Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Genre: Survival Horror

It’s been 13 years since 2010’s survival horror action title Alan Wake. The expectations are extremely high for Alan Wake 2, especially after the success of 2019’s Control, which takes place in the same universe. Remedy Entertainment’s original Alan Wake has remained a cult classic all these years for good reason: it’s quirky, well-written, and just a unique adventure and gaming experience. But is Alan Wake 2 worth the long wait or will it put the franchise back to sleep?

Alan, Are You Okay, Alan?

First things first: Alan Wake 2’s core gameplay is very different compared to 2010’s Alan Wake or 2019’s Control. Both of those former games were heavier on action, especially the latter. Meanwhile, Alan Wake 2 is very much a survival horror game, so much so that honestly, it feels more like the modern Resident Evil remake games than it does from what you’d usually expect from the folks at Remedy.

The similarities are uncanny, from how the design of the inventory systems is almost identical, being able to save only at dedicated safe rooms and how you’d need to open locked doors with bolt cutters. In that way, the core combat in Alan Wake 2 does lose some of its uniqueness, that special blend of spice or flavour that distinguishes Remedy from all others.

That said, there are also many ways that Alan Wake 2 takes from Control and has improved on from the original Alan Wake. For instance, both playable characters (Alan Wake and Saga Anderson) can sprint for an unlimited amount of time. One of the biggest problems in the original Alan Wake was that the titular character could only run for a few seconds before becoming out of breath, which was annoying when trying to fight hordes of enemies. Alan Wake 2 also has proper boss fights now, which is something that Remedy clearly brought over from Control; since the original Alan Wake didn’t really have traditional boss fights.

In Alan Wake 2, the core combat loop is the same as in the first game. You need to burn away the darkness shields of enemies before you can damage them with your guns and weapons. However, there’s a small change to that mechanic in Alan Wake 2, as just shining the flashlight on enemies doesn’t do anything anymore. You need to press the R1 button to perform a flashlight burst to burn their darkness shields, and each flashlight burst uses up one charge. And yeah, the survival horror elements come into play again as you only have a limited number of these flashlight battery charges.

Besides the conventional survival horror combat, there are actually other gameplay mechanics that make Alan Wake 2 a unique experience unlike any other game released this year. As Saga Anderson, her story plays like a police procedural, which is apt considering that she’s an FBI agent. The mechanic that translates this into gameplay is the new Case Board mechanic, which you can access at any time by pressing the touchpad on the DualSense. The Case Board is in Saga’s Mind Place, a metaphysical room where she puts all her details and information to sift through. On the Case Board, you’ll have an actual case board (like the It’s Always Sunny meme) where you have to link clues and photographs together to progress through the narrative and story. How this works is that when exploring the game’s world as Saga, you will pin up every new piece of evidence or clue (it comes in many forms) on the case board, which will then be linked to each other via red strings.

You’ll be doing a lot of this in-between exploration and combat, so if you’re not into the whole investigation mechanic, some players might find this tedious. However, I think it’s a great mechanic because it also helps as a visual guide through the complex narrative and plot of Alan Wake 2, allowing players to better understand the details of names, events, and locations related to the story. This is a huge reason why the complex story of Alan Wake 2, which is not only a follow-up to the original Alan Wake but also contains elements from Control, is still relatively easy to follow without being too convoluted, especially for players who tend to gloss over reading the collectable documents and pages in these games.

Alan Wake also has his own special gameplay mechanic to progress the story, the Plot Board. His Plot Board allows him to alter reality by discovering different plot elements of that story and inserting them into the scene (like a movie set). How this works in the game is that it immediately changes the environment and shifts the surroundings in real-time, sort of like in the movie Inception. This fits him more because he’s a writer, just like how Saga’s Case Board mechanic fits her. After all, she’s an FBI agent.

Watching the environment around Alan Wake change before my eyes never got old and it’s amazing how Remedy managed to achieve this technical feat. In addition, Alan also has another unique mechanic, where he can use a paranormal table lamp to absorb the energy from one light source and redirect it to another. This is usually used to open up new paths for progressions.

You can see a lot of influences here in Alan Wake 2, from Twin Peaks, The Twilight Zone, X-Files, True Detective and more. The horror tone filled with dread is often juxtaposed by more meta comedic satirical and eccentric lighthearted elements, such as the hilarious TV ads you can find throughout the game. One of the biggest surprises in the game was during a whole trippy musical sequence that lasted more than 20 minutes. It was a glorious moment that only the folks at Remedy could have thought of, so kudos to them. Other stuff includes Alan Wake 2’s Creative Director, Sam Lake, playing the character of Alex Casey in the game. He even does his signature Max Payne scowl for the fans. And that’s not even delving into how Remedy has mastered blending live-action scenes and rendered gameplay. The level of intricate and elaborate cinematography here is stunning, especially as seen in the musical sequence, TV ads and others.

Alan Wake 2 might provide some answers to lingering questions from the original Alan Wake, but in the process of the game’s narrative, it also adds more questions, expanding the Remedy Connected Universe and setting up the stage for future games. The cryptic plot is intentional on Remedy’s part and fans of their games are used to all that, as a way of staying engrossed in these meticulously detailed and immersive worlds. However, players who are not used to Remedy Entertainment may find the pacing a bit slow because of the game’s focus on narrative. You’ll be doing a lot of reading in this game too, so it’s not for anyone who hates walls of text.

Playing on the PS5, I did encounter several bugs that forced me to reload an earlier checkpoint but these were rare, I should point out that after a patch that was released over the weekend, I didn’t encounter any more of these bugs. At the time of writing, the PS5 version of the game also suffers from some low framerate issues, especially on Fidelity Mode, when there are many enemies at one time, and weirdly enough, when sorting through the inventory. However, most of these issues were minor things that could just be fixed in a future patch anyway.

Last but not least, Alan Wake 2 is easily the longest Remedy Entertainment game to date. It took me around 25 hours (or close to 30) to finish the game, and by finishing the game, I mean getting the Platinum trophy on the PS5 version. You could take your time consuming every little detail in the game and getting immersed, which means that you could easily spend about 30 hours or more in the game. There’s no new game plus available at the time of writing, but Remedy already promised that it will be coming sometime later this year, so that’s even more potential playtime to be mined from this brilliant game.

Wake Up, Alan

Alan Wake 2 is not for everyone, but for fans of the Remedy Connected Universe since 2010’s Alan Wake, it’s exactly the game that we’ve been waiting for. While the game still follows conventional Resident Evil-like survival horror elements, there are enough unique mechanics here and blend atmospheric visuals and trippy live-action sequences to make this a genuine Remedy Entertainment experience that only the Finnish developers could deliver. It’s also one of 2023’s best games and a definite contender for GOTY, even in a year filled to the brim with phenomenal games.

PROS

• Survival horror gameplay that feels like a modern Resident Evil game.
• Unique gameplay mechanics like Saga’s Case Board and Alan’s Plot Board.
• One of the most atmospheric and immersive games in terms of vibe and narrative.
• Visually stunning with beautiful graphics.
• A special blend of horror and trippy tones.

CONS

• Some bugs hindered progress, requiring loading from earlier checkpoints.
• Unstable framerate in Fidelity Mode on PS5.

FINAL SCORE: 90/100

Alan Wake 2 was reviewed on PS5 based on a review copy provided by Epic Games and Remedy Entertainment. Alan Wake 2 is now available for the PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC.