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Out of Xbox
Alan Wake game used to be only on Xbox consoles, but seems like Remedy Entertainment‘s deal with Microsoft had ended a long time ago since we got such games on other consoles as Control and Alan Wake Remastered. I’m thankful of that since I don’t own any Xbox consoles and I wouldn’t want to buy one just to be able to play a few games on them. I also don’t own a powerful PC, I only have a Mac. Mac does get some AAA games here and there because of the new chips Apple has created, newest being Resident Evil 4 remake, which I reviewed as 4/5.
So, Remedy‘s newest game, Alan Wake 2 was released October 2023 and the fans are rejoicing. It’s been in the making for years now. I’m not a huge fan, to be honest, I did play the original game back when it was published in 2010 and I think it was a good game. Let’s see how Alan Wake 2 does.
Alan Wake Writes the Story
The plot of Alan Wake 2 is almost straight continuum from the first game; Alan Wake, the writer of a horror story, is stuck in the world he had created himself by writing it to reality. He tries to find his way out and his story intertwines with an FBI agent Saga Anderson, who has come to Bright Falls to investigate murders made by a weird cult. Soon it is obvious that the cult murders are clearly something to do with Alan Wake and his stories.
Overall, the plot is little bit difficult to explain, because it’s rather complicated and very artistic, meaning, it might be hard to comprehend. The story is still somewhat understanable and makes sense, and is easy to follow. I think the whole story from start to finish was exceptional, even though I didn’t understand everything it tried to tell.
Gameplay, Controls and Visuals
I can’t completely remember how the original Alan Wake game was played, I can remember it was a third person shooter-survival-horror, but how it felt to play is too far in the history that I cannot recall it. But as I played the remakes of Resident Evil games, especially Resident Evil 4, I can say that Alan Wake 2 feels pretty much like it. I did like how the game felt like to play. It felt new and modern.
The game is played by playing in turns with Alan and Saga. Saga’s gameplay is more mellow and trying to put together the murders, when Alan’s gameplay is more horror-esque. They both have enemies to shoot, don’t worry about that. There is a Dark Place, an odd version of reality where Alan had ended up. Saga also experiences the weird twists of reality. Alan Wake 2 is very mysterious and peculiar that it’s little bit difficult to explain in words, it’s a game that is must to be experienced to be fully understood.
The gameplay is to find evidences, in Saga’s story, and trying to find your way out from the Dark Place in Alan’s story. They both have weapons and enemies can be killed with using a flashlight and then shoot them, because they are vulnerable to light. Then there’s healing items and you can also upgrade your stats and weapons. Alan also has a weird light-collecting wand that can collect light into it and then it can be used to open various paths by changing the reality. There’s also a plot board on Alan’s story that can change the environment around him by writing the story to reality. The plot board and the wand are used as puzzle element in the gameplay.
I played this on easiest mode, because I always do—at least the first playthrough—and I didn’t found it to be too difficult to finish.
Like I said before, the game felt like Resident Evil 4 remake. The controls were good and I liked them. I did had to adjust the controls from the settings a little bit to make them to truly feel good.
Visually Alan Wake 2 looked truly current-gen. The developer had made an immense job to make the game look good. All the light and shadows looked just amazing. The art-direction is also something that felt I haven’t experienced in a video game yet; it had lots of great play with the mixture of live-action video and graphics.
The Final Script
I finished Alan Wake 2 in about 18 hours and I did enjoy my time with it very much. Only negative thing I can say, if I must, is that sometimes I got little bit confused where to go or the areas were confusing, especially Alan Wake’s part of the gameplay. Every other way the game was an excellent experience and most of the things there has to be played to be fully understood as the whole ensemble is rather… out there.
I do wholeheartedly recommed this if you own PS5, or any other platform.
Alan Wake 2 is available on PS5 (reviewed), Xboxs Series X|S and Windows.
SCORE:
5/5
“The art-direction is also something that felt I haven’t experienced in a video game yet; it had lots of great play with the mixture of live-action video and graphics.”
One More Level 