The Music of Alan Wake [Soundtrack]

I enjoyed Alan Wake, very much. In many ways, it’s a perfect example of how video games can be taken seriously as a story telling medium. A huge part of what communicated this so effectively is the soundtrack used throughout the game — the subtle and haunting undertones of the particular music selection set the mood for the game brillantly.

Though they released the game’s official score for purchase, as of the time of writing, there is no officially released, complete collection of the songs featured throughout the game — though there is a limited version (it doesn’t contain all the songs featured in the game) of the soundtrack included when you purchased the deluxe version of the game. For the sake of famdom, I’ve compiled the list of song’s used throughout the game here:

1. In Dreams by Roy Orbison. [Chapter 1 Ending Song]
2. Haunted by Poe [Chapter 2 Ending Song]
3. Up Jumped the Devil by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds [Chapter 3 Ending Song]
4. The Poet and the Muse by The Old Gods of Asgard [Chapter 4 Ending Song]
5. War by Poets of the Fall [Chapter 5 Ending Song]
6. Space Oddity by David Bowie [Chapter 6 Ending Song]
7. No, I Don’t Remember by Anna Ternheim [Special 1 Ending Song]
8. The Darkest Star by Depeche Mode [Special 2 Ending Song]
9. Coconut by Harry Nilsson.
10. Air Kissing by Violent Indiana.
11. Shady Grove by Among the Oak & Ash.
12. The Beaten Side of Town by Barry Adamson.
13. How Can I Be Sure by Anomie Belle.
14. Electrica Cadente by Dead Combo.
15. Black Night by Charles Brown.
16. Back Bone by The Rumble Strips.
17. Young Men Dead by Black Angels.
18. Children of the Elder God by The Old Gods of Asgard

To make things even simpler, I’ve compiled all the available songs into a playlist that can easily be purchased through Amazon.com:

With the exception of the songs Children of the Elder God and The Poet and the Muse all of the tracks are available for individual purchase; however you can listen to these two songs over at the (mock) Old God’s of Asgard website.

For a bit of fun trivia:

The band The Old Gods of Asgard are actually The Poets of the Fall; a band whom Remedy has worked with before. Their song Late Goodbye was featured in another fantastic game, Max Payne II: The Fall of Max Payne.

Poets of the Fall released a music video for the song War staring Ilkka Villi — the same actor used to portray Alan in the video game’s video segments:

Also, you might be interested in reading my 1000 Character review of Alan Wake.