His name is Alan Wake. And he’s a writer. And luckily for us, he’s also terrible at keeping himself out of dangerous and bizarre situations. In the Story mode of the upcoming XBLA follow-up Alan Wake’s American Nightmare, protagonist Wake finds himself trapped inside an episode of Night Springs, an eerie TV show he once wrote for. Set in the town of the same name in the Arizona desert, American Nightmare was described by Remedy folks as a pulp-action adventure — more in the vein of Quentin Tarantino than Stephen King. And where the first Alan Wake game favored heavy narrative elements over action, the five-hour Story mode for Nightmare will do just the opposite.

We got a chance to go hands-on with Nightmare and, for fans of the first game’s dramatic side, we’re happy to report it wasn’t all just a slaughter-fest. Since Wake wrote for the TV series he’s become an unwelcome participant in, he’ll be collecting manuscript pieces along his journey that will help him alter his current horrific reality. Our hero will still be battling the cloudy, consuming forces of darkness, which appear in various forms — and most consistently in gauzy textures like the Smoke Monster from Lost. Now though, a villain named Mr. Scratch — a serial killer that bears Wake’s resemblance but takes fashion and lifestyle cues from Christian Bale in American Psycho (and whom we met at the end of the first game) — taunts Wake along the way. The most common type of evil you’ll be encountering, though, are the possessed citizen-zombies known as the Taken, who now count public servants such as firemen among their rank and file.

Not only have the Taken increased in variety, but they’re also more difficult to exterminate. In the first Alan Wake game, light — be it from a streetlamp, flair, or flashlight — was effective at melting the darkness off the Taken to stun and weaken them. That’s still mostly true in American Nightmare, but occasionally you’ll run into an incredibly strong foe who’ll split into two Taken when any hint of light touches it. That makes things tough when you’re constantly running around at night shining a flashlight on anything that moves.

Luckily, Remedy has given Wake a number of fresh weapons to battle these new creeps, including AK-47s and a nailgun. The latter was our new favorite Taken-killing tool, though its control scheme felt similar to the first game’s as we fired off nails in rapid succession (and dealt with the palpable kickback).

Remedy expressed real excitement at the prospect of releasing its first XBLA game, and that can also been seen in the new Arcade mode. In this frantic time challenge, you’ll be placed in creepy environments — like a cemetery — as Taken surround you in increasing numbers and varieties as you try to survive until dawn.

American Nightmare is certainly a deviation from Wake’s first adventure, but as evidenced from our sweaty palms at the conclusion of our demo, this new snack-size slice of Alan Wake played more like a dream.

PUBLISHER: Remedy Entertainment • DEVELOPER: Remedy Entertainment • MULTIPLAYER: No • RELEASE DATE: Q1 2012 • FOR FANS OF: Flashlights, writers