Summary
Alan Wake 2gives players a host of new genre-defining mechanics and systems, expanding upon several of the features found in the originalAlan Wakegame and its remastered follow-up. One of the multi-faceted components inAlan Wake 2is akin to a recent Soulslike title that expanded upon the genre in exciting new ways through the flicker of an Umbral Lamp—Hexworks' recently releasedLords of the Fallen.
WhileAlan Wake 2is a survival horror game experience andLords of the Fallenan action RPG with Soulslike elements,Alan Wake 2shares some significant features with the title when considering how both games switch up the usual formula of their respective genres.Lords of the Fallen’s dual worlds put a unique spin on the Soulslike formula, with players moving between the world of Umbral and Axiom with their Umbral Lamp, revealing new pathways and secrets. In many ways, a similar shake-up formula rings true forAlan Wake 2when considering its settings and the ways players can move between locations.
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Investigating Bright Falls And Surviving The Dark Place In Alan Wake 2’s Settings
Alan Wake 2pushes the boundaries of survival horror in unusual and various ways, includingbalancing its dual protagonistswith dual-world locational settings that represent the protagonist’s two different realities. Players explore the towns of Watery and Bright Falls as newcomer FBI Agent Saga Anderson, even returning to the eerie Cauldron Lake, the focal point of much of the Dark Presence activity in the original game. The different world settings also impact the gameplay experience for players.
While Saga still encounters Taken enemies through slow-building and tense gameplay build-ups, the horror factor gets ramped up with creepy cultists. Defeating enemies in Saga’s reality has more graphic visual and somewhat grounded-in-reality effects, with flesh peppered away through gunfire.
In contrast, players must try to escape the Dark Place setting when playing as Alan. The Dark Place is a strange version of New York City, where players encounter a more paranoid atmosphere, questioning every shadow-like enemy around every corner. Here, Remedy plays with what’s real and what’s not as players frantically try to escape, with players tricked by shadows until they suddenly come alive. In this way, the setting and enemies of the Dark Place play more into the psychological state of Alan’s mind, who has been trapped there presumably byAlan Wake’s Dark Presencefor the last 13 years.
Switching Worlds And Realities In Alan Wake 2
Alan Wakehas always stood out as something uniquely different in the gaming space with its lighting mechanics, plus unusual storytelling and enemies. Equally,Alan Wake 2is ahorror game that utilizes unique lighting mechanics, with spectacular new lighting systems that expand upon what was possible in the original.
The new mechanics can also influence how players move between locations when playing as Alan. While players alternated between torches and flares in the first game, Remedy adds more lighting equipment variety inAlan Wake 2with additional light tools like the Angel lamp, which players can use to change their immediate environment entirely and open up new pathways in The Dark Place.
Furthermore,Alan Wake 2also lets players switch up characters at critical points in the story, so players experience its dual worlds and viewpoints at their leisure. Perhaps above all, the dual-worlds showcase the incredible abilities ofAlan Wake 2’s Northlight Engineas an impressive addition to the genre from a visual standpoint and beyond.
Alan Wake 2
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A string of ritualistic murders threatens Bright Falls, a small-town community surrounded by Pacific Northwest wilderness. Saga Anderson, an accomplished FBI agent with a reputation for solving impossible cases arrives to investigate the murders. Anderson’s case spirals into a nightmare when she discovers pages of a horror story that starts to come true around her.Alan Wake, a lost writer trapped in a nightmare beyond our world, writes a dark story in an attempt to shape the reality around him and escape his prison. With a dark horror hunting him, Wake is trying to retain his sanity and beat the devil at his own game.Anderson and Wake are two heroes on two desperate journeys in two separate realities, connected at heart in ways neither of them can understand: reflecting each other, echoing each other, and affecting the worlds around them.Fueled by the horror story, supernatural darkness invades Bright Falls, corrupting the locals and threatening the loved ones of both Anderson and Wake. Light is their weapon—and their safe haven — against the darkness they face. Trapped in a sinister horror story where there are only victims and monsters, can they break out to be the heroes they need to be?
