Biggest Ways Alan Wake 2 Has Changed Since Launch

Key Takeaways

• Alan Wake 2 has seen significant post-launch updates with added story content, photo mode, accessibility options, and DLC expansions.
• Players can enjoy a photo mode, Night Springs DLC, accessibility options, more manual save spots, chapter select, The Lake House DLC, and New Game Plus.
• The Lake House DLC connects Alan Wake 2 with Control, adding depth to the Remedy connected universe and offering a new Nightmare difficulty in New Game Plus.

Alan Wake 2 is a single-player experience through and through. In this age of almost ubiquitous online connectivity, however, even single-player titles get updates and improvements after release. The 2023 survival horror game from Remedy is no different.

In fact, Alan Wake 2 has seen more drastic changes and improvements in patches than many other similar titles. The patches and changes since the game’s launch not only make it a great time to jump into the modern classic, but it also gives fans who played it at launch a reason to play through it again. Unlike a lot of post-game patches, plenty of story content has been added to Alan Wake 2 as well.

7 Photo Mode

Unleash The Inner Dorothea Lange

A game as beautiful as Alan Wake 2 begs for a photo mode. The developers promised it would eventually come early on before the game was even out, but that did not stop early adopters from lamenting its absence at launch.

Photo modes were not common even just a decade prior to Alan Wake 2‘s release, but now it feels almost criminal for a game to lack one. When it eventually came, gamers had plenty of fun taking the best photos they could, showcasing the game’s beautiful and often grotesque visuals.

6 Night Springs DLC

What-If Stories

Remedy promised two DLC expansions for Alan Wake 2. The first of them was Night Springs. The stories in this expansion are what-if scenarios starring various characters like Rose Marigold and Jesse Faden. Some fans might not like the fact that these stories are not canon, but others will likely just be happy for more Alan Wake gameplay.

Besides, these stories can still be interesting and compelling even if they are not canon to the main game. This is a game about manipulating reality, so canon is not exactly a stable thing to begin with.

5 Accessibility Options

Make The Game Open For More Players

Alan Wake 2 has several difficulty options, making the game easy or challenging based on one’s preferences. However, general options do not cover the whole spectrum of players who might have a harder time with the controls or just do not want to deal with any challenge.

The developers eventually added a bunch of modifiers to make the game as simple as possible, making it easier to see the story through to the end. Players can give Alan infinite ammo, infinite health, and even infinite battery power. Also, useful is the ability to turn button tapping segments into button holds.

This update also brought other customizable options less-aimed toward accessibility, like swapping the function of the analog sticks or changing the quick-turn button.

4 More Manual Save Spots

Make Sure There Is Always Room To Save

When Alan Wake 2 launched, players could only have three manual save spots. Limited manual save spots are not as big a deal as they used to be, since every profile on the console has access to its own set of save spots in any given game.

Still, some people might want multiple saves for a variety of reasons, and three save spots is pretty tight when the DLC also uses the same bank of save slots. It is a good, then, that Remedy decided to increase this number from three to six. It is not 99 like some games have, but it is more than enough for one gamer to work with.

3 Chapter Select

Jump To The Best Parts

One reason people might want multiple save slots is to relive key moments on a whim. Alan Wake 2 features several monumental setpieces that are sure to go down in gaming history as landmark moments. Limited save spots also become less of a big deal when players can simply use a chapter select.

While it was not there in the beginning, it was eventually added in an update. Chapter select is not only useful for reliving great segments easily; it is also convenient for those who want to get all the collectibles.

2 The Lake House

The Story Continues

The second of the two DLC expansions for Alan Wake 2 is canon. The Lake House follows agent Kiran Estevez as she investigates an FBC facility near Cauldron Lake. It is a short jaunt that might take three hours at most, including reading all the files. It is worth it for any fan of the game or any Control lovers. It connects the two games even more than Alan Wake 2‘s main story already does.

The story plays with the game’s existing themes about the power of art and hints at the future of the Remedy connected universe, but it does not expand the lore of Alan Wake 2 significantly or in any game-changing way.

1 New Game Plus

Provides Players With A Great Deal Of New Content

It is not unusual for a game to add a New Game Plus mode after release. It also makes sense to hold it back a bit, since gamers will need time to go through the game in the first place. Alan Wake 2‘s New Game Plus is not the average type, though.

This New Game Plus adds a new difficulty, Nightmare, and also makes changes to the game’s story. It is not a short order to ask player’s to go through the game again, but the new narrative treats make the journey worth it. There are also new manuscript pages to collect, making a New Game Plus playthrough mandatory for completionists.