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Alan Wake 2 (2023)

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Alan Wake 2 is a 2023 survival horror game developed by Remedy Entertainment and published by Epic Games Publishing. A sequel to Alan Wake, the story follows best-selling horror novelist Alan Wake, who has been trapped in an alternative dimension for 13 years, as he attempts to escape by writing a horror story involving an FBI agent named Saga Anderson. The game was released for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on 27 October 2023. It received generally positive reviews from critics.

Compared to the first Alan Wake game, which was an action adventure game with horror themes, Alan Wake II is a survival horror game played from a third-person perspective. Players play as Alan Wake or Saga Anderson in two separate single-player stories, which can be played in any order the player chooses; although the opening sequence and ending sequence of the game can only be played as Saga and as Alan, respectively.

Wake and Anderson traverse environments and fight enemies using various firearms and a flashlight, the latter of which can be "focused" to render enemies vulnerable to firearm attacks. Focusing the flashlight drains its battery, and players need to strategically use a limited amount of batteries and ammunition in order to survive. When enemies are close, Alan or Saga can perform a dodge maneuver.

Alan Wake II incorporates detective elements: when playing as Saga, players can always pause the gameplay to access an enemy-free space dubbed the "Mind Place".Described by Remedy as a "3D menu", the Mind Place is a visual representation of Saga's thoughts. In the Mind Place, players manage a pin board in which they can connect clues to piece together the main mystery, as well as profile characters to gather clues.

A returning element from Alan Wake is manuscript pages: players find pages of a manuscript that foreshadow upcoming events in the story. Unlike the previous game, Alan Wake II features a dialogue tree system.

13 years after bestselling writer Alan Wake went missing, a string of ritualistic murders occur in the town of Bright Falls, Washington. Saga Anderson, an FBI agent, is sent to Bright Falls to investigate the killings, where she finds herself tangled in a supernatural horror story written by Wake, in order to escape from his captivity.
FBI profiler Saga Anderson and her partner Alex Casey are dispatched to the town of Bright Falls to investigate a string of ritualistic serial murders. They investigate the fourth and latest victim, former FBI agent Robert Nightingale who had disappeared 13 years prior and was murdered by a group calling themselves "The Cult of the Tree". In addition to Nightingale's corpse, Saga finds a mysterious manuscript page that seems to predict the future. As they explore the town, they meet Sheriff Tim Breaker, who promises to assist them in the investigation. However, Saga notices that several people in Bright Falls act as if they have known her for a long time, despite this being her first visit to the town. Saga then performs an autopsy on Nightingale's corpse and finds another manuscript page inside his chest. Nightingale's corpse suddenly reanimates and escapes the morgue while Breaker mysteriously vanishes.

As they pursue Nightingale to Cauldron Lake, Alex admits that he had previously investigated a murder cult dedicated to bringing back the missing Alan Wake by reenacting the murders described in his books, and he knew Nightingale came to Bright Falls to pursue Alan. Saga encounters Nightingale, now converted into a Taken, and is forced to kill him, which causes the waters of Cauldron Lake to recede. Saga then finds Alan Wake washed up on the shore of the lake and takes him into custody while also discovering evidence that an organization called the Federal Bureau of Control has a presence in Bright Falls. Saga and Alex take Alan back to their field office, where he recounts how he managed to escape from the Dark Place.

While trapped in the Dark Place, Alan continually tried to write a way to escape. He then encountered an eccentric Finnish janitor named Ahti who pointed him toward a special angel-shaped desk lamp called the "Angel Lamp" which had the power to store and transfer light, which in combination with his writing ability allowed him to manipulate the Dark Place to better navigate it. Alan began navigating a dark, twisted version of New York City, following the trail of Alex Casey's investigation of the "Cult of the Word" led by Alan's evil doppelganger Mr. Scratch, who survived his erasure from existence, which brought him through the various scenes of the murders committed by the cult. Along the way, Alan also encountered Breaker, who was searching for the talk show host Mr. Door, believing he is responsible for trapping him in the Dark Place. Alan also occasionally made brief contact with Saga, the two of them trading vital information when they could.

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