Summary
- Alan Wake 2 is an improvement on its predecessor, receiving praise and being widely regarded as one of 2023's best games.
- The game borrows elements from popular survival horror games but adds its own unique spin, creating something original, and its collectibles are a highlight.
- BioShock 4 could learn from Alan Wake 2, including using live-action videos to set the tone and enhance world-building.
An improvement on its predecessor in practically every way, Alan Wake 2 deserves all the praise it's received over the last few months, and it'll undoubtedly go down as one of 2023's best games, and possibly one of its most influential. Though Alan Wake 2 borrows a lot of elements from popular survival horror games that have come before it, with Resident Evil being one of its biggest influences, Alan Wake 2 manages to bring all of these elements together and put its own unique spin on it all, creating something wholly original in the process. And it's a game that BioShock 4 can certainly learn from.
Confirmed to be in development back in 2019, BioShock 4 hasn't even been officially announced yet, but 2K is adamant that it's still well on its way. While Cloud Chamber seems like a studio that's well-equipped to produce a new BioShock game, with plenty of ex-Irrational Games devs working on the project, it's always good to seek inspiration from the industry's best titles, and Alan Wake 2 has so many great ideas just waiting to be borrowed.
BioShock 4 Could Make Great Use of Alan Wake 2's Live-Action Videos
Alan Wake 2's Live-Action Adverts Set the Tone Perfectly
Found throughout Saga Anderson's side of Alan Wake 2's dual narrative, players can stumble upon a series of TVs in Bright Falls and its adjoining areas. These TVs will often be playing an ad for something, and what seems pretty innocuous at first gets a whole lot stranger when players actually take the time to watch the whole thing.
Appearing in live-action, Alan Wake 2's Koskela Brothers attempt to sell their various goods and services, though things feel a little off. Thanks to some awkwardly timed dialogue and some bizarre lengthy pauses dotted throughout, these commercials feel pretty uncanny, and the implementation of live-action only reinforces that feeling. But Alan Wake 2's commercials aren't scary, or even creepy, as they're simply off-putting and maybe even a little humorous at times. This pretty much encapsulates Alan Wake 2's overall tone while also building out its world and lore.
BioShock 4 Using Live-Action Adverts Would Have Two Major Benefits
One of Alan Wake 2's most underrated features, it would be great to see BioShock 4 borrow from these live-action commercials. Implementing live-action commercials into BioShock 4 could be a great way to set the game's tone right off the bat. Functioning just like the original BioShock's bathysphere voiceover, a series of live-action ads sprinkled throughout BioShock 4 could repeatedly cement the game's chosen tone, whether it's a more horror-focused tone or one that isn't afraid to splice some dark humor into things.
A series of live-action videos inside BioShock 4 could also be a great world-building tool. As any BioShock fan will know, the setting is one of the most integral aspects of the series, essentially being a character in its own right, and BioShock 4 could use these ads as a way to really flesh out its setting and those within it. These ads could also give players a better understanding of the game's cast of characters, rather than restricting most of their backstories to audio logs and journal entries like in previous BioShock games.
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
- How Long To Beat
- 17 Hours
- Metascore
- 90
