Summary
Alan Wake 2steeps players into its atmospheric thriller narrative at a snail’s pace, but like the original game it soon hands them a bunch of weapons that don’t stop stacking in players’ inventories until the end of the game. Alan admittedly has more OP weapons at his disposal, at least in terms of dispersing mobs of Taken that appear in New York City’s neon-soaked streets or tight hotel corridors, while individual enemies seem to pose more of a threat viawolves and tele-flankerswhen playing as Saga. Therefore, players almost always need to be on their toes, even during the light of day.
Exploration can take up most of a player’s playtime withAlan Wake 2even though it’s almost wholly optional. The story between Alan and Saga is relatively short otherwise, though, and playing on harder difficulties will be much more difficult if fans don’t attempt to scour a map for all the goodies and secrets it has marked on it. Of course, exploration will mean players run into many more enemies at the same time, though they are rewarded for their efforts in each instance. To fend off Taken and cultists most effectively, players absolutely can’t afford to forget aboutAlan Wake 2’s best combat attack, which doesn’t involve any weapon at all.
Alan Wake 2 Features a Defensive/Offensive Melee Attack
Alan Wake 2’s Defensive Backhand is More Powerful Than It May Seem
It’s not a mechanic that is left unexplained, nor is it hard to remember to use it since there are already few options inAlan Wake 2’s survival-horror combat encounters. Still, knowing that Alan and Saga have a backhand in combat is vital to survival in a lot of cases.
This backhand is a melee strike intended to put distance between the player and an enemy, not unlike howResident Evil Villagegave Ethan a shove mechanic.
Depending on which difficulty players have chosen, this will be essential when resources are low and they don’t have any hand flares to ward enemies away, giving them a bit of time to dodge-dash toward aSafe Haven or Break Room. However, what most players might not immediately consider is using this backhand offensively instead of defensively, which has a surprising effect. More than a couple of times, players may notice that the melee backhand they land on an enemy dealt a killing blow.
Now, the backhand isn’t the only attack players should rely on, but it’s apparent that it is a valuable tactic in close-quarters combat even if players are using it offensively, and helps to reserve ammunition and resources in the same way. If players can land shots on an enemy and finish them off with a couple of backhands, that might be a sound strategy to consider.
Alan Wake 2’s Gracious Dodge Window and Defensive Strike Make an OP Pair
Likewise, the dodge timing window inAlan Wake 2is incredibly charitable. Even wolves, who appear from dark shadows and shrubbery almost instantly, are telegraphable by their sounds and players can learn how to time a dodge to narrowly avoid a wolf’s lunge attack.
Tele-flankers prove to be one of the harder enemies to predict due to them speeding by to an undetermined location and spamming ranged attacks, but if players manage to get close, the backhand maneuver is a perfect tool when gunshots are easily and regrettably missable against them. Combining the dodge with a melee attack then becomes a crucial marriage that is even more important than having different guns quick-slotted.
Many enemies can be circumvented this way, too, but it’s an oddly effective method for dishing out final blows that players may not already know of, and inAlan Wake 2’s post-launch Nightmare difficultythis will probably be even more valuable. So, while Saga has a handgun, sawed-off shotgun, hunting rifle, and crossbow to rely on, a well-timed backhand manages to come out on top as one of the sequel’s most inspired survival-horror implementations.
Alan Wake 2
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?
