Alan Wake 2 review

Having waited about 13 years since the release of the original game, I didn’t particularly hope for the release of a sequel to Alan Wake 2. The original horror delighted both ordinary gamers and numerous reviewers. Then Remedy began producing other titles, but then, when the Alan Wake themed add-on for Control was released, it became clear that the release of the second part was inevitable. And now the dream of many has come true. Alan Wake 2 is finally out! I will say right away - this is one of the strangest and most unusual sequels I have ever seen.

When you start Alan Wake, you expect to see Alan Wake in the lead role. However, our story begins with another main character, FBI detective Saga Anderson, who is investigating a murder in Bright Falls. The victim of a brutal massacre was a former agent who disappeared about thirteen years ago (when the original game was released) at the same time as a famous writer. After this, it becomes clear that this is not just another crime that needs to be solved using the usual methods. Behind all this are hidden sinister, mostly incomprehensible, chilling secrets.

While investigating a crime scene for clues, Saga and her partner Casey (played by Sam Lake) stumble upon a page of manuscript supposedly written by Alan Wake. The story on the page describes our heroes exactly, literally leading us by the hand??x to the answers they seemed to be looking for. As more cryptic pages appear detailing events that materialize minutes/hours later, the situation becomes even more confusing.

At the same time, Wake cannot leave a nightmarish alternate reality in which ghostly creatures are hunting him. Desperate to use his manuscripts to find a way out of this nightmare, he begins to communicate with Saga. To find a way to drive away the dark forces from Bright Falls and free Alan, they will have to work together. At this point I'll stop touching on the plot of Alan Wake 2, as I don't want to go into more significant spoilers.

So the player has to switch between Saga and Alan, but for most of the game I felt like Saga was the main character. As Saga, you will visit different regions of Bright Falls, trying to find answers, collect clues, and interact with the very strange and unusual characters that fit into this isolated community. At its core, Alan Wake 2 is more than anything else. It's a detective game where you pin clues on a mind palace board and use Saga's unique talents to create sketches of suspects. You will be delighted every time, after comparing the evidence, you get on the right trail.

Soon ghosts will interfere with your investigation, ??bargaining in Bright Falls, and you will have to confront them. As in the original, you need to burn the darkness out of them, and only then use conventional weapons. You will have to master the art of evasion, because without this it is impossible to survive in confrontation with even the simplest enemies.

Alan is also busy exterminating monsters, but since he is in the other world, he has other concerns. To move around the city, you will have to change the environment with the help of light. Alan has a magic stick that can absorb light from the surrounding world and direct it to lampposts and other devices. By illuminating an area, you can dispel walls or find invisible doors. It's confusing at first, but you'll soon get used to the mechanics.

However, sometimes the light is not enough, and you have to use the power of writing to change the world. You can change locations by switching to Alan's writing room in his subconscious and applying special settings to them.

Alan Wake 2 has a lot of additional content. There are puzzles based on nursery rhymes and scattered throughout the real world, asking you to place toys on chalk drawings to match what's happening in the poem. You can also search for cult caches, which again require solving puzzles to gain access. As you progress through the story of the Saga you will findYou will find many useful items that will help you unlock additional territories in previously visited locations, so you will have to return back for better equipment.

Although Alan Wake 2 is largely a survival horror game, I'm convinced that it is one of the strangest, or even funniest, games of recent years. While you're trying to deal with the followers of an undead cult, you'll meet a lot of interesting characters: an old, drunken rocker named after a Norse god, Finnish brothers doing some marketing in Bright Falls.

In general, it’s not enough to praise, but there are a couple of shortcomings. Literally from the very beginning of the game you enter into serious battles, so you will have to learn shooting, dodging and other mechanics from your own mistakes. Some aspects of the combat feel clunky. For example, using a torch to cleanse enemies of darkness. By the end of the game you will definitely get used to the combat system. And when I launched Alan Wake 2, I was worried about something completely different, but Remedy did not disappoint. And yes, the fact that the game does not run on the 1080 Ti and similar video cards is not a disadvantage. The developers warned everyone in advance!

Alan Wake 2 is a phenomenal sequel that proves that sometimes it's worth waiting 13 years rather than settling for games that come out annually or every two years. The story of Saga and Alan hasseveral plot twists and one of the greatest (and most unexpected) moments of the year. Remedy , dealing with Alan Wake 2 has done something special, so the game not only lives up to... it exceeds all imaginable and inconceivable expectations!