Summary
Alan Wake 2has made a big impact in the short time since its release. Remedy Entertainment’s follow-up to the original cult hit from 2010 delivered on pretty much every front, and the title has garnered a lot of acclaim as a must-play experience. It has been nominated in multiple categories at The Game Awards 2023, including Game Of The Year. WithAlan Wake 2enjoying breakout success, it’s no surprise many fans are already looking forward to more content, especially given its nature and the multiple avenues it has left to explore in the story.
In service of the above, Remedy has outlined plans forAlan Wake 2DLC coming sometime in 2024. But recently, it also announced it will be adding a New Game Plus update called Final Draft mode before then. While it will contain many of the usual components of a New Game Plus mode, including an additional Nightmare difficulty, it also looks to have a signature Remedy twist attached. Final Draft mode officially promised an “alternative narrative,” and on top of that, dedicated datamining efforts seemed to reveal (among other elements) an entirely new ending. If this is accurate, it might be going a bit too far in some ways.
Multiple sources have reported on and confirmed much of the information regardingAlan Wake 2’s datamined content.
Alan Wake 2’s Final Draft Mode Risks Compromising its Existing Narrative
Alan Wake 2’s Story and Ending is Already Complex
Alan Wake2tells one of the most extensive and complicated narratives in gaming. Combining elements ranging from Lovecraftian entities, alternate dimensions, time loops, warping realities, and meta-commentary on the nature of horror stories in general, it is often a lot to take in. EvenAlan Wake 2’s collectibles add to its lorein significant ways compared to many other titles. There are so many moving parts to its plot that parsing them all out can be a task unto itself.
Theending ofAlan Wake 2only upped the narrative stakes and left off on a bigger cliffhanger than the first game did. With so much to absorb and unpack, fans already have their hands full wrapping their heads around events. Given the nature of its dense narrative, adding another layer too soon via a New Game Plus mode might inadvertently create hurdles for Remedy down the line, and undermine the work it’s already put into the story.
Alan Wake 2’s Final Draft Mode Could be a Double-Edged Sword
If thedatamined information aboutAlan Wake 2’s Final Draft modeis reliable, and Remedy is planning to introduce an entirely different ending, it would be a bold move, to say the least. If the new content alters the existing tale substantially enough, it runs a fairly big risk of alienating or upsetting fans who have just come to grips with it. It would also be especially divisive for anyone who doesn’t play Final Draft before the DLCs set to follow release, creating a strange situation and possibly reducing the impact of the original ending.
Still, it’s an intriguing idea, and would fit in thematically withAlan Wakeas a whole, being another step in the spiral for the beleaguered writer. Some of the aspects ofFinal Draft are also likely to tie intoRemedy’s Connected Universe, touching on threads from other games, most notablyControl. It currently remains to be seen exactly how Final Draft mode will affectAlan Wake 2’s storyline. However, given its penchant for pushing the boundaries of storytelling in games, Remedy may be one of the few developers able to pull something like this off.
