“It feels amazing.” Those were the words that Remedy Entertainment Creative Director Sam Lake used to describe his emotions now thatAlan Wake 2is a little over a month away from release. It has been a 13-year journey for Lake and Remedy Entertainment, and in that time there have been plenty of false starts, dashed hopes, and crossovers to keep the spirit ofAlan Wakealive but only a few years ago did a proper sequel become a reality. Now that sequel is (almost) here and we have played it.
As part of a hands-on preview for media, Game Rant was able to play two sections fromAlan Wake 2. With the sequel featuring dual protagonists Alan Wake and Saga Anderson, it only felt appropriate that players get the chance to control each and to see what their gameplay sections bring to the table. While there are some fundamental similarities between the way that Alan and Saga’s sections play, as well as some narrative connections, each character has a pretty distinct setup.
TheSaga Anderson portionof the demo featured the FBI agent arriving in the town of Watery, which is stylistically similar to nearby Bright Falls. Saga is on the trail of the Cult of the Tree and looking for clues that might unravel the mystery in front of her. However, as Saga digs deeper into the case, she finds that her connections to Bright Falls, Watery, and the Cult are more than she initially realizes. Without giving anything away, the demo set up the right amount of intrigue to ensure that Saga’s portions of the game aren’t playing second fiddle to Alan’s.
AlthoughAlan Wake 2is a third-person shooter like its predecessors,Remedy has opted for a survival horror approachthis time around. Enemies are less prevalent, as Saga explores Watery’s flooded forest area and nearby theme park, and anytime one or a few appear the tension cranks to 11. The light mechanic where the character must boost her flashlight at an enemy to make them vulnerable and then lay into them with bullets is still present, but the combat encounters are less about laying waste to a horde of foes and more about surviving one or two imposing threats. It’s not a one-to-one comparison, but there are definite similarities in the wayAlan Wake 2andResident Evilapproach its combat encounters.
Alan Wake 2’s third-person mechanics are as refined as ever and the game feels great to play. The exploration, puzzle-solving, and combat offered a nice variety in the preview, ensuring that there was time to take a breather before the unease started creeping back in. Remedy has done an incredible job of creating a sense of place with the town of Watery and the production design is top-notch. Facial animations are stunning, especially on Saga and Alan, and there are so many cool details in the world that make it feel lived-in. Similarly, sound design is sparse but that allows for any little noise to draw attention to itself and, by extension, building the ever-important tension of survival horror.
It may not be a puzzle game butAlan Wake 2presents some obstacles that require more thinking than the average game might. The player will need to pay attention to their surroundings and any available clues to progress, but it never felt like the game was talking down to us. Saga is a detective, after all, so deduction is a key part of the experience.
Nowhere is that idea more apparent than inSaga’s Mind Place, which is where she can look at her case board to find new objectives, place clues and draw connections between them, and also profile subjects by asking them questions as a sort of paranormal interrogator. It’s a sophisticated way of showing how Saga is drawing conclusions and deducing where to go next, but most importantly it gives players agency in what’s going on. They are placing the clues on the board and finding connections, not just watching Saga figure it out.
Saga’s section feels more in line with what players would expect from anAlan Wakesequel both in its setting and its gameplay. The subtle hints of a larger mystery are present in every conversation, the gameplay is frenetic and visceral, and the world-building is first class. Even without seeing what the Alan Wake sections have to offer, this was all the tease we needed to be assured Remedy is on the right track.
But then the Alan Wake sections take everything fans think they know about this series and flip them on their head. These sections lean heavily into Alan Wake’s profession as a writer and allow him to “rewrite” the world around him to progress. This concept of rewriting the narrative manifests in two key ways: Alan’s Writers Room and the Light stealing mechanic.
Alan’s Writers Room is like Saga’s Mind Place in that it allows him to gather his thoughts about the story thus far and try to deduce the next steps. However, it has the added wrinkle of allowing Alan to take an environment and rewrite it to look completely different. As he learns more about the story he is seemingly trapped in, Alan can jump between different versions of the environment – in the preview’s case, a hotel floor – to find pathways forward and clues to lead him to the next plot point. There are also echoes present in the world that Alan must align by finding the right perspective, and which will also change the environment around Alan.
In a similar fashion,Alan has access to an Angel Lampthat can pull light out of a source and transform certain parts of the environment. For example, a door might lead to one place with an active light source above it, but if Alan uses his Angel Lamp to absorb that light from an overhead lamp, the door will lead to somewhere completely different. Grabbing the light and putting it in different places is yet another way that Alan can write and then rewrite the world around him, and for the game, it presents a really cool puzzle-solving premise. It’s not so simple as taking the light and moving forward, though; the preview showed us that Remedy wants players to have their thinking caps on at all times.
Alan’s section was more psychological horror in its construction, and undeniably inspired by Kubrick, but it was not devoid of combat. Where Saga’s enemies are like possessed humans who lose chunks of flesh as she pelts them with gunfire, Alan’s foes are more like shadows. The light boosting mechanic is still key to weakening the enemies, but their movements were more erratic and their design more ethereal. Again, gunplay is deliberate and tense with that trademark dodge mechanic that is extremely satisfying to pull off.
While the Saga section felt more like signatureAlan Wake, the Alan section is a lot harder to describe but equally compelling. WithRemedy splitting the game 50/50between the two characters, the developers knew they needed to give a nice balance to the gameplay where it becomes a hard choice to decide who to play as next. In that vein, the preview made it difficult to say which section was our favorite. Saga has that signatureAlan Wakefeel and the choice to lean towards survival horror works well for the setting and story. At the same time, Alan’s section is so bizarre that it’s impossible not to want to know more.
Luckily,Alan Wake 2players can approach the game however they like and if the preview is any indication, they will be satisfied either way. Sam Lake might feel relief with the finish line in his sights, but he also acknowledges that the 13-year wait allowedAlan Wake 2to evolve into what it is now. The technology and the creative experience gainedworking on games likeQuantum BreakandControlmade Alan Wake 2 a better game. And if this preview is any indication, this could be Remedy Entertainment’s best game yet.
Alan Wake 2
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A string of ritualistic murders threatens Bright Falls, a small-town community surrounded by Pacific Northwest wilderness. Saga Anderson, an accomplished FBI agent with a reputation for solving impossible cases arrives to investigate the murders. Anderson’s case spirals into a nightmare when she discovers pages of a horror story that starts to come true around her.Alan Wake, a lost writer trapped in a nightmare beyond our world, writes a dark story in an attempt to shape the reality around him and escape his prison. With a dark horror hunting him, Wake is trying to retain his sanity and beat the devil at his own game.Anderson and Wake are two heroes on two desperate journeys in two separate realities, connected at heart in ways neither of them can understand: reflecting each other, echoing each other, and affecting the worlds around them.Fueled by the horror story, supernatural darkness invades Bright Falls, corrupting the locals and threatening the loved ones of both Anderson and Wake. Light is their weapon—and their safe haven — against the darkness they face. Trapped in a sinister horror story where there are only victims and monsters, can they break out to be the heroes they need to be?
