'Alan Wake 2': A New Nightmare Video Game for Horror Fans

2023-10-31 23:00:00

Players’ prayers have been answered: Alan Wake is finally back. And this time, the famous novelist is entitled to even more gloomy and anxiety-inducing adventures than at the time.

He made us languish, this Alan Wake, waiting more than 10 years before making his comeback on our consoles. Certainly, a remastered version of his first investigation was launched in 2021, but the result – although very appreciable – was in no way substantial enough to satisfy fans.

In short, we were waiting for it. Not only because its plots are as dark and morbid as possible, but also because they are full of references and nods to the works of masters in the field, including Alfred Hitchcock, Stephen King, Bret Easton. Ellis or even Neil Gaiman. And it all fits together organically to create rich, complex and satisfying stories.

Murderous sect

But who is Alan Wake? We met the author of horror novels in 2010, when he was suffering from blank page syndrome. Trailed to Bright Falls – a fictional, remote suburb of Washington state – by his wife, our hero ended up lost in the Dark Maw, a nightmarish parallel dimension camouflaged beneath the local lake.

Prisoner of this dark and gloomy place for 13 years, Alan Wake sees his name resurface when a series of murders likely committed by a local cult attracts the attention of the FBI. Because agent Saga Anderson, dispatched to the scene, will find, scattered around the crime scenes, handwritten pages written by Alan Wake. And the actions described in these lines will soon come to life around her.

The plot ofAlan Wake 2 thus unfolds in two parallel universes; in one, Saga Anderson attempts to carry out her investigation while learning to be wary of the gray areas where threatening and murderous creatures lurk. To do this, she will be able to take refuge in a “mental palace” – a room set up in the back of her mind – to analyze the clues collected and profile the different suspects encountered in order to draw various deductions.

Courtesy photo

New mechanics

In the second, it is Alan Wake that the player takes control of to navigate the corners of the Black Den in search of an exit to return to the very real world, far from the shadows. But the road will, obviously, be strewn with pitfalls and dark faces that we will have to fight to progress.

This new duality injects a good dose of novelty for this new chapter, offering the player different approaches for each of the characters. In the skin of Saga Anderson, we find manipulations and controls frankly similar to the first Alan Wake, both in the handling of the flashlight and the weapons and articles of the first.

But it is when we take control of the writer that we notice the different mechanics put in place for Alan Wake’s journey. It is now capable of storing sources of light and releasing them at different key locations, transforming the environment and revealing entirely new avenues. A great way to energize this sequel, without straying too far from already established benchmarks.

If the combat sequences are more fluid than before, they remain in some way the only slight downside that we can find in Alan Wake 2. But it’s fair game since, like its predecessor, this game places more emphasis on investigation and atmosphere. And at this level, it excels in afflicting the player with an oppressive, anxiolytic and suffocating feeling through its morbid images, its particularly macabre environment and its devilishly gripping plot.

We therefore do not necessarily emerge unscathed from this Alan Wake 2. And that’s what makes it such a resounding success.