More than a decade after the popular action-adventure horror game Alan Wake was introduced in 2010, the game received a glossy overhaul in the form of Alan Wake Remastered, released in October of 2021. Essentially the same story with enhanced graphics and more fluid gameplay, the game follows novelist Alan Wake as he tries to find his missing wife Alice in the ominous town of Bright Falls, Washington.
While many of the side characters tend to be flat, two-dimensional people who bear little consequence to the plot, some stand out with their memorable personalities while others are extremely vital in helping Alan solve his wife's mysterious disappearance.
Carl Stucky
One of the first characters Alan encounters in Bright Falls is Carl Stucky, the eminently-quotable groundskeeper and gas station owner. Stucky gives Alan the keys and map to the cabins, only to be possessed and turn into a menacing ghoul out to take Alan's life. The rapid shift from friendly orderly to rabid enemy provides one of the game's first big thrills.
Beyond Carl's harrowing transition from a good guy to a bad guy, his hilarious dialogue about the best hot dogs in town, Nordic walking, his aversion to eating salad, and the like provide constant amusement along the way.
Emil Hartman
In many ways, Dr. Emil Hartman is the true villain of Alan Wake Remastered. Hartman is the one who secretly knows about Cauldron Lake's mysterious power, which he tries to exploit for his own gain by luring troubled writers and poets to the lake to tap into their creativity.
Hartman manages to capture Alan in his clinic and tries to use his writings to free the Dark Presence and overtake the world, revealing the devious doctor to be the big bad villain behind the shroud of secrecy all along. Hartman's character arc is doubly disturbing when considering Alice brought Alan to Bright Falls so that Hartman could cure his writer's block. In the end, he cursed it.
Thomas Zane
Few characters are more instrumental to the story of Alan Wake Remastered than Thomas Zane. The former poet trapped beneath Cauldron Lake was able to use his writing to subdue the Dark Presence, but now that the supernatural entity is trying the same thing on Alan, it's up to Zane to act as a guiding force of goodness to assist Alan's mission.
Zane first appears wearing a diving suit in one of Alan's nightmares, but slowly evolves from a threatening presence to a helpful agent out to ensure Alan doesn't fall into the same sinister trap he did years prior. More profound yet, some have posited that Alan is a reincarnated version of Thomas all along. The fact that Thomas' face is never shown supports the theory as well as gives the character an unforgettable presence.
Anderson Brothers
Odin and Tor Anderson are easily among the most memorably amusing characters in Alan Wake Remastered. The faded septuagenarian rock stars with dementia still cling to their past glory despite being held in Hartman's psychiatric clinic in Lake Cauldron Lodge. Listening to the two men drone on and one about everything and nothing at once provides some of the game's most absurdly comedic moments.
However, the hilarious Anderson Brothers prove to be more than just amusement when their song "The Poet and the Muse" becomes instrumental in Alan finding Alice. Moreover, without the brothers' instructions to visit their farm, Alan never would have been able to escape Cauldron Lake alive.
Pat Maine
The best minor character in the game has to be Pat Maine, the ensorcelling nocturnal Bright Falls radio host who provides chilling background vignettes and spooky ghost stories that set the game's macabre tone. Along Alan's quest, Pat's creepy commentary can be heard as he gives a contextual backstory to Bright Falls that informs players of the place's painful past, making it one of the scariest horror game remasters in recent memory.
In addition to providing moody atmospherics, Pat's compassion for Alan goes a long way in making the character likable, as he butts heads with FBI Agent Nightingale for needlessly persecuting Wake following Alice's disappearance.
Barry Wheeler
Almost every Alan Wake Remastered fan will say that Barry Wheeler begins as the most obnoxious character in the game, only to become the most lovable character by the time the story concludes. Barry is Alan's literary agent and close friend who suggests the writer take a vacation in Bright Falls. Prone to all sorts of allergic reactions, Barry's hilarious spiels and long-winded diatribes provide the utmost humor in the game.
Players will want to choke Barry when he's first introduced, but the hysterical asides and amusing rants the character goes on throughout the game tend to grow on them and make him extremely endearing along the way. It's a true testament to the writing and voice acting of Vinnie Gognitti to have the over-the-top Alan Wake character make such a 180-degree character turn from annoyance toward sheer lovability.
Alice Wake
Alice Wake is the emotional nexus and motivational impetus behind the entire plotline of the game. The nyctophobic photographer has a petrifying fear of the dark, making her harrowing abduction below Cauldron Lake, one of the spookiest horror game settings, a truly terrifying prospect.
Prior to disappearing, Alice's caring and considerate attempt to rekindle Alan's writing process by surprising him with a new typewriter and therapy appointment makes her character more sympathetic and her abduction even more upsetting. As the personification of Alan's main mission and a constant source for him to press on in the face of grave danger, Alice's importance to the plot cannot be overstated.
Alan Wake
With the game bearing his namesake, Alan Wake is clearly the best character. The story follows the titular hero's dogged efforts to uncover the vast conspiracy behind his wife's disappearance, putting players squarely in his sympathetic shoes as he uses his wits and wiles to outsmart and outlive his evil enemies.
Hampered by writer's block, best-selling thriller novelist Alan Wake just needs a little quiet R&R to recharge his creative juices. Alas, his idyllic vacation in rural Washington turns into a cryptic case of life imitating art when his wife Alice is suddenly abducted by the Dark Presence, a supernatural presence not unlike the type he makes a living writing about. As Wake's personal redemption story through and through, the game connotes the underlying question of whether or not Alan will find enlightenment (wake) or face a funeral (wake).