Alan Wake 2 has grown leaps and bounds past its unique sport. Not solely is the expertise a technical marvel capturing all of the modern-day greatness that comes from Unreal Engine 5.1 however its storytelling has by no means been higher… and weirder. But even throughout its strangest moments, and I imply ‘unusual’ like a random solid musical taking part in out on the display with choreographed dancing and guitar solos, the sport nonetheless manages to ship its overserious appeal.
Set 13 years after the occasions of the unique sport, Alan Wake 2 sees gamers return to Bright Falls to analyze some murders which have gripped the city. Saga Anderson takes the lead position right here – an FBI profiler who has a particular Mind Place the place she will be able to piece collectively case clues and profile characters to progress the general investigation.
Not too far into the sport, Saga discovers that every one these unusual notes she’s been discovering round Bright Falls are literally manuscripts which come true someplace down the road. These manuscripts have been written by a mysterious entity and naturally, I received’t say something extra to keep away from spoiling it.
I’ll say that Alan Wake 2 has been divided into two. Both Saga Anderson and Alan Wake are playable characters and every character has their very own quips and mechanics as you progress the sport. Alan Wake additionally spends the vast majority of his time exploring dense metropolis streets, condominium buildings and alleyways. Saga, then again, spends her time exploring Bright Falls and the outer areas.
Of course, the thriller surrounding Cauldron Lake, Alan Wake and all these murders is what makes Alan Wake 2 so attractive. While the sport begins out as a form of detective expertise, it slowly unravels into one thing a lot larger.
Wake’s gameplay explores his profession as a author as he is ready to write new themes into his ongoing story which then fully change the setting round him. As he explores new chapters and dives deeper into his goal, these easy theme modifications get a lot darker and if something, extra thrilling.
One early chapter of the sport, for instance, noticed me discover a subway. The theme begins out with a lacking FBI agent. I watched a brief character interplay earlier than swapping this theme with a crazed cult. This gave the world an entire new feel and look to it whereas additionally offering some underlying narrative to discover. I then swapped it to a ritualistic summoning theme and it additional expanded on the world round me. If something, it opened new pathways to discover too.
These themes aren’t simply round for padding. If you listen, they tie into the principle story and supply an honest plot level for the world round you. I completely loved this mechanic. Not solely did it combine up the exploration however the seamless hyperlink between the world and the chosen theme all the time stirred up some pleasure for what was to come back.
Wake may also alter the world round him utilizing a “Clicker”. This glorified gentle bulb can take up gentle from current road poles and lamps. As a end result, it might change the world from gentle to darkish. Some darkish areas housed enemies, secrets and techniques and loot to gather. Some gentle areas opened up doorways to undergo and explorable areas to ransack.
The Clicker mechanic additionally pressured me to deal with the world round me. I needed to always be looking out for gentle to soak up with a purpose to save up a cost. I then needed to look out for bulbs to make use of these prices on. Once turned on, gates would immediately flash open, partitions would not be in the best way and crawl areas would seem within the blink of an eye fixed.
In a manner, it acted as setting puzzles and later within the sport, these required rigorously managing prices and utilizing them within the appropriate order to progress by way of an space. I wouldn’t say any of those sections had been overly tough to unravel although. I obtained caught a couple of times right here and there however after strolling round and charging a couple of lights, I lastly found the proper sequence of bulbs I needed to activate and off.
While Wake was exploring these areas, turning bulbs on and off and gathering all of the loot potential, I additionally needed to combat the darkish figures. The fight in Alan Wake 2 follows intently to the unique sport. Focusing a torch cost on an enemy would “clear” the darkness away. Sometimes this could kill the determine inflicting it to fade whereas different instances, it might merely reveal an individual behind the darkness.
These folks would then hunt Wake down with weapons and attempt to bash in his noggin’. I may shoot them with my revolver, blast them with a shotgun, flare them away with my flares or simply run away. Resources are extremely scarce in Alan Wake 2. So a lot in order that the latter would typically be the perfect wager. I used to be always working low on torch prices and my ammo was nearly all the time within the single digits.
This positively elevates the horror facet of the sport. If something, it’s seemingly the one actual “horror” happening right here as a result of these shadow creatures are freaky. Walking close to one would lead to them mumbling “Wake”. That was my cue to bolt it. There was nothing extra horrifying than strolling down the steps into a big room and simply seeing a mass variety of darkish clouds lingering within the distance.
Alan Wake may also get upgraded utilizing varied hidden symbols scattered round his chapters. These upgrades would improve his well being, enhance his gun injury and rather more. By the time I completed the sport, I had nearly the whole lot maxed out. I missed a couple of of those symbols and every one is tied to a set ability sort improve. So you’ll wish to search round for each single one among them.
Saga Anderson, then again, takes a distinct strategy to her gameplay. While the overall targeted gentle and fight are the identical, she faces her personal threats and the overall gameplay feels so much slower. Progression with Saga relied on conversations with folks concerning her case findings, piecing them collectively in a literal Mind Place board the place I needed to place down paperwork and subjects and extra investigation-themed gameplay.
That is to say, the gameplay didn’t range off the identical path. It nonetheless offered the identical degree of depth however it was much less mind-altering and supernatural and extra real-world targeted. She may also improve her weapons utilizing collected Manuscript Fragments and equip charms to supply buffs and particular options.
Given the 2 protagonists, the sport let me swap between them on the finish of every chapter. I may merely decide up from Alan Wake’s story at any time by going to a wierd puddle of darkish water within the janitor’s closet. As I performed by way of each tales, they always linked backwards and forwards in some sensible methods.
I particularly loved how some gameplay moments would come throughout as extremely complicated solely to have all of it defined later down the road with one other character. It is storytelling at its finest – even when the story does take itself just a little too significantly at instances.
Alan Wake 2 manages to additionally hold each chapter fascinating and thrilling. Be it with new areas to discover as Saga or Wake’s distinctive storytelling, and theme-switching mechanics. Sure, there have been some chapters that dragged on a bit longer than I hoped for. It additionally doesn’t assist that fight usually begins to get repetitive after some time.
The Resident Evil fight strategy and merchandise administration meant I used to be all the time micromanaging my bag to suit extra stuff. However, not like the Resident Evil sequence which supplies an unlimited variety of weapons and weapons to make use of, Alan Wake 2 is rather more restricted. So after I whereas I gave up and caught with one gun.
One factor that positively saved me stepping into Alan Wake 2 was its magnificence. The sport is absolute eye sweet. I ran Alan Wake 2 on my RTX 4070 Ti and managed to get it working at 30FPS 4K more often than not. I do know, 30FPS is blasphemy however I accepted that it meant the sport checked out its finest. There had been chapters which proved to be extra demanding and I needed to enhance DLSS.
Every single chapter in Alan Wake 2 delivered attractive visuals and the technical facet of the sport enhanced these in so some ways. Path raytracing, for instance, introduced the moist metropolis streets to life as vibrant HDR specular highlights mirrored off the floor. Dense forest scenes slowed down my PC as hundreds of leaves swayed within the storm whereas rain scattered throughout the puddles. It is exceptional.
What isn’t so exceptional is its live-action sequences. These are encountered all through the sport with many of the essential characters performed by their real-life actors. They typically function some awkward performing, dangerous wigs and dodgy modifying. Alan Wake is very showcased throughout these scenes and is performed by Iika Villi.
They simply left me with a bitter style in my mouth. Sometimes a sport medium can solely painting the scene the best way it was supposed. These live-action photographs got here off low-cost and as a substitute of connecting me with the characters and story, did the alternative.
Would I say Alan Wake 2 is the perfect sport I’ve performed in 2023? Definitely not. But it’s the strangest sport I’ve performed and I loved it. At instances it does take itself too significantly and, for my part, tries just a little too laborious to be an edgy horror sport at instances. There’s simply a variety of flickering and loud sounds with the identical repeated “imaginative and prescient” sequence happening again and again. It will get just a little too determined for these soar scares.
Its story can be that typical hipster-esque, artsy-fartsy try-hard story that folks will love simply because it’s the cool factor to find it irresistible – even when they haven’t any clue what the hell is happening within the sport. But the place Alan Wake 2 succeeds is in delivering a sturdy sequel that we now have been ready for.
This Alan Wake 2 evaluate is predicated on the PC model of the sport. Alan Wake 2 releases on 27 October for PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC. You can decide it up beginning at R794.
Summary
Alan Wake 2 is a visible and technical showcase that brings some recent concepts and mechanics to the sequence. Some evolve into enjoyable actions whereas others get repetitive. The sport can be marred by some awkward live-action sequences that really feel misplaced. But there’s little doubt a charming horror to get pleasure from underneath the floor. It is the strangest sport you’ll play this yr in all the perfect methods.
