Alan Wake 2 Reviews
Remedy's boldest experiment yet is a beautiful storm of surreal storytelling and genuinely frightening survival horror.
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.
Alan Wake 2 has incredible graphics and some memorable moments, but it's dragged down by technical issues and tedious gameplay.
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.
This feels like the game this developer has wanted to make for years, unrestrained in the best possible way as it goes hard on layered storytelling, flawed yet fascinating heroes and a series which for over a decade now has been harbouring untold potential.
"Whenever I thought I had a handle on where Alan Wake 2 was leading me it upended my expectations"
For longtime Remedy fans and those who want to see what happens next for Alan Wake, the sequel is a success, but making it to the end includes unnecessary hurdles.
I already consider it a modern horror classic, one that opens up a veritable ocean of possibilities for Remedy’s future. If it takes another 13 years for a game of Alan Wake 2’s caliber to come along again, it will have been well worth the wait.
Remedy delivers its greatest game to date by turning a long-awaited sequel into a uniquely meta multimedia masterpiece.
Alan Wake 2 is hardly some flawless masterpiece. It sometimes overindulges in easy jump scares, and while its narrative highs are very high, the momentum also flags from time to time. But I’d argue that it’s a game in which even the flaws contribute to its texture as a fresh and original experience, not a focus-tested product but a work that has a vision and really goes for it. You don’t need to be a writer for the struggles that Alan Wake and Saga Anderson face here to resonate with you. You just need to be a person who has ever looked inside yourself and faced doubt, fear, some deep uncertainty about your own value or your ability to handle the challenges ahead. And then done it anyway.
In a superb blend of reality and fiction, Alan Wake 2 will earn its place as one of the best horror games out there.
Alan Wake 2 is the perfect release for Halloween as it presents a psychological horror movie into video game format.
Alan Wake 2 weaves together two compelling protagonists across a unique, multi-dimensional, narrative that is often seriously strange but still surprisingly engrossing. However, the stretches of puzzled-laced exploration overstay their welcome, and the flabby first act may test your patience. Fortunately, even when the blemishes poke through, Alan Wake 2 always looks utterly stunning.
Alan Wake 2 is a stylistic tour de force and one of the most unique and confident horror games in recent years. It might not hit every beat perfectly, but Remedy's daft and over the top sense of humour help bring much-needed levity to its genuine thrills and jump scares.
Lake has always been a good spokesman for the game. He talked about Remedy’s “dream game” a while back and said, “Where we are now is fiction becoming reality.” It’s kind of a cliche that you expect to hear from the lips of Alan Wake, but it’s a good description for what goes through you head as you play this outstanding game that messes with your mind but still leaves it in a better place than most horror games do. Call it a masterpiece or a work of art. Both apply. I rate the game as five stars out of five.
Alan Wake 2 is a spectacular sequel that was more than worth the wait, with a story that simply has to be experienced to be believed.
Alan Wake 2 is an incredible sequel, fully realizing the ambitious storytelling established in the first game and combining it with fantastic moment-to-moment gameplay. DualShockers was provided a copy of the game for review purposes.
Alan Wake II presents us with a more mature and evolved Remedy, able to unite their universes and have fun while offering what is undoubtedly their best title to date.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
In a sea of exemplar video games released in 2023, “Alan Wake 2” is the work most interested in pushing the boundaries of its franchise, its genre and even its medium.