Alan Wake 2 | Review

Initial Release Date: October 27, 2023

Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows

Engine: Northlight Engine

Developer: Remedy Entertainment

Genres: Survival Horror, Adventure, Third-person Shooter, Puzzle

Mode: Single-player

Composer: Petri Alanko

SPOILERS Throughout!!

INTRODUCTION

Before I get into it check out my Alan Wake 2 Gameplay Video Playlist if you want to watch this stunning game’s gameplay. It’s been thirteen years since Alan Wake been trapped in Lake Cauldron’s Dark Presence as well us gamers getting to play Alan Wake 2.

I played the original Alan Wake on my Xbox 360 and really loved the weird Twin Peaks, Stephen King style vibes and narrative Remedy Entertainment came up with. Alan Wake was on the shorter side of length with gameplay basically being a flashlight gun fest.

Regardless, I really enjoyed Alan Wake. I’ll cut to the chase here. The thirteen years wait for Alan Wake 2 was more than worth it. It’s a modern age masterful recreation of survival horror action adventure with unique gameplay elements.

Oh yea, and there’s a musical in Alan Wake 2 that rocked my socks off! I loved Alan Wake 2. It’s perfect in my opinion but not a perfect video game in the slightest on Xbox Series X. No game technically is these days. With that said, keep reading why I gave this game a perfect a score and crowned it as my favorite mind bending horror video game.

PRESENTATION

Alan Wake 2 blends two separate campaigns featuring two distinct heroes in Saga Anderson and Alan Wake who use completely different gameplay mechanics yet feature an intertwined tight narrative that kept me on my toes till the end of my twenty hour playthrough.

I would say Alan Wake 2 at it’s essence is a third person survival horror-light with heavy story elements featuring blended real-time and live action cutscenes. For reference I played Alan Wake 2 on my Xbox Series X.

Past Remedy games I played are Alan Wake, Quantum Break, Max Payne 1 and 2 and Control. Alan Wake 2 is the most ambitious Remedy Entertainment game I ever played from a presentation standpoint. You have two protagonists with completely different gameplay elements and live action cutscenes.

Alan Wake 2 is the longest Remedy game I played loaded with valuable content and secrets throughout. From the great music and stunning visuals which are the best I seen on Xbox Series X.

I am sure you’re curious as to how scary and atmospheric Alan Wake 2 is. The latter depends on what type of person you are. Are you the type who gets scared playing games like Outlast and or PT Demo?

Personally speaking, it’s difficult for me to get scared when playing video games. I can tell you Alan Wake 2 compared to it’s predecessor is more scary and much more atmospheric due to visual, sound, jump scares and enemy designs.

Alan Wake 2 nails it’s environmental design. You will explore downtown Bright Falls, a decayed neon lit noir styled New York City, a cinema, subway, forests, creepy nursing homes, TV studio and a haunted hotel. Scene variety was very impressive coupled with insane visuals.

Alan Wake 2 is not only grander than Remedy’s past video games but better. Alan Wake 2 is my favorite video game even beating out the classic Max Payne. Alan Wake 2 is a perfect game for me and for the horror genre but that doesn’t mean it’s technically perfect.

Before it’s three mini updates over it’s first week of release I experienced terrible shadows and lighting effect glitches while inside buildings. Other bugs consisted of sound mixing. The worse sound bug was during the musical sequence featuring the Old Gods of Asgard as the music was muted.

On launch day I played Alan Wake 2 in performance mode and experienced quite a bit of framerate dips and stutters which smoothed out over the week as more updates went live. As of 11/4/2023 Quality and Performance Modes both ran and looked amazing.

Alan Wake 2 even managed to eclipse Control’s epic Ashtray Maze gameplay sequence with it’s Herald of Darkness musical. Remedy’s presentation was on another level here. Alan Wake 2 is their magnum opus in regards to presentation.

STORY

Alan Wake 2 picks up thirteen years after writer Alan Wake falls into Cauldron Lake an in attempt to rescue his wife Alice Wake. Cauldron Lake is the portal for The Dark Place, a realm of nightmarish evil.

Cauldron Lake is what Alan Wake must escape from. Saga Anderson an ace FBI agent along with fictional written-in detective Alex Casey go to Bright Falls to solve the murder of ex FBI agent Robert Nightingale.

The latter leads Saga into figuring out who the Cult of Tree is in turn leading her and Casey into discovering overlapping loops connected to Alan Wake in Cauldron Lake. Saga communicates with Wake learning about the Clicker and confronting Mr. Scratch in the process.

One major antagonist of Alan Wake 2 is unknowingly Alan Wake himself with the Dark Presence of Mr. Scratch residing inside of him. Thomas Zane a poet and filmmaker who visited Cauldron Lake (trapped as well) in the 1960’s makes Alan Wake’s existence in The Dark Place a nightmare hell who Wake eventually kills in a #666 hotel room.

Saga with the help of Alan, Karin Estevez and the Old Gods of Asgard help free Alan from the Dark Presence Inside culminating in a light array battle. The final story sequence has Saga shooting Alan Wake in The Dark Room freeing Alex Casey in the process.

Alice Wake (Alan’s wife) commits suicide in order to help guide Alan. The Old Gods of Asgard return to Cauldron Lake’s darkness to help Saga who was pulled in by Mr. Scratch after the shore battle. Items and gameplay interactions flesh out the story. There are so many cameos and easter eggs from previous Remedy games.

During a few of Alan Wakes early missions he encounters Warlin Door who’s a major antagonist in Control and has the power to control all of the multiverse. Mr Door threatens Alan Wake near the end of the game after playing in a big musical sequence.

Other story cameos include Ahti The Janitor from Control and Sarah Breaker’s cousin Tim Breaker who is now sheriff of Bright Falls. Both Ahti and Tim Breaker have important information and items related to Saga Anderson and Alan Wake.

Alan Wake’s 2 story features a plethora of twists and turns culminating in a cliff hanger that only Alan Wake is known to pull off. I loved the story that comprised Alan Wake 2 due to it’s dual campaigns intertwining into a solid climax.

GAMEPLAY

Alan Wake 2 features two intertwined story campaigns centered around FBI agent Saga Anderson and writer Alan Wake. Each using completely different gameplay mechanics.

Saga Anderson gameplay revolves around her Mind Place where she can process clues from manuscript pages gathered in the game world. She can also profile characters piecing together her next in-game mission.

Alan Wake on the other hand uses the Angel Lamp and Plot Points to manipulate the entire world around him. Alan Wake views Alex Casey Echoes in order to further his missions and change Plot Points further. Basically, Alan re-writes the world around him to proceed to the next mission.

The Angel Lamp literally changes the Dark Realm around Alan via light. To me, Alan Wake 2’s gameplay mechanics are some of the best in any horror video game bar none. Boss fights mostly consisted on Saga Anderson’s playthrough after she enters a overlap.

Boss Fights included the two Deputies of Bright Falls and Valhalla Nursing Home’s Cynthia Weaver. Remember Rose from the first Alan Wake? She works at the aforementioned Valhalla Nursing Home.

Weapons for Saga and Alan consist of pistols, revolvers, rifles, shotguns and of course flash lights. You also get flashbangs and flares. Gameplay encourages the player to take their time when available to loot and search every nook and cranny for loot.

Saga Anderson’s campaign has cult stash boxes that require puzzles to unlock netting her manuscript pages and loot. I loved exploring both Saga’s Bright Falls areas and Alan Wake’s New York areas. Both felt rewarding and looked amazing in the process.

VISUALS/GRAPHICS

I just finished Spider-Man 2 before playing this and I must say Alan Wake 2 edges out Spider-Man 2 in the graphical fidelity department. Remedy Entertainment did some magic here.

And nope, I don’t care that one game is open world and the other is more linear. I go by my eyes which aren’t the best to begin with lol. But yeah, as of today I’d say Alan Wake 2 is the best looking game out now in my opinion.

The textures, lighting and visual effects were downright amazing at times while playing. Alan Wake 2 looks very current gen. We still have a few years left this gen. I can see Alan Wake 2 being surpassed in the future. The snowball is rolling downhill at this point as far as visuals are concerned.

SOUND/MUSIC

Music and musicals are a big part in Alan Wake 2 and I loved it until the sound mixing fucked up. Alan’s Old Gods of Asgard Musical sequence was amazing. Voice acting was really good all around. I enjoyed the intermission songs that played in-between missions.

FINAL SCORE/THOUGHTS

Alan Wake 2 isn’t some kind of hardcore survival horror video-game. It is a survival horror game in it’s essence blended with amazing Plot Points and Angel Lamp gameplay mechanics.

Two amazing campaigns intertwining into one great story-line. Alan Wake 2 is grander and more ambitious than any Remedy Entertainment video game and it showed me why.

Alan Wake 2 should easily be in the GOTW. As of today Alan Wake 2 and Resident Evil 4 sit on the pantheon together as GOAT-tier survival horror video games I played through. Video games can be perfect even if they aren’t technically perfect. Subjectivity etc etc… Thanks for reading and stopping by JVGS – Jason

10/10