Allan Wake 2: 5 Things I Want to See in Remedy’s Next Horror!
For years, Alan Wake sat untouched in my Steam library, a relic of my impatient and less experienced gaming days. But recently, I decided to give it another chance, and to my surprise, I fell head over heels for it.
From Alan’s compelling character to the combat mechanics I once despised, I found myself completely enamored with the game. The timing couldn’t be better, as Alan Wake 2 was unveiled at Xbox & Bethesda’s 2023 Showcase.
However, as much as I adore the original game, I have a few nitpicks that I hope the sequel will address. Let’s explore the five aspects I’m excited to see Remedy build upon in this highly anticipated follow-up!
1. Enhanced Combat Mechanics
While I adored the distinctive encounters in Alan Wake, the frustrating and clunky movement and dodging mechanics often led to my demise. Countless times, I found myself restarting due to Alan getting stuck or being surrounded by enemies, rendering me unable to maneuver effectively.
2. A Shift Towards True Survival Horror
With Alan Wake 2 marking Remedy’s foray into the survival horror genre, I’m thrilled to see it veering away from the action-oriented gameplay prevalent in spinoffs like Alan Wake’s American Nightmare. Judging by the concept art, the game appears to embrace the eerie ambiance reminiscent of the early Resident Evil games — a perfect fit for Alan Wake’s unique brand of psychological horror.
3. Better Pacing
Although I enjoyed my time with the game much more than I originally thought, I felt the game was unnecessarily elongated at the end. It felt like it could’ve reached a conclusion about a chapter or two earlier had the developer cut a lot of unnecessary twists and turns in the plot. I hope that in the sequel, we won’t be doing stuff just for the sake of extra playtime!
4. More ‘Alan Wake’ and ‘Control’ Crossovers
We know for a fact Alan Wake and Remedy’s 2019 telekinetic thriller Control exist in a shared universe. How cool would it be for this crossover to continue in Alan Wake 2? We already know that sections of Alan Wake 2 take place in New York, which for those who need reminding is the location of the Federal Bureau of Control’s Oldest House. It’s not out of the question FBC Director Jesse Faden could make an appearance, but the real question is would she see Alan as friend or foe?
5. Bigger and Scarier
If there’s one thing we learned from Alan Wake’s previous entries, it’s that the titular character needs a gloomier atmosphere and an open world map to explore.
Alan Wake was, originally, an open-world game. Like the finished product, it was split into night and day — but for a different purpose. The daytime segments weren’t just for dialogue, narrative, and a break from the shooting, they allowed the player to stock up in preparation for the combat sequences at night.
So Alan would have been roaming the open world in the day, looking for weapons and resources to survive the night. A bit like Dying Light but with fewer zombies and more introspective existentialism. Sam Lake must have been sad to let this idea go. And with all this survival horror talk, it sounds like he never truly did.
That’s it for the five things I hope Alan Wake 2 gets better! If you haven’t played the game yet, you might want to check it out before the second one comes out! You (probably) won’t regret it!