Alan Wake II

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Alan Wake II
File:Alan Wake 2 box art.jpg
Developer(s) Remedy Entertainment
Publisher(s) Epic Games Publishing
Director(s)
Writer(s) Sam Lake
Composer(s) Petri Alanko
Engine Northlight Engine
Platforms
Release date(s) 27 October 2023
Genre(s) Survival horror
Mode(s) Single-player

Alan Wake II is a survival horror game developed by Remedy Entertainment and published by Epic Games Publishing. A sequel to Alan Wake, the story follows best-selling thriller novelist Alan Wake, who has been trapped in an alternate dimension for 13 years, as he attempts to escape by writing a horror story involving an FBI agent named Saga Anderson. The game was released for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on 27 October 2023.

Gameplay

File:Alan Wake 2 screenshot.jpg
The player, as Saga, fights an enemy using a pistol and a flashlight. The ammo counter and flashlight meter are visible at the bottom right.

Compared to the first Alan Wake game, which was an action adventure game with horror themes, Alan Wake II is a survival horror game played from a third-person perspective. Players play as Alan Wake or Saga Anderson in two separate single-player stories, which can be played in any order the player chooses; although the opening sequence and ending sequence of the game can only be played as Saga and as Alan, respectively.[1][2]

Wake and Anderson traverse environments and fight enemies using various firearms and a flashlight, the latter of which can be "focused" to render enemies vulnerable to firearm attacks. Focusing the flashlight drains its battery, and players need to strategically use a limited amount of batteries and ammunition in order to survive. When enemies are close, Alan or Saga can perform a dodge maneuver.[3]

Alan Wake II incorporates detective elements: when playing as Saga, players can always pause the gameplay to access an enemy-free space dubbed the "Mind Place".[3] Described by Remedy as a "3D menu", the Mind Place is a visual representation of Saga's thoughts. In the Mind Place, players manage a pin board in which they can connect clues to piece together the main mystery, as well as profile characters to gather clues.[2]

A returning element from Alan Wake is manuscript pages: players find pages of a manuscript that foreshadow upcoming events in the story. Unlike the previous game, Alan Wake II features a dialogue tree system.[2]

Premise

13 years after bestselling thriller writer Alan Wake went missing, a string of ritualistic murders occur in the town of Bright Falls, Washington. Saga Anderson, an FBI agent, is sent to Bright Falls to investigate the killings, where she finds herself tangled in a supernatural horror story written by Wake, in order to escape from his captivity.[1]

Development

Remedy Entertainment released Alan Wake in 2010. Remedy learned from their lessons working on Max Payne and wrote Alan Wake in a way that allows additional story to be told through sequels and additional installments. The team quickly began to discuss sequel ideas after Alan Wake was shipped. The sequel would continue to star Alan Wake as the protagonist, but it would also explore the stories of the supporting characters including Wake's friend Barry Wheeler and Sheriff Sarah Breaker. A prototype was created to show off the gameplay of Alan Wake 2 when the studio was showing the game to potential publishers. New enemies and new gameplay mechanics, such as being able to rewrite reality, was showcased in the prototype. Narratively, it will be a direct continuation of Alan Wake. Ultimately, Remedy pitched the project to Alan Wake publisher Microsoft Studios. Microsoft, however, at the time was not interested in a sequel and instead, tasked Remedy to create something new. This ultimately became Quantum Break, which was released in 2016. Most of the ideas for Alan Wake 2 were implemented in American Nightmare, a downloadable follow-up for the original Alan Wake game.[4]

When Quantum Break was announced, Sam Lake explained that a sequel to Alan Wake had been postponed, and that Alan Wake was not financially successful enough to receive the funding they needed to continue developing the sequel at the time.[5] Director of communications Thomas Puha stated in April 2019 that Remedy had briefly returned to work on an Alan Wake property about two years prior, but the effort did not work out, and the company is presently booked for the next few years, between their own new game Control, supporting Smilegate on its game CrossfireX, and another new project. Puha said that the only limited factor for them to work on an Alan Wake sequel was "time, money, and resources".[6] Despite that, Lake continued to be part of a team in Remedy to brainstorm ideas and work on different incarnations for Alan Wake II. Internally, the project was code-named "Project Big Fish", which represented its importance and significance to Remedy.[7] In the second downloadable content pack for Control, Remedy's next game following Quantum Break, Alan Wake was featured as a character. According to Remedy, Control established the "Remedy Connected Universe" which is shared by both Control and Alan Wake, and that the next game released by the studio will also be set on this universe.[8]

According to Sam Lake, the game will be powered by Remedy's own Northlight Engine, which previously powered Quantum Break and Control. Lake also stated that Alan Wake II will be a survival horror game, as opposed to Alan Wake, which Lake said was "an action game with horror elements", though he did not explain the difference between the two. Lake further added that players will not need to play the previous games in order to understand Alan Wake II.[7] Remedy confirmed the game would remain in the third-person perspective despite the switch to survival horror, and that both Ilkka Villi and Matthew Porretta would return to provide the appearance and the voice of Alan, respectively.[9]

Overall budget for the game reportedly stands at €70 million, with €50 million in development and an additional €20 million spent on marketing.[10] This is considered to make the game one of the most expensive cultural products in the history of Finland.[11]

Release

In July 2018, Remedy CEO Tero Virtala stated that any further sequels to Alan Wake would require Microsoft Studios' approval as the publishing rights holder, though Remedy otherwise owns all other IP rights to the series.[12] In July 2019, Remedy fully acquired the rights to Alan Wake from Microsoft, including a one-time royalty payment of about €2.5 million for the game series' past sales, which helped pave the way for a sequel.[13]

In 2020, it was announced that Remedy had signed with Epic Games Publishing for the release of two games. Remedy released Alan Wake Remastered in October 2021 as the first game of this partnership,[14] while the triple-A game was revealed to be Alan Wake II when the game was officially announced at the Game Awards 2021.[15] Free downloadable content packs and two paid expansion, titled Night Springs and Lake House, will be released after the game's initial launch.[16]

In May 2023, it was announced that Alan Wake II would be a digital-only release, with Remedy rationalizing that many players had already shifted to only buying games digitally, so they wanted to ensure the game maintains a low price, and they didn't want it to require a separate download even if a physical version was released.[17] In August 2023, the release of the game was delayed by ten days to 27 October in order to avoid competition from other games (such as Marvel's Spider-Man 2).[18]

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score
Aggregator Score
Metacritic (PC) 92/100[19]
(PS5) 88/100[20]
Review scores
Publication Score
GameSpot 10/10[22]
GamesRadar 5/5 stars[23]
IGN 9/10[24]

Alan Wake II received "universal acclaim" for the PC version from critics, while the PS5 version received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator website Metacritic.[19][20] 90% of critics recommended the game on OpenCritic.[21]

Andrew Farrell of PCGamesN in his Alan Wake II review awarded the game 9 out of 10 saying, "Alan Wake 2 is a marvel, serving up intense gameplay, a twisty, dark story, and more secrets and surprises than you could possibly imagine. Remedy has outdone itself here, delivering a truly remarkable experience."[25]

References

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  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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