Summary

  • Alan Wake 2, despite being nominated for Game of the Year at The Game Awards, did not make it to the top 150 games with the most active users in October 2023.
  • Mixed reviews and technical issues may have affected player enjoyment and attention towards the game, despite the high anticipation from fans.
  • The game's failure to capture player engagement could be attributed to its lack of a heavy multiplayer aspect and the fact that the charts only cover the US market. However, updates and patches could improve its performance and gameplay.

Alan Wake 2 did not make it to October's top 150 games with the most active users. This is a surprising piece of information, as Alan Wake 2 was recently nominated at The Game Awards 2023 for Game of the Year. Considering it was only released in October 2023, receiving honors and accolades for the nomination would imply that the game had a positive impact on the gaming community. Those who are part of this category normally have record-breaking sales and are popular with fans and gamers alike. Hence, it's quite shocking to find out that the player base for the game has not breached a list of games with the most active players.

Granted, Alan Wake 2 did come out with mixed reviews. Many praised the graphics and the memorable moments to be found in-game, but a shared sentiment was the tedious gameplay. Not to mention, various technical issues were still present which may have possibly affected many fans' enjoyment and attention towards the game. Still, the title was a long-awaited follow-up to a story most fans had been dying to continue, so the fanfare was quite huge.

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However, according to tweets by Circana's Mat Piscatella, Alan Wake 2 has failed to breach the top 150 games with the most active users for the month of October. This implies that the title had failed to capture player engagement, which is quite unusual for a game nominated at The Game Awards. Unfortunately, the said charts go both for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, which also means the game failed to chart on both consoles. However, this could also just mean that, amid high sales, a lot of players haven't spent much time playing the game at the moment. This might very well change with the latest Alan Wake 2 patch, which could see a huge improvement in terms of performance and gameplay.

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Looking at Piscatella's screenshots, the games that did chart had a heavy multiplayer aspect. Games such as NBA 2K24, Mortal Kombat 1, Grand Theft Auto 5, Gotham Knights, and Forza Motorsport, to name a few, have a large focus on their online modes. Unsurprisingly, the majority of the titles mentioned were available far longer than Alan Wake 2, so this could also have been a contributing factor. Another factor is that Circana's lists just cover the US market, so the global charts might say otherwise.

While some consider Alan Wake 2 to be a surprising entry to The Game Awards 2023, most believe that Baldur's Gate 3 will take the win. Still, many fans expect the player base to rise further once the awards are over, especially since it will bring more eyes to the product. The game was nominated even just three weeks after release, so there really is high potential for the title to succeed. Perhaps it really just needs time to saturate, especially with the updates and patches meant to fix it, and maybe then, players will be able to spend more time enjoying Alan Wake 2.

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5 /10

Alan Wake 2
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Survival Horror
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Systems
PC-1 PlayStation-1 Xbox-1
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Top Critic Avg: 89 /100 Critics Rec: 93%
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Released
October 27, 2023
ESRB
M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Strong Language
Developer(s)
Remedy Entertainment
Publisher(s)
Epic Games
Engine
Northlight Engine
Franchise
Alan Wake
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WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL
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A string of ritualistic murders threatens Bright Falls, a small-town community surrounded by Pacific Northwest wilderness. Saga Anderson, an accomplished FBI agent with a reputation for solving impossible cases arrives to investigate the murders. Anderson’s case spirals into a nightmare when she discovers pages of a horror story that starts to come true around her.

Alan Wake, a lost writer trapped in a nightmare beyond our world, writes a dark story in an attempt to shape the reality around him and escape his prison. With a dark horror hunting him, Wake is trying to retain his sanity and beat the devil at his own game.

Anderson and Wake are two heroes on two desperate journeys in two separate realities, connected at heart in ways neither of them can understand: reflecting each other, echoing each other, and affecting the worlds around them.

Fueled by the horror story, supernatural darkness invades Bright Falls, corrupting the locals and threatening the loved ones of both Anderson and Wake. Light is their weapon—and their safe haven — against the darkness they face. Trapped in a sinister horror story where there are only victims and monsters, can they break out to be the heroes they need to be?

Genre(s)
Survival Horror
Metascore
90