Alan Wake II: The Lake House (XS)
by
Lee Mehr
, posted 2 hours ago / 291 Views
Reviewer’s Note: For more context, here are VGChartz’s reviews for Alan Wake II and Alan Wake II: Night Springs.
One of the strangest cultural phenomenons of 2023 was Barbenheimer: a grassroots joke that blew up by pointing out the disparate tonal & aesthetic poles that Barbie and Oppenheimer occupied while also releasing in theaters concurrently. Alan Wake II’s expansion duo operates on a similar wavelength. The pendulum from Night Springs’ inherently fun multiversal conceit now swings back to the original title’s darker foundation. As both a return to form and a minor story tether for Control 2 – like how Control: AWE set up Wake’s return – The Lake House captures an intriguing spot for long-time fans. As for what that means for the expansion on its own merits? That’s a bit more complicated.
The ever-so-mysterious Lake House has been quietly nestled next to Cauldron Lake since the main game. For Saga Anderson’s adventure, ringing the gate’s intercom system was met with either unhelpful replies or radio silence. What could be made out from behind the security fence was a… Brutalist cabin of sorts. An ominous, cold structure erected next to a hostile lake. Serving as a prequel, FBC agent Kiran Estevez has been promoted from side character to protagonist here and called to investigate why this facility stopped contacting the outside world.
Like the main game, Lake House is more interested in limiting its combat scenarios in order to build tension. The main lobby is unattended to, but echoes of the married duo overseeing this place, the Marmonts, can be seen through recorded videos and email chains. On the surface, everything seems to be in shipshape. But then you take the elevator ride down and the truth starts to reveal itself. One of the first sub-levels is littered with huge canvasses of abstract art hung up on automated sliding racks; a flip of the switch creates and obstructs certain pathways. Imagine Jackson Pollock’s studio as a maze.
This modest navigational puzzle portion informs much of Lake House’s tempo. As Taken have infiltrated, you’re slowly acquiring new background about those strange paintings or a room filled with over a hundred typewriters before facing off against enemies as a consequence of that. Within some of the canvasses lie gangly ‘Painted Figures’ measuring roughly 8 feet tall. They’re impervious to standard flashlight/gun combos used against standard enemies, so they’re more like a slower Mr. X (Resident Evil 2 Remake) until you acquire unique firepower.
The reason I highlight these enemies is because that’s – more or less – the new shiny bauble in this expansion. That’s not meant as inconsiderate critique either; after all, the reversion back to tougher survival-horror dynamics after Night Springs is certainly welcome. But it also comes with annoying faults:
- Loot spawns in these new ammo boxes are finicky, almost like they’re hiding in each canister’s corners, so you’ll have to manipulate your camera to spot them.
- The cheap grabs from Painted Figures who immediately leap out of a canvas are an annoying sore spot. Having a dice roll as to which painted silhouettes are real or fake is good tension-building, but there’s no clear tell for when you get up close. The most effective strategy to avoiding their insta-grab (and saving 40% of your health) is spamming the dodge button near every canvas.
- The final boss only has one middling gimmick.
Again, re-aligning itself with the original’s roots makes for more atmospheric fights, but over-correcting to the point of certain aspects feeling unfair also hinders the experience.
The redirection from Night Springs’ sillier tone also applies to the narrative. Though constrained in runtime (roughly 2 hours), it’s a dense side story with some intriguing new characters at the heart of it. The aforementioned room littered with automated typewriters ranks as one of Remedy’s most thematically-rich levels to date; creating an in-universe parallel to AI-driven content slop makes for a great meta-commentary on artistic creation. It’s not handed out on a silver platter either. The overall structure – environmental design, collectibles, combat pacing, etc. – all combines to make it such a potent idea.
It’s rather ironic, then, to see shots fired at algorithmically-made content given most of this screenplay. It’s bizarre how much of Clay Murphy’s script reads as though it was fed through ChatGPT and commanded to make Estevez sound like a generic Marvel character. “Choices have consequences. I’m the consequences.” Please shut the hell up. It’s true she’s a toughened field agent with touches of good sarcasm in the main game, but the proportionality and delivery are totally skewed here. Janina Gavankar is a respectable voice actor, but she doesn’t have the… natural temerity for the way it’s portrayed here. That’s what makes it feel artificial: part of what sells those lines – cheesy as many are – comes back to presentation.
Skewed proportions also characterize how its story is doled out. As much as I love hunting collectibles – be they memos, email chains hidden behind a computer passcode, or recorded videos running on a loop – there’s a danger to over-leveraging that in lieu of more traditional means. Given how the Marmonts’ fracturing relationship informs their two dangerous lines of research, there should be stronger connective tissue between them besides harsh words uttered in isolation. It’d be unfair to expect, say, a half-hour of detailed cutscenes between them with this limited budget. But it should come as no surprise that building so much of their background through homework causes their final reveal to fall flat.
One quality both expansions share is the awkward demand to purchase them together. As of writing, the only means of attaining this is through purchasing the Deluxe Upgrade ($20 standard) or Alan Wake II Deluxe Edition ($80 standard). Now that both are out in the wild, the upfront Deluxe charge doesn’t feel egregious. With Lake House’s completionist route taking over 3 hours, the dollar-per-hour value for both expansions is perfectly adequate – even if neither explore their full potential.
After nearly a year of finalizing drafts, polishing up blemishes, and writing what-if stories, The Lake House serves as a bittersweet swansong that’ll nonetheless satiate Alan Wake II fans. The problem, then, is more of what could’ve been. The return of the main game’s tone, while welcome, also brings with it issues about properly balancing the survival-horror tension without feeling unfair; in that regard, it’s occasionally mismanaged. The side story, while thematically-potent, is diminished by poor dialogue and not being as momentous as this story is owed. That doesn’t necessarily mean it ends with a whimper, but it was primed to end with an ear-ringing bang we’ll never hear.
Contractor by trade and writer by hobby, Lee’s obnoxious criticisms have found a way to be featured across several gaming sites: N4G, VGChartz, Gaming Nexus, DarkStation, and TechRaptor! He started gaming in the mid-90s and has had the privilege in playing many games across a plethora of platforms. Reader warning: each click given to his articles only helps to inflate his Texas-sized ego. Proceed with caution.
This review is based on a digital copy of Alan Wake 2 Deluxe Upgrade for the XS, provided by the publisher.
