The world-altering writing mechanic of Alan Wake 2 needs to be seen to be believed

Although I'm a lifelong fan of Max Payne and have enjoyed everything else Remedy has done since then, Alan Wake 2 wasn't on my radar. This October is one of the busiest months in gaming history, thanks to Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Spider-Man 2, Assassin's Creed Mirage, and, at least for me, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2. All of these games are already vying for my attention, making it difficult to also add Alan Wake 2 into the mix.

Combined with the frustrating absence of a physical release, Remedy's latest game was at the bottom of my priority list for October. I can't pinpoint exactly what about Alan Wake 2 caused it to rank so low compared to the other releases of the month, especially since I love horror games. But something had to change in this cursed month to make room for leaving my apartment occasionally, experiencing the outside world, and touching some grass.

Well, it looks like I'll be losing some friends in October because a 45-minute, purely spectator demo of Alan's campaign at Gamescom was enough to change everything and catapult Alan Wake 2 straight to the top of my list. Thanks for the vitamin D deficiency, Remedy.

My renewed interest in Alan Wake 2 began after its outstanding trailer at the Opening Night Live event finally showed us more of Alan Wake himself, including peculiar live-action segments and more horror elements than we had seen up until that point. I was back on board and ready to soil my pants, but my excitement reached its peak after witnessing a purely spectator presentation of a portion of Alan's story that included some of the coolest gameplay mechanics I've seen in a long time.

The section of the game that I was able to watch showed Alan waking up and discovering that he was in a fourth-wall-breaking talk show with Mr. Door, depicted as a live-action sequence. I was somewhat skeptical about the use of live-action since Quantum Break handled it clumsily, but here it works much better. It emphasizes Alan's confused mental state and the torn reality while being well executed and eerie to watch.

After discussing "meta" writing with Mr. Door and both Alan and myself questioning our existence, the demo showed how this part of the game works. While the sections with Saga have seemed more realistic so far, Alan's sections are much more psychological. Voices whisper from the shadows, and scribbles and graffiti on the walls represent his deteriorating mental state. The first game was already creepy, but the way it is narrated through the environment here makes it seem like just walking around will make my hands sweat.

As impressive as the visual design of Dark Place was, what you can do with it really impressed me. In the demo, Remedy showcased two gameplay mechanics that are unique to Alan and allow him to alter the world as he moves through it. The first one was the ability to take light from certain parts of the level and bring it to dark areas, illuminating the path and instantly changing the layout of the level and the progression.

That was cool enough, but the second mechanism was the one that blew me away. Alan can also enter his writing room, take a look at the story so far, and then modify it using word suggestions he collects throughout the level. Choosing the right options for the area you're in will completely transform the design to align with Alan's written narrative and influence his surroundings. The first time I experienced it, it elicited a dramatic gasp from me.

An example of this is when Alan uses a word suggestion about a death cult to modify the subway tunnel he's trapped in. It transforms into a place of a bloody ritual, allowing him to progress further into the level while eerie voices murmur in the background. Another example is when Alan writes about a detective inspired by Max Payne who gets shot in the subway. As a result, the ground opens up, creating a blood trail that can be followed.

Those hoping that Alan Wake 2 is secretly a horror version of Scribblenauts will be disappointed to learn that there is only one correct command that can be used in such moments. However, it's still worth playing around with it, as Remedy has confirmed that wrong answers will still trigger some kind of reaction from Alan.

The rest of the gameplay we saw followed the usual Alan Wake style, but these two mechanics have stayed with me even a week after seeing them. Remedy has blown me away in the past with the Ashtray Maze in Control and the time manipulation in Quantum Break, but Alan Wake 2 feels like their most impressive work yet and is something that must be seen to be believed.