Full spoilers ahead:

Alan Wake II is a game that immediatly defies analysis of itself by the player in virtude of the anomalous characteristics of it's main hypersticional plot device, the so-called Cauldron Lake. The plot becomes a surreal, Lynch-esque fight between the characters for control of it's literal narrative that sometimes utilizes real-life actors (and a real-life rock band, no less) in order to mirror this post-modern clusterfucky quest for authorship and the power to tell stories and manifest reality itself into the real, actual, real-life Cult of the Word, the game developers themselves.

This is enthralling storytelling to say the very least.

Remedy's own take of the SCP Mythos, the so called Federal Bureau of Control, is also a very present story backdrop and eventually joins the main plot as the "Twin Peaks-esque plot" develops.

On that note: It has a lot of Twin Peak references. Maybe it even goes a bit too far on them, relying on imagery and main plot points of Twin Peaks. Alan is Cooper, Scratch is Bob and so on and so forth. And even though the story feels a bit too much relying on Lynch to do it's heavy lifting, it is even more unoriginal in gameplay.

Ok, it's not bad. It was just an easy segway into the subject of gameplay: A really good mix of The Last of Us 2 and Resident Evil 2. But some UI elements lack crucial funcionalities. Navigation can also feel kind of wonky, especially in the less urban sections. But it's still a rock solid version of RE2 and TLOU2's gameplay, with it's very own surreal tone of dark, mystical (and yet sci-fi-esque) and downright philosophical.

Best Narrative of the Year, Baldur's Gate 3 be damned.