Wait, it's not a loop, it's what now?
17.10.2023 - 21:07 / eurogamer.net / Victoria Kennedy / Of Its / In Fortnite
If you're super-excited for the release of Alan Wake 2 later this month, but can't quite recall the events of the first game (entirely reasonably seeing as the original version came out over a decade ago), Fortnite of all places might have the answer. Epic has whacked a free playable 20-minute Alan Wake recap episode that should serve as a refresher while offering a bit of spooky battery gobbling fun along the way.
Alan's first adventure, released all the way back in 2010, sees the eponymous writer taking a working holiday with his wife, Alice, in the beautiful Pacific Northwest town of Bright Falls. Needless to say, it doesn't take long for things to go awry, and, soon, Alan — with occasional help from his agent BARRY — is monologuing his way through the night, blasting malevolent beings to smithereens with his torch and revealing the next big spooky event 10 seconds before it happens because he can't keep his mouth shut.
Or at least that's how I remember it. Presumably Epic's newly released Alan Wake: Flashback — a 'reimagining' of the original tale, developed in collaboration with Remedy Entertainment, Spiral House, and Zen Creative — will do a better and more reliable job of filling you in on all the important story beats ahead of Alan Wake 2.
Alan Wake: Flashback is available to play now on all platforms where Fortnite exists (you'll obviously need to download Fortnite first, and then use Island Code: 3426-5561-3374 to access the Alan Wake episode if you can't find it in the menu), and Alan Wake 2's long-awaited Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and Epic Games Store launch is set for 27th October.
Eurogamer's Victoria Kennedy was extremely impressed by Alan Wake 2 and its two distinct protagonists when she went hands-on with the game last month. «Alan may indeed be stuck in a hell of his own creation,» she wrote, «but I believe this sequel has the potential to be a dark yet heavenly release for Remedy fans, old and new.»
Wait, it's not a loop, it's what now?
Remedy Entertainment has rolled out a major new Alan Wake 2 update across all platforms, including over 200 improvements and fixes.
The Manuscript Pages in Alan Wake 2 allow you to look deeper into the larger story happening in the game. These pages are scattered throughout the narrative, but some are well-hidden and hard to find in Watery.
Alan Wake 2 is a tale about the outrageous horror story Alan is writing, and much of it comes to life in Bright Falls because of the Dark Place. There are Manuscript Pages that you can find that detail significant parts of the story, and several appear in Bright Falls.
The Cult Stashes you find in Alan Wake 2 can be extremely helpful in keeping your supplies high throughout the course of your playthrough. There are several you can find while exploring Bright Falls.
Scratch, the shadow creature spreading corruption and chaos in , is the final boss you have to beat toward the end of this intense survival horror game. Although there is another Chapter to the story after this fight, you won't have another chance to foil the schemes of this horrifying entity. This short encounter will test your ability to multitask quickly as you try to keep an artifact called the Clicker out of Scratch's hands.
There are two shotguns available to players of , which they can find at different points in the story. Saga can use one, and one can be used by Alan later in the story, although both will have little ammo at first. However, both of the shotguns will be very useful for the enemies the characters encounter and can allow them to escape the Dark Presence.
Instead of finding Manuscript Fragments for upgrades, the eponymous character will need to find Words of Power in Alan Wake 2. These Words of Power locations allow Alan to upgrade himself in multiple different special character trees. Each upgrade increases his strength in a different way — you can deal more damage, enhance your health, or make your weapons more powerful. It all depends on those Words of Power.
A good game over screen doesn’t just serve as a notice that you need to start over. In the survival horror genre, a well-crafted, properly terrifying game over screen should serve as a deterrent, ensuring you stay alive the next time to avoid seeing the bloody words ‘Game Over’ appear on your screen. And sometimes, like in Alan Wake 2, they could be so terrifying you never want to die again.
Find out how you can pry open locks with the Screwdriver in Alan Wake 2.
This article contains mentions of suicide, grief, and trauma.
Horror drowns in symmetry: evil twins, two souls occupying one body, light and dark creating shadow, the Other Side, the Dark Place, the Upside Down. It is part of the cascading telemetry of fear utilized by our best horror artists, weaving nightmares out of pleasant dreams, whittling hell from the bones of our heavens.