Alan Wake is a psychological action thriller set in Bright Falls, an idyllic small town in the Pacific Northwest. It is the story of Alan Wake, a bestselling crime/horror novelist suffering from writers block. At the suggestion of his wife and muse, Alice, he ventures to Bright Falls to recover his creative flow. Soon after they arrive, however, Alice goes missing under mysterious circumstances. Wake begins searching, and discovers pages of a manuscript he seems to have written, though he has no memory of it. It describes the strange events that are occurring around him, and he soon believes that a dark force is at work. A dark presence has woken up in the depths of Cauldron Lake. It is growing stronger and reaching out, taking over and controlling people and animals with malevolent and aggressive intent. Whatever it possesses turns dark, blurry, and harder to see clearly, as if it was hidden in a pool of deeper darkness, or cloaked in clinging shadows, or shrouded by dark smoke, or covered by a film of inky water. Only strong light seems to push this dark possessing presence away and allows Wake to fight the enemies hurting him.