For a studio that is known to consistently break the mould and pull creative left turns every chance they get, Alan Wake II still manages to be a wholly masterful surprise that exceeds lofty expectations. The Finnish game-makers' latest effort is a mind-bending, slow-burn horror-survival game that breaks new ground in terms of storytelling, mission structure, and presentation. 

Powered by a seemingly inexhaustible pool of creativity, Alan Wake II bucks the trend at virtually every stage to create a storytelling experience that could not be delivered through any other medium but that of video games. The game is equal parts unsettling as it is breathtakingly beautiful and the balance that Remedy achieves with a slow-burn detective story paired with a healthy portion of mind-bending horror is downright masterful. 

Alan Wake II: All Thriller No Filler 

Story

Alan Wake II takes the players back to Bright Falls, in the shoes of FBI Agent Saga Anderson, as she and her partner, Alex Casey (played by Sam Lake himself) investigate a  grisly murder that reeks of cult activity. Soon after, they discover that something else far more dark, sinister, and physics-defying may be afoot in this sleepy town. This leads to her discovering the deep, sinister secrets of the Cauldron Lake and the Dark Place, which eventually leads her to our tormented writer of horror "autofiction", Alan Wake. Saga discovers a source of malice in Bright Falls that is turning people into the "Taken", shadowy beasts out for blood. 

For those concerned about whether they'll be able to follow the story if they haven't played the original - rest easy. Saga's campaign has her explore much of Bright Falls' mystery in a way that sheds light on the last game - allowing players to piece together the events of the last game. However, if you've played the original, you will have a deeper understanding of the lore and characters such as Scratch, Thomas Zane, and the Old Gods of Asgard. Save for that, Alan Wake II is not obtuse to the point where you'll be clueless if you haven't played the original. 

While Saga continues her investigation in Bright Falls, Alan continues his journey in The Dark Place, the dimension in which he has been trapped for 13 years. Presumed missing/dead all this while, Alan has been chipping away in his Writer's Room in The Dark Place all this while trying to write his way back to the real world. The story plays out in 2 sections - while Saga's section is a slow-burn detective thriller a la True Detective and Dark, Alan's personal nightmare dimension section is wall-to-wall craziness and horror that regularly throws curveballs the player's way.

The story moves at a steady, brisk pace - allowing players to play through each section in any order they please. The player can choose to switch realities and play as either Alan or Saga. To finish the story, players must complete both Alan's and Saga's chapters individually - the order they choose to do that is left entirely up to the player. This creates a deeply rewarding experience as players can witness the same events through different points in the story with vastly different perspectives.

At its core, Alan Wake II is a story about telling stories. It dives deep into the heart of what makes a powerful story and the impact it can have on the world around it. In the case of Alan Wake, his stories quite literally manifest themselves into reality - forcing him to question just how much damage his creations can wreak on the world. This causes him to examine the craft he has dedicated his life to. 

Saga, on the other hand, has to be the world's best detective as she dives deep into the minds of witnesses, suspects, and even victims, to piece together the clues to solve crimes in a matter of hours, if not minutes. While I initially felt that Saga would pale in comparison to Alan in terms of character complexity and general flair - I was pleasantly surprised to learn that it was not the case.  Saga is a deeply compelling character who has several layers to her beneath the Batman-level detective skills. Ultimately, while I thoroughly enjoyed Alan's foray into madness and general weirdness, I found Saga's arc just as compelling, if not more in parts.

To not spoil major story beats and character revelations - let's just say Saga and Alan's arcs are deeply interlinked and a certain creative decision with Saga's character made her all the more compelling and deeply rooted in the story of Bright Falls. The two protagonists are aided by a cast of solid support characters like the aforementioned Alex Casey, Ahti the Janitor (from Control), Tim Breaker (played by Shawn Ashmore), and Mr Door. 

The tonal shift between the two story sections is handled quite brilliantly and never really feels jagged and disorienting. Instead, players might appreciate the more grounded nature of Saga's arc after several different levels of mind-bending Alan Wake sections and vice versa. Alan Wake II is a triumphant achievement in storytelling and one that will probably be talked about for years to come. Now that the Remedy Connected Universe is up and running in full swing, I cannot wait to see more of what this world has to offer. The game has organic tie-ins with Control that never feels hamfisted and even has nods to Remedy's seminal Max Payne. For one, Det. Alex Casey is voiced by the incredible James McCaffrey and played by Sam Lake - giving us a  hint as to what the upcoming Max Payne remakes might look like. 

The story will take about 12-13 hours to complete on Standard difficulty - with an additional 8 hours or so if one were to complete the numerous side quests and collectibles strewn across the world. The game's most notable achievement in narrative and level design that stands out is the fact that it has virtually no filler. The game's narrative is incredibly lean and polished to weed out any fat - meaning that no level or section ever feels boring or rote, with each having significance to the overall arc. Suffice it to say, Alan Wake II's story will hijack your senses in the best way and leave you wanting for more by the time the credits roll.

Gameplay

While the narrative design alone was enough to bowl me over - I might even say the gameplay is just as much a hit. The original 2010 felt more like an atmospheric horror that often turned into a shooter - with Alan taking on hoards of Taken with his trusty flashlight and weapons. The sequel pumps the breaks in a big way to slow down the pace of combat to the point where it is now a full-on survival-horror experience. Resources such as Flashlight batteries and ammo are quite scarce, paired with an Inventory system that tasks players with rationing their resources and taking frequent breaks from combat to make sure they're prepared for the next fight.

At any given moment, the protagonists will be fighting no more than 3 enemies, but the fact that each enemy is now more resilient than before makes it a far more rewarding combat loop. Hoards of Taken will occasionally overwhelm you by sheer force of numbers, running away is not just an option - it is imperative. Conveniently placed Safe Havens (light sources) allow players to take a breather and avoid the Taken. The Inventory management and survival-horror mechanics are reminiscent of games like the newer Resident Evil 2,3, and 4 Remakes. While it takes cues from Capcom's new remakes, the combat loop never feels derivative of other works.

The star of the show, however, is a fantastic technical marvel that is the Mind Place and Writer's Room. Both Saga and Alan employ a certain mechanic that allows them to take stock of their situation and drive the story and level forward. Saga uses the Mind Place, a version of the Baltimore Field Office in her head that allows her to put Clues up on the board to solve murders by stringing together evidence and eyewitness accounts. This serves a dual purpose as it is not only an essential mechanic to drive the story forward, but it also acts as a good visual representation of the story so far - allowing players to keep track of events, characters, and story beats. 

The Writer's Room is Alan's version of the Mind Place where he uses the Plot Board to change the version of events in his story to change the environment around him in The Dark Place. This allows Alan to get through puzzles, access previously inaccessible areas and witness murders that drive the story forward. The switch between these mind places and the game world is seamless. With the press of a button, the game seamlessly switches to either the Mind Place or the Writer's Room without any loading screens or pause in gameplay. 

The game continuously keeps players on edge even when there are no enemies on the screen. Throughout my time with the game, it always felt that there was always someone in the room tuning the guitar string just close enough to the point of breaking but never truly ever releasing the tension. 

While the story is never truly linear, what makes the game even more of a joy to experience is the almost open-world and open-ended structure of missions. Saga and Alan can both individually make their way through sizeable open-world chunks and uncover new mysteries and collectibles strewn across the map. Saga gets to explore the lush and deeply unsettling woods and the surrounding towns while Alan has to wade through a nightmare version of New York that is equal parts terrifying as it is downright gorgeous. 

All of these in congruence make for a uniquely singular gameplay experience that feels truly fresh. Remedy's innovative gameplay design and Northlight Engine create a style of game that I don't think I've ever played before. Alan Wake II is undoubtedly the most unique gameplay experience I've had in years and carries forward Remedy's legacy of innovation and creative daring. 

Presentation and Performance 

Alan Wake II is out now for new-gen consoles as well as PCs. I reviewed this game on a PC running an NVIDIA RTX 3070 as well as partially on the PS5. The beefy system requirements that were released gave me strong cause for concern as issues with optimization are a major conversation around games that require hardware of this sort. I am happy to report that the game runs seamlessly on modern consoles as well as PCs. In all my time with the game, I did not experience any significant frame rate drops, texture pop-ins, or crashes. 

For a game that looks this gorgeous, it is a wonder that my PC didn't immediately catch fire. While I was not able to play with Path Tracing on PC or console, the game looks downright gorgeous. This is achieved through not just great fidelity - but also extremely smart lighting and environment design. Both New York and Bright Falls look and feel exceptionally great. 

The game consistently ups the ante in terms of presentation, splicing in FMV footage with in-engine gameplay sections. These live-action cutscenes are acted and written to perfection with Ikka Villi (Alan Wake) putting on an absolute show as the perenially confused and unhinged Alan. While Villi provides the performance, Matthew Porretta voices the character yet again. The Talk Show segments in particular were some of my favourite segments in the entire game - slicing through the horror and tension with a healthy dose of dark humour and much-needed levity.

The game's magnum opus comes in the form of a genuinely breathtaking segment in the Dark Place featuring Sam Lake, Ikka Villi, and the Old Gods of Asgard, played by the real-life Finnish rock band and frequent Remedy collaborators, Poets of the Fall. The band provides many songs to the game, including a fantastic 14-minute musical, Herald of Darkness.  The level is reminiscent of Control's masterpiece - the Ashtray Maze and dare I say, it might have even trumped Remedy's effort from 2019. 

Alan Wake II is a resounding technical masterpiece that will deeply resonate with players from a purely visual and sonic perspective. The game truly feels new-gen and stands as a testament to just how far we've come in terms of technological advancement. 

Final Word - Alan Wake II

Wake II, at its core, is a survival-horror game that dives deep into its protagonists' psyches. A technical masterpiece that aims to fully harness the power of modern hardware, Alan Wake II is a visual and sonic treat that is nigh unmatched. Pairing relatively simple gameplay mechanics with atmospheric tension and horror, the game is a truly pathbreaking achievement in video games that will be talked about and dissected for years to come. 

An absolute technical marvel, Alan Wake II is a triumphant creative left hook that will floor players by the time they reach the end of the first chapter and it then proceeds to impress even further. Alan Wake II is a strong contender for Game of the Year and it truly solidifies Remedy as one of the few major AAA developers unafraid of taking massive creative gambits. 

Sega’s popular Virtua Fighter series is set to make a return, the publisher has confirmed, some 18 years after the launch of its most recent numbered installment, Virtua Fighter 5.

Since then, there’ve been numerous updated releases of Virtua Fighter 5 with 2021’s Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown, itself a remaster of the earlier Final Showdown, alongside mobile installments, and even an arcade update for Virtual Fighter 3. What’s missing from the series, though, is a brand-new game.

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What To Expect From Sega’s New Virtua Game

Sega’s new global head of transmedia, Justin Scarpone, has offered some hope in an interview with VGC. "So we have a suite of titles in development right now that fall into that legacy bucket," he explained, "which we announced last year at The Game Awards; Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, Streets of Rage, Shinobi."

"And we have another Virtua Fighter being developed," Scrapone added, before covering over the revelation completely, "And then in certain instances, we're also doing animation series, or live-action films to augment that and be part of those roadmaps."

Despite announcing a plethora of legacy game revivals last year - including Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, Streets of Rage, Shinobi, Golden Axe, “and more” - details remain limited. Sega has shared a little about its Crazy Taxi update -- calling it an open-world, massively multiplayer game that’s “AAA” in scope.

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Sega Teases Shadow The Hedgehog Design In New Sketches

One of the best parts of Sonic x Shadow Generations, released last week, is the wealth of music, stories, and art in the game’s Collection. Acquired hidden emblems throughout each stage can be used as keys to unlock treasure chests throughout the White Space central hub zone and, with a quick shift of location, Shadow can check out his history through some wonderful artwork.

Earlier, Hoshino worked as an artist and character designer on several games such as Sonic the Hedgehog CD, Sonic Adventure, and Sonic Heroes. Shadow the Hedgehog as a character was first launched in 2001’s Sonic Adventure 2 as the ‘Ultimate Lifeform,’ before appearing in his own standalone game in 2005 where he wields a gun. Hoshino worked as an art director on both projects. With further details provided by Hoshino, the sketches reveal early concepts for not only Shadow’s design, but the proposed weaponry, and bad guy Black Doom.

"I wanted to create a deep, mature story suited to backstory. Shadow was created with the idea of him being a lead character and not just part of a cast of characters," Hoshino tells Eurogamer of working on the Shadow the Hedgehog game, where that promise was fulfilled.

The recent Silent Hill 2 remake will be enhanced for PS5 Pro. Released for PS5 and PC in October, Silent Hill 2 sold over a million copies in its first three days, instantly becoming a huge hit. Soon, PS5 Pro users will be able to enjoy the new version of this classic title.

While some gamers were skeptical of Bloober Team’s ability to remake the classic Silent Hill 2, the game was praised for its combat and atmosphere. With Silent Hill 2 receiving mostly positive reviews from critics, it obtained an average score of 87 on the review aggregate site OpenCritic.

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Bloober Team and Konami Improving The Game

Now, the Silent Hill 2 remake has been tagged as “PS5 Pro Enhanced” on the PS Store, indicating that Bloober Team and Konami have decided to upgrade the game for the launch of Sony’s new console model. Sadly, there are currently no details on how exactly the upgraded version will work.

The current version of Silent Hill 2 for PS5 has both Performance Mode and Quality Mode, enabling gamers to run the game at 1440p with 30fps, or 1080p with 6-FPS, respectively.

Given the scenario, it’s likely that the PS5 Pro Update will make way for greater resolutions and frame rates at the same time. It’s also likely that the Bloober Team will unveil a new Silent Hill 2 update soon to implement these changes.

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When Is The Game Coming To PS5 Pro

What’s surprising about the PS5 Pro Enhanced version of Silent Hill 2 is that it was not properly announced before. Recently, Sony released a list of games confirmed to get PS5 upgrades. While the list included popular titles such as Alan Wake 2, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Dragon’s Dogma 2, Final Fantasy 7, Rebirth, Horizon Forbidden West, and others, it did not include the remake of Konami’s classic horror game.

The PS5 Pro will break cover on November 7, and it has been a very controversial topic since its original announcement. The console is being released at a hefty price of $700 in the US, and it may be even more expensive in other countries.

Despite the new model offering a 45% faster GPU and advanced ray tracing, the high price prompted a discussion about whether the console was worth it, as a normal PS5 would still run the same games and be considerably less expensive.

Steam Game Recording is officially out of beta and available to all users, giving PC, Mac, and Steam Deck players a built-in way to record and share audio and video from their gaming sessions.

The console joins many other ways PC gamers have been able to record their highlights, including as a feature of tools like the Xbox Game bar, Nvidia GeForce, and AMD’s Adrenalin.

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Valve Updates Steam Game Recording

The version of the Steam client is also the first to drop support for Windows 7 and 8 machines, as well as Macs running macOS 10.13 and 10.14 after the company announced the move at the beginning of this year.

After an automatic update, players can start recording manually using a hotkey or set it to trigger automatically, with options to restrict the length, quality, and storage space that Steam can use. Valve says it works with any game, including now-Steam games that enable Steam Overlay to run. The recording is off by default -- users will find its settings in a new Game Recording tab in Steam’s settings.

The company has updated Steam Game Recording with a handful of new features that weren’t there when the beta period began in June, including adding “advanced” export options and the ability to configure game-specific settings. Valve also added Session View, which includes a “Recordings & Screenshots manager with game-specific tags and data.”

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Valve To Stop Releasing New Steam Deck Models Yearly

The Steam Deck will not be getting yearly updates. At least that’s what one of its designers has suggested. But a Steam Deck 2 will likely happen at some point. During an interview with Reviews.org (via The Verge), Steam Deck designer Lawrence Yang said, "We’re not going to do a bump every year. There’s no reason to do that."

He explained that he thought it wasn’t fair to users to provide only incremental improvements each year. He said, "...we do want to wait for a generational leap in computing without sacrificing battery life before we ship the real second generation of Steam Deck." This aligns with previous statements from Valve. On many occasions in 2023, Valve employees stated that a more powerful Steam Deck would be years away-- late 2025 at the earliest.

Valve engineer Pierre-Loup Griffais explained that part of the Steam Deck brand is that every model can play the same games; Valve doesn’t want to change that until Steam Deck performance gets a significant jump without compromising on the battery life. During the interview, Yang did note that the company is working on a Steam Deck successor.

Users don’t have to take great pains to preserve their Switch to make sure they can still play their favorite games on it years and years from now. Nintendo has revealed in its earnings report that the upcoming successor to the Switch will have backward compatibility and will be able to run games made for the current console.

Moreover, Switch Online will also be available on the Switch 2, which means their saves stored on the cloud will be carried over and they will be able to play NES, SNES, and Game Boy games on the new console.

The company explained that it’s making Switch Online available on the upcoming console because it thinks it’s important for Nintendo’s future to "carry over the good relationship" it has built with its more than 100 million annual playing users to the new device.

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How Will Current Games Work On Nintendo Switch 2

The main way to do this is to make use of the Nintendo Account, which ties a user’s history to one account and allows the company to "maintain a continuous relationship" with them across console generations.

Before the Nintendo Account was introduced, Nintendo had no easy way to carry a user’s history and purchase the next console. "As a result, our relationship with the consumers was interrupted when a new system was purchased," it said.

The company assured to give out more information about the Switch 2 "at a later date," though it didn’t say when exactly. In a recent event where we thought the new console could be launched, Nintendo introduced an alarm clock instead.

Considering its earnings results, it looks like people could choose to wait for the new console instead of buying the current Switch. The company had to downgrade its sales forecast for the fiscal year due to a big decline in console sales compared to the same periods last year.

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Nintendo Switch 2 Launch “Very Unlikely” Before 2025

Nintendo is now “very unlikely” to launch its highly-anticipated Switch 2 hardware this year, a games industry analyst has told Eurogamer. The recent financial results from Nintendo revealed a larger-than-expected drop in hardware and software sales for the current Switch, as the console ages and its release calendar quietens.

The results also passed by without even talking about Switch 2 being shown - and perhaps with Nintendo’s new hardware not due to arrive until sometime in 2025 - for good reason.

During an interaction with Eurogamer, industry analyst Serkan Toto, CEO of Japanese game industry consultancy Kantan Games, said any mention of the anticipated Switch 2 now would only further hamper Switch 1 sales during the console’s last holiday season.

Almost a year ago, Rockstar Games released the first trailer for GTA 6, which marks the franchise’s first sequel since Grand Theft Auto 5 in 2013. Fans had been hoping that today’s fiscal report for Rockstar’s parent company, Take-Two Interactive, would include a new GTA 6 trailer.

While that did not happen, Take-Two did confirm that the GTA sequel is still on track for a fall 2025 release. While speaking with CNBC, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick acknowledged that some of the company’s old games have slipped from their planned release dates.

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Rockstar Confident About GTA 6 Launch Timeline

However, Zelnick expressed his confidence that GTA 6 would make its release window. Zelnick also emphasized that the extended development of the game is more centered on enhancing the experience rather than removing out.

"In the case of an extraordinary title, for which there are extraordinary expectations, it's not really about bugs, it's about creating an experience that no one's seen before, and Rockstar Games seeks perfection in what they do," explained Zelnick. "And perfection is indeed hard to measure, it is more subjective than objective."

The company noted in this year’s fiscal statements that GTA 5 has sold 205 million copies to date across all platforms, while Red Dead Redemption 2 had 67 million copies to its name.

Take-Two also revealed that Borderlands 4 and Mafia: the Old Country is set to be released during the company’s fiscal 2026, which should fall between April 1, 2025, and March 31, 2026. The other upcoming games mentioned by name, CSR Racing 3 and Judas, have no specific release window yet.

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Former Developer Claims GTA 6 Will ‘Blow People Away’

Game designer Ben Hinchliffe has worked at Rockstar Games for over 10 years, and he contributed to games like Grand Theft Auto V, Read Dear Redemption II, and Grand Theft Auto VI before parting ways with the company in 2022. During a recent interview, Hinchliffe briefly discussed GTA VI, saying he believes the game will “blow people away” and be a smashing success when it comes to sales.

"It will sell an absolute ton, as it always does. People will be talking about it for ages afterward, just like they do with GTA 5," Hinchliffe told GTA VI O'clock. "I think they've raised the bar again. They always do, and they have done again with GTA 6."

When asked about what he’s most excited about GTA VI, Hinchliffe said he’s keen on seeing how the game has evolved since he left in 2022. He did not give out any information, as it is expected to be a secretive project. Hinchliffe now works at Sniper Elite VR studio Just Add Water.