Alan Wake II

Play it on: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Windows (Steam Deck YMMV)
Current goal: Finish the (amazing) story

I wasn’t ready for just how Alan Wake II would just swoop into my life and take over both my time and my thoughts. This game has been giving me such absolute joy despite being a pretty intense horror experience when it wants to be.

Alan Wake II is especially appealing to me as a horror experience as it doesn’t force me to contend with exhausting, screaming, body-horror antagonists. If you love survival horror but often tire of just how gross it can be, you may want to give this game a try.

Wake’s shadowy “Taken” are unsettling all on their own (be they the more fleshy ones found during Saga Anderson’s campaign or the tricky shadows found in Mr. Wake’s side of the story) with unpredictable movements and strange lines of dialogue. The sound and visuals, intermittent jolts of jarring imagery full of screaming faces and abstract visuals, startle, excite, and terrify me in ways that I probably need to talk with a therapist about.

The game also challenges me to think about resource management and careful aiming. Every shot counts, and it’s very easy to waste ammo if you’re not careful. It’s the kind of real-time, stress-inducing challenge that I love and am always ready for more of. — Claire Jackson