There really have been some top-drawer Alans over the years, but none quite so unsettling and genuinely frightening as Alan Wake (well, apart from Alan Titchmarsh, but well skip over him for the sake of argument.) The incredibly nice chaps at Remedy, who will forever be lauded and worshipped for making our favourite actionadventure title Max Payne 2: The Fall Of Max Payne, have finally emerged from their Finnish hidey-hole to reveal further tantalising details on their beautiful new game. The music then rose to a crescendo and the screen flickered out. Looking worried, he climbed out of the car and ran to a fence that he couldn't get through - and as he turned he was faced by hooded dark figures, standing and waiting for him. We watched, for example, as Alan drove a decrepit car to a lighthouse - itself casting some amazing light effects all round it.

With sun streaming through trees on the mountainside, simply thousands of shadows were cast on the landscape - even mountains had been given vast shadows to throw on the land, depending on the position of the sun.īut away from all this leaf-blowing and choppy water, what about the gameplay? Well, not much of it is on show just yet - but we did get the chance to see Alan illuminating dark comers with his torch and moving portable lights around to chase away the darkness that his pursuing evil thrives upon. At the tap of a button, the team whizzed its tech demo from day to night and from storm to sun - all in a split-second, and looking like something in the old '60s Time Machine film, only far, far better.

Perhaps the most amazing thing is the way that the Remedy team has used weather effects and their day and night cycle to change the mood and feel of Wake's gloomy environs. We've seen the game in motion, with its Twin Peaks-style mountain town and vast play areas and we're mightily impressed.

Download the new for android Alan Wake