It has been 13 years since the original supernatural thriller Alan Wake graced consoles and imaginations everywhere. The novel idea of inserting a horror writer into his own, well, novel, took fans by storm and Remedy Entertainment had a cult classic on their hands in what felt like overnight. We here at CGMagazine were given the opportunity to go hands-on with the sequel, Alan Wake 2, which not only encompasses everything the first title set out to do but surpasses it in every way as a true sequel should.
A Breathing Setting & A New Face
When I first started, I was not behind the lens of the titular fiction writer. I was instead thrust into the shoes of Saga Anderson, an FBI agent on the heels of a serial killing cult called Cult of the Tree. Alan Wake 2 is a direct sequel, so Alan is stuck in The Dark Place, a chaotic dark version of New York City fitting for a horror setting.
There is a dual protagonist system at play here. Alan Wake 2 shuffles between Saga Anderson and Alan Wake during different parts of the story. While Saga remains on the outside, picking up clues to solve the mystery behind the string of Cult of the Tree murders, Alan Wake is busy trying to escape The Dark Place.
The tonal shift to survival horror is made readily apparent. Atmospheric music plays during taut moments when Taken are about to descend on the player — thankfully composed by the returning Petri Alanko — and there are genuine horrifying moments. As Saga, I was tasked with finding a trailer in the new town location of Watery — the neighbouring town to Bright Falls — and the setting hearkens back to Finnish roots, like the development team. This was a nice touch as I wandered into a run-down-looking dive bar. The setting is complete with a Finnish lead singer crooning in native Finnish.
The background characters retain their charm from the first title, and it’s expanded upon. There are two brothers Saga is tasked with interviewing to chase a lead on the Cult. In cryptic Alan Wake fashion, the brothers act like they recognize Saga, to her confusion. This one encounter with the Koskela brothers unleashes a wealth of background information and allows the player to view an advertisement for a theme park the brothers are the entrepreneurs for. After they give Saga clues on the Cult, the player can then view the clues in the new Mind Place accessed by simply pressing the controller’s touchpad.
The Mind Place has mostly everything experienced thus far in the story, complete with a true crime corkboard of pushpins strung together with red string. Not only does this screen allow the player to analyze clues, but it also doubles as a ‘the story so far…’ screen, reacquainting the person behind the sticks with what’s going on in the story.
A nice touch for gamers who play multiple games at once or even those who just need a recap each time they revisit. This screen is home to a TV where Saga can watch the Koskela advertisements, and the Coffee World theme park ad is hilarious. Remedy Entertainment has built this world with true vision.
The setting is a breathing and living part of the story, fleshing out the narrative with a believable flourish. Of course, in the audience of the dive bar is the creepiest older woman, knitting incessantly and completely disregarding Saga. The constant reminder that this is a horror game kept my teeth on edge during my short time with it, but it sure left an impact at every turn.
While exploring Watery, I ran into horrific branch-made constructs that are the markings of the Cult of the Tree. These constructs can only be described as glaring warning signs bastardized from the dream catcher design. They hang as warnings, daring the player to edge forward into danger. Think True Detective Season One with less Rustin Cohle.
But First, Coffee
The Alan Wake 2 fanbase will be delighted to discover manuscript pages for Alan Wake’s latest work, ‘Return’ litter the landscape, and the all too iconic ‘Oh Deer!’ thermoses are placed conveniently throughout the title as save points. Creative Director Sam Lake explains the sequel has a more open world and actively encourages the player to explore every nook and cranny.
He even says weapons scattered throughout the environment are optional. The heavier weaponry, like the new crossbow, is hidden behind a numbers puzzle. Unlike its predecessor, Alan Wake 2 is less linear than the first title, and rewards are scattered everywhere in the form of powerful weapons or better.
After exploring and travelling towards Coffee World, Taken ambushed Saga with a vengeance, and although there were only two, it felt like a real trial. One kept throwing hatchets, while the other attempted to end the Saga right then and there with a torrent of melee swipes. Muscle memory kicked in, and I immediately pressed the L1 button to dodge, and the dodge has indeed returned along with the cinematic-looking near-misses.
The flashlight returns to Alan Wake 2, and it tears away the darkness from Taken before they can take damage. While the formula of torching a Taken and then filling them with bullets is familiar, there’s something weightier and more desperate about combat. The Taken moved much faster, and I felt far inferior to the beings. They move lightning-fast, and two felt like a big challenge. Bullets tear the flesh from the Taken as each hits their body, leaving a fleshy mass on the floor before they disappear. Remedy took the gory route as well; Alan Wake 2 proudly sports an M rating.
Wake Me Up
I was also able to play the other protagonist, Alan Wake, during my brief time with Alan Wake 2. He controls very similarly to Saga and even has a storyboard screen to rival Saga’s The Mind Place. The Dark Place is as if New York City was thrown into Stranger Things’ upside-down. Things seem off in so many ways, and the scenery is so jarring it’s nearly impossible to explain, but somehow it works as a setting.
In the chapter I dived into, Alan was tasked with travelling to the Oceanview Hotel and meeting up with a strange voice in Room 665. There are many puzzles littered throughout the landscape, and Alan has a new device that allows him to steal light — imagine a Deluminator without Ron Weasley — and move it to other segments, which directly alters the world around Alan.
“Alan Wake 2 takes a bold step in a new direction Remedy Entertainment has not gone before, and it feels like this is how Alan Wake is best represented.”
Alan Wake 2 toys with this mechanic in an excellent way. The light shows how the setting looked outside of The Dark Place. This allowed me to remove an overturned table blocking an entrance to a room with a very nice-looking shotgun displayed on a mantle. After entering the blocked room and stealing the light back, the shotgun I saw over the counter was now mine for the taking. A reward of blasting Taken with less effort? Please and thank you.
My remaining moments of gameplay were a montage of remembrance between Alan and his contact inside the Oceanview Hotel, which echoed a scene out of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Hunter S. Thompson was also a writer, after all. It’s worth mentioning aside from easter eggs, Remedy has also included nods toward its Remedy Connected Universe. As an episode of Night Springs graced a television, Jesse Faden from Control can be seen briefly on the screen. Remedy fans should be cautious that so far, this ‘RCU’ only includes Remedy IPs, so Quantum Break and Max Payne are not set to appear.
Alan Wake 2 takes a bold step in a new direction Remedy Entertainment has not gone before, and it feels like this is how Alan Wake is best represented. The music quality, the graphical clarity, the gameplay, and even the background lore have been improved upon in so many ways, and I barely scratched the surface of what the sequel has to offer. While Alan Wake 2 retains all its charm from the original title, it improves boldly in many areas while staying true to what made the series a classic in the first place. While there are just over two weeks remaining until the October 27th release, Alan Wake 2 still can’t come soon enough.
