3.5/5 ★ – Itsgrimsby's review of Alan Wake II.

There’s a lot that Alan Wake 2 does that I like. The story remains interesting the whole way through, if a little bit obtuse as well at times. And the mechanical quirks of both Alan and Saga’s respective chapters with the Mind Place and the Writer’s Room are really cool (and technically impressive too). And the environments you’re exploring are really well crafted and lend themselves easily to the survival horror of the game. So why only a 3 and a half stars rating? Much like the original Alan Wake, I don’t find this overly fun to play in the moment to moment. The torch stuff has never been fun for me and it’s not seen any significant improvements here. In fact the more open areas combined with me not always knowing what to do or where to go meant I was running into more enemies, burning through more supplies, and just generally having a more miserable experience with the combat in this game. I also bundled the dlc’s in with my playthrough, playing each episode of Night Springs and The Lake House when they popped up in the story. The Night Springs episodes felt like they were trying to be clever what ifs rather than meaningful story additions, but they were fun enough for each of their short run times. I did really like The Lake House however. It was fun to explore another FBC facility and fight new enemies in the Paintings. I think the main takeaway here was that I’m much more a Control fan than an Alan Wake fan. And with all that said; I’m invested in the story all the same. When the inevitable Alan Wake 3 comes plodding along, flashlight in hand, I’ll be there to guide Alan into the light once again.