Alan Wake 2 Review:
I have always had a very strange relationship with anything from Studio Remedy. I understand their artistic philosophy, but it always leaves me feeling weirded out after each and every game I play of theirs. For me, Remedy games start with a very interesting premise, and then throughout the game, they keep failing to check the right points and miss every opportunity to make their games live up to the unique idea they are trying to present. I have felt this way ever since I played the first Alan Wake, and when I got to play Alan Wake 2, I was expecting to have the same feeling and experience I had with all Remedy games. But, oh boy, I was in for a big surprise.
The Golden Age is Back:
For the past few years, survival horrors have taken a huge hit with its biggest hitters like Resident Evil steering towards the action realm rather than the survival one and the queen of eerie horror games, Silent Hill, has disappeared far beyond the horizon, leaving us with a serious lack of the preternatural psychological horror that thrived in its golden era during the 5th and 6th generations of video gaming consoles. Even though The Last of Us came in to breathe new life into the genre, one can’t escape the fact that The Last of Us was more about its characters’ stories than the horrors brought upon the world by the fungal pandemic. Not to mention, we had high hopes for the potential of PT (Silent Hills) being everything we wanted and have been missing in the genre, but then we know what happened to this project right after its creator, Hideo Kojima, left Konami, leaving us all thirsty for a real psychological horror to play.
But not all hopes are lost. In the first few seconds of Alan Wake 2, it hit me right awayโthe spectral feeling that I like to experience in my horror games, the gloomy and shivery sensation that arises from a cult-driven story in a place where you count your steps as you anticipate lurking danger around the cornerโa feeling that we’ve been missing since games like Silent Hill took a step back away from the line of sight of players. I couldn’t help but say to myself, ‘This is exactly what I want,’ even though I am just getting introduced to the game. Alan Wake 2, from its very first moments, presents you with an atmosphere that gives you every reason to walk rather than run around (unless you’re scared, of course), and that is something I personally started to miss since games like Resident Evil transformed to be more of a running-marathon than carefully approach the next map in a game that is meant to be a survival one!
As I continued playing through the game, Alan Wake 2 continued to give me the exact feeling I wanted, keeping me engaged and checking all the boxes for what I desire in a survival horror. Not only that, unlike other Remedy games, the game continued to present a coherent story, diverse gameplay, and compelling characters, making the entire journey a whole package worth every second I spent on it.
The World of Reality, The World of Words:
Alan Wake 2 takes place years after the first game. You now control Saga Anderson (a clever name given what the story is about), an FBI agent sent to investigate a series of ritualistic murders that sooner than later puts Saga in the middle of a multidimensional fight for power between the world of words and the world of reality. What I found truly amazing is that even though the story is a continuation of the first game, and I played Alan Wake when it was released in 2010, I did not find it hard to follow the story and make the connections to what happened 13 years ago as it progressed. Later in the game, you will be introduced to the second main protagonist, Alan himself, and you will play an intertwined story to solve the mystery of what is happening at Bright Lake. This adds a second well-built mechanic to the game that showcases how brilliantly the story was written. Even though you will be playing two different characters, you will have the ability to switch between them at any given time using the safe rooms available through out the game, and playing one before the other doesn’t in the slightest destroy the enjoyment of the story, disturb its flow or even make it more awkward or less understandable. The story is presented in a way that you do not need to worry about the chronological order in which you play the game and this is just… brilliant, as simple as that.
The team of writers in Alan Wake 2 tackled one of the toughest jobs known to writers: writing two different storylines in a way that one doesn’t overshadow the other. Not only that, it was written in a way that is truly wholesome and leaves no question unanswered (unless those intended for players to interpret). And for the first time in Remedy’s history, this game kept me hooked from the beginning to the end. I loved the storytelling for both sides alike, as each introduced different aspects of the story and different approaches in how to unveil it. Saga’s story falls in the real world (or is it?), where you play the role of a detective and the story unfolds in real time as you try to solve the mystery of the unnatural murders. On the other hand, Alan’s story is more focused on the psychological discovery of a writer’s mind, where your main objective is to escape from the world of words. Each story ends up intertwining with the other, especially since the premise is about how Alan’s writing is affecting Saga’s life as she lives it as he is trying to run away from the captivity of the other dimentional world. As the story continued towards the end, I was left in amazement at how well it was woven to achieve such harmony in telling both sides of the story with such finesse. It will definitely stay with me for a long time due to how well it was established and progressed leading to its ending.
A State of Mind:
Before delving deep into the basic gameplay mechanics, I want to highlight one that I loved the most: Saga’s Mind Place. Saga has the ability to enter her own Mind Place and consult different aspects of the fabric of her own being to answer questions about the investigation she is a part of. One of these aspects is the ‘Case Board,’ reminiscent of the investigation boards seen in American thriller movies. By far, this is my favorite mechanic in the game due to what it offers in making the story engaging, more understandable, and easy to follow.
For each piece of information you receive, you can place a picture on the board and link it to different aspects in solving the case. Although it is not a puzzle-like task, it is not automated, and you have to arrange these pictures semi-manually. This process helps you make the links of what is happening around Bright Falls pretty smoothly.
Along with the ‘Case Board,’ there is another aspect of the Mind Place called ‘Profiling,’ where Saga can set and imagine what is exactly happening in the minds of the characters she meets. Although it may give you the feeling of ‘how the hell does she do that,’ it is still a cool aspect that adds an additional layer to making every character in the story memorable, even the bosses.
The introduction of the Mind Place was very much welcomed for Alan Wake. Although not unique by itself, as other games have tried different types of similar mechanics, the fact that it is utilized to make the story easy to follow made me return to it over and over again throughout my gameplay just to have the satisfaction of making the links about what’s going on.
A State of Words
But all that changes once you gain control of Alan later in the game. As I mentioned before, the game takes a totally different approach when you play as Alan. You are tasked with escaping Alan’s state of mind, and thus the gameplay differs. Instead of the investigative approach of the Mind Place, you will be delving into Alan’s head as a writer. Using different scenarios that unfold as you discover that world and will give Alan ideas that he can use to rewrite the story he is in and create new paths for him to progress. Personally, I loved what Saga had to offer gameplay-wise, but Alan’s is still as creative and compelling.
Alan’s campaign delivered the core Remedy philosophical design, employing a more metamedia approach (the mixing of different media in one product). Here, live-action cutscenes are combined with in-game rendered cutscenes. Although I am not a huge fan of such a mix as it disconnects you from the flow of the actual game, Remedy did the impossible to make it smooth and fitting, mainly due to the dual campaign approach as I kept interchanging between the two, and Saga’s campaign has less metamedia, keeping me more hooked into the game itself. And as I kept progressing, I noticed myself enjoying Saga for its gameplay and Alan’s for the artistic side it presents.
Few Missing Batteries:
The rest of the gameplay inherits what the first game was while adding and refining on it. Monsters can’t be damaged unless you expose them to light, and there are spotlights where you can be invisible to them, causing them not to come after you. The general idea remains the same: ‘point the flashlight, start shooting.’ Although it is still a great mechanic in the gameplay, I found it a bit troublesome, especially with faster enemies. They could easily move away and regain their powers, causing me to lose a lot of my flashlight battery, especially during boss fights. Even worse, in Alan’s campaign, determining which ones are real threats and which are just pieces of Alan’s imagination could be challenging and huge waste of resources. However, this isn’t something worth weighing heavily on, but I still wished it was designed better.
Both characters have a diverse arsenal of weapons, yet the interesting part is that both have different ways of upgrading these weapons. For Saga, you will have to gather materials in the form of pieces of paper, and Alan will help Saga by rewriting her story to create a better weapon. Brilliant, right? With Alan, you will have to search for words written on walls and hidden around to gain wordly access to improve not just your weapons but also your character.
Alan Wake 2 features a variety of diverse and balanced puzzles and things to search for and solve, thanks once again to the two campaigns with different styles of gameplay. In Saga’s storyline, you will find safes, stashes, and locked boxes that require you to search the environment for clues to open them. There are riddle puzzles that can get pretty tricky to solve, along with the regular Silent Hill meets Resident Evil style of ‘find the missing item to make something work.’ On Alan’s side, things become more clever with the use of a lamp that changes everything around you. The lamp has one charge that can only be used once unless you take it back once used or find another source for it, allowing for a backtrack-style of puzzling.
Was That Really A Boss?
What I found profoundly weak in Alan Wake 2’s gameplay were the boss battles. Although each of them had an interesting backstory, the battles themselves weren’t memorable and were, at best, okay. The build-up of going all the way to face them unfortunately overshadowed the fights, leaving me unsatisfied by the actual confrontations as much as I was satisfied trying to understand their motives and what happened to them.
Additionally, Remedy went all-in to make things ‘scary,’ taking a step further to include over-the-top jump scares as you chase these characters. It gets tiresome at some point, mainly because I am not a fan of cheap jump scares. While they are clever and story-related to a very interesting level, the excessive use of them was definitely not welcomed for me.
Breaks With Music:
By the time I played it, the game was suffering from a few mechanical and graphical issues. Sometimes, I couldn’t dodge right because I kept running into obstacles, and there were a few instances where I died because the character glitched in certain movements. It’s not to a very noticeable level, but it is there. The graphics in the game are very eerie and fitting, making it one of the best-looking survival horror games out there. However, I’m not a big fan of Remedy’s artistic direction, using glowing colors mixed from too much red to too much green. Given that it’s a personal preference, I do think many others will appreciate it and find it appealing.
I can’t think of any memorable scores in the game, but, considering it’s a survival horror game, I wouldn’t weigh much into it unless you are Silent Hill. However, what really needs to be highlighted are the songs used in the game. The game has an episodic theme, and at the end of each episode, you are rewarded with an original song made solely for the game. I often find myself leaving the controller to listen to the entire thing because yes, they are that good. I commend the team at Remedy for including that in the game. I even have some saved in my Spotify playlist (I personally recommend ‘Wide Awake’).
The voice acting was great, and since this game has a new layer of media, the live-action actors did an amazing job selling their roles. Although I was initially critical about how I felt about the game being metamedia, all in all, it added to the experience rather than detracted from it.
Alan Wake 2 surprised me with what it had to offer. It presents a fine mix of elements that make survival horror golden and adds its unique twist to it, resulting in a game that is a must-buy for fans of the genre. With amazing characters, a superb story, two interwoven campaigns, and a flavorful gameplay style that alternates between two characters, Alan Wake 2 finds itself in a very comfortable place as a pillar in the survival horror realm. If you don’t mind a jump scare here and there, enjoy horror games, and would love to experience the best double campaigns in the video game industry, Alan Wake 2 is definitely for you.
- Two masterful interwoven campaigns that will be eternalized as the best in the industry.
- An eerie direction and world-building that do exactly what is needed for it to become a classic cult horror masterpiece.
- Gameplay that has been refined to finesse, keeping things very interesting by interchanging between two different playstyles for two different characters.
- Episodic music that compels you to set aside the controller and just sit back, enjoying a quite flavorful break.
- Boss fights are not quite memorable and leave you unsatisfied, especially after a great build-up to face them.
- Basic, uninspired enemies with irritating random behaviors.
- Environment-invoked glitches that could cause you to die, accompanied by an auto-save system from three generations past.