Alan Wake 2 Is About The Pain Of Realizing You Might Not Be Good Enough

Phil Hornshaw
11/20/2023

Warning: We're spoiling here. We're trying to keep it light but it's probably best you play Alan Wake 2 before reading this.Captivating as Alan Wake 2 often is, it can occasionally get a bit ... cringey. But not in the wild, over-the-top moments where cheese and kitsch meet murderous intent (you know the scene I mean); Alan Wake 2's funny, weird moments channel the best of stories such as Twin Peaks, leveraging an absurdity and surrealism that actually makes the story more human. It's when Alan Wake 2 takes itself seriously that it starts to become a little hard to stomach.There's a whole level that really encapsulates this feeling of near-goofy grittiness: the Oceanview Hotel. A shifting location in the alternate reality of the Dark Place, the Oceanview is not strictly an actual place, but rather manifested from some combination of forces, including eponymous protagonist Alan's writing. He is, of course, trying to free himself from the Dark Place by using its power, which can make art into reality both within the Dark Place itself and back out in the real-world town of Bright Falls, Washington.Continue Reading at GameSpot...

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