Resident Evil has a new survival horror rival in Alan Wake 2

Alan Wake has recovered from his 13-year writer’s block.

The fantasy horror author, protagonist of Remedy Entertainment’s 2010 cult hit of the same name, will reprise his role in a long-awaited sequel this October. His return isn’t just notable because he’s a beloved franchise character — revealed alan wake 2 marks an important milestone for Remedy, which has endured several failed attempts to create a new chapter for Alan Wake, and meanwhile launch the breakout hit Control,

Whereas alan wake 2 Bears similarities to its predecessor, such as incorporating familiar characters and gameplay, the game takes quite a few liberties to change things up. This time, Allen will be joined by FBI Agent Saga Anderson, who investigates a series of gruesome murders in the Pacific Northwest. As players progress through the story, they take control of both Alan and Saga as a supernatural horror unfolds.

As part of Summer Game Fest, Remedy Entertainment and publisher Epic Games Publishing showed a hands-off demo with approximately 30 minutes of gameplay, showing the opening mission played from Saga’s perspective. What we saw was a slice of game that leaned into the survival horror genre and practically went full resident Evil 4 on points.

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Image: Remedy Entertainment/Epic Games Publishing

The game begins with Saga running through a dense, conifer-filled forest with his colleague Alex Casey (voiced by creative director and writer Sam Lake). As they talk, we learn that they are investigating an area near Cauldron Lake, the site of Alan’s disappearance in the first game after a series of gruesome murders.

To advance the story, players will move around as Saga and search for clues in various crime scenes. In the demo, she wanders along a wilderness trail and examines abandoned shacks and cabins in search of sites of cult rituals, picking up scraps of paper and other objects with remarkable information. After collecting these items or scraps of paper with additional information, the player can teleport to a cabin room within Saga’s psyche called the Mind Place, which is filled with his collected evidence. Using these collected materials she can use the power of “profiling” to piece information together and move the story forward.

As the saga pieces together clues, a wall called the Case Board, with clues arranged like string theory tropes, will fill with information and allow players to piece together the crime.

Image: Remedy Entertainment/Epic Games Publishing

The game swings between uneasy calm while gathering evidence, and tense combat where an abandoned room is suddenly breached by a cultist wearing a deer head. it, like the original Alan Wake, is a third-person shooter and it returns to the core mechanics of that game. Players use their flashlight to weaken enemies, then shoot to take them down. same as original Alan WakeSaga will dodge attacks.

Due to how similar the movement looks compared to the first game, it was asked whether dodging would work in the new game in the same way as in the original. “Hopefully it will feel a lot better, but yeah, it works like that,” said Thomas Puha, director of communications and press relations for Remedy Entertainment. “The good thing though is that Alan isn’t constantly breathless, so he’s in a bit better shape.”

We also asked whether players can expect to use additional powers when playing as Alan Wake. Puha said, “On Alan’s side, I can say that light matters a lot. Light is another mechanic you have to use with Wake in the Dark Place, but we’ll show that gameplay later.

Image: Remedy Entertainment/Epic Games Publishing

This piece of the game featured takes heavy influence from other survival horror games resident Evil 4, The image of Saga bursting through cult members with a shotgun and his large jacket with “FBI” emblazoned on the back is reminiscent of images of Leon Kennedy fighting his way through a backwater jungle. resident Evil 4, In addition, systems such as the Weapons Organization System resident Evil 4 were also shown during gameplay.

we asked the team about resident evil 4 effect, and Puha said, “I would add that when you’ve seen a half-hour play, it’s really important to know that we’re not a note. When you go to Bright Falls during the day, yeah it’s a little weird Will seem, but the vibes are going to be different. […] We’ve definitely made sure that there’s a lot of variety in terms of tone. Then we head to the Dark Place, which is like a terrifying version of New York, and it’s kind of different than what you’re seeing here. So diversity is really important.”

alan wake 2 Coming to PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X on October 17th via the Epic Games Store.