 💰 Price 🔲 Free 🔲 Underpriced ☑️ Perfect Price ☑️ Could be cheaper 🔲 Overpriced 🔲 Complete waste of money 🤑 Worth Buying 🔲 No 🔲 If you have nothing else to play ☑️ Wait for sale 🔲 Yes 🎯 Expectations 🔲 It's a completely different game 🔲 This game is a scam 🔲 It's missing many features they announced ☑️ Looks very similar to the steam page 🔲 Better than expected and/or announced 🔲 Masterpiece, no patch or feature has to be added. ✒️ Final Rating 🔲 1 🔲 2 🔲 3 🔲 4 🔲 5 ☑️ 6 🔲 7 🔲 8 🔲 9 🔲 10 Thank you for taking the time to read and think about this review.
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After many years, I finally finished it. Remedy Entertainment is one of my favorite developers, and yet I couldn't finish this game when it came out. It felt off, but now, after finishing Alan Wake 2, Control and other of their games, I came back to finally finish this one, and what can I say, it was pretty fun. I can't recommend this game as a stand-alone experience, but for someone who enjoyed other games from this developer - I sure do recommend it. In my opinion, it aged pretty well, even the silly mechanics, like "collect X amount of pages to open a new weapon." I enjoyed the story, the music and the gameplay over all.
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The game is super short, but in my opinion some of the most significant character development for Wake happens in this little story. It's like an epilogue to AW1 and I do feel it overall enhances the lore and stories of subsequent games, but then I might just be a dork who is into this game world.
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[H1]Introduction:[/H1] After playing Alan Wake, I was already itching for a sequel, the cliffhanger ending just left me wanting more in the worst way. I needed to see what would happen next, where the story might go from there, but my expectations were high, and in the words of Alan Wake himself in the first game; "A story is not a machine that does what you tell it. A story is a beast with a mind of its own. You can create it, shape it, but as the story grows, it starts wanting things of its own. Change one thing and you set off a chain reaction of events that spreads through the whole thing. The characters need to be true to themselves. The events need to follow a logic that fits the story. A single flaw and the magic is gone. The story dies." I think that statement also rings true of a story's audience, if you mess up a story by adding in a bunch things that don't fit, making all sorts of unnecessary alterations to the formula, then fundamentally changing the narrative by making it all come from another direction, effectively reducing the continuation of the story from where it left off to that of a secondary plot of lesser importance, then that's more than enough to kill the story. But enough about Alan Wake 2, let's talk about a lesser appreciated yet infinitely better executed follow up to the story of Alan Wake, as presented in Alan Wake's American Nightmare. [H1]Visual Presentation:[/H1] It should come as no surprise that American Nightmare looks mostly the same as the original Alan Wake, although the characters models aren't quite as detailed and the the lighting is noticeably brighter throughout the game. It's by no means an amazing looking game, but the visuals hold up reasonably well and everything is recognizable, so the visuals are best described as adequate. [H1]Audio Presentation:[/H1] The audio quality in Alan Wake games has always been the series strong suit and American Nightmare is no exception. The sound effects, music, and voice acting are mostly excellent, although gunshots sound rather generic and unimpressive, which is typical for most videogames. [H1]Gameplay Mechanics and Features:[/H1] American Nightmare builds upon the same gameplay as its predecessor, utilizing the familiar Fight With Light combat mechanic in which the player must focus the beam of the Flashlight upon standard enemies (Taken) in order to strip away the shadows that protect them before they're vulnerable to gunfire. However, as a welcome twist, there are new enemy types which require alternative tactics to defeat. For example, the first new enemy you'll encounter is a Splitter, an enemy which will split in two every time light is focused on them up to three times, so if you're not careful and attempt to fight them using the standard method, you'll actually end up facing more enemies, potentially overwhelming yoursehim There are also Taken Spiders which attack in groups and can be defeated using either the flashlight or firearms on their own. And the Birdman who can transform into a flock of Ravens to evade incoming attacks and flank the player. Part of the plot involves Alan Wake being trapped in a time loop (sound familiar?) by his doppelganger Mr. Scratch, ergo you replay the same three stages three times over to reach the ending, but each time the story changes a little and the characters you meet will help you by completing some of the tasks for you each time which prevents it from being too repetitive or tedious. American Nightmare also features a Survival Mode in which the player must fight relentless waves of enemies until dawn, complete with Online Leaderboards so you can compete against your friends. The mode is rather basic, but nevertheless fun to play if you're into that sort of mini-game. [H1]Story:[/H1] Alan Wake's American Nightmare tells the story of Alan Wake's desperate attempt to successfully free himself from The Dark Place beneath the unearthly waves of Cauldron Lake by means of altering an old script he worked on for the television show Night Springs, in which he must face his doppelganger, the devious Mr. Scratch, who was originally invented by Thomas Zane to act as a sort of substitute which would take Alan's place back in the world outside The Dark Place. Unfortunately, a number of sensationalist articles in tabloid magazines filled with wild speculation in regards to his disappearance as well as exaggerated articles regarding the wild parties and scandalous fights he got into with paparazzi have evoked the powers of Cauldron Lake, turning Mr. Scratch into a psychotic serial killer with terrifying supernatural powers at his disposal. Mr. Scratch has been using these powers to torment Alan by trapping him in a time loop, forcing him to repeat the same sequence of events while attacking him and all those around him. Alan's only hope of escape lies in recovering the Manuscript Pages necessary to alter the twisted story by revealing a hidden message in the stars. Mr. Scratch is honestly the best part about this game, the sort of villain you love to hate. You can really tell that both Ilka Villi and Matthew Poretta had fun portraying Mr. Scratch and their enthusiasm is a big part of what makes the character so entertaining. Mr. Scratch is easily the most well-executed villain in the series so far, he's a complete psychopath who delights in charming people by playing the part of Alan Wake, yet acting far more friendly, enthusiastic, and patient than the real deal, then suddenly taking them by surprise by committing wanton acts of violence against them. Throughout the game Mr. Scratch reveals that he plans to not only replace Alan Wake and take over his life, but to emotionally manipulate/murder his wife Alice, then fire his best friend/agent Barry Wheeler, just to hurt him. Ultimately, he plans to use his dark powers to release The Dark Presence from deep within Cauldron Lake upon the world, hence his moniker, The Herald of Darkness. Unfortunately, the Mr. Scratch featured in this game has nothing in common with the so-called "Scratch" in Alan Wake 2, so everything that makes him likeable, entertaining, yet terrible and terrifying is completely absent in the sequel. [H1]Performance:[/H1] Much like the original Alan Wake on PC, American Nightmare still runs flawlessly on modern hardware despite being released over a decade ago, so at the time of this review all you have to do to enjoy the game is push the play button. [H1]Final Verdict:[/H1] Alan Wake's American Nightmare is an underappreciated gem which unfortunately never received a Remastered Version like the original Alan Wake did, despite being an incredible and worthy follow up to the game, which is less than I can say for the mismatched assortment of half-baked ideas wherein Alan Wake isn't even the main character titled Alan Wake 2. I highly recommend Alan Wake's American Nightmare to fans of the series, as many of the elements featured in Alan Wake 2 which actually work not only originated in American Nightmare, but are better executed!
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if anyone tells you that you should skip ALAN WOKE'S AMERICAN NIGHTMARE, they're wrong. this game rocks. it's a pretty short and sweet experience, the combat has been touched up, and it looks pretty. it's a little dumb but i think it's allowed to be a little dumb. they earned it. plus if you don't play it you will miss out on some really nice live-action performances, remedy has cooked yet again.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Alan Wake's American Nightmare is currently priced at 8.79€ on Steam.
Alan Wake's American Nightmare is currently not on sale. You can purchase it for 8.79€ on Steam.
Alan Wake's American Nightmare received 6,527 positive votes out of a total of 8,960 achieving a rating of 7.14.
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Alan Wake's American Nightmare was developed and published by Remedy Entertainment.
Alan Wake's American Nightmare is playable and fully supported on Windows.
Alan Wake's American Nightmare is not playable on MacOS.
Alan Wake's American Nightmare is not playable on Linux.
Alan Wake's American Nightmare is a single-player game.
Alan Wake's American Nightmare does not currently offer any DLC.
Alan Wake's American Nightmare does not support mods via Steam Workshop.
Alan Wake's American Nightmare supports Remote Play on TV. Discover more about Steam Remote Play.
Alan Wake's American Nightmare is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.
You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for Alan Wake's American Nightmare.
Data sources
The information presented on this page is sourced from reliable APIs to ensure accuracy and relevance. We utilize the Steam API to gather data on game details, including titles, descriptions, prices, and user reviews. This allows us to provide you with the most up-to-date information directly from the Steam platform.
Additionally, we incorporate data from the SteamSpy API, which offers insights into game sales and player statistics. This helps us present a comprehensive view of each game's popularity and performance within the gaming community.
Last Updates| Steam data | 11 July 2025 03:08 |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 05 July 2025 13:05 |
| Steam price | 12 July 2025 04:45 |
| Steam reviews | 11 July 2025 03:52 |
If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about Alan Wake's American Nightmare, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.
- SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about Alan Wake's American Nightmare
- SteamCharts - Analysis of Alan Wake's American Nightmare concurrent players on Steam
- ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck Alan Wake's American Nightmare compatibility
Game modes
Features
Online players
15
Developer
Remedy Entertainment
Publisher
Remedy Entertainment
Release
22 May 2012
Platforms
Remote Play
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