A torch can only carry so many batteries, and supplies are getting thin in Alan Wake 2. While Mr Wake or Saga Anderson explore the depths of the Dark Place and Bright Falls, avoiding its many horrors won’t be easy. Set to be one of the best PS5 horror games in 2023, Remedy details how you can find refuge from evil ahead of the Alan Wake 2 release date.
Like Saga Anderson meeting a cast of mysterious characters, we’ll be getting acquainted with the roster of Alan Wake 2 voice actors in a similar fish-out-of-water fashion, according to creative director Sam Lake. Speaking with PLAY magazine, Lake says that “I always felt that, very purposefully, we left the poor guy trapped in this nightmare dimension, so always we were not going to abandon him there; the plan was always that we will continue this story.”
But while we will be switching between Wake and Anderson across the game’s story, we’ll find safe harbor in the kind of safe room-like environments seen in the Resident Evil franchise. According to PLAY’s report, you’ll “investigate [each] side of the story” in break rooms, which allow the player to activate the switch between characters.
With Wake’s bread and butter lying within the craft of writing, we wonder whether Remedy Entertainment will tip its hat toward the beautiful typewriters seen in Resident Evil 4, too.
Lake explains these different perspectives give Alan Wake 2 a surrealist quality: “Because of the style of the story, where there are a lot of visions and dreamlike elements, it suddenly forms this interesting structure of echoes and mirrors, and sometimes it can be foreshadowing, but if you play a different way, it’s a call back and explanation of what you experienced early on.”
We’re eager to see whether break rooms will take on the dreamlike aesthetic of the Dark Place – perhaps with some terrifying visitors trying to get in. It certainly seems like the Dark Place will be a location that players will be afraid to stay for too long in, according to co-director Kyle Rowley. “When I play horror games, I’m like, if it gets too scary, I’m going to turn off the game,” jokes Rowley.
Alongside the likes of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Alan Wake 2 sits with many upcoming PS5 games you don’t want to miss this year. You can find PLAY magazine’s full Alan Wake 2 coverage here.