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Developer - Remedy Entertainment
Alan Wake 2 was a runner-up for my game of the year, last year. A game I truly never thought I would’ve seen being so or better off, being a reality. I was late to the party with the first game, I hadn’t played it front to back until about 2018. Even then, I could feel something special with the storytelling and presentation. With immediate twin peaks vibes and suspenseful thriller traits, it was a world I was truly invested in. I was super keen when even before I delved into the world of Alan Wake 2, the promise of extra story content down the line was super exciting for me.
I played the first part of the expansion ‘Night Falls’ back when it launched in June and enjoyed revisiting the many locales, I loved from my playthrough of the base game a few months prior. The anthology-based episodes that focused on certain side characters were something quite refreshing, even if you didn’t venture into any new areas that weren’t present before. It was a different vibe than AW2. Remedy did themselves say, the 2 DLCs were going to be vastly different from each other and the upcoming second expansion – ‘Lake House’ would lean more into the horror and the ‘Remedy-Verse’ the base game already did so well.
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Lake House is a name to anyone who’s played the first game, would remember well. One thing I love about Remedy Studio games is their attention to detail and subtle references to games of their past.
Right off the bat, you can tell they’re linking the RemedyVerse with 2019’s hit - Control, mentions of AWE (Altered World Events) and the FBC (Federal Bureau of Control). Turning up once again to investigate disturbing reports in Bright falls. Unlike AW2 you are thrown into the shoes of someone new, a member of the FBC, Agent Estevez.
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Gameplay is very much the same as Alan Wake 2, a new character but the same trusty flashlight and pistol to solve anything and everything. Its setting is the same as the grey plain office blocks, you’d find in Control, just set exclusively at night. Set over 5 floors, Estevez discovers this place had some crazy experiments going on. Theres a new enemy type to accompany the series of regular shadows, the Painted. These are creepy lanky creatures that are hiding in the paint spills on the walls of the test centre. I was jump-scared a good few times by the sudden appearances they make. The best thing going for the Lake House is the story. Much of it is written in lost documents you’ll find on most office desks, painting a good picture of the freakish experiments and research into the mental psyche before the catastrophe happened.
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Using Alan Wake's means of being able to re-write real-life scenarios, many of the staff members attempted their own - having deep and horrific consequences that led to the AWE that brought Estevez here in the first place. Even though the runtime is under 2 hours, the questions they leave by the end of what direction it’ll go are super intriguing. Remedy is one of the last few developers who truly fleshes out the fascinating worlds they craft. Through the audio logs, detailed documents and use of real-life footage, it all helps in immersion. I know for one, this isn’t the last time we see of Agent Estevez.
Even after fully encumbering myself in Alan Wake 2 last year, spending a good 25 hours platinuming the game, I was eager for more. The Lake House has followed by the great foundations set by Alan Wake 2 and a perfect lead into the next Remedy game, Control 2. While it is a story expansion for Alan Wake, it's more of a playable teaser for what’s to come in Control 2. Even though its runtime is criminally short, the seeds planted by Remedy are making me super curious and excited for what’s to come.
Platform - Playstation 5
Hours to beat - <2
Pros:
Genuinely Scary
Lore building
Cons:
Criminally short
No new gameplay features
Verdict: 7/10
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