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Remedy talks about the XBLA game, and announces the first game for PC.

Alan Wake was one of those interesting games that had the misfortune of getting released on the same day as a juggernaut (in this case, Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption). Even with a protracted development cycle, the cancellation of the PC version, and poor sales, the game garnered enough praise from critics and gamers to warrant a new game for XBLA. Revealed at the Spike TV VGAs, Alan Wake’s American Nightmare looks to be more of the cerebral horror game that the first one was. Or is it?

"It's more faster-paced, and more action-orientated," says Remedy Vice President Aki Jarvilehto to Eurogamer. "One of the things about Alan Wake is that people loved the story, the setting and the theme but people wanted more in-your-face action. People wanted more variation, different types of enemies and different types of weapons.”

To address this perceived demand, American Nightmare will feature a combat-oriented mode in addition to the core narrative. This new mode is called Fight ‘til Dawn. Details on this mode are scarce, but the prevailing talk is that it will be a Horde-like survival mode. Players of the first game may remember the infamous Old Gods of Asgard level, which tasked Wake with defending a rock stage from hordes of people taken by the darkness. The emphasis on that level was squarely on the action elements of Alan Wake. "I think people expect that from an XBLA game,” says Aki.

In addition to talk of the action focus for American Nightmare, Remedy has also announced that Alan Wake will be coming to PC at last. No release date was given, but the company wants to release it in a time frame around the release of American Nightmare. That puts it at a vague “early 2012." The PC version of Alan Wake will include the two DLC episodes, “The Signal” and “The Writer.”