WARNING: MAJOR STORY SPOILERS AHEAD for Alan Wake 2. Proceed at your own risk.
Summary
- New game plus modes are expected in most AAA games, including Alan Wake 2, as they allow players to experience the story again with their acquired weapons and skills.
- Alan Wake 2's Final Draft mode in new game plus includes increased difficulty, the ability to carry over weapons and skills, and potentially new story content.
- The Final Draft mode of Alan Wake 2 also has significant story implications, with the game's time loop concept being enhanced through new manuscripts, live-action videos, and a possible alternative narrative and new ending.
New game plus modes have become a bit of a staple of the modern video game industry, and it's now practically expected that at least most AAA games will have one either on launch or very soon after it. For the most part, new game plus modes are a great addition to single-player games, helping players experience a title's story again while being able to breeze through most of it with all the weapons and skills players gained during their first adventure. And with a story as excellent as Alan Wake 2's, there's no wonder why fans are asking for a new game plus mode.
Alan Wake 2 features an incredibly rich story. Drawing from many different points of inspiration, Alan Wake 2 combines a number of well-known tropes and concepts and flips them on their head, creating one incredibly unique melting pot of creativity and novel ideas. Long-time fans of Remedy's work are likely already desperate to jump right back in and explore every inch of Bright Falls and the Dark Place, and thankfully, they won't have to wait too long, with Alan Wake 2's Final Draft mode coming soon.
Alan Wake 2's Final Draft Mode Explained
Though it doesn't have a release date, Remedy Entertainment has repeatedly stated that Alan Wake 2's Final Draft new game plus mode will be coming to the game soon, meaning that fans might be able to jump back into the great survival horror experience maybe before the end of the year. Alan Wake 2's Final Draft mode comes with a lot of the usual new game plus features, including an increased Nightmare difficulty tier, and the ability to carry over weapons and skills from the first playthrough. But much like the rest of Alan Wake 2, this Final Draft mode doesn't seem to be following the rules of the genre to a tee, instead choosing to apparently add a good amount of new story content as well.
What Carries Over Into Alan Wake 2's New Game Plus
The one feature that every single new game plus mode out there has is the ability to transfer weapons over from the first playthrough to the new one, and Alan Wake 2 certainly lets players do that. Alan Wake 2's Final Draft mode will let players carry over:
- All unlocked weapons from Alan Wake 2's story mode
- All unlocked Charms
- All unlocked Words of Power
Though it doesn't seem to have been confirmed yet, it's extremely likely that players will also be able to carry over Saga Anderson's weapon upgrades in Alan Wake 2's Final Draft mode.
Alan Wake 2's Final Draft Mode Has Some Interesting Story Implications
But by far the most interesting element of Alan Wake 2's Final Draft mode is its pretty big story implications. The vast majority of Alan Wake 2's story takes place in a sort of time loop, but right at the end of the game it's revealed that it's actually a spiral, meaning that the more events keep repeating, the closer Alan is to breaking the cycle and eventually escaping the Dark Place. This concept naturally lends itself extremely well to the idea of a new game plus mode, with Alan participating in the loop once more alongside players.
It's been confirmed that Remedy is adding some story elements to Alan Wake 2 with its Final Draft mode, though it's not yet clear just how far things will go. Remedy has confirmed a total of six new manuscripts that can be collected in new game plus, along with a few new snippets of live-action video that will apparently play on in-game TVs. Remedy has also teased a "new alternative narrative," and according to some recent datamine leaks, there might even be some more connected universe cameos and maybe even a new ending.
Alan Wake 2
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 89 /100 Critics Rec: 93%
- 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
WHERE TO PLAY
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?
- Platform(s)
- PC, PS5, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X
- Genre(s)
- Survival Horror
- Metascore
- 90
- PS Plus Availability
- N/A
