Summary
Both before and after launch, Remedy Entertainment has made no attempt to hide the fact that it’s been heavily influenced by theResident Evilseries for its long-awaited sequelAlan Wake 2. But whileResident Evilhas clearly inspired a lot ofAlan Wake 2’s gameplayand its survival horror shift, there’s nothing necessarily wrong with taking inspiration from the best as long as Remedy wasn’t copying Capcom’s homework directly, andAlan Wake 2certainly doesn’t do that.
While the basic structure ofAlan Wake 2’s combat, puzzles, and inventory management will all feel fairly familiar to long-timeResident Evilfans, the rest ofAlan Wake 2very much plays by its own rules. In around 20 hours, Remedy delivers one of the most unique and genuinely surprising survival horror games in recent memory, embracing and flipping the genre on its head simultaneously. In many ways,Alan Wake 2may actually be a better game than some of the recentResident Eviltitles, and that definitely seems true in one specific area.
Alan Wake 2’s Settings Feel Much More Varied Than Recent Resident Evil Games
Resident Evil Has Iconic But Familiar Settings
A lot ofrecentResident Evilgameshave felt a tad samey when it comes to their chosen settings. WhileResident Evil 7felt fairly unique with its Louisiana bayou setting, downed tanker ship, and underground mine, andResident Evil 2remake obviously did an incredible job of bringing Raccoon City to life in the modern age of gaming, theResident Eviltitles since then haven’t been nearly as unique with their own settings.
Being set in the same general location,Resident Evil 3remake’s settinglooked and felt very similar toResident Evil 2’s. And whenResident Evil Villagereleased, many fans felt as though its setting borrowed a little too heavily fromResident Evil 4. This, in turn, made theResident Evil 4remake feel pretty samey as well, with many fans feeling as though they’d explored these same types of areas over and over again in recent years.
But even despite that feeling of repetition creeping in due to Capcom’s release schedule, recentResident Evilgames haven’t had the most interesting locales regardless. EvenResident Evil 4remake, which many fans consider one of the best games in the franchise, has just three locations with its village, castle, and island, and many fans don’t even like the latter. There’s no denying that these areas are iconic and nostalgic, but many recentResident Evilareas kind of blend into one for many fans.
Alan Wake 2 Is Constantly Changing Environments
Alan Wake 2, on the other hand, puts variety at the very forefront when it comes to its own settings.Alan Wake 2has two primary settings, those being the real world and the alternate dimension known as the Dark Place. Even on a surface level, these two locations differ massively, both in terms of visuals and gameplay. While the real world features more grounded visuals and realistic lighting, the Dark Place is much more ethereal, drenched in darkness and littered with surreal images.
Then peeling back that layer, both settings have quite a bit of variation when it comes to the individual locations in them. For instance, in the real world, the forest surrounding Cauldron Lake looks completely different from the small, sleepy town of Bright Falls, which looks and feels pretty different from the abandoned Coffee World amusement park. Each and every area ofAlan Wake 2feels completely distinct, and thus stands out in the player’s mind, and that’s exemplified even more with the Dark Place.
Made to look like a nightmarish neo-noir New York City, the Dark Place also comes with its own handful of unique locations, all of which stand out on their own, from subway tunnels to old time-y hotels to modern apartment buildings to vintage cinemas. And on top of that,Alan Wake’s paranatural ability to change realitymeans that each location gets a handful of different visual looks depending on the story Alan is telling, adding even more variation toAlan Wake 2’s settings.
Alan Wake 2
WHERE TO PLAY
A string of ritualistic murders threatens Bright Falls, a small-town community surrounded by Pacific Northwest wilderness. Saga Anderson, an accomplished FBI agent with a reputation for solving impossible cases arrives to investigate the murders. Anderson’s case spirals into a nightmare when she discovers pages of a horror story that starts to come true around her.Alan Wake, a lost writer trapped in a nightmare beyond our world, writes a dark story in an attempt to shape the reality around him and escape his prison. With a dark horror hunting him, Wake is trying to retain his sanity and beat the devil at his own game.Anderson and Wake are two heroes on two desperate journeys in two separate realities, connected at heart in ways neither of them can understand: reflecting each other, echoing each other, and affecting the worlds around them.Fueled by the horror story, supernatural darkness invades Bright Falls, corrupting the locals and threatening the loved ones of both Anderson and Wake. Light is their weapon—and their safe haven — against the darkness they face. Trapped in a sinister horror story where there are only victims and monsters, can they break out to be the heroes they need to be?
