Alan Wake 2 arrived in October 2023 with a lot of expectations, following up on the fan-favorite Alan Wake 13 years and two console generations later. Studio Remedy (Control, Quantum Break, Max Payne) produced an all-timer survival horror game that truly feels like a singular experience you won’t find anywhere else. 

Alan Wake 2 appropriately picks up 13 years of in-game time after the original, with a story split between two characters: the titular horror writer Alan Wake, stuck in the Dark Place, and Saga Anderson, FBI agent investigating strange goings-on in the area of Bright Falls. With vibes of Twin Peaks, The X-Files and more dark cult horror, Alan Wake 2 is an incredible game, folding in bits of the so-called “Remedyverse” as Wake’s universe absorbs material and characters from Control and other games in the studio’s lineup. And if it hasn’t been spoiled for you, there’s a musical number (seriously) in the game, as has become a tradition with Remedy’s oeuvre, that will make you pump your fist in raucous joy. 

Remedy surprise-released the first DLC expansion, Night Springs, in mid-2024. The second, Lake House, came along in October that year. These require the Expansion Pass, which is included in the digital or physical Deluxe Edition — in short, just upgrade to or buy the Deluxe Edition of Alan Wake 2 to get access to both.

Read our Alan Wake 2 review.

Release date: Oct. 27, 2023

Genre: Survival horror third-person shooter

Developer: Remedy Entertainment

— David Lumb