The game Alan Wake is considered one of the most anticipated games in the horror category, and one of the reasons for its influence is the beginning of the opening scene with an unforgettable phrase written by the famous writer "Stephen King", where it is discovered that the license to obtain the quote cost only one dollar!!

According to Eurogamer, creative director Sam Lake said he really wanted to start the thriller with a Stephen King quote, and King was reportedly thrilled with the idea, hence the low price. Alan Wake's title features numerous references to King throughout, along with references to works like H.P. Lovecraft and TV shows like Twin Peaks and The Twilight Zone. Stephen King wrote in the opening sentence:

Nightmares exist beyond reason, and there's not much fun in explanations; in horror stories, the victim keeps asking, "Why?" "But there can be no explanation, and there shouldn't be an explanation. The unanswered riddle is what stays with us longest, and that's what we'll remember in the end. My name is Alan Wake, and I'm a writer."

This quote wasn't entirely authored by King, but it was in an article he wrote somehow, and it was proof of something where he talked about the 2008 film The Strangers and said that smaller works of horror are often better because they don't require big explanations that leave the viewer very confused.