Alan Wake II is more confident and scarier than the original

The sequel to 2010's Alan Wake is finally coming this year, and it looked amazing at a Summer Games Fest behind-closed-doors preview

When I played Alan Wake Remastered back in 2021, it was easy to see how the game had become a cult classic. The remnants of an extremely ambitious project that had to be reined in are also obvious. The universe that Remedy Entertainment has created with Alan Wake and Control is in full swing, and our new joint-protagonist, Saga Anderson, was teased back in 2016’s Quantum Break. With the behind-closed-doors footage we’ve now seen at Summer Games Fest 2023, it’s clear that Alan Wake II is a more confident and focused game than the original ever was.

The demo kicks off with FBI agent Anderson exploring the forest with Alex Casey. Anderson has been tasked with investigating the events of Alan Wake, and has found herself in the town of Watery, Southwest of the original game’s Bright Falls. Robert Nightingale, the fan-favorite FBI agent that previously chased Alan while calling him “Stephen King” or “Dan Brown,” has fallen into the Dark Place. His disappearance from the ranks of the FBI has naturally led to some of their best agents jumping on the case.

At the point the demo starts, Anderson has already seen some supernatural happenings. She doesn’t even question mysterious figures jumping from the shadows, wearing old miner or firefighter outfits – she just aims her flashlight and starts blasting. She even gets a fancy shotgun which proves to be incredibly useful in close-encounters, but what’s most interesting about Saga is how she introduces an entirely new style of gameplay.

Saga's Mind Palace is where she pieces clues together / Remedy Entertainment

Saga is an investigator, and she can retreat into her Mind Palace at any point to piece together clues. This literally transports you to a room she dreams up in her head – reminiscent of Fable III’s interactive pause menu – and here there’s a pinboard with the developments in the case. As you explore you’ll collect clues, but instead of Anderson instantly coming to a conclusion after you interact with and immediately close a piece of paper, the player must put it in its proper place on the pinboard. It’s simple, but it ensures you understand how the story is developing while giving you a sense of achievement for understanding it.

This mechanic is unique to Anderson, and she’s only one half of Alan Wake II. Alan himself is here, playable, only he’s a bit of a state. He hasn’t been seen in 13 years, and he’s pretty disheveled by the time Anderson finds him. This is where the game gets into full swing and will see you playing through storylines as both characters. Each has their own scenarios which tie into the central plot, and you will be able to choose which scenario you wish to progress, or jump between them at any point.

Alan Wake II is still a horror game at heart / Remedy Entertainment

We haven’t seen anything from Alan’s side of the campaign quite yet, so it’s unclear whether it will resemble the original Alan Wake, or if he has a unique Mind Palace mechanic to make use of.

At several points it resembled a more contemplative version of the modern Resident Evil remakes. Weapons are accessed from a similar D-pad menu, for one, and there are even safe rooms, where the collectible thermos flasks from the first game can be found — and, of course, it’s a space where you can save the game and organize your equipment.

The new town of Watery is just as mysterious as Bright Falls / Remedy Entertainment

While Remedy might’ve taken some inspiration from modern RE games, it’s still very much its own beast. The wide open spaces of the forest leave plenty of room for enemies to hide in the shadows before ambushing you – you won’t be tasked with hunting three keys with unique emblems to open a mansion door, though Anderson does, at one point, cast a mysterious heart into a woodland trail sign to cause all kinds of creepy nonsense.

Alan Wake is still steeped in the supernatural, which sets it apart from RE, and the usual spooky horror games that ask you to hide more than fight. This game has been teased multiple times since 2010 – Alan has been away for 13 years in real life, too – and it feels like Remedy Entertainment has been planning all this time to bring him back. Quantum Break and Control somehow feel as if they were always leading to this, and I can’t wait to see what they have in store for us in the full game.