Alan Wake 2’s beautiful environs, whether they’re wreathed in the mind-twisting shadow of the dark place or lit by the dying light of the twilight sun, bring this game to life, creating the suffocating atmosphere that keeps you glued to your seat every ‘episode.’ But like Alan does his best work in his Writing Room, Alan Wake 2 looks its best powered by the cloud, with RTX 3080 performance bringing everything to vibrant, horrifying clarity.
Alan Wake 2 is a tour de force in horror storytelling, twisting what we expect from a typical video game narrative into something horrifying and unforgettable. It combines disparate elements to create a genuinely astonishing whole, combining live action across multiple mediums, some of the best writing I’ve seen in years, and an environment and atmosphere that can only be described as stiflingly beautiful.
But what is it? Well, Alan Wake 2 is a third-person survival horror that tells the story of two people trapped on opposite sides of the same horror story.
Alan Wake is a writer who has been trapped in a nightmarish writers' room for over a decade, only able to venture out by projecting himself into the hellish and surreal ‘dark place’ through his writing as he desperately tries to engineer a way out through his narrative.
Art shapes the dark place into a nightmare of our own creation...
Meanwhile, Saga Anderson is an FBI agent sent to investigate a recent series of killings around the lake where Alan disappeared, swiftly becoming wrapped up in the vile work of the mysterious ‘cult of the tree’ and the monstrous, darkness-infested, taken that stumble free of the lake.
I’ll not dig any deeper into the plot than that because Alan Wake 2’s biggest strength is its storytelling, and it’s a story you really should experience on your own. Storytelling is hardly its only strength, though. Art design, direction, atmosphere, sound design, and music, oh my days, the music. Without these elements pushing it up, the story would be nothing; they all come together to make you want to bite down and dig deep into this strange world. A world that begs to be unravelled, full of mysteries you’ll be desperate to understand…
Just like Saga Anderson, whose unique mind place mechanic lets her retreat to her private case room within her mind at any time. Here, you’ll untangle clues, profile subjects, and find the truth behind cases by collating all the information you’ve gathered. It’s a great mechanic for really getting you in the shoes of the genius detective, and one matched perfectly by Alan’s writer's room, where you’ll use his plot board and story concepts to rewrite reality across the dark place.
The mind place quickly become Saga's only true safe haven as the town turns against her.
The two mechanics help make each character’s journey feel unique, but one uniting factor is the game’s astonishing music. The most notable tracks come from the fictional band ‘Old Gods of Asgard’, who are, in truth, the Poets of the Fall, a band that has been working with Remedy since the early days of Max Payne, and one of my favourite groups. No spoilers for their fantastic tracks in Alan Wake 2, but to give you a taste, here is a song they composed for the first game back in 2010.
As much as I love the Poets of the Fall, though, I have to admit their music is just a fantastic cherry on top, a perfect accent piece that adds that little bit of extra flavour to an already excellent package. Alan Wake 2 is a sum of its parts: its music, writing, atmosphere, beautiful environments, and visual effects are best brought to life by the power of a GeForce NOW Powered by CloudGG Priority membership. They’re all excellent, but by bringing them together, Remedy has created a game that is truly like no other and an easy contender for game of the year 2023.
This spotlight was written by CloudGG team member “Motley” and does not represent the opinions of CloudGG or NVIDIA.
