Summary
The survival horror genre has had quite the storied history in the video game ecosphere. Widely considered to be pioneered by1989’sSweet Home, the survival horror genrequickly became a staple of the 1990s video game landscape, withAlone in the Darkfollowing soon after in 1992, andResident Eviltruly popularizing the genre in 1996. And while the survival horror genre has remained fairly popular for the last two decades, it’s definitely seen a sizable resurgence in recent years, largely thanks to games likeThe Evil Withinand theResident Evilremakes. And now,Alan Wake 2is the latest to fully embrace the survival horror genre.
The firstAlan Wakewas an action-thriller that while had plenty of horror elements, was first and foremost an action game that never really saw players run out of ammo or healing supplies.Alan Wake 2, however, goes all in on survival horror, and by all accounts that was the best decision the sequel could have ever made, feeling like the perfect fit for the sequel’s darker story and tone. But withAlan Wake 2being such a great example of a modern survival horror, it sets quite the high bar forthe nextResident Evilremake.
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Alan Wake 2 Wears its Resident Evil Inspirations on its Sleeve
WhileAlan Wake 2is an incredibly innovative game in a good number of ways, Remedy isn’t shy of citing its influences, andResident Evilseems to be one of the game’s biggest. Though just about every modern survival horror game technically owes much of its inherent design totheResident Evilseries, that’s especially true forAlan Wake 2, which wears itsREinspirations on its sleeve.
The most obvious point of inspiration is inAlan Wake 2’s general gameplay, which sees the game adopt a third-person, over-the-shoulder camera angle, almost identical to the recentResident Evilremakes. Then there’s a slight emphasis on inventory management, and a strong importance placed on conserving ammunition and consumables as much as possible, though that’s just scratching the surface.
Alan Wake 2 Sets a High Bar for the Next Resident Evil
Alan Wake 2 is a Truly Next-Gen Horror Game
In the process of borrowing some ofResident Evil’s best bits,Alan Wake 2has surpassed its source of inspiration in a few big ways, and has thus set a very high bar for the next entry in Capcom’s survival horror franchise. One of the biggest ways in whichAlan Wake 2has done this is by being a truly next-gen horror game, which is still fairly rare. While the recentResident Evil 4 Remakehad some great visuals, and ran very smoothly across platforms, it doesn’t quite match the same level of fidelity thatAlan Wake 2delivers. Similarly,Alan Wake 2delivers some truly impressive set pieces, most of which include some kind of mind-bending reality shift that completely changes the player’s environment instantly, with no loading screen.
Alan Wake 2 Has Some Great Puzzles
Puzzles have always been a core part ofResident Evil’s gameplay loop, and whileResident Evil 4 Remakehad some solid puzzles of its own, they weren’t really all that complex and required very little thought on the player’s part.Alan Wake 2definitely took inspiration fromResident Evilwhen it came to creating its own puzzles, but again, it’s managed to surpass recentResident Eviltitles in this department by offering some pretty tough brainteasers.
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?
