‘Alan Wake II’ is a Unique and Spine-Chilling Masterpiece [Video Game Review]

Horror video games provide an experience that is unlike just watching a movie or television show. By controlling the main characters, the player becomes a participant in the story, with the controller just serving as a conduit to push the narrative along. In a strange way, having this control has the inverse effect on the player, making them feel vulnerable and helpless more so than if the player was simply just observing as a viewer, and not a participator. By participating, whether it be running and fighting for your life, or solving the mystery that can be either simple or convoluted, the player is thrust into a situation that requires a different level of attention. You can’t just say “Why are you going into that dark cave?”, as a player, you actually have to go into that dark cave yourself, even in a virtual world that can’t reach through the screen and grab you like Samara, is still a uniquely spine-tingling experience. And uniquely spine-tingling experience is the perfect way to describe Alan Wake II…

Remedy Entertainment is a video game developer with notable credits that include the Max Payne franchise, Quantum Break, Control and of course, the Alan Wake franchise. The first Alan Wake game was developed back in the late 2000s, and released in 2010 for the Xbox 360 console, as well as Windows. Remedy is known for taking a cinematic approach to video game development, with their properties all being primarily single-player games that play like extensive movies or mini-series, which is a breath of fresh air compared to the typical modern video games that are more multiplayer centric, with an obsessively greedy focus on a micro-transactional model that sucks the soul out of the joy of gaming. What is great about Remedy, as well as their peers/competitors like Rockstar, Bethesda, CD Projekt Red, and numerous other indie video game developers, is that the scope of their projects are massive, and so massive that these properties are nearly impossible to adapt to the big screen. Video game adaptations are often unsuccessful, mainly because it is a totally different medium, operating under a different set of rules, with so much more freedom to explore different facets of storytelling. Alan Wake II has been nominated for game of the year, but in my opinion, Alan Wake II is also a cinematic masterclass and one of the best movies of the year as well…

After a thirteen-year hiatus, the titular horror novelist, Alan Wake, returns for another nerve-wracking adventure in the Twin Peaks-esque world of alternate realities and demonic presences. Taking place in the Pacific Northwestern town of Bright Falls, Alan Wake II is centered around two characters, one being the aforementioned Alan Wake, who is a horror novelist trapped in an alternate reality and uses his writing to navigate his way through his dark journey, in a place referred to as “The Dark Place”. The other character is FBI agent Saga Anderson, a heady and complicated woman, seemingly unemotional but with an interesting backstory, who with her partner, Alex Casey (modeled after creative director at Remedy, Sam Lake), ends up in Bright Falls to lead the investigation into a slew of mysterious murders and disappearances in the town.

The story bounces back and forth between the perspective of Saga and Wake, both characters’ arcs running parallel to each other, and intersect at different points in the story. But at the very beginning, the player is first thrust into this world through the perspective of a naked man stumbling through a dark and terrifying forest, in Bright Falls, seemingly running from something. This opening is confusing, disorienting and the perfect introduction to this world where the story takes place.

The naked man, who is soon to be identified as an off-the-reservation FBI agent, limps his way through the forest until stumbling upon a small group of masked individuals in the forest. This is where the player is introduced to one of the main antagonists in the story, The Cult of the Tree. As the encounter ensues, and this small group of cultists in the forest attack, and then rip the naked man’s heart out, literally, a few innocent bystanders happen to witness the ritualistic attack, and everyone flees the scene. Once this crime is reported, Saga Anderson and Alex Casey are called upon to investigate, and from there, we go…

Visually speaking, Alan Wake II is masterfully crafted. The graphic design for each set piece is tonally on point, and perfectly sets the stage for the cinematic action that takes place. The cinematic cutscenes blend perfectly with the gameplay itself, and the transitions between gameplay, to cutscene and then back to gameplay is seamless. The visual consistency makes for a smooth experience that is enthralling and immersive. The lush forest of Bright Falls, and the disturbingly bleak atmosphere of the “Dark Place” are the most impressive of all.

The gameplay itself is relatively simple. The mechanics are nothing out of the ordinary, and most of the gameplay consists of walking around, talking to people, and spending time outside of the “real” world, in the minds of Saga and Wake. Saga and Wake have special abilities that allow them to go to the “Mind Place” and the “Writers Room” respectively. Saga is able to go to her “Mind Place” to piece together evidence and clues to progress in the story, as well as doing a thing called “Profiling” which is a way to delve into her subjects’ minds, to obtain the truth about what they might be hiding. No secret is safe around Saga Anderson. Solving the mysteries of the story doesn’t require a lot of critical thought, everything is basically laid out for you in a very linear way for each character, referring to Wake and Saga of course.

The survival aspect is also an enjoyable one, albeit very difficult at times. Bullets are hard to come by, and the cultists, as well as various other demonic entities, pose a real problem when having to escape them to survive. Not only are the mechanics themselves a little difficult, but the enemy is constantly jumping out of nowhere, which stunned me multiple times to the point where I was thrown off balance enough to have a hard time dealing with them. If you turn the difficulty down. it is incredibly easy to kill enemies, if you are more inclined to focus energy on progressing in the story and solving the mysteries as opposed to spending too much time fighting off enemies. Even on an easier level the boss battles are frightening and difficult. Even with open-world/choose-your-own-path style games being all the rage, the linear and cinematic nature of Alan Wake II makes for a really great playing experience, and does a great job of balancing the story with the action… 

The scares are constant, but not in an exhausting way. Alan Wake II has almost relentless jump scares, but somehow doesn’t feel obnoxious. The developers did a great job of using sound to make you jump and keep you on edge as you make your way through the creepy landscapes of the world they built. Whether it be cultists lingering about in the forest, or ghosts that patrol the “Dark Place”, whispering Wake’s name as he approaches, sometimes attacking, sometimes not attacking, just to make you uncomfortable enough to never know what to expect at every turn. The visuals are so well done that each set piece feels terrifying, and unpredictable…

Unpredictability. This is what I found to be the most important aspect to the enjoyability of the game. I just straight up did not know what to expect at every single turn. I was uncomfortable and on edge because the developers created a world where anything is possible, and alternate dimensions are accepted in an oddly believable way, by every character in the game. They all acknowledge the unbelievable nature of the supernatural occurrences, but it’s something they take very seriously, and not treated as though it’s all imagination-land.

Just simply walking around the set pieces is panic inducing enough to make you uncomfortable, and trust me, the relentless dread and eerie atmosphere keeps you on your toes. There are some brilliant sequences where the story bounces between a real-life, live action cutscene on the set of a late-night television show, hosted by Warlin Door (played by David Harewood), where the late-night host has Alan Wake on the show for an interview. The cutscene plays out, then the transition to gameplay is seamless where the set becomes a freakishly eerie, unpopulated set of the late-night show. Some lights on, some lights off, but totally, well, err, not totally, empty. This sequence is not for anyone who struggles with kenophobia. That’s for sure. But I found it so unique and interesting and most of all, horrifying in such a subdued way. Alan Wake II has a ton of WTF moments that make it so worthwhile, and the visual presentation has a huge hand in that…

Along with the stunning visual presentation, is the excellent writing of this story. Alan Wake II has a complex and convoluted story, but it is not that hard to follow for the player. Each character has unique motivations, characteristics and other quirks, to go with red herring moments that always make you question their innocence. This also goes for the main characters. Everything is on the board in terms of story outcomes and possibilities, and that is a credit to the writing team of Sam Lake (Max Payne, Alan Wake), Clay Murphy (Control) and Tyler Burton Smith (Quantum Break, Child’s Play).

The tightly weaved story amounts to a mind-blowing set of outcomes, guaranteed to satisfy the player. The dialogue is sharp, and the voice-overs are well thought out. The story is terrifyingly weird but also unique and creative. So many things could have gone wrong with an overly complex story of a writer stuck in an alternate dimension, obviously similar to Agent Cooper in Twin Peaks, who writes his way in and out of that dimension, altering set pieces and bouncing around between his mind and his reality, to go with a very commonly used trope of the FBI investigating murders in a small town.

The storytelling could have gone up, down, and sideways, becoming nonsensical and most of all, flat out stupid. But that is absolutely not the case. The writing in Alan Wake II is smooth. The story flows like a rapid. There’s minimal, if any, downtime. Even though the amount of time it will take to complete the game is around 15-25 hours, Remedy’s longest game and basically the length of a few seasons of modern television, the playtime actually breezes by. I kept finding myself losing track of time while playing, almost in a trance, so wrapped up in completing each chapter that I started… 

Twin Peaks is the easy comparison, but Alan Wake II is totally unique in and of itself. Other than the Pacific Northwest location, usage of the FBI, small town vibe filled with earnest and devious cops, quirky residents, coffee shops that actually look exactly like the Double R Diner, alternate dimensions intersecting with the real world, mysterious supernatural elements… Okay, yeah, maybe it is a lot like Twin Peaks. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, so the saying goes…

Facetiousness aside, the writing in Alan Wake II is absolutely brilliant. I was blown away by how creative the story is, how the characters are authentically unique but also caricatures, and most of all, how genuinely scary the whole experience is. It all starts on the page, and even with an A+ effort and execution on the visual and audio presentation of the game, like I said, it all starts on the page, both in the game, and in the development of the game…

Overall, Alan Wake II is a modern horror masterpiece. It is a video game, but it is also one of the best horror movies of the year and is just as cinematic as anything that has come out in recent years. The action is fun, the visuals are stunning, but the storytelling is the biggest winner. With the advancement in modern gaming technology, and a robust history of successful horror video game franchises, I believe that Alan Wake II will push horror gaming further and raise the bar for those that follow. Which is great for fans of the genre, as well as gaming. I highly recommend Alan Wake II for anyone and everyone, but if you do have a hard time with horror, it might actually be scary enough to scare you away. Music to the ears of anyone who is hungry for terror. Alan Wake II is a cinematic experience unlike any other… 

Wicked Horror Rating: 9.5/10

From Remedy Entertainment, Alan Wake II is available to buy now!

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