Alan Wake II has just been given a release date, confirming a tip from earlier this week that suggested a fall/fall release date. During the PlayStation Showcase event early Thursday, developer Remedy Entertainment confirmed that the sequel to the supernatural horror game will release on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series S/X on October 17. New protagonist FBI agent Saga Anderson shares the stage with our titular hero in this sequel, which also shifts its genre to survival horror. The studio also released a gameplay trailer for this, which is quite reminiscent of the recent Resident Evil remakes – that’s a positive.
The Alan Wake 2 trailer opens with a voiceover from Wake, who appears to be trapped in the reverberating abyss that is the Dark Place. “I’m trapped here…in this nightmare,” he says, as we catch glimpses of a bald man being tied up and feasting on masked cultists in a forest. “I write to escape. Every word is a step forward in the darkness.” The writing seems rather monologue-heavy and fragmented, which has to do with the structure of the game. With the addition of the new protagonist, players can play through Wake or Anderson’s respective stories in any order they choose. Their journeys are intertwined, but each lead to separate unsettling paths to unravel the mystery surrounding a series of ritual murders that threaten Bright Falls – yes, that’s the same location as the original Alan Wake.
On the official website, creative director Sam Lake stated that playing as FBI agent Anderson is the “perfect point of view” for newcomers to the franchise, inviting players into the supernatural world of Alan Wake. “It’s important to us that Alan Wake 2 works as a standalone experience, but also has a ton of connections for our fans to find,” he writes. The sequel opens with Anderson revealing pages of a horror story, seemingly written by Wake himself, though the events described therein appear to have played out precisely in this realm. The victim is described as one of Anderson’s fellow FBI Special Agent Robert Nightingale, who was seemingly chasing a writer (presumably Wake), before finally being killed. Agent Casey goes on the case, played by the game’s writer, Sam Lake himself.
“We were all trapped in a horror story,” Wake continues. “The horror story wanted us dead.” Next, we clipped some raw gameplay footage of Anderson approaching a run-down shop with gun in hand, relying on an over-the-shoulder perspective similar to Resident Evil 4. As she continues to investigate indoors, a masked cultist with an ax through the wall and attacks her. Combat seems to revolve largely around gunfights with no melee combat manifestations, which raises the question of ammo conservation. A related PlayStation blog post reveals that Anderson’s story will be set in three hubs: the town of Bright Falls, the dense forest around Cauldron Lake, and the derelict town of Watery. The latter appears to be adorned with cool neon lighting. Meanwhile, Wake’s story takes place in the Dark Place, which is described as a “shifting, repeating reality.”
The game’s FAQ page confirmed that Alan Wake 2 would not have a physical CD release, with Remedy attributing the reasons to a “large number” of people moving to digital-only formats. “Second, not releasing a disc helps keep the price of the game at $59.99/€59.99 and the PC version at $49.99/€49.99. Finally, we didn’t want to ship a disc product and require a download for the game to do so – we don’t think that would make for a great experience either,” the page reads.
Alan Wake II is out October 17 on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series S/X. Pre-orders are now live on all platforms.
