
It's finally time! After more than 12 years of waiting since the original game, Alan Wake 2 hits digital store shelves tomorrow, and just before launch, some early reviews are starting to go live.
Here at Pure Xbox HQ we're still working away to bring you an Alan Wake 2 review on Xbox Series X, so, expect our thoughts to go live in the coming days. But for now, let's take a look at what other critics are saying about Remedy's new adventure.
GameSpot (10/10)
"After more than 15 hours spent mostly in Saga's timeline, I had already felt like Alan Wake 2 was one of the year's best games. Then I played Alan's campaign, which routinely subverts expectations in never-before-seen ways that I dare not spoil."
TheSixthAxis (10/10)
"Just as it gives equal screen time to its two protagonists, Alan Wake 2 is a fine blend of equal parts narrative and survival horror. Both aspects are brought together in brilliant fashion to create a game that is going to mess with your head, scare the hell out of you and make you grin about it as you plunge forward once more, eager to see what's next."
VG247 (5/5)
"I was genuinely sad as I edged closer to the game's conclusion. I want more of this tantalising cast of characters and ever-so-creepy town… more of this big psychedelic trip that refuses to let you predict where it's going. I can’t get enough of this story about the battle between dark and light, good and evil, and the fight to overcome our own protagonist’s subconsciousness."
God is a Geek (9.5/10)
"Alan Wake 2 is a sensational sequel that was worth waiting over a decade for. The story of Saga and Alan takes some serious twists and turns on its journey through darkness, and features some of the greatest (and most unexpected) moments of this wonderful year of gaming. Remedy has truly made something special in Alan Wake 2, and I simply wasn't prepared to love it as much as I do."
PlayStation Universe (9.5/10)
"13 years since its predecessor, Alan Wake 2 was absolutely worth the wait. Improving on the original in every way, with Remedy embracing their inspirations, and honing their craft, Alan Wake 2 is a surrealist horror masterpiece."
IGN (9/10)
"Alan Wake II delivers one of the boldest and most brain-bending survival-horror storylines this side of Silent Hill 2, presents it with uniformly immaculate art direction and audio design, and reinvigorates the series’ signature light-based shooting as though it’s been locked and loaded with a fresh pack of Energizers."
COGConnected (9/10)
"Alan Wake 2 is smartly written, visually arresting and thematically complex. It can be obtuse and perplexing, but that's a feature, not a bug. It brings together not only the worlds of several Remedy games, but demonstrates all the narrative and gameplay lessons the studio has learned over the last thirteen years. Alan Wake 2 rewards fans of the first game for their patience, and invites new players along for a wild, sometimes terrifying and mind-bending ride."
TechRaptor (7/10)
"Alan Wake 2 takes you to the quiet locales of Washington and the streets of New York, places where darkness has taken root. Along the way, you can expect a tense and foreboding atmosphere, frantic action, and a memorable, mesmerizing romp. Sadly, there were several glaring issues that became prevalent during the course of this review."
Wow! Alan Wake 2 is landing very favourably with the critics so far, then. Remedy's new title has a Metacritic score of 89 and a 91 on Open Critic at the time of writing. Impressive overall ratings so far!
Does this tempt to you grab Alan Wake 2 for Xbox on day one? Let us know down below!
Comments 36
Hyped already!
Bugger. I was hoping this was at least one game I did not have to be interested in.
Huzzah! Looks like Remedy have truly delivered.
Sux for my bank account, but its only money eh?
Had this preordered but cancelled it recently as I have enough to play at the moment but will definitely pick it up at some stage the original was an amazing game
Great to see, looking forward to it. That said they've already announced story DLC and i'd prefer to play it all in one go, so i'll wait, plenty to play for now, this year has been insane.
Not a fan of all the flickering DF reported on PS5 (and probably series x also but they have not tested it) and honestly I think the Full Path Traced PC version is really underwhelming. It's not a big differance at all. Huge fan of Remedy so I will play this when it's either in a sale or released Physically, I am voting with my wallet with the whole Digital Only fiasco
It's going to be amazing can't wait definitely will be xbox game of the year by the looks of the reviews and probably potentially game of the year full stop
Hell yes! Got my calendar cleared out for tomorrow and games already preloaded. According to Windowscentral, it runs great on Series X, which was my biggest worry.
Holy cow. I was expecting low 80s or so. I guess I'll hold off on dead space and just play alan wake 2 instead after seeing how well this is being received.
The Tech Raptor review seems like the odd man out. I would have just left that one out. Lol. I mean, when Gamespot gives a game a perfect 10, that's an absolute rarity in itself.
@Romans12 You ain't seen Game Rant or Metro yet then.
Was at 92% on OC, until Metro and Game Rant knocked it down to 88%. Immediately jumped back to 90% thanks to Shacknews, Hobby Consolas and PlayStation Universe.
Hype train is real!
Pre-ordered. Pre-installed. Bring on the horror!
@OM1993 Damn, I just took a look. But, I also have not heard of those two websites. I usually like to go by a combo of IGN, Gamespot, Game Informer (they haven't posted a review yet). Also, PS Universe and God is a Geek are reputable sites. All great reviews. Gotta go by the majority. Gonna pick this one up. How about you?
@TooOldForThis yeah I said a similar thing on a different article 😂
@Romans12 if gamespot ign and gamesradar give it fantastic scores then its going to be good
Anyone know the glaring issues Techraptor had.
Were they gameplay or performance issues?
Another review said there were performance issues but never said what?
Is it time to sit tight and wait for a patch if it is performance?
@Romans12 Metro are notorious in the UK, them and Game Rant tend to lean on the more console war side of things if you get me. Strange though as Game Rants's sister site, Screen Rant, scored it a 5. Go figure. Deffo out in the minority though and the rest of reviews are glowing! I predicted yesterday it would land at 92 on OC based on that it earned a Ultimate GOTY nomination at Golden Joystick a few days back (even though review embargo hadn't even lifted) and that I felt it would be praised in a similar way to SM 2 (graphics and story earning immeasurable praise, enjoyable gameplay etc.), but it would trump SM 2 on innovation. I reckon I was dangerously close on all fronts! It's put itself into the GOTY mix which is awesome for Remedy! I also led my predictions to get me to pre order the deluxe last night. Unfortunately, I haven't played the first Alan Wake. My Remedy mad brother has urged me to go back and play that and American Nightmare first 😁
And I still haven't played the original one. May be time.
@OldGamer999 Their PC was not up to running the game with ray tracing enabled or some bollocks (they had a 10th Gen Intel processor, not specified which, and a 3080, which was said to only be good for 1080p 60fps at low RT settings) but they tried it anyway and had a stuttery, buggy experience 🙄 It affected the score.
This is straight on the Christmas list. Like others have said here I was expecting (and in some ways hoping) this would score lower so I wouldn’t be so interested but there’s just too much to play at the moment. I can’t believe I’m actually hoping for a quieter 2024 just so I can catchup on the backlog.
@GeeEssEff 2024 kicks off with Infinite Wealth and Tekken 8, both out on Jan 16th 😁
I was all set to buy this day one but just the other day I thought if it just gets 7s and 8s across the board then I may just wait for a sale and after several potential patches but nope I’ve changed my mind again and will definitely be buying this tomorrow, can’t wait!
Metro UK a 6. What a sight that is.
@cburg Says a lot about them when the majority of reviews are giving 9s and 10s. I bet we could count on one hand of the games that have received more than 8 from Metro, anyone would think they don’t like video games with the amount of low scores they give out.
@OM1993
That’s cool as long the series x version is all good I’m ok.
We sort of thought it was going to be great when it appeared on the award ballot ahead of the reviews… spoiler alert!
Metro gave Baldur's Gate 3 a 9, @MaccaMUFC. Personally, I believe that game will will every Game of the Year award. It truly is a masterpiece, and will be the game to beat for the next 12 months...
Ok, I bought it. First full price game on xbox that I've bought this year.
Always some rando reviewer at the bottom that nobody's heard of, who's just lowballing for rageclicks...
@Fiendish-Beaver That’s one game Metro gave a high score but all I usually see from them is giving critically acclaimed games middling scores.
Balder’s Gate isn’t my kind of game, I’m just not into that type of genre but I can see why it’s been getting all the praise it’s been getting and it’ll be interesting to see if any other game will beat it for GOTY.
@NintendoByNature This will also be my first full priced game on Xbox that I’ll buy this year. If it was on disc I’d of rented it like I do with most other new releases, so Remedy making this digital only has in fact gained a sale from me seeing as there’s no other way for me to play it and I cannot wait for a sale when it’s getting rave reviews across the net. The £50/$60 price is reasonable too, they easily could of charged £60/$70.
Everyone’s gone crazy on this one.
Now I really enjoying the RE4 remake and the game has plenty of action and a few puzzles to take you out of action a little bit.
Which is perfect for me as I like to be in the action shooting etc.
What I would like to know in the roughly 17 hour campaign play through is how much time is spent in the action and watching video clips and investigating around. Because what reviews I’ve watched so far there seems to be a lot of watching videos and investigating going on.
@MaccaMUFC yep. I've been playing mostly games on sale and gamepass games. It's worked out really well and I've saved a boat load of money. Being that I Have the S, it didn't effect me either way lol.
I'm just now playing the first one on GP. Was thinking of waiting for it on GP but now having second thoughts. 😂
I am very curious for Control 2 to see jow they blend the storylines together more.
After Alan Wake and Control I had a feeling they would find their stride
Cool. Let’s wait for a sale - price in my country is $20 more than any brand new physical AAA release - no way I’m paying those prices for digital…
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