I just finished Alan Wake 2 and the 3 episodes of the DLCs. Alan Wake 2 is a literal masterpiece in my opinion, the gameplay was similar to its first game but refined, the story dark, mood, mysterious and weird. I also loved the references to the other games. Like Ahti. The ending of Alan Wake 2 made me wonder and sad (I won’t mention it to avoid spoilers).
The 3 DLCs made me immensely hyped up though - they were weird and like a love-letters to their fan-base of all three games. Spoiler tagged, don’t open if you have not played the DLCs (you have been warned);
spoiler
In the second episode you play as Jesse Faden and try to find your brother, this is basically a teaser for its sequel which was confirmed by the developers. The ending twist of this episode! I can’t wait for the sequel. The third episode its a love letter and possible teaser to Quantum Break. I genuinely hope, they do make a sequel of that one too.
I was not certain how much, I could write without spoilers therefore it might be a little underwhelming or not much.
I assume they’re planning a second DLC for Alan Wake and I will get that one as well. In the meantime, I will take a little break and then replay Quantum Break and Control.
Alan Wake 2 was by far my standout choice for GOTY last year. I’m still bummed it didn’t win more awards, particularly narrative ones as I think it handily beats BG3 in that department. I love Remedy and Sam Lake, and I love them pushing the envelope of AAA games. It’s one to add to the example list of “video games as art” in my opinion.
I’m glad the DLC was great, I’ve been trying to hold off until I can play both at once but maybe I’ll need to cave soon…
If it helps you decide, the Night Springs DLC is technically a prequel to AW2 but more or less standalone. The DLC is also pretty short with 3 separate chapters that are just a couple hours long total, and locations are reused from the base game. I believe there were supposed to be a couple extra chapters that got scrapped (partially due to James McCaffrey’s passing). That being said, I did enjoy it and think the third episode in particular was pretty interesting.