Alan Wake

If your child is begging you to let them play video games with more mature themes, Alan Wake is a good game to introduce them to these themes. The title character is trying to save his kidnapped wife, and along the way must defend himself against people who are "possessed" by darkness. The only way to survive is by killing these people. Guns are the main method of killing, but the visual violence is very toned down compared to other games. There is minimal blood involved, as the "monsters" simply vanish into thin air. The character mainly interacts with people of good moral character, including police officers and many cheerful civilians. Some of the people you meet will become possessed, meaning you will have to kill them. Although some people are saying the game is not scary at all, it will probably be for your kids. If you or your kid are afraid of the dark, be prepared to be on constant edge. If you are in a house with lights on, you'll never know if the lights will stay on. Your character must find his way through the dark forests, avoiding the monsters and other obstacles. What makes it scary isn't jumpscares, but instead the suspense of waiting for a monster to appear, and then the chase scenes when you can't destroy all of them in time. Depending on which difficulty you play on, you may run out of ammo often, meaning you'll have to run fast and dodge any attacks while making your way to the next safe haven (usually a street light or similar). There is some mild language in this game, which I only caught after reading the subtitles. If you leave the subtitles off, your kids probably won't catch it, either.

This should absolutely be a T rated game. There's not a lot to offend. It could be said that it has rough language, but nothing worse than late night shows on basic cable. The Product Placement is distractingly bad. I genuine don't mind PP when it feels natural, but it never does in this game.

I played through Episode 1 to get a sense of the intensity of horror, etc. I was pleased with the opening plot and character development. I like the narration of the "book-like" episodic feel of the whole game. My daughter (12 y/o) is a fan of the horror/mystery genre. I think playing this game with a friend makes it even better! Although co-play is not supported, you can take turns and help each other through certain parts. Game play may need some practicing for those not used to shooters.

Alan Wake is a great game and is fine for kids.

Not violente at all

The game has kind of intence violence and it is also creepy the bad language might be inappropriate for some young kids. Some scenes shows people drinking and smoking

Personnally i love this game, it isnt very violent and it has a great storyline, it can get kind of cheesy at some parts but still a great game and not scary, some parts are very funny, so overall i'd have to say this game is alot of fun and wouldnt hurt any children emotionally.

I believe that this game could very well be a role model for future story driven games. I rate this game 13+ because i myself bought my son this and he is 13 also, it did not seem to negatively affect him so my guess is it is probably a matter of maturity.