pretty solid expansion/spin-off. you get more weapons to play with, tho none of them really shake up the core combat loop and some of your options from the original game are pretty nerfed (the flare gun and flashbangs are much weaker and serve more to take off a big chunk of darkness instead of being bfgs while the flashlight doesn't deal passive light damage, only while focusing it) so it kinda evens out to being just a different flavor than necessarily better or worse. the idea here is you're in a timeloop and visit three open-ish hub areas three times each instead of the strictly linear level design from the original game. in practice this feels like a bit of a downgrade, you're still following linear objectives but having to sprint across large areas to get to them so it feels a bit padded out. you do get rewarded for exploring a bit tho as manuscripts serve as the unlock system for new weapons. it also has the obligatory arcade horde mode that was all the rage in the early 2010s that feels like a bit of a throw away here, Alan Wake's combat doesn't really feel suited to this kind of mode and dodging fills up your multiplier quickly so it feels like it would be easy to exploit the scoring system in a not fun way.
the story takes on a decidedly campier tone. the writing isn't quite as sharp as the main game, it feels a lot more 2010s videogame-y, but Ilkka Villi and Matthew Porretta's combined performance as Mr. Scratch steals the show. You get a bit of insight into how the world of Alan Wake operates, clarifying a few lingering questions from the original game tho clearly saving the best bits for the sequel (that didn't happen for another decade)