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Alan Wake II Review (W/ Night Springs DLC)

 

Note: This review comes from a player/author that has not played the previous entries of the title with the exception of American Nightmare.


Alan Wake II grapples us in its introduction with a gruesome, horrific, eerie atmosphere that forces players into a long, dwelling nightmare that questions how you'll escape the dark presence this time around. Playing as both Saga Anderson and Alan Wake, provides a unique experience for players, as they have the power to choose the pacing of the story, and how the details will add up along the way. With beautiful environments and engaging gameplay mechanics, it will activate the collector mentality within you, and you'll be searching for all the clues before solving each chapter's goals.




The game's artistic delivery is phenomenal, with the seamless integration of live-action film and player controlled gameplay that allows certain scenes to shine more in their appropriate format. The lighting (in addition to being an important weapon against the darkness) was critically thought out both in its cinematic and gameplay sections, but as well as in the photo mode feature, allowing for a lot of creativity for the player. I spent a total of 36 hours in this hellish nightmare of alternating realities, and I could only assume 4-6 hours of that was spent in photo mode alone.

 

         Note: All the photos in the article were photographed in-game using the photo mode feature, done by the author's personal playthrough.




Although the game overall, shines brighter than your focused flashlight beams, I found the drawback to be its length. I felt the developers dragged out the game longer than it needed to be, and felt it started to drag towards the last act. The last act was primed with great energy, but by the time I got there, I was ready to be done with the game. It seemed that the game wanted to really utilize some of their mechanics, even if it meant overcomplicating scenes to make it consistent with the game's playthrough. I felt there were times when gameplay actions could have either been summed up in one interaction, or have been shown in a live-action cutscene, which would've progressed the story faster, but also in a more interesting fashion beyond breaking its simplicity into multiple parts.



Night Springs DLC is a great companion to the main game's story, allowing first time players to experience the DLC whilst in-game, encountering TVs that show up during your storyline, that add a nice tangent experience to your playthrough. It gives more context to the realities that surround our supporting characters and their journeys. Without giving too much away, it brought some nice comic relief to my personal playthrough, and I really enjoyed all 3 stories that were apart of the DLC.






Even with its elongated gameplay, the game is without a doubt worth a contender for game of the year. It's crime scenes with constantly changing scenarios, alternating protagonists, manic side characters, and gorgeous scenery, it's no wonder why it was an award grabbing game. As somebody who is foreign to the franchise, I'm glad I hopped on the train when I did, because I'm now here for the ride, and I couldn't be more excited for what's to come in the following DLC set to release later this year in October 2024.

9/10




 

 

 




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Location: Los Angeles, CA, USA

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