Alan Wake 2 Reviews
After spending a week with Alan Wake 2 and finally seeing the credits, I can say that it’s one of my favorite titles in an extremely competitive year. Not only has it redefined what I believe video game narratives are capable of, but it also left me invigorated to see how Remedy will innovate once again.
Alan Wake II is the big surprise of the year, a title that gets fully into the fight of the GOTY 2023 and elevates the Survival-Horror genre to another level. A never-before-seen level where I can only pour praise on it. If you are afraid this game is not for you, but if it is not the case I recommend that you sit back and enjoy it. Thank you Remedy.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Alan Wake 2 is the most authorial, visceral, and ambitious game ever made by Remedy Entertainment, which will delight fans of the series with a new adventure with dark tones that improves on the first chapter in many ways. The transformation into a survival horror game has also revitalized the gameplay through a disturbing atmosphere, transposed in the best possible way thanks to a well-told story and charismatic characters. Despite a general variety that is not always up to par, Alan Wake 2 has rightfully entered the club of the most exciting games in 2023.
Review in Italian | Read full review
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.
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 is a brilliant survival horror that combines the surrealism of Twin Peaks, the investigations of True Detective and the paranormal elements of the SCP Foundation, but it is also the new graphical ceiling of the generation. And above all, it's a Remedy game; and it is glorious.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
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.
A peculiar sequel that at times seems to be purposefully undermining the best elements of the original, but it still gets just enough right to please both existing fans and potential newcomers.
I adored the first Alan Wake, and I’ve either loved or liked every Remedy game since then. This is the first time I’ve felt so displeased by the studio’s work I’ve actually been angry about it. The pompous writing, the shoehorned mechanics that push a tiresome narrative conceit over the quality of the narrative itself, the archaic combat, the amount of time it spends doing almost nothing, Alan Wake 2 is fucking insufferable most of the time.
Those 13 years should have led to something better, and it’s surprising that they haven’t. Alan Wake’s gunplay has gone from dull to frustrating in the sequel, while its venture into true survival horror has been plagued by predictability and amateurish jump scares. Its narrative has a few memorable moments and is able to periodically use its outlandish antics to its advantage, yet it is still dragged down by its refusal to provide enough rewarding resolutions to its litany of riddles. Alan Wake 2 doesn’t improve on what made the original such a cult hit and is instead an uncharacteristically rough draft that needed more edits. It’s not a lake or an ocean. It’s a disappointment.
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.
Remedy Entertainment crafts a suspenseful journey full of twists, examining its title character in spades. It's a messy, imperfect narrative that doesn't even try to wrap up every plot thread, but delivers a raw, emotional ride. Solid third-person survival horror-gameplay helps carry that journey outside of a handful of technical issues.
With two protagonists exploring different worlds, this thriller is a thoroughly entertaining blend of detective procedural and narrative weirdness
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.
Listen, I have waited a long time for this game and Remedy delivered a masterpiece here, flaws and all. The new creation of their own Remedy Universe shines brightly with the amount of crossover on display here with their last game Control. It was almost surprising how much the Federal Bureau of Control comes up against Saga and the FBI over the course of the game. I say surprising, but it is actually exciting to see what the future holds for these games. If Alan Wake 2 is any indication, Remedy is just getting started and whatever the greater story being told here I cannot wait for more. Fans of Alan Wake and its spin-off American Nightmare are going to love getting to reap the harvest of those seeds sowed so long ago. But Alan Wake 2 is also accessible for new fans alike and I would admonish anyone who genuinely enjoys weird, deep stories to check this one out.
Alan Wake 2 is more than just the best Remedy Entertainment game; it is the most important game in the studio's history. One of the most significant horror fiction pieces ever created and a transmedia sensation.
Review in Russian | Read full review
Alan Wake 2 is a bold and confident follow-up to its original, and worth the wait in every way. Remedy has crafted something timeless that will be talked about for a long time and has unexpectedly become the game to beat in the survival horror genre. Surreal, tense, funny, absurd and nerve-wracking all at once, Alan Wake 2 is a game all of its own and one you really should experience.
Thirteen years after the release of the first chapter, Remedy tries to improve itself and answer the questions that fans have been holding in for so long. Alan Wake II is another excellent step toward the ultimate maturation of the Finnish dev team, capable like few others of telling fascinating and engaging stories, surrounded by solid gameplay and a first-class cast. A few minor technical flaws and some knots yet to be unraveled (perhaps in a DLC?) are the only, small moles in a production that maintains the excellent levels already achieved with Control.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Circling back to everything that made the original shine while adding not only new gameplay innovations, but captivating new characters marks a bold step forward for the series, for Remedy, and the industry at large. Alan Wake 2 is a towering accomplishment that will keep you hooked from start to finish and leave you with a little darkness you’ll be thinking about for years to come.