'Alan Wake 2' Release Date: Story, Gameplay, and More

Alan Wake 2's narrative is centered on two separate playable characters - Alan Wake himself and the newcomer known as Saga Anderson. Due to the events of the first game, Alan has gone missing since 2010 and has been a prisoner trapped within the "Dark Place" for 13 years since then. This terrifying plane of existence tortures Alan as his nightmares, his fears, and his stories become all too real. Alan tries to escape the Dark Place by penning a new story - this fresh horror tale brings an FBI agent named Saga Anderson into the picture. Saga will find herself navigating the Pacific Northwest town of Bright Falls, Washington in hopes of solving a crime connected to a series of killings. Both Alan and Saga's fates will become intertwined in this game as Alan tries everything in his power to escape the captivity of his personal prison while Saga hopes to find out the cause of all the supernatural events she's looking into.

Alan Wake 2 deviates from the first game in the series by fully embracing the gameplay loop and behind-the-back third-person character viewpoint connected to the survival horror genre. Players will get to experience two different campaigns due to the inclusion of Alan and Saga as the game's main protagonists. Both characters will find themselves exploring their respective realms and have to contend with all sorts of creepy foes while utilizing firearms & a flashlight to make those enemies vulnerable to gun damage. It's possible to dodge incoming attacks from those supernatural menaces, by the way. Players can also look forward to a newly featured dialogue tree system and the return of discoverable manuscript pages that allude to future events in the game's story.

One of Alan Wake 2's coolest aspects comes courtesy of playing as Saga as she can enter a space free of enemies called the "Mind Place." At any time during gameplay, players can hop into this realm to check out visual representations of Saga's inner thoughts via a pinboard. The clues placed on that pinboard can be compiled in order to gather clues on assorted characters and connect the dots on the main mystery at the heart of the game's central enigma. Fans of Quantum Break's live-action cinematics will be happy to know that that same style of storytelling will pop up during Alan's gameplay segments.