Yesterday at Gamescom, Remedy Entertainment (Max Payne, Quantum Break, Control) unveiled a stunning new trailer for the upcoming sequel to one of my favorite seventh generation gems, Alan Wake.
The aptly titled Alan Wake 2 is scheduled for an October 27 release on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, and boy does it look phenomenal.
The aforementioned video focuses mostly on the Dark Place, which according to Remedy is “a nightmare version of New York City.” The plot of the sequel seems to, once again, center around our titular writer hero Alan Wake as he now tries to scribble his way out of this terrifying alternate reality.
Saga Anderson, a second main character that is solving mysteries in the Pacific Northwest in parallel to Wake’s gauntlet, seems poised to add a separate way to play through the adventure this time around. The first game only allowed you to control Alan, so it should be interesting to see how Remedy handles the back and forth of dual protagonists. I guess we don’t technically know if they’re both protagonists, though. The anticipation is killing me.
Judging from the trailer, it appears the cheesy-but-somehow-good-I-guess live action sequences are returning from Alan Wake, and to be fair, returning from every Remedy game that’s been released thus far. I can never completely decide if I love or hate these overacted and overwritten abominations, and for that reason alone, I welcome them back with open B-movie arms.
The writing does feel like a step up, however. The rather compelling story, which speaks of an author in search of a manuscript for a novel “he has forgotten he has written,” edges into Stephen King The Cocaine Years territory. I’ve always wished I was so talented and drug-addled that I could literally forget that I wrote a horror classic like Cujo. A man can dream.
The awesome flashlight combat looks to be making a full comeback, as does Remedy’s signature cinematic flair. One moody scene in particular stood out to me, where hundreds of manuscript pages begin to levitate in a somewhat sinister fashion, and that’s the kind of bizarre and unnerving creativity I adored when it came to the original Alan Wake. This new iteration seems to be continuing that legacy in a very leveled-up way.
Honestly, October can’t come soon enough, and this is in an absolutely insane year of software that just won’t stop. It makes perfect sense why Remedy actually delayed the game from its initial release date of October 17 to a more breathable October 27, just a few days before the best holiday ever (admit it), Halloween.
The real challenge won’t be enjoying Alan Wake 2 a little later than originally planned, but rather fitting this promising horror romp into a jam-packed schedule of gaming that would make the rich Power Glove kid from 8-bit Christmas weep in futility. I’m actually planning on playing Alan Wake Remastered in preparation for the sequel. Good grief.
I salute any of you who are attempting to catch all these releases as they happen. Stay hydrated, please. It’s a jungle out there.
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