Alan Wake 2 will "slow the gameplay down" with fewer, but more dangerous enemies

Alan Wake with green wall in backdrop — (Image credit: Remedy Entertainment)

Ever since we learned Alan Wake 2 would be a full-fledged survival horror game, we've expected some fairly significant tweaks to its design compared to the first game. Now, we're learning exactly what one of those changes is.

Talking to Xbox On at Gamescom 2023, game director Kyle Rowley expanded on why Remedy is going for a full-throated horror approach to Alan Wake 2.

"Survival horror, I think, with the type of stories that we like to tell, and the skills that we feel like we're very good at as a studio, like world-building and building a sense of place and atmosphere," Rowley said. "I think the horror genre in general, we feel like it's the perfect fit for us as a studio."

Rowley added that the horror space allowed Remedy to "slow the gameplay down" so that they "can focus more on the world, focus more on the environments and the environmental storytelling, and then we can use the atmosphere to build a sense of dread or a sense of threat as you're progressing through the game."

"From a gameplay perspective, it's still a sequel to the first game," Rowley said. "We still wanted to keep that 'fight with light' concept in there, but we've slowed the gameplay down a bit more, enemies are more threatening, they have more presence. There's less of them. You're fighting less of them throughout the course of the game."

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After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.