SPOILER WARNING: Because Alan Wake 2 is a direct continuation of Alan Wake 1, it’s too difficult to comment on the story of Alan Wake 2 without spoiling the outcome of Alan Wake 1.
Consider yourself warned!
When I heard that Control was getting a sequel, I decided that I needed to play Alan Wake, so I played the first game earlier this year, and now I have also completed the second game.
The first game ended with Alan getting swallowed by the dark presence in the lake, trading his life for Alice’s. The second game begins 13 years after the events of the first one. Alan has been stuck in the Dark Place for a long time, trying to find a way out.
The story is very good and very very dark, but I think it is impossible to follow if you haven’t played the first game. So before playing this game you need to play or watch a play through of the first game.
The game starts with you playing as Saga Andersson, FBI agent, arriving at Bright Falls to investigate a murder. Immediately when I walk the streets of Bright Falls in daylight, a creepy feeling runs through my spine. It’s like remembering a nightmare that you’ve had, and that is so good.
The story this time has two main characters, Alan and Saga, and you play their chapters independently to bring the story together. Saga is trying to make sense of all the weirdness going on in Bright Falls, and Alan is trying to get out of the Dark Place.
The story is this game’s strongest part. I like how it is told through these two characters, and I really enjoy the FMV aspects of the story telling. It makes the characters much more real. I also enjoy the humor of it, and returning characters from Alan Wake 1 but also from Control. If you like well told stories in video games, then this one you shouldn’t miss.
The game play has improved much since Alan Wake 1 which was very much an action/horror game. Here I think Alan Wake 2 has improved a lot by dropping the action part and focusing on the horror. Sure, you still have a gun and a flashlight, you still have to fight shadows, but not at all to the extent of Alan Wake 1. Here the focus is on the story and keeping it creepy – not surviving waves of enemies. There are only a few action focused parts of this game, that I think the game could’ve done without.
The game make things very hard for itself sometimes. It introduces these loops, where you do the same game play over and over again to try to break the loop. It might be a thematically good horror idea, but as a gameplay mechanic it’s not very fun. I don’t want to be stuck in a loop going round and round. I wish they could’ve found another way to represent this element of the story. Also the chase sequences are not particularly fun.
This is the second game this year I’ve played where the music plays an important part. Every chapter ends with a song, and that song can both summarize what the chapter was trying to tell you, or hinting on what is next to come. I really enjoyed the musical elements of the game and I think it fits really well into the story.
To summarize it, if you like story driven games this is as good as it gets. You might have to overlook some of the gameplay but it is worth it. I’ve bought the DLC’s and are going to play them as well.
I rate this game as GREAT.
Replay 