This review contains spoilers
Something that makes Alan Wake 2 so unsettling and upsetting is the characters’ constant denial of “reality”. Whether it’s Saga denying her child’s death or Alan denying his inner darkness, the characters repeatedly assert that no, everyone else is being brainwashed and I have the only grip on reality.
I feel like I personally relate to the struggles that they go through, as I am terrified that the “reality” I have constructed in my head is completely false, and that I am always misconstruing the intentions of everyone I interact with. I also have a resentment against people in my life that demand that my life has to be a certain way, that I am expected to conform to a path in life that is deemed “normal” by society. It makes me feel like I have no control over my life choices. Unfortunately, sometimes I wonder, maybe those people are right. Maybe I shouldn’t be allowed to make my own choices. Maybe I should just conform to what everyone else expects of me. And that terrifies me.
The highlight of the game for me is when Saga is trapped in her mind palace after she falls into the Dark Place. At first, the mind palace is a simple but neat concept for a video game to deliver exposition. But then at this point of the game the mind palace becomes actively hostile against Saga. It presents her evidence that she is incompetent, insane, and a horrible mother. Her own mind is weaponizing her own anxieties and insecurities to try and convince her that she is a terrible human being; that she is out of her mind (something I and many other people can relate to).
But Saga fights. She refuses to let others control her own narrative. She recognizes her flaws as what they simply are: flaws. They are what make us human. Obviously she can’t completely overcome her anxieties, but she can learn from her mistakes and become a better person. And best of all, that is her choice to make. It’s her life and she isn’t going to let anyone else determine her outcome. That is just pure catharsis for me.
The fact that this game can make me feel this way while also have me fist-pumping and screaming “HELL YES!!!” during the two big Old Gods of Asgard sections is a monumental achievement. Not only is this easily GOTY of 2023, it’s straight up one of the greatest games I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing.
I feel like I personally relate to the struggles that they go through, as I am terrified that the “reality” I have constructed in my head is completely false, and that I am always misconstruing the intentions of everyone I interact with. I also have a resentment against people in my life that demand that my life has to be a certain way, that I am expected to conform to a path in life that is deemed “normal” by society. It makes me feel like I have no control over my life choices. Unfortunately, sometimes I wonder, maybe those people are right. Maybe I shouldn’t be allowed to make my own choices. Maybe I should just conform to what everyone else expects of me. And that terrifies me.
The highlight of the game for me is when Saga is trapped in her mind palace after she falls into the Dark Place. At first, the mind palace is a simple but neat concept for a video game to deliver exposition. But then at this point of the game the mind palace becomes actively hostile against Saga. It presents her evidence that she is incompetent, insane, and a horrible mother. Her own mind is weaponizing her own anxieties and insecurities to try and convince her that she is a terrible human being; that she is out of her mind (something I and many other people can relate to).
But Saga fights. She refuses to let others control her own narrative. She recognizes her flaws as what they simply are: flaws. They are what make us human. Obviously she can’t completely overcome her anxieties, but she can learn from her mistakes and become a better person. And best of all, that is her choice to make. It’s her life and she isn’t going to let anyone else determine her outcome. That is just pure catharsis for me.
The fact that this game can make me feel this way while also have me fist-pumping and screaming “HELL YES!!!” during the two big Old Gods of Asgard sections is a monumental achievement. Not only is this easily GOTY of 2023, it’s straight up one of the greatest games I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing.