It's been a great few weeks for gaming fans. First came the release of Spider-man 2 last Friday. This weekend brings the long-awaited arrival of Alan Wake 2.
A sequel 13 years in the making, Alan Wake 2 is one of the most eagerly anticipated releases of 2023. The horror survival game has been earning rave reviews from gaming websites.
The Guardian call it a "confidently strange horror thriller", while GameSpot describe it as 'a miracle illuminated' and a 'masterpiece'.
Remedy, the Finnish gaming company behind Alan Wake 2 have confirmed there'll be no physical copy of the game put on sale.
Over on the FAQ section of Alan Wake 2, the game's developers explain why there's no physical version of the game. They also suggest there will never be one.
There are many reasons for this. For one, a large number of have shifted to digital only. You can buy a Sony PlayStation 5 without a disc drive and Microsoft’s Xbox Series S is a digital only console. It is not uncommon to release modern games as digital-only
Secondly, not releasing a disc helps keep the price of the game at $59.99 / €59.99 and the PC version at $49.99 / €49.99.”
“Finally, we did not want to ship a disc product and have it require a download for the game — we do not think this would make for a great experience either.”
Alan Wake 2 game description
The gang at Remedy explain the plot of the game like this:
Saga Anderson, an FBI profiler with a reputation for solving unsolvable cases, arrives in Bright Falls to investigate a string of ritualistic murders. The case slides into a nightmare when Anderson discovers pages of a horror story, a horror story that starts to come true…
Alan Wake, a lost writer trapped in a nightmare prison beyond our world, writes a dark story to shape reality in a desperate bid to escape. Hunted by an insatiable horror, Wake struggles to retain his sanity and beat the devil at his own game.
Anderson and Wake, two heroes on two desperate journeys. Two separate realities connected in ways neither of them can understand. Echoes become reflections. Reflections that can reach out to each other. Trapped in a horror story where there are only victims and monsters, can they break out to be the heroes they need to be?
It's a tremendous release and considering the extreme enthusiasm of reviewers who've had a chance to play the game, it seems like Alan Wake 2 is going to be played for a long time.
