Alan Wake
Games That Should Be Nominated for an Oscar
Psychological thriller Alan Wake takes you on a journey that no other game on this list does, and holy shit is it entertaining. Alan Wake plays out like a cheap B–movie, paying homage to the classic cheesy thrillers of the ’90s. You play as the titular lead as he searches for his missing wife while the events from a book he doesn’t remember writing come to life in front of him.
Alan Wake plays out like many a trippy Oscar films do (think Blue Velvet or Black Swan), with a heavy dose of style in the forefront and subtext in the back. What Alan Wake does is completely subvert your expectations of the story you thought you were getting, and by the end leaves you feeling like you’ve been on an insane journey you don’t quite understand. It may seem like a simple game at first glance, but its deep, consistently unwinding tale of mental illness and mystery drag you into the very depths of its core message. Unexpected journeys like this make films such as Tom Ford’s Nocturnal Animals stand out at the Oscars, and it’s why Alan Wake stands out too.
