Remedy Entertainment’s next big game, Alan Wake 2, has seen rising attention as creator Sam Lake and director Kyle Rowley, have said story and experience will come first. It appears the development team for this project is determined to change the entire atmosphere of the franchise and bring something new and innovative to gamers. Alan Wake 2 will be a survival-horror, third-person, single-player experience, differing from its predecessor, Alan Wake, which is considered to be an action-adventure game.
Instead of the sequel containing constant combat, Lake and Rowley are looking to create a slow burn, where action sequences are more meaningful and intense for the player. They believe this style of gaming, which is puzzle-based and explorative, provides more room for growth when it comes to the narrative and story telling. There will be much less repetitive action where shadow men constantly charging Wake, and the gameplay will be purely designed to further the story.
Alan Wake 2 will lean heavily into psychological horror where the environment is just as unsettling as the enemies the player will face. When combatants do arrive, the same challenges that arose in Alan Wake will arise in the form of sparse ammunition and a flashlight that never wants to work properly. The same main themes that revolved around light and darkness in the first title appear to be present in the sequel.
While Lake and Rowley are clear that this is a survival-horror game, they are also not looking to “gore and jumpscares” as a cheap trick to frighten viewers. David Lynch and Stephen King have been cited as major influences for the directors which indicates this will surely be a highly emotional and methodical storyline.
Summer Games Fest gave fans a first look at some of the gameplay they can expect to see in Alan Wake 2 this year. However, this is only a small sample of what insiders have seen. According to reports, Alan Wake 2 is a project thirteen years in the making and is easily the biggest project the studio has ever created. The demo gameplay was of Saga Anderson, an FBI agent whom you will be able to play as, along with Alan Wake.
The game tells the two character’s stories in any order the player chooses and the roles can be switched at any time. The experience for each individual player will be entirely different and will even include a dialogue tree, which was not a part of the previous installment. The only parts of the game that will remain the same for everyone are the opening and closing sequences, which take place as Saga and Wake respectively.
Will Alan Wake 2 Require Players to Experience the First Game to Understand the Story?
If your interests were peaked by the trailer for Alan Wake 2 at the PlayStation showcase or you watched the gameplay from Summer Games Fest and wondered if you would need to play the first game, it appears the answer is no. Lake and Rowley have emphasized they are not expecting everyone to have played the original game, which came out in 2010. Alan Wake 2 was designed to act as both a sequel and a standalone for those who are unfamiliar with the franchise.
Nevertheless, if you are interested in experiencing the original Alan Wake, it was recently remastered by Remedy Entertainment and is typically sold for $30. There has also been a spin-off game in the series called Control, which is highly acclaimed and another great game which requires no information on Alan Wake to be thoroughly enjoyed.
Source: Eurogamer
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