Cover artwork I generate from the game data. I do not use publisher artwork.
Game profile
Alan Wake 2
Two parallel investigations, an FBI agent and a trapped writer, weave together into one of the most unusual horror stories of recent years. Reality and fiction blend more and more the deeper you dig.
Affiliate link. If you buy through it, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
What kind of game this is
At its core this is Horror / Survival, set in the present day. Visually it is going for realism, and the overall tone stays dark throughout. The structure is guided rather than open, so you are moved along instead of dropped into a map. Sessions of an hour or two sit at the sweet spot here.
The difficulty is moderate and fair, demanding attention without punishing you for it. The narrative carries the whole thing, and the mechanics serve it. It is a single player experience from start to finish. It runs on 3 platforms. It sits in the mid price bracket.
What stands out
- Two intertwined storylines
- Dense horror atmosphere
- Unusual narrative structure
This fits you if
- you actually want to be scared
- you want to live through a story, not just play a system
- the writing matters more to you than the mechanics
- you play alone and want a complete experience without other people
- you prefer a darker, heavier tone
Look elsewhere if
- you skip cutscenes and want to get to the gameplay
- you want something light and easy going
- you specifically want an open world to roam
- you want to play it side by side with someone
What it costs you in time
About 20 hours in total. At three evenings a week and two hours each, you will be busy for roughly 3 weeks, or 10 sessions.
How the rating ranks
Critics settled on 93 out of 100, which puts it above 95 percent of the 1206 games here and at rank 34 overall. That is a strong score, comfortably above what most releases manage.
For comparison, Horror averages 80 points across the database, so this one sits 13 points above its own genre. The figure rests on 312 collected ratings.
Released in 2023 and 3 years old. Recent enough to look and run modern, old enough to be patched and often discounted.
The facts
- Release year
- 2023
- Genres
- Horror, Survival, Adventure
- Playtime
- approx. 20 hrs.
- Difficulty
- Moderate, fair
- Story weight
- Carries the whole game
- Play with
- Solo
- Setting
- Present day
- Visual style
- Realistic
- Price bracket
- Mid price
- Platforms
- PC, PlayStation, Xbox
- Critic rating
- 93 / 100
Direct comparison
| Genres | Release year | Playtime | Critic rating | Price bracket |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alan Wake 2 | 2023 | approx. 20 hrs. | 93 | Mid price |
| Silent Hill 2 (Remake 2024) | 2024 | approx. 17 hrs. | 90 | Full price |
| Resident Evil 7: Biohazard | 2017 | approx. 11 hrs. | 85 | Mid price |
| Alan Wake Remastered | 2021 | approx. 10 hrs. | 82 | Budget |
If you liked this, try these
- Silent Hill 2 (Remake 2024) Shared: Horror, Adventure, Present day
- Resident Evil 7: Biohazard Shared: Horror, Survival, Present day, shorter
- Alan Wake Remastered Shared: Horror, Adventure, Present day, shorter
- Luto Shared: Horror, Adventure, Present day, shorter
- A.I.L.A Shared: Horror, Adventure, Present day, shorter
- Routine Shared: Horror, Survival, shorter