It’s been over 10 years since the original Alan Wake shined its flashlight on the Xbox 360, but it’s not like Remedy has been quiet since then. Since then their games Quantum Break and Control built on the foundation that Alan and his descent into a horror novel left for the studio, even beginning to leave Alan a far bigger world to exist in with Control building heavily into the Alan Wake narrative.
Alan Wake II, in this regard, feels like the culmination of a long and winding road for a very talented Studio. Nothing is on display in Remedys’ latest outing feels dated, better yet, it doesn’t feel used or safe. Playing Alan Wake II feels risky both in design choice and gameplay but that risk pays off every moment, every second, of your descent into madness. This story isn’t a monster, it’s a masterpiece.
The writer, the cop, and the dark place
Make no mistake, Alan Wake is a writer, he knows how to tell a good story and so does the team at Remedy led by the ever-charismatic Sam Lake. The first strength of said story is having the foresight to set the game about the same period that has passed in real life, a process that was set up in their previous game which helped detail what had happened to the characters years later.
Alan Wake by this point is just a distant memory of a man who went missing, though fans of the series know him better as an unseen puppetmaster trying to write his escape from the lake that is an ocean. In this role, we see a newcomer to the franchise, Saga Anderson, arrive in the town of Bright Falls to hunt a cult of killers that somehow connect to the darkness that took Alan years ago.
Both characters represent two sides of a coin with players hopping between their realities to try to bring a resolution to this latest nightmare. Saga, in the real world, gets three maps to explore freely based on locations players of the original should be aware of such as Bright Falls and Watery for instance. The way these areas are designed gives a greater aesthetic and connection to them, feeling more like locations rather than stages as they did in the first story.
On the flip side, Alan Wake remains trapped in the dark place long after his first foray into it in American Nightmare. This time it takes on a twisted and distorted version of New York City in which he must search for an escape. While Alan only gets one map, it is unique compared to Saga in that is constantly sifts and transforms the further down the rabbit hole he does.
In between all of this is a mind-blowingly well-told narrative that doesn’t just rely on the usual tropes of the genre. Constantly shifting between the actors in live action and the game there isn’t a boring moment to performances, with Ilkka Villi and Sam Lake being obvious standouts able to deliver throughout the entire game’s runtime. I would also be remiss if I didn’t point out that the fourth chapter for Alan was one of the best moments in a year jam-packed with big games, and possibly a stand-out moment in the game industry period, it’s that great and that unexpected.
In a horror story, the victim keeps asking why
The first Alan Wake for all of its Stephen King quotes, wasn’t a horror game. This is something that even its lead writer Sam Lake has admitted into the build-up to its long-awaited sequel. Alan armed himself with a revolver and a flashlight as he hunted his wife’s kidnappers and took out the taken in fast-paced and frantic fights switching between burning their shield away with light and then blasting them in the face. By the end of the game these fights become major set pieces that were more adrenaline-inducing than fear-inducing.
If one bit of praise can be heaped on Alan Wake II above all others it is the full embracing of the horror genre. There were moments, in exploration and combat, that I got the same rush from classics like Silent Hill, Resident Evil, or Alone In The Dark with one wrong turn being the worst thing imaginable. But through all that nostalgia I never felt like I was playing the classics, this is a horror story interested in carving a path all its own. And boy does it.
In the real world, Saga’s three areas of exploration follow similar logic. They include one safe area, usually a town-proper, and a larger area surrounding it where the light is your only friend. The first moment you do enter combat should set the tone for you, a dimly lit swamp where you learn the new taken are far more capable than the previous taken and designed more as a nightmare lurking in the night instead of the hurdle they once were.
While there are places you are more likely to encounter them, the truth is once you leave the safety of town they can come upon you at any moment. Thankfully, since this is a survival Horror, you can choose to fight or flee depending on your current situation such as remaining ammo. Some set pieces, such as the Valhalla Nursing Home and Coffee World stand out for just how masterfully they blend the unsettling environments and the monsters that stalk them.
Alan’s journey somehow manages to feel so much different even while existing in the same framework. In the same vein, you will explore the darker version of New York where enemies can lurk on any street. In a difference between these two worlds, Alan sees shadows of people who may or may not be a real enemy. It’s a tense experience that keeps you on edge, a taste of Alan Wakes’ growing madness.
A new tool that the writer has now is a lamp that can shift the environment of his prison by taking the light from one source and putting it in another. This feature makes much of his exploration a puzzle to be solved so that he can advance, which works better than you could imagine. This feature is caked on top of some already trippy set pieces such as a hotel that needs to be brought between narrative realities and a subway that, strangely enough, pays homage to the Remedy title Max Payne.
In a bigger way, this time around really honor their leads by embracing their character traits. Saga is given a mind room in which she can piece her investigation together. Even though it serves as her hub, she can be attacked if enemies are around making it a feature to pull up when you know your safe. Alan Wake on the other hand gets his writer’s room with a narrative board to follow story elements. This feature allows him to restructure the nature of his prison based on story elements which will open different paths or offer different clues.
These elements not only serve strong gameplay functions, but they offer a connection to these characters deeper than any Remedy game before and can stand against much of the industry around them.
Overall, The story can be completed in roughly 20 hours making it a pretty long horror game but short by other industry standards. However, the game uses every moment of its runtime to great effect. Narrative points such as manuscript pages return and of depth to the world most games dream of. In addition, the game features a great, yet long, sidequest that offers a great horror element, as well as deepens the connection to the growing Remedyverse.
Old Gods of Asgard
What is already an outstanding experience is brought to life by the return of Poets of The Fall as the in-game band Old Gods of Asgard. Like most of the characters in the universe they are asked to deliver in both live-action segments as well as in the game and boy, do they. They bring their hard rock style to the horror game, which feels like it should be out of place yet is expertly woven into the fabric of the experience.
It’s in the sound department that the game somehow drags itself away from horror games of old and sets itself apart. Of course, you can expect the usual staples of the genre; The ramblings of enemies long before you see them, ambient noises to make you turn in panic, and creepy music to ratchet up the suspense. You can also expect it to go against type a lot too, with two major moments in the game being framed with Poets’ music working perfectly despite not fitting the norm.
This against type isn’t just limited to music, as characters, locations, or even moments feel like they read the horror playbook and tossed it out. Of course, you can expect the David Lynch motifs to return, Twin Peaks: The Return feels like it served as some inspiration for the second outing of Alan Wake. Remedy is at its best when it actively subverts its expected genre, and that has never been clearer than Alan Wake II.
Verdict
There have been 13 years between Alan Wake and Alan Wake II and Remedy has been perfecting their craft with each passing year, culminating in a Horror game that is everything you could ask for. Scary when it needs to be, outlandish when it wants to be, emotional when you least expect, this is Remedy at their absolute best.
If the first game was a cap off to the first act of their career, this serves as a fitting cap off to the second with every lesson of design on full display. More than that though, the game oozes originality and creativity, feeling like something you can’t replicate and yet it leaves you wanting more. Alan Wake II only commits the crime of ending, but in doing so leaves me more excited for the future of both the franchise and the studio that spawned.
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Reviewed for PlayStation 5, Also on Xbox Series S/X and PC via Epic Store
Developer: Remedy Entertainment
Publisher: Epic Game Publishing
Release Date: October 27th, 2023
The long awaited sequel to Alan Wake sees the titular character attempting to write his escape from the dark place over a decade after becoming imprisoned there.
Pros:
+Storytelling
+Survival Horror Gameplay
+Performances across live-action and in game.
+Poets of The Fall
+Remedyverse Building
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Alan Wake II
