Alan Wake II

The strongest aspect of Alan Wake II is the fantastic story, underscored by great live action sequences, where suspenseful situations are interspersed with absurd, almost psychedelic scenes that seem as if they came out of David Lynch's mind, and you don't know whether to be scared, laugh or just stare. [Issue#331]

Alan Wake 2 is definitely one of the best games of the year as it ridicules the competition on many levels. It is the result of many years of experimentation. Remedy signs here an important episode for the history of the studio, its connected universe and for Alan. A meta game at all levels that will embark us on an adventure that takes to the guts. Story well tied, strong character, careful writing, it has it all.

Narrative is the most sophisticated video game of recent years, blurring the genres of horror, psychological thriller and art house in an artistic way and never playing it safe, but always taking full creative risks. A masterpiece.

Alan Wake 2 is a psychological horror masterpiece and one of the best narrative games ever made. Remedy Entertainment took everything they learned from its previous projects, such as Control and Quantum Break, and delivered a riveting story experience that will leave players on the edge of their seats until the game’s final scene. The long-awaited sequel is not only groundbreaking and ambitious, but it has now set the bar for how story-driven games can be told.

Alan Wake 2 is a triumph of gameplay, atmosphere, writing, and technology. Remedy ticks all the boxes to make the new adventures of the tormented artist (in every sense of the term) an undisputed classic, a new benchmark in survival horror, and one of the very best games in an already exceptional year.

And that's just what it is: incomparable. A confusing, but incredibly fascinating mess of a game. It knows the power of having you question your senses and the timing of a well-placed floorboard creak as well as the lure of a question without an answer or the rush of spine-tingling ghostly shootouts. Whatever the Remedy-verse has in store for us after Alan Wake 2, I'm insanely looking forward to it.

Thirteen years of expectations is a lot for a game to overcome, but believe me, Alan Wake 2 is here to deliver on everything you’ve wanted and lots of things you didn’t know were possible. Be prepared for this game to scare you but also for it to blow your mind wide open. In typical Remedy fashion, just when the player might think things are going off the rails, Alan Wake 2 will remind them that the rails never existed – and I wouldn’t have it any other way, for every second I spent sent me into an emotional rollercoaster that stuck it as the only thing on my mind, making this my absolute favorite game of this year.

Modern day horror experiences don’t get much better than this, and I'm pleased we've got more to come in, at least, two sets of DLC.

The idea of what Alan Wake 2 could be has changed so much over the years, but in playing the game, I was reminded of Sam Lake saying how he was so happy that all the previous versions of this game never worked out, and how excited he was that this is the Alan Wake 2 the world has finally received. I have to emphatically agree. The mere existence of an Alan Wake 2 would have, at different points over the years, felt like a minor miracle, but for it to be this one, that feels singular in its achievements, and coming from a studio that refuses to shy away from the paths less traveled, makes Alan Wake 2 a miracle illuminated.

Alan Wake 2 is a strange, imaginative, and truly ambitious sequel that never fails to upend your expectations. While some of the bigger concepts presented by Remedy Entertainment lack refinement, a few rough edges don't detract from a consistently confident and startlingly original adventure. You won't find anything else quite like Alan Wake 2 this generation.

Not only is Alan Wake II Remedy’s best game, it is an experience that sets a new high bar for narrative horror titles that is unlikely to be passed anytime soon.

Just as it gives equal screen time to its two protagonists, Alan Wake 2 is a fine blend of equal parts narrative and survival horror. Both aspects are brought together in brilliant fashion to create a game that is going to mess with your head, scare the hell out of you and make you grin about it as you plunge forward once more, eager to see what's next.

Massively confident, often groundbreaking, and full of surprises, Alan Wake 2 is Remedy at its very best. The shooting isn't stellar, but Alan Wake 2 is otherwise a horror thriller that shouldn't be missed.

Alan Wake 2 is a masterpiece and you should play it, now.

It could be easy to take a cursory glance at Alan Wake 2 and think it's little more than a collage of genre staples, but the game is so much more. Like the best works in any medium and genre, these references and familiarities feel like homages and love letters, never like crutches. The promising young FBI agent, a creepy cult in the woods, and the sleepy Northwestern town are incredibly engaging because the tropes are backed up by wonderful writing, a palpable atmosphere, and a narrative that's legitimately engaging. It also makes everything that much more satisfying when it twists and turns in unexpected directions. Alan Wake 2 sets a new bar for Remedy, and I can't wait to see what they follow it up with next.

While I’m sure there were countless drafts and edits throughout the journey to this point, this Alan Wake II is proof that great things come to those who wait. Like breaking through after a thirteen year stretch of writer’s block, I can only imagine the sense of relief in letting this monster of a game loose.

Alan Wake 2 is survival horror at its best, runs and looks stunning, and consistently left me enticed. It's a mystery-solving and ghost-fighting narrative experience that'll leave you wanting more.

In a crowded year that gave us so many incredible games, Alan Wake 2 easily manages to distinguish itself as one of the best ones yet. The transmedia ambitions of Remedy Entertainment and a complex script that mixes the fates of two interesting characters have produced a horror adventure title that will be remembered forever.

Games like Alan Wake 2 deserve to be celebrated. This game is doing a lot right, with stunning visuals, great story, amazing sound design and smart gameplay and puzzle loop. It's so heartwarming to see one of my favorite games growing up getting the sequel it deserves.

Remedy has seemingly harnessed every game design trick in the book to present Alan and Saga’s fractal realities in all their abstract and frightening glory.

Without a single doubt, Remedy Entertainment is both proud and aware of its past accomplishments but also eager to look ahead while embracing creativity and consistently revealing new facets of its memorable and unique brand of weirdness. Even in a year as stacked as this one, Alan Wake 2 is one of those increasingly rare games that isn’t just an exceptional experience on its own but makes me curious about what its developer has cooked up next.

Alan Wake 2 seems more like a triumph of technology. Remedy has put immense resources and assets at its disposal and used those strengths to earn widespread acclaim for Alan Wake 2. However, I wish the game would shine from the perspective in which it originally excelled, allowing Alan Wake to receive the praise he deserves for the story he penned.

A true masterpiece, Remedy's master work. With its gorgeous atmosphere and cinematographic narrative, immersive script, next-gen graphics and enjoyable gameplay, this is a thriller that comes along once in a decade. Sam Lake first illuminates the "are video games art?" debate with a flashlight and then shatters it with a shotgun.

After 13 years of waiting, Alan Wake II is everything fans could ask for, and more. Despite some bugs and performance errors, Remedy delivers a memorable experience, full of moments of terror, action and, above all, mystery. The cast is charismatic, the environment fascinating, and the combat fun. Not only is it the best technical production from the producer, it is also an example of how a game should be presented in 2023.

Remedy has done it again: Alan Wake 2 looks absolutely stunning, has one of the most crazy storys in gaming history and makes overall everything better than the prequel. The gameplay and the locations are showing so much variety and the charakters are incredible interesting. Only a few bugs and one very annoying bossfight destroying the high score.

Alan Wake II is the sequel we were waiting for. Unfortunately, it took thirteen years to find out what happened next in this story. The technological advancement is impressive, the graphics, the music, and the sound are stunning, and it couldn't have been released in a better season.

Alan Wake is back with a survival horror that is constantly surprising the player, coming up with all sorts of crazy ideas and situations, and all wrapped up in one of the best audiovisual productions we’ve ever seen.

Everything, down to the puzzles, feels appropriately placed. That's before even acknowledging the gorgeous cast of actors involved in the project and the truly compelling story that unfolds for Alan as well as Saga, who each gain an interesting presence in Bright Falls and the world beyond. It doesn't feel like the most satisfying combat, and it's rather easy to beat, but this is also exactly what I wanted and more from an Alan Wake sequel. It is also the best original horror game of 2023 by a wide margin, and a damn fine video game overall.

A mysterious detective tale filled with bizarre moments and occasionally overly convoluted storytelling. However, it oozes personality and charisma by the gallons. Remedy crafts their peculiar universe on a solid foundation, resulting in a fantastic and original game. It's just not for everyone.

A carousel of horrors that never stops spinning. A whirlwind expedition into the most perverse meanders of art. A work of great authorship and visual virtuosity which has the merit of being as courageous as it is original. It's a survival horror, yes, but mostly pro forma. Deep down it's something else. It is an experience that tangles the player's expectations, continuously knotting them so that unpredictability reigns supreme. It plays with artistic forms, with the concept of reality and multidimensionality, and does so using both the interactive medium and other communicative means of the modern era. Once this unconventional inspiration has been accepted and assimilated, according to the writer, the weight of the playful uncertainties, of a balance that is not always perfect between narrative and gameplay, of a few too many technical ripples is reduced. I like the idea of ​​rewarding experimentalism above all, the mix of genres and eclectic suggestions. I like Sam Lake's arrogance in wanting to leave his mark at all costs, with the careless desire to challenge conventions, more than he has ever done before. I like to think I live in a reality where Alan Wake 2 exists.

Alan Wake 2 is a marvel, serving up intense gameplay, a twisty, dark story, and more secrets and surprises than you could possibly imagine. Remedy has outdone itself here, delivering a truly remarkable experience.

Alan Wake II is a superb survival horror sequel that makes the cult-classic original seem like little more than a rough first draft by comparison.

Alan Wake 2 is the perfect release for Halloween as it presents a psychological horror movie into video game format. Fans of the original title will thoroughly enjoy what this game has to offer as it keeps its core design while offering much deeper story content.

Alan Wake 2 builds upon a foundation that I felt was effective, but missing something in the original. In narrative, atmosphere, and gameplay, this sequel captures the sense of a self-aware fictional world that’s always contorting itself in real-time to move forward, and the result is a surreal horror/thriller masterpiece.

With its excellent trippy horror story, memorable characters, amazing atmosphere, and some of the best visuals in gaming to date, Alan Wake II is a game like few others and Remedy Entertainment's best. It took 13 years for the acclaimed writer to come back, but the long wait was worth it. We could have hardly wished for a better sequel, despite the derivative survival horror gameplay holding the experience back a bit.

Some technical issues aside, it's a masterwork of emotion, and a game that shows developer Remedy Entertainment still has plenty of surprises up its sleeves.

Alan Wake 2 is the most visionary, bold and brillant Remedy game to date. From the terrific concept to the ambitious game design, Alan Wake 2 destroys the trivial ideas behind every pop videogame and creates a complex opera that will be remembered over the years.

Remedy's boldest experiment yet is a beautiful storm of surreal storytelling and genuinely frightening survival horror.

Remedy, Alan Wake 2 may have kept us waiting for 13 years, but it has more than paid off. A game that can completely change the future of horror/thriller games.

A surreal horror odyssey that proves even blockbuster games can make bold design choices.

Alan Wake 2 is a completely unique adventure, an “author's game” that goes beyond the boundaries of video games... The Remedy studio appropriates here all the forms of art that it loves so much, moving from experience video game to live-action film, or from concert to photography. Clear-cut biases which give it all its charm, but which - on the contrary - can also be off-putting. What's more, as a video game, this second episode is not free of flaws either, and we regret jump scares that are a little too present and an open construction that quickly goes in circles. For the rest, it is a remarkable adventure, if not memorable.

Alan Wake 2 keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout. If not with survival horror action, then with an abundance of unexpected plot points and gameplay sequences. This sequel is really completely unique in that respect. Not all risks taken pay off, but Alan Wake 2 is an adventure in atmosphere, story and surprise that you really cannot miss.

We are certain of this: depending on the approach and perspective of the player, Alan Wake 2 can either be a timeless masterpiece or a cumbersome game with tiring gameplay. We have tried to position ourselves exactly in the middle: while unreservedly appreciating the incredible work done by Remedy on the narrative front and the brilliance infused into some sequences that will forever be etched in our memory, we cannot overlook a series of deficiencies in gameplay that undermine the depth of the survival horror component and the variety of this action-adventure. At the same time, however, there is one thing that will unite everyone: artistically, aesthetically, and technically, no one can match it, and Alan Wake 2 deserves to be observed, at least once, even if just from a distance.

Alan Wake II manages to subvert expectations with its immersive world. Combat gets the job done, but it’s the overall mystery that will have players eager to shine a light on this Dark Place.

Alan Wake 2 is a unique experience thanks to the innovative blending of photorealism and traditional visual design, as well as a narrative deeply entwined to gameplay mechanics to an extent rarely seen before. It is not a perfect experience, but it is innovative enough to inspire gamers and devs alike for years to come.

In the end, and fortunately, the story is well-paced and fairly well executed. Alan Wake's highly immersive narrative is its strength, and we can't wait to discover the DLC that will doubtless answer our questions, offer us new ones and flesh out the Remedy-verse, as well as certain characters we'd very much like to see again - whether in additional content, Alan Wake 3, or why not Control 2.

Fear is what Alan Wake 2 is all about. When it's working, it's a spooky and thrilling adventure with two separate-but-equal methods of scaring the heck out of me. When it's not working, I'm afraid I may run into another weird glitch that makes me lose some progress. Thankfully, the former is far more common than the latter, and the times I did have to restart, they were small hiccups rather than major time losses. 13 years passed between Alan Wake's initiation and his return, and I am happy to say Alan Wake 2 was worth the wait.

Save for a few odd gameplay quirks and frustrating tech issues at launch, Alan Wake 2 is Remedy Interactive’s most confident, fully realized creative vision to date. It fully pays off the long-simmering potential of the studio’s interconnected universe to create a densely detailed, cerebral experience about the nature of horror – both in the nightmares we face in everyday life and the scary stories we create to cope with them.

Alan Wake 2 doesn't quite reach the highs of Control, but it's still an excellent game in the same vein. The atmosphere is almost unmatched, and it's an incredibly fun world to get lost in for hours at a time. The only thing that drags it down is the by-the-numbers combat, which is only a problem because I want to get back to the weird and surreal exploration as quickly as possible. Fans of the wild world Remedy has created will find a lot to like in Alan Wake 2, but newcomers might want to play through Control first to avoid being completely lost when a random janitor shows up and starts singing Finnish songs.

Despite its wonderful atmosphere and interesting locations, Alan Wake 2 is a middling third-person survival-horror game with sluggish pacing, a lackluster Mind Place feature, and lazy jump-scares, too concerned about being obscure and filling itself with quirky meta-references.

In its quest to be the most meta game ever made, Alan Wake 2 becomes a spectacle about writers and writing that badly needs an editor.