It would be hard for me to talk about American Nightmare without touching on the original Alan Wake, because it very much feels like DLC that got spun into its own game. Alan Wake's strengths were its story, pacing, and graphics. The combat was a bit of a toss-up between decent and monotonous, depending on who you asked. American Nightmare is a shorter, weirder story told across three mostly open areas that you visit multiple times. The visuals are still sharp, but lose a lot of the atmosphere that Alan Wake had... the open desert just doesn't have the same creep factor as the dark woods, at least not as it's shown here. Dialogue is pretty snappy and clever, but it's propping up a story that really adds nothing to the themes introduced in Alan Wake.

So the main draw is the combat, and to its credit, it's a little more interesting than in Alan Wake. Enemy encounters are varied in makeup, and there are some new foes like ones that split if you shine light on them and creepy jumping spider things. All the original weapons are here, along with new additions like a nailgun, uzi, and carbine. You can unlock weapon cases with additional weapons by finding manuscript pages scattered around which encourages exploration, but honestly as large as the areas are, there's not much to find. Enemies only appear as you follow the main plot, and the game showers you with ammo and flare, more than enough to handle any situation. I tried playing on the harder of the two difficulties and the battles were still a breeze with all the resources I had, but I could be killed in just two hits which led to some frustration with unlucky hits at the ends of long fights.

There's an arcade mode similar to the mercenaries modes in Resident Evil that's pretty fun, assuming you like the combat. And that's really what American Nightmare boils down to, did you like the combat in Alan Wake? If so, this is for you, but don't come looking for the atmosphere or story of the original.

It would be hard for me to talk about American Nightmare without touching on the original Alan Wake, because it very much feels like DLC that got spun into its own game. Alan Wake's strengths were its story, pacing, and graphics. The combat was a bit of a toss-up between decent and monotonous, depending on who you asked. American Nightmare is a shorter, weirder story told across three mostly open areas that you visit multiple times. The visuals are still sharp, but lose a lot of the atmosphere that Alan Wake had... the open desert just doesn't have the same creep factor as the dark woods, at least not as it's shown here. Dialogue is pretty snappy and clever, but it's propping up a story that really adds nothing to the themes introduced in Alan Wake. So the main draw is the combat, and to its credit, it's a little more interesting than in Alan Wake. Enemy encounters are varied in makeup, and there are some new foes like ones that split if you shine light on them and creepy jumping spider things. All the original weapons are here, along with new additions like a nailgun, uzi, and carbine. You can unlock weapon cases with additional weapons by finding manuscript pages scattered around which encourages exploration, but honestly as large as the areas are, there's not much to find. Enemies only appear as you follow the main plot, and the game showers you with ammo and flare, more than enough to handle any situation. I tried playing on the harder of the two difficulties and the battles were still a breeze with all the resources I had, but I could be killed in just two hits which led to some frustration with unlucky hits at the ends of long fights. There's an arcade mode similar to the mercenaries modes in Resident Evil that's pretty fun, assuming you like the combat. And that's really what American Nightmare boils down to, did you like the combat in Alan Wake? If so, this is for you, but don't come looking for the atmosphere or story of the original.