A series of illusions are making Alen sick. His spouse, Alice, has disappeared somewhere beneath the lake of Bright Falls. Inhabitants armed with hammers are giving him nightmares. Some dark presence has taken over the whole small town of Bright Falls. Alen may write some other award-winning novel, once he escapes the dark forces. At present, he is part of his own creepy story. He can’t escape unless he finds his spouse. But for this, he has to recall what he wrote once by collecting the manuscripts. The only thing that could clear his way is light.

Does it sound like a movie trailer? If yes, then we’ve reached halfway. The scene is from Bright Falls, a new suspense game released by Microsoft for its Xbox 360 in India on Thursday. The game, a psychological thriller, is developed by Remedy Entertainment, which developed the Max Payne series. The much-awaited game has tested the patience of gamers who were waiting for its since it was officially announced at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, in 2005.

The movie-style game revolves around the protagonist Alen Wake, a famous novelist, who had been unable to pen any novel in the past two years. He and his spouse Alice decides to visit a small town, Bright Falls, so that Alen can devote himself to writing. The moment they arrive in Bright Falls, things turn scary. And some friendly natives in Bright Falls advise the famous novelist not to roam in the dark.

The house where they came to stay didn’t welcome them. After an argument with Alice, Alen moves out of the house. Suddenly, he hears Alice screaming. He rushes back to the house to find his wife falling into a lake. He dives in after her.

In the next scene, Alen wakes up. He is bleeding and he realises that it’s been a week since his wife has gone missing. Now, the story revolves around gathering missing links, searching for Alice, and finding why Taken (the people influenced by dark powers) are after him.

The developers of Bright Falls, to distinguish it from similar horror games, have adopted a cinematic display. The game is not overdosed with lethal weapons. Instead, much more time is devoted to develop a mysterious storyline, which is displayed in a TV serial format.

A gamer has to complete six episodes to end the game. After each episode, there will be a recap, which will help gamers to examine the maze.

The most amusing thing in the game is that the player cannot kill the enemy with only a revolver. No, not even a Bazooka will work in this case. What will work is a flashlight to combat shadows.

The game simply demands flashing light on the enemy to break a shield or darkness surrounding it to weaken it before finishing it off with a gun.

FC’s gaming team played the game and we found the storyline attractive, the cinematic theme innovative and episodes convincing. Some hardcore gamers, however, may find it a bit unpleasant that everything is directed by the Taken and players just need to follow the direction, giving little room for them to find clues.

Nonetheless, gamers who don’t wish to move joysticks like hell may call this an additional feature. The game is available online with a price tag of Rs 2,999.