If you know the fantastic 2010 game Alan Wake, you’ll also know the words ‘It’s not a lake, it’s an ocean.’ But then again, you probably also don’t know what those words mean. Alan Wake left gamers on a cliffhanger, with many lingering questions about the bizarre story left completely unanswered.
Now, over a decade later, Alan Wake is back to finally answer those questions. But can the video game live up to years of hype and anticipation? Let’s find out.
It’s Not Lake, It’s An Ocean
In the original Alan Wake, you take on the role of the titular horror author. You and your wife head to a lake-side retreat, hoping to assist with writer’s block. But, as it turns out, the picturesque lake is more than just a body of water. Apparently, it’s also a doorway to a dark, mysterious dimension of monsters. As you, Alan Wake, attempt to write a horror novel, the lake makes the fictional horrors in your writing a reality.
If the plot sounds strange, bordering on bizarre, that’s because it is. Alan Wake is the work of classic studio Remedy, and as much as Remedy is known for excellent games, it’s also known for trademark mind-bending brain-melting narratives.
2010’s Alan Wake ends with the author jumping into the lake, hoping to find his wife. Upon entering the water Alan remarks ‘It’s not a lake, it’s an ocean.’
Inside The Ocean
Alan Wake 2 more or less picks up where the first left off. Now stuck in the lake, Alan finds himself residing in an ethereal wooden cabin. Anything he writes in the cabin, using his trusty old-fashioned typewriter, becomes a reality he can explore. Can he use this bizarre new power to find his wife, and find a way out the lake?
The second character you’ll play as in Alan Wake 2 is Saga. Saga is a detective in the real world, investigating mysterious murders occurring in the woods around the lake. As Saga you’ll see Wake’s bizarre story unfolding from an outside perspective, using her mysterious powers of deduction to make sense of seemingly paranormal occurrences.
Of course, the separate stories eventually intertwine.
Point And Shoot
With the scene set, you switch between Saga and Alan as the mind-bending story unfolds. Narrative is, above all else, what Alan Wake 2 is all about. The core of the game, in contrast to the first, is primarily progressing a mystery via exploration. The game does still involve combat, but far less than the original.
In 2010, Alan Wake was an action game above all else, focusing on ethereal monsters that feature a weakness to light. You burn monsters with a flashlight, scattering inky black shadows, then shoot them with a variety of weapons. The same mechanics exist in Alan Wake 2, though outright fights are much less frequent. Instead, each fight is significantly more intense, with enemies taking far more bullets to kill.
As Thick As Black Ink
Alan Wake 2 is a new direction for Remedy. As the studio that brought gamers the classic Max Payne, and the more recent Control, it’s clear that the developer is most comfortable with bullet-spraying action. That Alan Wake 2 largely steps away from hard-core action is, clearly, an attempt by the studio to push into new avenues of game development. But does Remedy succeed in focusing on story, rather than blazing guns?
The answer is that, yes, Remedy succeeds in making Alan Wake 2 an intriguing visual novel. The team knows what they’re doing when it comes to telling a good story; lest we forget a big part of Max Payne is the detective noir tale. Though, in the case of Alan Wake the story is much less noir and far more outright horror.
Get ready for dark woods, spooky city streets, and creepy log cabins. The atmosphere of Alan Wake 2 is thick enough to cut with a knife, and it likely won’t take long for you to start jumping at every shadow. In fact, you’ll probably want to take a break after a few hours, perhaps to spin a few reels at Jumba Bet. Just to get your heart rate back to normal.
A Growing Universe
Control, releasing in 2019, sees you take on the role of Jesse. Jesse is thrust into the role of leader at the Federal Bureau of Control (FBC,) an organisation responsible for keeping paranormal forces at bay. Even Jesse herself is rather supernatural, capable of fighting on the level of a near Godlike entity.
If you know anything about the lore in Control, you’ll know that Alan Wake takes place in the same growing video game universe. The games are directly linked, with numerous mentions of Alan Wake in Control, and many mentions of the FBC in Alan Wake.
The stories fit together very well, and at this point it seems as if Remedy is firmly leaning into creating their own video game franchise. There isn’t any word on a Control 2 or Alan Wake 3 just yet, but chances are gamers will jump back into the Remedy-Verse in the near future.
Well Worth The Wait
Alan Wake 2 is visually spectacular, thoroughly entertaining, and deeply intriguing. The game might not live up to expectations if you’re anticipating action above all else, but you’re sure to enjoy yourself if you go in knowing what to expect.
To put it in a nutshell, Alan Wake 2 is a prime example that story-driven single-player games are very much alive in the video game industry of today. While other studios lean ever more into live services and greedy microtransactions, it’s good to know that Remedy still banks on a gaming experience that puts the player first.
If you haven’t yet put any time into Alan Wake 1, now is the time to do so. Play it through, grab a copy of the sequel, and let yourself disappear into a gaming universe unlike any other. You can also check out some of the other great games available in 2023 now.
