After a month long break with video gaming, I started playing Alan Wake 2, a horror survival game about a crime thriller novelist writer trapped in a nightmare dimension of sorts, with (re)writing a story being a method of braking free. Back in the real world, a FBI agent investigates murders in a small town where the writer went missing over a decade ago. Their worlds meet.

And now, after around 37 hours I’ve finished it (including the two extra expansions). I’ll write a few lines about it.

Considering the bold production decisions put into a horror game, it is a shame how few will actually experience it and appreciate the amazing work put into it. This was one of the most ambitious and risky games I’ve played for quite awhile.

It was wise of me to play the original game first and even Control two years ago, as there was a lot of stuff that would have otherwise left me bewildered what is happening in the story. Well, I was left quite confused anyways. Quite metaphorical stuff.

As a Finn I really have to appreciate the amount of references to Finland sprinkled all over the game. What a cunning way to export strange Finnish culture to the rest of the world.

I must confess I quickly changed the difficulty setting to the easiest one, as the normal difficulty was too demanding for my foggy brain and felt like a lot like the original game, which I got bored of quite fast.

The game also touched a lot on the “darkness” in the head: self-doubt, loathing and caught in the loop of it all. There a nice scene of inner talk of not getting sunk under doubt and guilt I found quite relatable.

Alan Wake 2 wasn’t a perfect match for me, but I’m glad I played it. Now that I think of it, as a Finnish gamer it perhaps was the equivalent of reading a popular Finnish novel or watching a classic movie made in Finland.

I only wish (again) I had a proper, bigger television with 4K+HDR to get the most out of these visually amazing games. Some tempting offers out there now …

Tags: gaming