Alan Wake 2 Takes Cues from Resident Evil in How to “Make Players Feel More Vulnerable” – Director

Thirteen years is a long time to spend in a Hell of your own mind’s making, so it’s a blessing in disguise that Alan Wake has a case of the video game amnesia about much of that time. There’s a glimmer of hope for him though, as Alan Wake 2 gives him a fresh chance to find a way out and get back to the real world.

Remedy Entertainment recently announced that it had pushed back Alan Wake 2’s launch by 10 days to later in October, stating that it was moving to a later window due to the crowded release schedule for mid-October this year.

The launch of Alan Wake 2 is slowly but surely creeping up on us, and soon we’ll be able to explore the mysteries of The Dark Place in the highly anticipated sequel from developer Remedy. To help celebrate this monumental release, 13 years in the making, Nvidia is giving you the chance to win a GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card, with a custom Alan Wake 2 backplate.

Ever since we learned Alan Wake 2 would be a full-fledged survival horror game, we've expected some fairly significant tweaks to its design compared to the first game. Now, we're learning exactly what one of those changes is.

Alan Wake 2 promises to be a fairly different game from its predecessor, and that’s a good thing. While the atmosphere and setting of the original Alan Wake in 2010 was certainly ominous and surreal, it’s held back by a rather clunky combat system. Fortunately, the move to a more pure survival horror game with Alan Wake 2 ensures that this won’t be the case again, something developer Remedy confirms with PCGamesN at Gamescom 2023.

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As we get our latest look at Alan Wake 2 during Gamescom 2023, Remedy creative director Sam Lake says the team “could not have made this game earlier.” In an interview attended by PCGamesN at the event, Lake and Alan Wake 2 director Kyle Rowley tell us how the survival horror game plays on the history of Remedy itself.

What’s it like to be trapped in a hell of your own making? For writer Alan Wake, that’s the story he’s trying to tell. And after watching a full 40-minute demo, played from the perspective of Wake himself, it certainly looks set to be a tale worth telling. Taking place in an area called The Dark Place, this lengthy slice of the story follows Alan as he makes his way through an oppressive and haunting replica of New York City riddled with danger, gunfights, and puzzles. It’s classic survival horror but with the distinct edge of developer Remedy - smart, engrossing, and consistently odd.

The much-anticipated Alan Wake II is only a couple of months away at this point, feeling so soon all of a sudden despite a lengthy wait. Among the unique draws of Remedy’s latest horror game is the use of dual protagonists in the form of writer Alan Wake and FBI agent Saga Anderson. And while the last bit of gameplay we saw from Summer Game Fest focused on Saga, a larger focus was put on Alan this time around during the new trailer that debuted during Gamescom Opening Night Live, and as Saga’s adventures are in the real world, Alan finds himself dealing with the surreal realm of the Dark Place.

Remedy Entertainment's upcoming horror title Alan Wake 2 has received some brand new preview footage ahead of its planned release on October 17 this year. 

Alan Wake fans have waited quite a long time now for a proper official sequel to the video game. Alan Wake 2 is underway, and we’ll finally get our hands on the game this October. Since Remedy Entertainment first showcased the game, the studio has been a bit quiet on Alan Wake, the main protagonist from the first installment. Finally, during Gamescom ONL, we got more information regarding Alan Wake. We know that he’s still trapped in the Dark Place. However, over the course of the time Alan has been imprisoned there, this Dark Place has taken the shape of New York. It’s Alan’s own personal nightmare that he’s desperately trying to escape from. Of course, just as before, this game will toy with Alan’s mind as you seek out a means of freeing yourself from the Dark Place.  

Today during Gamescom's Opening Night Live, we got a new look at the gameplay and live-action scenes in the upcoming Alan Wake 2. The trailer begins with a slew of live-action footage – including Wake on a talk show.