![]() Cracking it requires a close study of the surrounding environment, as the bolts embedded in the nearby targets are clues to the padlock’s combination. I find a basic supply chest that’s protected by a simple memory mini-game, but later discover a lockbox containing a powerful crossbow. ![]() As I get closer to Coffee World I stumble across a number of containers, each locked by a brain teaser with a difficulty level that scales in correlation with the rewards inside. That relationship is further emphasised by the abundance of puzzles. If the opening walk through Watery presents an air of Silent Hill, then this later approach positions Alan Wake 2 close to Resident Evil, which has long used its police stations and villages in a similar manner. This has affected the scenario design across the duration of the chapter my objectives take me back and forth, discovering and revisiting locations as new items and information expand the story. Rather than the A-to-B shooting galleries that made up the original game, Watery is an open hub of snaking forest trails that can be freely explored and backtracked through. My journey there reveals that Alan Wake 2’s world is built entirely differently from its predecessor. The touch of Resident Evil can be felt in Alan Wake 2's combat encounters.Ī chat with entrepreneurial oddballs the Koskela brothers puts me on the trail of some spare keys for the trailer park, which are locked up in the gift shop of Coffee World, a local theme park. I don’t know if the coffee here is damn fine, but the atmosphere certainly is. And Ahti is performing a rousing number at the local cafe. But while this may be slower-paced than Remedy’s previous action romps, it’s no less weird: everyone seems to already know who I am despite this being Saga’s first visit to Watery. There’s no urgency as I wander down Main Street, chatting with the locals about a nearby trailer park – a lead in my wider investigation into the Cult of the Tree, the story’s looming threat. In these opening minutes, it’s clear that Alan Wake 2 is unlike any other game Remedy has made before. It’s just down the road from the original Alan Wake setting of Bright Falls, and carries a similar David Lynch vibe quaint, but off-kilter. Local Girl begins with Saga arriving in Watery, a town established by Finnish settlers. And, from what I can tell thus far, it’s all for the better. It feels like almost every element of Alan Wake’s gameplay has been reinvented. It comes complete with puzzles, exploration, backtracking, and a crime fiction library’s worth of creeping dread. Where the 2010 original was a relentless action game dressed in a Halloween costume, Alan Wake 2 is a full-bore survival horror. But the shift from nightmare horror to grisly detective thriller on Saga’s side of the story is the first sign of the bold, sweeping changes that Remedy has made in its long-awaited sequel. A pair of ageing rock stars make a very welcome return. There are generators to power up, and your shadow-burning flashlight is still a fundamental part of combat. Manuscripts still litter the world, as do blue thermos flasks. Within it, I saw plenty of things that will make long-term Alan Wake devotees happy. Across more than an hour of play I experienced the entirety of Local Girl, the third chapter of Saga’s story. The eerie shadows of True Detective, Seven, and The Silence of the Lambs creep through Alan Wake 2’s gorgeous digital depiction of the Pacific Northwest.įor this month’s IGN First, I visited Remedy’s studio in Finland to play Alan Wake 2. Out in the real world (or at least what seems like the real world) – the domain of our second protagonist, FBI agent Saga Anderson – developer Remedy Entertainment has crafted a new collage from pieces of its favourite detective stories. ![]() It returns for the sequel, too, but the Stephen King-isms look to be confined to The Dark Place the New York-styled nightmare cage the titular writer is trapped in. Deliciously pulpy horror storytelling was at the heart of the original Alan Wake.
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