Alan Wake 2 review: The alternate draft (2024)

GameCentral offers an alternate take on Alan Wake 2, from a fan of the original, and explores why the game doesn’t work for everyone.

Alan Wake 2 is, in many ways, a triumph of love and persistence over adversity – a theme mirrored by the game itself. For years, Finish studio Remedy lacked the rights to the franchise, which was originally published by Microsoft, as well as the funds to develop a sequel.

Yet, two console generations later, Alan Wake 2 has emerged from the murky depths of creator Sam Lake’s mind to deliver what feels like a culmination of Remedy’s work over the last decade-and-a-bit.

When the game first released back in November, the official GameCentral review gave it a merely serviceable 6/10 score and criticised it for being both ‘slow and fiddly’ and ‘a survival horror without any actual horror’ – a stark contrast to many other reviews, which considered it one of the best games of the year.

But Metro isn’t a monolith, and not all of us here agree with that score. So I’m here, back at the typewriter, to offer a second opinion on this long-awaited sequel and to explain why I think it was worth the wait.

If the 2010 title drew heavily on Twin Peaks and the works of Stephen King, the 2023 sequel tosses those elements into a blender with the likes of Resident Evil 4 and a splash of True Detective, to give us something less pulpy and more in the vein of a survival horror title. This shift in tone feels much more thematically aligned with the franchise’s narrative and makes the original look almost schlocky by comparison.

Given the inspiration, Remedy is unfortunate to have released Alan Wake 2 in the same year as Capcom’s Resident Evil 4 remake – a title that took what was arguably one of the best games of all time and further elevated its gunplay and mechanics. Moving from Resident Evil 4 to Alan Wake 2, you’re struck by the comparative shallowness of both combat and enemy variety.

Leon S. Kennedy’s skill-set always feels like it provides you with three or four options when approaching any combat situation, while Saga – and particularly Alan’s – arsenal feels remarkably basic by comparison, with only a handful of guns and enemies on offer.

This is a shame, because Remedy can do combat: they pioneered ‘bullet time’ with the Max Payne series back in 2001, and more recent titles such as Control and Quantum Break show that the studio is still able to incorporate interesting mechanics into combat to produce slick, frenetic action. So it’s surprising not to have seen these design traits better utilised in Alan Wake 2, particularly in Alan’s portions of the game, where reality – and therefore gameplay mechanics – are a lot more malleable.

It’s here that I’m very much in sync with our original review; it’s one of the game’s weaker elements and something Remedy would have benefited from going back to the drawing board on mechanically.

Thankfully, the gunplay that is present feels deliciously crunchy. Shotguns shred through Taken with a satisfying roar and hand flares burn away darkness with real visual punch. Each encounter is satisfying and the strength of individual enemies, dashing out at you from the darkness with a burst of prosaic rambling, prevent you from becoming too complacent, even on New Game+ runs.

Ultimately, however, most gamers picking up Alan Wake 2 aren’t here for the gunplay – they’re here for the story, which is where the game really shines (no pun intended). The title’s darker tone lends the narrative an added gravitas compared to its predecessor, and allows the game to wallow in its quieter moments in a way the first title couldn’t.

The game’s setting; ranging from dank, mist-ridden backwoods to shabby New York streets drenched in an eldritch green, maintains a constant air of menace. If you’re looking for an outright horror title in the vein of Silent Hill 2, this isn’t that – that much our original review was correct about.

Alan Wake 2 is sinister, rather than scary. But the impressive volumetric lighting, probably the best seen on consoles since Red Dead Redemption 2, makes the night and fog that the game leans on feel genuinely oppressive and this darkness, particularly during Alan’s portions of the game, creates a sense of real threat, forcing you to take things slow.

This has the added bonus of allowing you to drink in Remedy’s world-building. Much like Control before it, this is a game rich with environmental storytelling. Every inch of the Dark Place is quite literally etched with narrative, and Remedy’s Finnish-infused take on small town Washington feels intricately crafted, from the old retirees relaxing post-sauna to mocha pot table lamps casually dotted around dusty village halls.

Even with this in mind, it’s hard to delve too deep into the story of Alan Wake 2; since it makes little sense without context and because it risks spoilers. However, what can be said is that the title does an excellent job of dealing with the delay between the two titles, utilising the time jump as a key factor in its narrative.

To further complicate matters, the game artfully borrows from the likes of Murakami’s Hard-Boiled Wonderland And The End of the World by employing a structure of parallel narratives, allowing the player to experience Alan and Saga’s stories in whichever order they’d like. The two lines do eventually converge but choosing whether to chop and change your playthrough (which I’d recommend) or to run one whole ‘book’ followed by another, will tinge your perspective of the narrative in an interesting way.

And, much like its narrative, Alan Wake 2 is a game that loops around and around in your mind, revealing more and more of itself with each passthrough – another small reference, another blink-and-you’ll-miss-it-detail, another offhand remark with hidden weight. It’s a title that plays with your expectations, repeatedly setting up plot arcs that it quickly knocks down, from The Cult of the Tree’s apparent significance to the third act’s sudden handbrake turn after setting up what seemed like an otherwise predictable conclusion.

Here, again, I break from our original review, as in my view what may seem like jarring elements of the game’s writing – Alex Casey’s melodramatic persona or Alan’s flowery and reductive writing – are intentional riffs designed to blur the line between text and reality, and frame the uncertainty at the heart of the plot.

It’s a game that’s deeply referential, almost to a fault, and one that demands you experience Remedy’s entire back catalogue to fully appreciate it. After all, this is a game where key layers of its narrative only make sense if you’ve delved deep into the DLC of Control and the first Alan Wake.

That might be enough to turn a lot of gamers off, but for those that have played past Remedy titles, each little detail feels like another puzzle piece falling into place, while still dodging the bare-faced nudge and a wink we increasingly see from franchise productions.

This is perhaps why initial sales figures, if recent leaks are to be believed, seem disappointing. That lack of approachability, combined with the questionable decision to go digital-only, has likely had an impact on the game’s reach and sales.

Yet, Remedy’s games have always tended to be slow burns. Control took just over three years to rack up 3 million units sold. And, much like Control, the various awards the title has picked up since its release will no doubt have boosted Alan Wake 2’s visibility.

So too will, I suspect, an inevitable Game of the Year physical release next year. It’s a game not everyone will love – as GameCentral can testify to – but many will find something unique and worthwhile in it.

This is a game that feels unafraid to take creative risks with both its genre and its themes; to play with interesting ideas and unsatisfying ends. It’s a title that feels like there’s real love behind it: a true passion project for a studio that waited a decade to return to Bright Falls, and a triumph of delivery for a creator that, so long ago, promised us not just a lake, but an ocean.

In Short: Alan Wake 2 sticks the landing on what was an unsightly task; returning to the narrative of a cult classic while deftly grafting it to Remedy’s new, expanded universe, and still finding time for plenty of risk-taking.

Pros: Fantastic art direction and visual design, making it easily one of the best-looking games of this generation. A tight, multi-layered story that rewards the more you invest in it.

Cons: Slightly simplistic combat and a narrative that requires a far bit of prep work, and re-reading, to fully enjoy.

Score: 9/10

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