Alan Wake: Visit Bright Falls on Xbox Live

By Mr. Dark
April 27th, 2010

The long-awaited Alan Wake finally drops on May 18th for the Xbox 360, but if you want to visit the cursed horror writer's world a little early, there's a great new feature on Xbox Live that you can watch right now for free as long as you have a Gold account.

Bright Falls is a six-episode live-action prequel to Alan Wake. The first two episodes are up now on the service with a new episode due to be released weekly. Running only a few minutes each, they tell the story of a reporter who comes to Bright Falls, Washington, to interview a psychiatrist, Dr. Hartman, for a book he's written. Things do not go as planned, to say the least.

I've viewed those first two eps, and it's safe to say that the folks behind Alan Wake are big "Twin Peaks" fans. Thankfully, unlike the abomination that is Deadly Premonition, they hit all the high points of that wonderful show without being a straight-up copycat.

Episode One covers our reporter coming into town and meeting some very, very strange people at the local diner and discovering the town's apparent fascination with deer. Episode Two is when things pick up and go pretty completely sideways with horrific visions, mental blackouts, and a pretty thick feeling of unease for the viewer.

The shorts are surprisingly well done and very entertaining. They definitely increased my anticipation of the game and further episodes of the series. What's next for Bright Falls? I'm guessing it isn't good, and I can't wait to watch.

- Mr. Dark