If you've played Alan Wake Remastered on the Switch (or any other platform, for that matter) then you'll have no doubt noticed that the opening line is quite unique in that it directly quotes the exceptionally popular author, Stephen King.
This was a deliberate decision from the game's writer Sam Lake, who told Eurogamer that he "really, really, desperately wanted" to be able to open the game with a King quote specifically, presumably because the story itself pulls a great deal of inspiration from King's extensive work.
Thankfully, the perfect quote was found in an article written by King in Entertainment Weekly called 'Why Hollywood Can't Do Horror'. According to Lake, the rights to use the quote were purchased for just $1. Here's exactly what he had to say:
"Creating the original Alan Wake, I really, really desperately wanted a quote from him to start it off. It's my understanding he wanted $1 for us to get the rights to use it. [It was] so very generous."
The quote used in Alan Wake reads:
"Nightmares exist outside of logic, and there's little fun to be had in explanations; they're antithetical to the poetry of fear."
It sums up the experience of Alan Wake pretty well, right? We can certainly see why Lake wanted to use it. Indeed, much of the story is wrapped in a veil of mystery as you work to uncover what happened to Alan Wake's wife, Alice, and fight off hordes of enemies known as 'Taken'.
Sadly, the game's port on Switch isn't the best way to experience Alan Wake. Thanks to the poor visual quality that severely dampens the experience, we awarded it a score of 6/10 in our review.