You can't stop reading. Please, I beg you. A story is a two-way street: while the writer writes, the reader must read. If not, there is no story. That's our unconventional review of Alan Wake 2.
Try not to blink too much. Don't let the darkness take over your sight too much. Even for fractions of a second. It won't take more than a few blinks if you blink very little.
Terror in Bright Falls
I need you to walk through the door and enter the text, completely. Turn off the lights, grab a coffee. There's no reason not to dive deep into this sea of words. After all, we made a pact a few paragraphs ago.
The story I'm about to tell you takes place in a small town in the interior of Washington state in the United States. A typical place to enjoy an evening at a summer house by the lake. Or maybe stay in the lake. Unless something came from the lake. The lake. The lake.
Sorry. I'll try not to use that word any more from now on. After all, a good text avoids excessive repetition. On the outskirts of this little town there is a CENSORED called Cauldron Lake. Forgive me for using the word again, but it's in English. And it's a proper name.
Many things come from this place. People. Maybe hauntings. Some might say it's the devil himself. Others say it's an angel. But don't worry. Don't be afraid. They fear the light. And then they fear weapons. The rules of life and death continue to apply, even after possession. With a flashlight in hand, a few batteries and some bullets, everything will work out.
It's best to avoid the area around this place at night. And you should be very careful with masked people around. Some of them want terror to happen. Rituals. Damnation. Heart. Murder.
The agents
Saga Anderson's phone rang somewhere far away. She accepted the call. Work. Someone has been murdered. Black magic ritual, perhaps. Bright Falls, Washington. Alex Casey, her partner, is going along.
Casey meant coffee on the trip. At every stop. Everywhere. Coffee and more coffee. Coffee to save. Coffee to keep the mind sane.
The mind that Saga Anderson kept to herself, where she organized her cases and the profiles of suspects and witnesses. A safe place. A place of her own. A Mental Place.
Since our protagonist is smart (and the FBI manual told her to be), she was always prepared: a flashlight for dark places. A firearm, or two, or three. As many as she could carry. Let's hope he finds more room in the department's jacket pocketsshe thought.
The sect
Bright Falls is not as bright as its name suggests. It is beautiful. Only at the right times, though. The local fauna is celebrated. A big festival takes place every year. The Deer Festival.
Something threatens the scenic little town. A cult. Macabre rituals. Strange things are starting to happen. Saga Anderson is at the police station with the body that has had an organ ripped out. The body is naked. There's certainly no shame in this story. The author doesn't mind showing the horrible injuries, the blood, the mutilation. Nor the nudity. Full frontal. Nothing erotic, but impactful.
The macabre ritual never seems to end. The victim is a former FBI colleague who has been missing for thirteen years. The lights flash. Something bad is about to happen. Stay in the light, Saga! Don't let him catch you. Flashlight. Weapons. Whatever you have at your disposal. Shoot. Aim for the head. But if you're going to hit somewhere else, no problem. Just be careful: the ammunition will soon run out. So will the batteries in your flashlight. Nobody wants to be in the dark with a macabre sect performing rituals.
The writer of Alan Wake 2
On the other side of the door, there's another writer. Are you still with me, reader? Of course you are. If you weren't, I'd have stopped writing by now.
That other writer is Alan Wake. He's in prison. Condemned. Self-sacrificed. He's in a dark place. He has to write. He can't stop writing. So much depends on it. He depends on it. Suddenly, the world cares about art, about literature, about a man who invented a famous character, Alex Casey. No, not the FBI. O true Alex Casey. O fictitious Alex Casey. The policeman from his books. And who inspired another character in a video game.
It appears here. He's like a guide. The creation guiding the creator. It would be comical if the situation weren't tragic. Writers need to find inspiration out there. For Dark Place. A world that isn't the real world, but that is too. After all, in the middle of so many pages, in the middle of so many keys on the typewriter, who can say what's real and what's not?
He inserts himself into the story. And he inserts Saga Anderson. Alex Casey. And more people. All to escape this place. In a loop unbridled by sinister events, writing seems to be the only thing that can save him.
Words reveal
Writing is powerful. Alan knows that. He just needs to be inspired and make everything fit into a horror story. And so he would get closer and closer to getting out of there. To returning to the surface, away from the CENSORED.
A man interviews him. Inside, in the Dark Place. It's as if he's being made fun of. There's a moment when a rock'n'roll song is played for him. It would be a tribute, if he didn't know it was a mockery. It's a good joke. He even smiles. A moment that will last forever. Not just in his mind. But in the minds of everyone who saw it. In yours too, reader. Don't forget the writer, his character and the talk show host dancing to the sound of Old Gods of Asgard.
Wake doesn't have time for that, though. It's too much of a joke with his dire situation. They want to catch him. Kill him. Resurrect him. Again. And again. And again. And again.
He finds the places he needs. He enters history. Rewrites it. He changes the settings. Inspirations come. So do the enemies. Careful, Mr. Wake. Throw your light into the shadows. Now shoot. Make the story change enough for you to get out of there.
Turn on the jukebox
Are you reading all this without turning on a single song? Reader, what are you doing? A horror story is all about atmosphere. And music helps a lot. Are you without your headphones? Without a speaker? Don't worry.
Think of distressing sounds. A shadow stalks. Batteries? They're gone. Bullets? None. Run. The music intensifies. Serious noises. Heavy. It's hair-raising, isn't it?
In a horror story like ours, there are also times when the mystery outweighs the terror. You know, the weirdness? The strangeness? It has to be there for the reader to remain engaged. There's not much of that here in our text, I think. Yes, our text. I only write because you read, remember.
In those different moments, perhaps rock'n'roll. A band. Drums. Guitars. Distortion. Metal. Art!
Light and shadow
No work of art can achieve the real thing. It must always be in search of an aesthetic. Our text can only be as good as your imagination wants it to be. I'll try to help.
Imagine a terrible darkness. The flashlight illuminates the vegetation. It's the forest. Very little light is allowed to fall in such density. That certainly helps in a horror story, right?
Apply a few lights in inhabited areas to set the mood. You might wonder why a place with people in it is so dark! It must be the janitor who forgot to turn on all the lights.
This is our horror story. Dark. Bizarre characters who don't mind being in the half-light of a building.
Oh, and the blood! Don't forget the blood. Violence. Gore. Crime. Ritual. Witchcraft. THE DEMON!
Click
I told you you'd blink a few times during our review of Alan Wake 2. That's how good texts are. Not that ours is. But hey, we've come this far. There's got to be some value in that, right? After all, it's only about the greatest horror story ever told. A triumph of entertainment. A show. Literature. Video game. Movie. TV. Music. ART!
CLICK!
You can now blink normally.
Alan Wake 2 is now available for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. What did you think of our review? If you liked our review of Alan Wake 2, comment below and share it with your friends!
See also:
Check out the launch trailer for The Talos Principle 2
SEGA unveils new 3D Sonic game
Who are the characters in Anitta and Marina Sena's Halloween 2023 costumes?
English 
Portuguese