Now Playing: Alan Wake 2

Alan Wake 2 is an excellent sequel that delivers exactly what I wanted – an engaging, thoughtful continuation and expansion of the Alan Wake story. The gameplay though . . . well, we’ll get into that later. Alan Wake 2 is the kind of game I could talk in-depth about the story and not really spoil anything because to someone who’s not played it, what I say probably won’t make a lick of sense.

And whilst Alan Wake 2 might – on occasion – feel like it’s being a little too weird for the sake of being weird, it does have a genuinely engaging and – by the end – gripping narrative that really draws you in and makes you want to keep playing. It’s the gaming equivalent of ‘just one more page’ which is pretty damn appropriate.

I’m not going to get too in-depth on the story though because I really think it is best experienced yourself. It’s what I’d call a slow-burn. It takes a little time to get going but once it does, you’ll be hooked right until the end.

In Alan Wake 2 you’ll be playing as two characters – Alan Wake and Saga Anderson – and the narrative will shift between the two as you progress. Between the two, I’d have to say I enjoyed the Wake sections the most. Whilst Saga ties nicely into the narrative, she’s not as interesting to actually play.

Because that’s the big weakness of Alan Wake 2 – for all its great visuals and lighting (although somewhat dated character models), great music, neat use of live action sequences, welcome tie-ins to Control and the previously mentioned engaging narrative – Alan Wake is a somewhat mixed experience in terms of gameplay.

The first really noticeable thing is how slow the combat feels compared to the original. I don’t see this as a bad change, however. A slower paced, more deliberate style of combat probably fits the style and atmosphere better than the more action orientated original. The problem is, there are moments when the game wants to ramp up the action and have Saga and Wake fighting hordes of Taken just like the original . . . and it just doesn’t quite work.

The environments can be small so there’s less room to manoeuvre, reloading or healing takes longer, and accessing your inventory doesn’t pause the action. It’s more like a survival horror in the sense that resources are limited and you to need to make every shot or item use count. Like I said, this slower, more deliberate style of combat does fit the game better and it does work very well when the action is appropriately tailored for it.

But, unfortunately, the game doesn’t always do that, and in those more hectic, heavy action scenes the combat can become more frustrating than fun because it’s not designed for that kind of fast-paced action. This is very telling during a big battle towards the end that’s clearly designed to evoke memories of the concert fight in Alan Wake 1. But in Alan Wake 2, the section just isn’t half as much fun to play because you’re so slow to move, shoot and reload, not to mention having to keep playing ring-around-the-rocks every time you want to heal.

The game also keeps dumping more and more supply boxes onto you like f**king loot boxes dropping out of the sky. It’s like they realised the entire combat system which is built on slow, deliberate play and resource management just doesn’t work in a section where you get waves and waves of Taken attacking you, so to ‘fix’ the issue they just drop more and more ammo onto your head.

No. Just no. You can’t have your cake and eat it too. So sadly, overall, I’d have to say the combat of Alan Wake 2 isn’t actually as good as in the original. It should be better because it does take a more appropriate approach in terms of style, but the game doesn’t play to the strength of that style often enough. And sometimes, it disregards it entirely forcing you to play through action sequences that really aren’t designed for it.

The game is by far at its best in terms of combat when you’re fighting smaller numbers of but more powerful enemies – or even a single, very powerful foe that requires smart use of the environment and your resources. That’s when the game plays to the strength of its own system and it creates some genuinely tense and engaging encounters.

I also think that combat animations – especially for the Taken – really aren’t that great. The combat in Alan Wake 1 was so clean and precise. Everything feels a little more messy in Alan Wake 2 – especially the ‘darkness shield’ that you have to break before you can damage the enemy its protecting. The visuals for it aren’t as clear as in the original leading to situations where you’re really not sure if you’re broken the shield or not.

But I don’t want to rant too much about the combat because it’s really not bad – it’s more how certain sections don’t really fit the style and it creates a kind of jarring clash that you just have to grind your way through. Also, the combat isn’t that significant a part of the experience and ultimately, doesn’t drag the game down by much.

In terms of the mechanics of Wake and Anderson, Wake is far more interesting thanks to his ‘Writers Board’ that lets him directly change a scene (local environment) within the game world. It’s a perfect and clever combination of narrative and gameplay. It’s also technically impressive as you flit back and forth between multiple scenes and plot points throughout a level to progress.

But Anderson? Her mechanics – the Case Board and Profiling – are perfectly fine from a narrative perspective but aren’t very engaging from a gameplay one. The Case Board is exactly how it sounds – a board where you piece together evidence. Or don’t because you can’t do it ‘wrong’ as such – Anderson just mutters at you until you put each piece in the right place. And profiling? Like I said – neat narratively speaking, but it’s really just you sitting back and listening to characters talk.

Wake’s mechanics work so much better because they directly impact how you progress. It just feels like they really weren’t sure what to do with Anderson in terms of actual gameplay mechanics so they have her collecting pointless ‘charms’ and solving stupid math puzzles to open supply boxes. No. Just no. The first few sections in which you play as Saga are so slow and dull in terms of gameplay. They’re good as far as narratives goes, and that’s what pushes you through.

All the Wake stuff is great though. And thankfully, the Saga stuff gets much better before the end. I do wish the game had found a clever way to combine narrative and gameplay together at the very end though – instead, it kind of fizzles out where the gameplay is concerned and you just run along a linear path and then watch a live action video ending.

It’s disappointing – not from a narrative point of view because I really liked the ending – but disappointing that the game couldn’t find a way to embrace the medium. To actually engage the player in the action. Instead, it resorts to just making us sit back and watch a video. I’m sorry, but I don’t play video games to just sit back and watch the dramatic moments.

It’s like the end of The Last of Us which I played recently – imagine if when Joel enters the operating theatre it’s all just a cutscene – it just wouldn’t have the same impact. Alan Wake 2 does such a great job blending narrative and gameplay – at least through the Wake sections – but then misses the most important part.

At this point you might be wondering why I said Alan Wake 2 is a fantastic sequel given how much I’ve dunked on the game throughout this review. But honestly, it really is a fantastic sequel. In fact, that’s the reason I’m dunking on it so hard – because it’s a great game that could have been even better. I’m so frustrated by it, despite really enjoying it.

Despite all the flaws I think the game is a worthy – if not superior – sequel to the original. It’s a game I thoroughly enjoyed and I’m really looking forward to the upcoming DLC. I’m also hoping we’ll get a Control 2 or Alan Wake 3 (or both!) to tie all of this together.

8/10