Alan Wake 2 confirms Remedy always manages to catch me off-guard and delight me with whatever genre-breaking game they come up with. It's a monumental piece of game design, and although the story is somewhat nonsensical at points, the near perfect storytelling and tone-setting more than makes up for it.
AW2 is a little different from traditional horror stories, being half detective game and half noir thriller fever dream, with archetypal characters that help contrast how bonkers the story is at times.
I've always said that any work of horror is only good if you're still interested after you've stopped being scared. And any time AW2 isn't a moody and scary horror game, it's either: pondering how media and art takes form in the real world through Alan's chapters; a goosebump-inducing late-night talk show; reflecting on the struggles of creatives and the rewriting process that art demands; a weird but fitting collection of cheap, local in-universe TV commercials; contemplating on what authors owe their readers and how they themselves complete the work of fiction; a memoir or a concept pop album. Because of Remedy's deep understanding of mixed-genre works, and their interest in expressing how media and communication shapes both ourselves and the world around us, I was almost never disengaged from Alan Wake 2's metaphor-filled, surprisingly dense storytelling.
Even in spite of the story being as far up itself as Control's, its so full of its own energy and unwillingness to compromise on a very weird vision that stands out from anything else I've played this year that I can't fault it; rather, as with SCP articles and Lovecraftian horror, I love it so much more for it. I love it for how creative and unusual its vision for game and visual design is, and I love it for how much personality and genuine excitement for the genre it both shows and instills.
It's also deeply interesting to me, and a marvel of game design. From the visual and sound design that combine to form the ambiance present on the streets, hotels, late-night studios and subway stations of Alan's chapter's to the spiraling forests of Saga's chapters, everything is so well put together, in addition to the fantastic implementation of live-action pieces in gameplay, that I cannot but be in awe at the attention to detail Remedy puts in. Just like in Control, the performances are also engaging and convincing, and help every moment come together in the perfectly bizarre reality constructed in every chapter.
I deeply love Alan Wake 2. Not because of it's passable exploration or mediocre combat, but because it truly, proudly symbolizes a studio's love for the video game format and its belief in what it can achieve and communicate. Just like Outer Wilds and Disco Elysium, two of my favorite titles, it could only exist in an interactive medium, and it was one the video games that made me most excited to be playing them this year.
On that final note, the "We Sing" chapter was the only moment in a videogame this year that felt nearly as enthusiastic as climbing the final tower in Hi-Fi Rush to "Whirring" by Joy Formidable, and that's one of the highest commendations I can give.
AW2 is a little different from traditional horror stories, being half detective game and half noir thriller fever dream, with archetypal characters that help contrast how bonkers the story is at times.
I've always said that any work of horror is only good if you're still interested after you've stopped being scared. And any time AW2 isn't a moody and scary horror game, it's either: pondering how media and art takes form in the real world through Alan's chapters; a goosebump-inducing late-night talk show; reflecting on the struggles of creatives and the rewriting process that art demands; a weird but fitting collection of cheap, local in-universe TV commercials; contemplating on what authors owe their readers and how they themselves complete the work of fiction; a memoir or a concept pop album. Because of Remedy's deep understanding of mixed-genre works, and their interest in expressing how media and communication shapes both ourselves and the world around us, I was almost never disengaged from Alan Wake 2's metaphor-filled, surprisingly dense storytelling.
Even in spite of the story being as far up itself as Control's, its so full of its own energy and unwillingness to compromise on a very weird vision that stands out from anything else I've played this year that I can't fault it; rather, as with SCP articles and Lovecraftian horror, I love it so much more for it. I love it for how creative and unusual its vision for game and visual design is, and I love it for how much personality and genuine excitement for the genre it both shows and instills.
It's also deeply interesting to me, and a marvel of game design. From the visual and sound design that combine to form the ambiance present on the streets, hotels, late-night studios and subway stations of Alan's chapter's to the spiraling forests of Saga's chapters, everything is so well put together, in addition to the fantastic implementation of live-action pieces in gameplay, that I cannot but be in awe at the attention to detail Remedy puts in. Just like in Control, the performances are also engaging and convincing, and help every moment come together in the perfectly bizarre reality constructed in every chapter.
I deeply love Alan Wake 2. Not because of it's passable exploration or mediocre combat, but because it truly, proudly symbolizes a studio's love for the video game format and its belief in what it can achieve and communicate. Just like Outer Wilds and Disco Elysium, two of my favorite titles, it could only exist in an interactive medium, and it was one the video games that made me most excited to be playing them this year.
On that final note, the "We Sing" chapter was the only moment in a videogame this year that felt nearly as enthusiastic as climbing the final tower in Hi-Fi Rush to "Whirring" by Joy Formidable, and that's one of the highest commendations I can give.