Just as or more important than having a good story is knowing how to tell it. Alan Wake 2, the new psychological horror game from Remedy Entertainment, is the perfect example of this. From its first scene – which we will not reveal – this sequel to the title originally published in 2010 knows how to capture the player’s attention thanks to its mastery of narration, technique and, of course, the unexpected.
The new game from the Finnish team, responsible for such acclaimed action adventures as Max Payne, Control or the aforementioned first installment of Alan Wake, is one of those that disorients you from the very beginning, something very welcome in a world where there are plenty of large productions with sometimes schematic and predictable patterns. This Friday it is published for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series and our opinion after playing its first hours could not be more positive.
Alan Wake 2 maintains the thriller essence of the original, but enhances and elevates the survival horror component to new heights. This sequel is a much more terrifying, wild and disturbing game, something that has a lot to do with the influence of titles like Resident Evil 2 Remake, one of its main sources of inspiration. The approach to this popular subgenre means that, when playing, especially in the action parts, the player feels more defenseless and with fewer resources.
Another important novelty of this sequel is the fact that it has two main characters. In addition to the confused best-selling writer who gives the game its name, this time the player also controls Saga Anderson, an FBI detective who is investigating a series of murders that occurred in Bright Falls, the fictional town located among the mountains in the region. Northwest of the United States that already served as the setting for the original title.
The duality between the two characters greatly enriches the narrative structure and the variety of situations in the game. The fact that Saga is a detective introduces a series of investigation mechanics that provide greater variety to the development of the adventure. Now, the player must not only gather and understand all the pieces of the puzzle that is the story, but also have to try to find the explanation for the ritual murders that threaten this population so inspired by David Lynch’s Twin Peaks.
To everything said so far we must also add the spectacular visual performance that Alan Wake 2 boasts, since it is another of the keys that help the player immerse themselves in the story. The careful artistic direction, the setting that it manages to convey and the detail put into the characters and settings make Remedy’s new work play in the league of large Triple A productions. Now, it is necessary to comment that during these first hours we have experienced some significant slowdowns in the version we played for PS5, as well as a bug that forced us to restart a part of the game. We hope the studio fixes these bugs through an update.
After our first hours with Alan Wake 2, a time in which there have been a few jump scares that have made us jump out of our chairs, we are clear that Remedy Entertainment’s new adventure aims to become a benchmark for horror games . It took four years of development to achieve it, but, without a doubt, the result shows that time and resources have paid off. In the absence of completion, we have no doubt that it is another of the games that will become part of the list of essentials of this hectic 2023.
