Towards the end of 2021 Remedy dropped some big news. If you missed it, at The Game Awards, we saw the reveal trailer for Alan Wake 2. Yes, He’s back and it was a big year for the franchise as it made its debut on PlayStation in the form of a remaster of the original game. We found out then that the game would be also skipping last-gen hardware. Therefore it will be made available on PC via the Epic Store, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5 at launch. We had heard nothing for a while until a recent rumor.
The rumor was the game was coming in October when one of the voice actors was interviewed. Soon after the game made an appearance with a new trailer at the PlayStation Showcase. So from this, we saw the October date was indeed accurate and it is set to launch on the 17th of October. So survival horror fans have a nice few days as Alone in the Dark follows on 25th October, and we have yet to get a Silent Hill 2 release date. The recent trailer showing the new dual protagonists can be seen below.
What We Know About Alan Wake 2
The trailer debuted the new main character in Saga Anderson. The PlayStation Blog tells us the game is “a single-player psychological survival horror experience”. Not everyone will have played the original but the post also tells us that’s not a problem. It tells us that “players who may have missed out on the first game can easily dive into the sequel without any prior experience or knowledge of the game’s story”. Also, we are told it’s expected to cater to those new to the genre or die-hard fans of the original. This is taken from the game’s FAQ.
Alan Wake 2 is a sequel but set up as a stand-alone experience. Newcomers can enjoy the thrill-ride with no past knowledge of the previous game. For the returning fans there are tons of lore and connections to be discovered.
If we scroll down the FAQ we find some more news. It’s a digital-only release and the reasons why are also answered in the FAQ.
There are many reasons for this. For one, a large number of have shifted to digital only. You can buy a Sony PlayStation 5 without a disc drive and Microsoft’s Xbox Series S is a digital only console. It is not uncommon to release modern games as digital-only.
Secondly, not releasing a disc helps keep the price of the game at $59.99 / €59.99 and the PC version at $49.99 / €49.99.
Finally, we did not want to ship a disc product and have it require a download for the game — we do not think this would make for a great experience either.
Now the UK site Metro covered this as well as some UK games retailers. The feedback is mixed with a lot of fans being very angry and boycotting as they don’t purchase digital. In the UK games at times can be bought a good £10 cheaper than the digital release. It is an interesting point and no doubt many of you will be split on what you think about this. So should Remedy backtrack and release a physical copy or have they made the right call? Will this decision make you boycott the game? As always we love hearing your thoughts. Will THQ Nordic be allowed to publish it as they have stated they are interested?
