Highlights

  • Alan Wake 2 takes inspiration from the best, including the Resident Evil series, but it doesn't copy Capcom's homework directly.
  • The game offers a unique and surprising survival horror experience, delivering one of the most distinctive games in recent memory.
  • Alan Wake 2's settings are varied and distinct, with different visuals and gameplay between the real world and the ethereal Dark Place, offering a refreshing change compared to recent Resident Evil games.

Both before and after launch, Remedy Entertainment has made no attempt to hide the fact that it's been heavily influenced by the Resident Evil series for its long-awaited sequel Alan Wake 2. But while Resident Evil has clearly inspired a lot of Alan Wake 2's gameplay and its survival horror shift, there's nothing necessarily wrong with taking inspiration from the best as long as Remedy wasn't copying Capcom's homework directly, and Alan Wake 2 certainly doesn't do that.

While the basic structure of Alan Wake 2's combat, puzzles, and inventory management will all feel fairly familiar to long-time Resident Evil fans, the rest of Alan Wake 2 very much plays by its own rules. In around 20 hours, Remedy delivers one of the most unique and genuinely surprising survival horror games in recent memory, embracing and flipping the genre on its head simultaneously. In many ways, Alan Wake 2 may actually be a better game than some of the recent Resident Evil titles, and that definitely seems true in one specific area.

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Alan Wake 2's Settings Feel Much More Varied Than Recent Resident Evil Games

Resident Evil Has Iconic But Familiar Settings

A lot of recent Resident Evil games have felt a tad samey when it comes to their chosen settings. While Resident Evil 7 felt fairly unique with its Louisiana bayou setting, downed tanker ship, and underground mine, and Resident Evil 2 remake obviously did an incredible job of bringing Raccoon City to life in the modern age of gaming, the Resident Evil titles since then haven't been nearly as unique with their own settings.

Being set in the same general location, Resident Evil 3 remake's setting looked and felt very similar to Resident Evil 2's. And when Resident Evil Village released, many fans felt as though its setting borrowed a little too heavily from Resident Evil 4. This, in turn, made the Resident Evil 4 remake feel pretty samey as well, with many fans feeling as though they'd explored these same types of areas over and over again in recent years.

But even despite that feeling of repetition creeping in due to Capcom's release schedule, recent Resident Evil games haven't had the most interesting locales regardless. Even Resident Evil 4 remake, which many fans consider one of the best games in the franchise, has just three locations with its village, castle, and island, and many fans don't even like the latter. There's no denying that these areas are iconic and nostalgic, but many recent Resident Evil areas kind of blend into one for many fans.

Alan Wake 2 Is Constantly Changing Environments

Alan Wake 2, on the other hand, puts variety at the very forefront when it comes to its own settings. Alan Wake 2 has two primary settings, those being the real world and the alternate dimension known as the Dark Place. Even on a surface level, these two locations differ massively, both in terms of visuals and gameplay. While the real world features more grounded visuals and realistic lighting, the Dark Place is much more ethereal, drenched in darkness and littered with surreal images.

Then peeling back that layer, both settings have quite a bit of variation when it comes to the individual locations in them. For instance, in the real world, the forest surrounding Cauldron Lake looks completely different from the small, sleepy town of Bright Falls, which looks and feels pretty different from the abandoned Coffee World amusement park. Each and every area of Alan Wake 2 feels completely distinct, and thus stands out in the player's mind, and that's exemplified even more with the Dark Place.

Made to look like a nightmarish neo-noir New York City, the Dark Place also comes with its own handful of unique locations, all of which stand out on their own, from subway tunnels to old time-y hotels to modern apartment buildings to vintage cinemas. And on top of that, Alan Wake's paranatural ability to change reality means that each location gets a handful of different visual looks depending on the story Alan is telling, adding even more variation to Alan Wake 2's settings.