The survival horror game with the best graphics quality to date
Image credit: PlayStation / Sony Interactive Entertainment promotional art.
Source: PlayStation
Summary
- Name of the game: Alan Wake 2
- Launch dateOctober 27, 2023
- DeveloperRemedy Entertainment
- Publisher: Epic Games / Remedy Entertainment
- Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PC
- Genre: Survival horror, action
- ContextSequel to the original Alan Wake, mixing psychological horror, cinematic storytelling and action in a world where darkness comes to life.
History and narrative
The game continues the events 13 years after the events of the first title, where we again have Alan Wake as the main character, but this time accompanied by an FBI agent named Saga Anderson. Both are involved in a supernatural mystery dominated by the dark presence. We know well that its story is complicated to understand.
Now, by having two protagonists, the game presents us with a different proposal within the horror genre, with two stories divided but connected to each other. You can choose which one to play first and, at a certain point, both converge in the same moment of the story: the final act. For the players it is interesting because you can decide whether to advance first with Saga's story or with Alan's. I recommend advancing a part with one protagonist and then move on to the other. I say this because I found Saga's story very good, while Alan's story bored me, mostly because of its gameplay, although both have an interesting mystery.
Alan had been trapped in the dark world and now finds himself in a distorted world set in New York. He lives there in a kind of infinite loop, although later it becomes clear what really happens to him. Every time he tries to change history, things end up turning out worse in reality.
On the other hand, Saga investigates some ritual murders in the town of Bright Falls, committed by the Cult of the Tree, and is involved in a situation very similar to the one Alan experienced when he arrived in that same town, where the dark presence decides to act. The villain, in essence, is once again the dark presence, but now manifesting as a corrupted version of Alan Wake known as Mr. Scratch or Squeak. A relatively amusing name for a villain.
The main idea of the game, for me, is that reality is a story and whoever writes that story dominates reality. The characters are fine, but I really only highlight the main characters; the rest fulfill their function, although it is not very interesting. Everything is very focused on these two characters.
The ending of the game is confusing and unusual. Everything points to the fact that Alan lives trapped in a loop and that everything he does will continue to happen forever. He realizes that to escape he can't write a “happily ever after” like in the stories, because this is a horror story and he must accept his guilt. In the end it is revealed that he actually lives in a spiral, which is different from a loop: it does move forward, but very slowly.
The game ends with a weakened, but not defeated, dark presence. Alan advances in his process, although he does not complete it. Saga survives, but pays the price of accepting his past and present. It is a more open story than the first game, less linear and with less action. Here there is more investigation and deduction, and it focuses much more on the narrative, which as always is well constructed, but also complicated to understand. I found it interesting, although I wouldn't say it was the best story I've seen.
Gameplay
I think this is the weakest point of the game. Just like the first one, its gameplay doesn't convince me. In this installment I felt much less action and more exploration. You can perfectly pass the game skipping almost all the enemies and the title doesn't really encourage combat, which considerably diminishes the perception of terror. You don't feel a constant fear and the enemies seem more like a filler device to give it some excitement, but it doesn't quite pull it off.
Similarly, combat is based on weapons and light, with medicine boxes to heal you, crossbow, shotgun, pistol, flares and so on. Something positive is that you have to manage resources well and explore to discover hidden secrets. Personally, I went pretty straight to the point and didn't stop to fight every enemy I saw, because I couldn't make sense of it.
The puzzles are complex, but I must admit that Saga's mental place is heavy and boring. It's not difficult, but it is tiring. You spend a lot of time placing images with pins to decipher cases. With Alan something similar happens: rewriting small parts of the story or scenes to find which one fits and so moving forward becomes repetitive. These are not bad ideas, but when their implementation is mandatory and constant, they end up becoming tiresome mechanics.
The controls are fine, but they're not used much; you almost always do the same thing, which causes the gameplay to become repetitive quickly, even though the game is relatively short. For players new to the genre it can be tricky to figure out some of the problems, though they are not impossible. The Alan sections are honestly pretty boring, while the Saga sections really make the game stand out.
If you're looking for a game with constant action and terror, this is not your game. The gameplay is still not something for me, but the other elements are good enough to keep you moving forward. In fact, according to PS5 stats, only 22% of players who start it finish it, and this is mainly due to its gameplay.
Graphics and visual design
Graphically, it's one of the best games I've seen to date. The quality is noticeable in all aspects, but what surprised me the most were the animations and facial expressions of the characters, which look very real. The rest of the world is fine, with different art than what we saw in the first game, although the same town and forest are repeated, which makes it feel a bit repetitive.
The forest is very confusing and the design makes it easy to get lost, also because of a map clarity problem. I think the game should have included a minimap; having to enter the main map over and over again becomes annoying. The first game did have it and here it disappears without a clear reason.
The art style is fine, although to be honest, it didn't convey terror to me at any point. It generated more mystery than any other emotion. It doesn't always take monsters to generate fear or discomfort, but on a visual level it didn't produce anything more than curiosity. Still, for a game of its genre, it visually surpasses many other titles. Undoubtedly, this is one of its strongest points.
Sound and music
The soundtrack is good, but it's not the highlight of the game. I consider it a middle ground: neither good nor bad. The composition is ambient, but it goes quite unnoticed and does not always manage to generate tension. The sound effects are well done; you can clearly hear the footsteps, gunshots, enemy attacks and their whispers, although the latter could have more variety of dialogues and not repeat “Wake” constantly.
The voice acting delivers, but again only the leads stand out. The rest of the characters don't get enough screen time to shine. It's not the best you'll hear, but it's not bad either.
Difficulty and accessibility
The overall difficulty is low at the combat level. However, in several moments you won't know what to do, since the instructions are very general. The most complicated thing ends up being figuring out how to advance in the story, which is sometimes frustrating and boring as you wander around aimlessly. As for the enemies, you can ignore them most of the time.
In accessibility, the game includes options such as easy modes to focus only on the story, something that is not so often seen nowadays, as it usually appears only in New Game Plus. In other sections it complies quite well for the year of its release, although to be honest I didn't try many of its functions.
Additional content
The campaign lasts between 15 and 20 hours on a first playthrough, depending on the level of exploration. Still, it can easily be completed in about 5 hours if you avoid enemies and go straight to the objective. For me, replayability is limited; once finished, I didn't see much else interesting to do. Mind you, there is some deep investigation in the side activities, so if you like the detective role, this game might interest you.
Includes expansions such as Night Springs y The Lake House. Personally they haven't appealed enough to me to buy them, but if you loved the game, it's worth giving them a try.
Technical Aspects
In my experience, the technical side of the game was pretty good. I've read that during its release many players reported FPS drops or minor bugs, but I guess by the time I played it most of that had been fixed. I didn't experience any major problems.
The game is well optimized, with fast load times and a virtually instant startup. Overall, I have no major complaints: it feels pretty polished today.
Value for money
At launch it cost around $59.99 USD, and it has enough merits to justify that price. I played it thanks to PS Plus for the month, so for me it was totally worth it. Even so, I recommend buying it on sale, because, although it has an excellent story and graphics, its gameplay is somewhat limited and does not offer secondary content too interesting, at least for my taste. I consider that for about $40 USD or less it would be a better buy.
Trophies / Achievements
- Platinum obtainedNo.
- Percentage of trophies obtained: 73%
- Estimated timeYou can take about 20 to 30 hours.
- Platinum difficulty: 2 out of 10. Really the complicated thing is to get the collectibles, with just a guide you can get it easily since you don't need to play it in its highest difficulty.
Conclusion
Alan Wake 2 is a game that caught me more for its story and visuals than for its gameplay. Narratively it is interesting, ambitious and different, although also confusing and at times heavy. Saga is the character that really keeps the pace of the game, while Alan's sections were boring and repetitive.
Graphically and technically it's outstanding, but the lack of action and combat incentives detracts from the impact of the horror. It's not a game for everyone, but if you like a complex narrative, focused on mystery and investigation, it's worth giving it a chance, especially if you get it on sale. I didn't find it a must-play game as many paint it to be, but it may catch the attention of many and see it differently.
My final rating for Alan Wake 2 is:
3.9/5.0
