This write up is going to sound like a lot of glazing and might sound like I'm being abstract or pretentious at points but its just because this game in its storytelling is so unlike any other game I've ever played or seen before. We've played survival horror games before, this isn't dissimilar to a game like Resident Evil 2 Remake. We've seen games use live action before or be flat out TV shows like Quantum Break. Games have delved into the psyche of people before like Psychonauts. But I struggle to think of a game that brings all of these aspects and more together into one singular project, until Alan Wake 2 that is.
This is the kind of game you could go down a rabbit hole discussing and dissecting so to avoid a lot of that, I just want to quickly cover what I think will be the briefest portion and thats actually the gameplay. Its literally just a very solid survival horror, very similar to games like RE2 and the other RE remakes. Its maybe not 100% as tight as those but its like, 90% of the way there personally. The game also has some great music, which has a narrative role, some excellent level design, which has a narrative role, and offers a dual perspective on the story of the game as you switch between Saga and Alan, both playing the same story at different locations, which again has a narrative role. Picking up a theme here?
I'm not smart enough nor have I researched enough into this game, remedys background, the building blocks of inspirations used for Alan Wake like twin peaks, x files, even stage plays. But what I will say is a non spoiler example of how meta and self warping Alan Wake 2 can be:
Alan Wake is about a guy who's writings come to life and bring about unimaginable horrors to himself and those around him. This story is written by humans at Remedy who are aware that through their writing they are bringing to life a horror story about a writer who is bringing to life a horror story through his writing. Remedy do not try to hide or disguise that, in fact they really want you to observe that as part of the story of Alan Wake and go to an unseen length to try and drive it home. That length being that they
put one of the writers of the video game into the video game. Sam lake
is the co-writer and co-director of Alan Wake. He is also the face of agent Alex Casey Saga's partner and he's also the face of Alex Casey, a fictional character cooked up by Alan Wake who happens to have the same name as the real Alex Casey and while Alex Casey is mo-capped by Sam Lake, he's voiced by James McAffrey who was the voice of Max Payne and Sam Lake was also the face of Max Payne back in the first two games so Sam Lake is Max Payne who is Alex Casey who is written by Alan Wake who is written by Sam Lake.
Thats just one example of how the narrative of Alan Wake 2 is unlike anything else I've played. Add in the overlapping dual perspectives, the live action scenes, the live action mixed with gameplay scenes, and many more elements I can't go down the rabbit hole on, Alan Wake 2 is truly a game you have to play to fully understand and experience, words alone don't do it justice yet theres more to say about this type of game than almost any other I can think of.
This is the kind of game you could go down a rabbit hole discussing and dissecting so to avoid a lot of that, I just want to quickly cover what I think will be the briefest portion and thats actually the gameplay. Its literally just a very solid survival horror, very similar to games like RE2 and the other RE remakes. Its maybe not 100% as tight as those but its like, 90% of the way there personally. The game also has some great music, which has a narrative role, some excellent level design, which has a narrative role, and offers a dual perspective on the story of the game as you switch between Saga and Alan, both playing the same story at different locations, which again has a narrative role. Picking up a theme here?
I'm not smart enough nor have I researched enough into this game, remedys background, the building blocks of inspirations used for Alan Wake like twin peaks, x files, even stage plays. But what I will say is a non spoiler example of how meta and self warping Alan Wake 2 can be:
Alan Wake is about a guy who's writings come to life and bring about unimaginable horrors to himself and those around him. This story is written by humans at Remedy who are aware that through their writing they are bringing to life a horror story about a writer who is bringing to life a horror story through his writing. Remedy do not try to hide or disguise that, in fact they really want you to observe that as part of the story of Alan Wake and go to an unseen length to try and drive it home. That length being that they
put one of the writers of the video game into the video game. Sam lake
is the co-writer and co-director of Alan Wake. He is also the face of agent Alex Casey Saga's partner and he's also the face of Alex Casey, a fictional character cooked up by Alan Wake who happens to have the same name as the real Alex Casey and while Alex Casey is mo-capped by Sam Lake, he's voiced by James McAffrey who was the voice of Max Payne and Sam Lake was also the face of Max Payne back in the first two games so Sam Lake is Max Payne who is Alex Casey who is written by Alan Wake who is written by Sam Lake.
Thats just one example of how the narrative of Alan Wake 2 is unlike anything else I've played. Add in the overlapping dual perspectives, the live action scenes, the live action mixed with gameplay scenes, and many more elements I can't go down the rabbit hole on, Alan Wake 2 is truly a game you have to play to fully understand and experience, words alone don't do it justice yet theres more to say about this type of game than almost any other I can think of.